Welcome - Association Civic Watch

Association Civic Watch
Welcome!
Media information literacy
Community activism

About Association Civic Watch

Civic Watch is a community-based organization registered in Cameroon as a non-profit youth led group. Its main goal is community mobilisation to counter hateful rhetoric among young people both online and offline. It addresses questions of incitement to violence, tolerance and peacebuilding in relation to social media. Civic Watch offers a unique portal of relevance and significance in the quest for solutions to conflict situations by promoting social cohesion and growth locally. Believing in the power that young people have and the impact they create. Civic Watch has been networking with similar community based organisations for an inclusive strategy for peace.

Civic Watch acts as an intermediary organisation for schools, civic debate spaces or separate public/private facilities for making, learning, exploring questions of participation and accountability of locally elected officials. With a space open to young people and the media, it intersects with community mobilisation for positive change in the society.

Civic Watch is funded primarily through project grants, currently through the German Federal Foreign Office funding for the #defyhatenow programme in Cameroon and additional special project or activity grants from International Organisations such as UNESCO or private foundations/corporations, including Facebook Inc.

Our Thematic Focus Areas

Youth Engagement

Young people have clear visions of what peace should be, and a strong desire for a future without violence. Civic Watch acts as a platform to ensure peace processes have meaningful inclusion of young people’s views in their design and implementation.

Civic Watch advocates for the government of Cameroon to make sustained commitments to rebuild young people’s trust and confidence in its institutions. There are also challenges facing women and girls in gaining access to public spaces which need to be addressed. Young people are frequently ‘othered’ in the discourse on conflict, and most times, it’s as conflict influencers. The positioning of youth in society has a bearing on their leadership potential and their possible role in peacebuilding. Civic Watch works with the government and civil organisations in advocating for access to education as a fundamental tool for facilitating young people’s positive engagement in peace.

Media and freedom of information

Press freedom in Cameroon has continued to decline in Cameroon, now ranked as one of Africa’s most dangerous countries for journalists. Journalists in Cameroon are often caught between the government and the separatists and in the process are unable to report freely and fear reprisal.

Due to this, journalists frequently self-censor to avoid reprisals. Free, independent, and diverse media are essential for democracy. Blogs, social networks, content creators and search engines enable anyone to access information and communicate with thousands of people in entirely new ways. Together with traditional media, these new media actors are essential sources of information today.

Civic Watch works with media professionals and young people to find ways to work within a rapidly changing information ecosystem and a shifting and hybrid media environment that ensures factual reporting while remaining safe.

Community activism

Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct, or intervene in social, economic, or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Community activism is about people in communities creating opportunities for growth and change and deliberate movement towards ends which they determine and in the process so increase their critical awareness, knowledge, skills and attitudes.

Civic Watch engages in community activism daily through collaboration with organisations that create art to sensitise communities (artivism), encourages freedom of expression, and uses hacktivism or technology for peace in conflict mitigation, petitioning elected officials to engage with community leaders in governance.

Recent Blog Posts

Please read through our recents updates from our impact projects.

September 3, 2022HateFreeCameroon,Youth4Peace

Association Civic Watch

Media information literacy

Community activism

About Association Civic Watch