Historic: CAMASEJ, LOYOC sign partnership to foster peace, dev’t.

It was the National President of CAMASEJ, Viban Jude, who penned the engagement on behalf of the media movement, while the Executive Director of LOYOC, Achaleke Christian Leke, did same for his organisation.

The agreement, which is non-binding at law, affirms the intention of CAMASEJ and LOYOC to collaborate locally with focus on achieving sustainable development in Cameroon.

It was gathered that the partnership will last four years with the possibility of renewal.

Under the MoU, both parties shall jointly work towards achieving peace and prosperity in Cameroon, through collaborative project design and implementation as well as staff exchanges. 

Speaking Monday, the National President of CAMASEJ, Viban Jude, said: “This is momentous. We think this is the way to go. It is important to build bridges with partners who share our vision and who can help us to achieve our main objective-improve the professionalism of our members”.

He stated that: “Our organisation has been existing for over three decades but some spaces are still very new to us such project sourcing and implementation. Luckily for us, we have been able to find an organisation that has been able to embrace us so that we can build that bridge. We at CAMASEJ didn’t hesitate because we know that those are the things that are going to be sustainable”.

The print media journalist who secured a second mandate last year as CAMASEJ National President, explained that through the partnership, his organisation aims to improve the professional lives of its members. 

Viban noted that: “We must be able to source for projects and implement those projects that are life-changing. We can’t be able to do that without looking outside our own space and finding the expert knowledge else. Signing the MoU would enable us to bring to the table what we know best while the Local Youth Corner, also brings to the table what they know how to do best so that together, we can federate forces”.

Taking the cue, the Executive Director of LOYOC, Achaleke Christian Leke, described the MoU as “historic”.

While acknowledging the strength of the media, Achaleke said the sector remains very crucial to development. He stated that the MoU will drive growth for both organisations. 

“The media community remains a critical partner in sustaining peace. We feel this MoU is a huge step for the peace-building community in Cameroon. Working together with CAMASEJ is historic as it will serve as a platform to amplify peace and the sustainable development of Cameroon. My team and I will spare no effort to make this transformative,” the Commonwealth Youth Ambassador said of the partnership.

Speaking further on the issue, Achaleke described the entering of the partnership as a historic moment “because in the context of development, we see the media as a very important partner”.

He recounted that: “When the idea for this collaborative partnership was mooted, we were very excited because we knew that it was going to change a lot in our work. We work across the national territory and we have physical offices in locations across the country. Sometimes, we do amazing work but we are not able to inspire young people in other places. That is why we think this will be a great opportunity”.

LOYOC in a nutshell 

The Local Youth Corner, LOYOC, it should be said, is a leading youth-led non-profit and non-governmental organisation.

It was midwifed in 2002, to respond to the increase in the socio-political and economic challenges facing young people, such as unemployment, bad governance, gender-based violence, lack of quality education, poverty, corruption, poor social justice system, and exclusion in the decision-making processes, which serve as push and pull factors to youth radicalisation, involvement in crime, violence and conflict with the law.

Snippet of CAMASEJ

For its part, the Cameroon Association of English-Speaking Journalists, CAMASEJ, is a not-for-profit socio-professional association that brings together journalists in Cameroon practising essentially in English. 

Created in 1992, the association aims at building a strong network that can help journalists improve on their trade, and protect them whenever and wherever need be.

The association develops and implements projects to better the well-being and productivity of its members and journalists across Cameroon. 

The projects are run by a group of independent experts who are recruited with competence in project and financial management, monitoring and evaluation as well as operations.