#Act4Peace: Mobilising Youth Leaders to Counter Hate Speech & Violence in Crisis Zones.

The continued act of violence, and hate speech perpetrated in communities in thes North West and South West Regions in Cameroon gives Civic Watch Cameroon the need to take actions towards peace at community levels – #Act4Peace. As a means of mitigating hate speech, incitement to violence, violence extremism and educating these communities Association Civic Watch trains community youth leaders based in these affected communities with the aim of building #HateFreeCommunities across Cameroon. The Association believes that these youth leaders will be able to share and educate their communities on the dangers of hate speech, violence and violence extremism both online and offline. 

The North West and South West regions in Cameroon have been faced with socio-political turmoil, armed conflicts, internally displaced persons who are facing difficulties resettling in their host communities, cultural bias, hate speech, and other social tensions that are online and offline. As an EWER mechanism,  Civic Watch trained 30 community Youth leaders from different communities in the two regions affected by the crisis. These peace weavers were trained to be #defyhatenow’s peace ambassadors. The actions carried out in the communities will be easily monitored by Civic Watch through the peace weavers. The aim is to counter hate speech and violence using  a nonviolent approach.

After the training of the first cohort of peace weavers in 2023, Civic Watch is launching the second cohort of peace weavers. The second cohort of peace weavers will join the first cohort by leading actions on the field aimed to  reduce hate speech and violence in the affected zones and on social media. So far, social media space is being used by many as a platform to promote hate speech, incite violence, bullying and to share fake information. The peace weavers will have an online presence to sensitize and educate their audience what hate speech is, how to mitigate hate speech without insulting. 

The specific objectives during this training are; 

• To encourage  intercultural mixing among young people, thereby promoting inter-community tolerance and acceptance of each other through 2 bootcamps;
• To encourage cross-community and inter-religious dialogue between community and religious leaders to promote their commitment to combating hate speech and violence;
• To implement awareness-raising and empowerment campaigns to meet local needs (Education – Health – Socio-professional integration)

A two-day training with the aim of enforcing additional 30 youth leaders on  capacity building, hate speech mitigation online and offline, and breaking cultural and religious barriers will be held in the month of August 2024. These youths hail from the affected crisis zones and master the realities of their communities. They are better placed to take actions in reducing these ills affecting their communities with the help of community leaders like Chiefs, Quarter Heads, Clergy, etc. The selected youth leaders will be trained on how to mitigate online hate speech, provocation and incitement to violence. In Addition to the training, they will have materials like the social media code of conduct that will help them in understanding the social media space, how hate speech can be spread online and how dangerous it can be. Peace Weavers will learn from the #defyhatenow hate speech mitigation field guide and will go through an online training UNESCO MGIEP Course that will be part of their capacity building. 

The training is all about changing the mindset of individuals and communities to understand the importance of living together in peace and working for the good of the community. Peace Weavers will be trained under the theme: Mobilising Youth Leaders to Counter Hate Speech and Conflict in Crisis Zones. Participants are coming from different communities with different religious, cultural, social and traditional backgrounds. This will be a perfect opportunity for them to understand the importance of diversity and social cohesion. That will help them understand how to resolve conflict in their communities and educate the community about the concept of tolerating one another and respecting the identity of one another. 

At the end of the training, Civic Watch Cameroon intends to impact these youths and obtain positive outcomes such as: 

• Building sustainable and peaceful communities through social cohesion

• Increasing understanding of the causes of the conflict and the importance of peacebuilding and reconciliation.
• Improving inter-community relations and social cohesion.
• Drawing up a roadmap containing the major actions and responsibilities to prevent and combat hate speech in the North West and South West regions.
• Promoting social cohesion and sustainable development in the North West and South West regions of Cameroon.
• The youth will also help to promote the importance of peacebuilding and reconciliation as a way to address these root causes and build a more peaceful future.
• Understand the social media space and know how to iterate on social media spaces while promoting safe spaces online.
• Change the mindset of communities in resolving conflict in nonviolent ways.
•  Having these youths go back to their communities and do restitutions

Those who can apply for this training are:

• Community Youth Leaders 
• Religious leaders
• CSOs

After the training, peace weavers are expected to pass it on, meaning they go to their communities and educate them on the importance of living in  peace and the need to tolerate one another. They will share with their communities to #Act4Peace, #StopBadMop, #StopHateSpeech and keep #SafeDigitalsSpaces  in order to build a #HateFreeCommunity, and a #HateFreeCameroon. 

 It is time to #defyhatenow!

Reactions from some cohort one Peace Weavers

Shalanyuy Banseka Mary “The peace weavers training is a turning point in my life..so much has changed in my life thanks to civic watch .the training has shape the way I interact on social media .i do not share information I’m not sure of, I no longer comment in a careless , even the write -ups I make.unlike before I was selected as a peace weavers ,my communication both online and offline. I volunteer with ZOZAC community.”

Yong Alfred  “ The after effects of the restitution carried out in Fundong were kind of positive. Expression of regret from community members who were using hate languages unconsciously. Consciousness of the population on common hates. Change of mentality in responding to people but still very timid.”