Africa Fact Checking Fellowship “Special Grand Nord”.

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AFFCameroon is a program that is run by Civic Watch and its partner defyhatenow. Its aim is to train journalists, bloggers and content creators to be able to fight against online #FakeNews, #Misinformation, #Disinformation, by #Factchecking information both online and offline.  The program is aimed at cultivating the skills needed for creating a healthy and safe online experience for all social media users, making a safe place void of toxic ideas, hate speech, misinformation, disinformation and fake news which fan flames of violence. In the  past years, we have Civic Watch and defyhatenow had trained fellows from different parts of Cameroon, that is; North West, South West hit by the Anglophone conflict, West, Center, Littoral hosting most internally displaced persons from Cameroon. 

This year, we went to the Northern region of Cameroon. The Far North has been facing violent attacks from Boko Haram in the past years and is equally faced with inter-tribal conflicts. Thus we saw the need to create awareness in this part of the country. We saw the need to make those of that region involved and part of #Cameroon that is not forgotten. That is why AFFCameroon in this part was termed “Special Grand Nord”, this is because we needed people who know and master the realities of this region. 

#AFFCameroon ‘Special Grand Nord’ Session , foreground is the trainer Mr. Paul Joel Kamtchang

Garoua hosted AFFCameroon for its first time and the training ran for two days, 28th and 29th of April 2022. 15 fellows were selected and they answered present to discover the new world they were about to embark on. These fellows were; 8 from Garoua, 5 from Ngaoundere and 2 Maroua. The trainer was Paul Joel Kamtchang who took them through; the world internet world, introduction to fact checking, methodology for writing Social Media Health Report (SMHR), working group on SMHR and meet up, fact checking reporting and fact checking topics. The first session was all about introduction, making them discover the fact checking world, identify fact checking topics, how to write fact checking reports and SMHR.
`After the first session, the fellows showed their delight and were more eager to discover the techniques and mechanisms of fact checking. Their training will run for three sessions, April, May and June. The next session will be in May 2022. 

Youths in Yaounde Share Perspectives on Civic Participation & Nation Building

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“YOUTH AND VOLUNTARY PARTICIPATION IN THE MAJOR CHALLENGES OF CAMEROON” 

Civic Watch on February 10, 2022 had a talk with 20 youth based in Yaounde on the occasion of the Youth Day celebration in Cameroon. This year’s theme: “Youth & Voluntary Participation in the Major Challenges of Cameroon”, highlights youth’s involvement in development. Thus some youths drawn  from different works of life; journalists, teachers, bloggers, students, and civil society organisations were invited for the session. The aim was for them to talk about the difficulties the Cameroonian Youth is facing, the impact of their actions in their lives and society, and how to participate in the development and maintenance of peace…the peace of their community.  

The meeting started with a welcome speech from the president of the organisation Mr. Ngala Desmond who explained the mandate of Civic Watch; mobilisation of civic action, fighting online hate speech, violence, and violent extremism online and offline.  

The session, moderated by Kinang Derick,  started with a round of self introduction, as well as expectations by the participants. Delving into the first part of the programme, the topics; Youth Day celebration (Past and Present), expectations from Head of State’s speech, and 2022 youth day  theme: (Youth and voluntary participation) a way forward? 

The exchange went with the agreement that the youth day celebration of today is different from that of the past, the value has been lost because in the past people tried to understand what youth day was all about, but now, youths have different reasons for partaking. It was recognized that most Cameroonians do not know why youth day is celebrated. The Cameroon government did lay down the foundation of youth day. The idea of this day was a day of celebrating Cameroon’s history and handing it over to the younger generation. It was equally realised that the Anglophone crisis and CoronaVirus had contributed to the fall of the youth day celebration in Cameroon. As per the head of state’s message to the Youth, it was expected that president Paul Biya would create more job openings for youths, he would promote education by creating universities and Pavel-Aldo member of the Academic Campus Forum said he expected that the president made funds available for youth who have projects pending funding so that they could realise their dreams. Talking about the youth day theme, it was discussed that youths have become money-minded rather than wanting to gain knowledge and skills.  

 The second part of the discussion was about; Youth and civic participation, Youth and Peacebuilding/Peace process, and countering hate speech, violence in schools and communities. The youths recognized that they need to be an example in their immediate community to counter hate speech and violence. Participants agreed that there is a need for them to be self-disciplined, tolerant towards others, and sensitise other youth on ways and means they can contribute to nation building, in their own little way. Regarding ways to harness our differences to bring positive impact in the society, an example was the just ended  Africa Nations Cup #AFCON2021  hosted by Cameroon.  The football fiesta brought all Cameroonians together as one people, one nation and speaking with one voice;,  Participants stressed on excesses mostly displayed by social media users on different platforms, with the potential of spurring violence.. A typical example shared was the recurrent rise in [usually drug-induced] violence, witnessed in most secondary schools, believed to have been influenced by social media.Much work needed to be done to discipline students in school, which responsibility lies in the hands of . 

RECOMMENDATIONS. 

 As for recommendations, the youths recommended that parents need to be sensitised to teach their kids at home moral education because the morals of the younger generation are degrading by the day. 

The youths need to work closely with kids, denounce some of the things happening in their environment, pen down the difficulties they face, and surmount courage to explain their problems in a peaceful way to government authorities.