Francophone Cameroon to Benefit from Expansion of CEDS Leadership Programs

January 2007: WLP Cameroon/Community Education and Development Services (CEDS) has expanded their work in the mainly Anglophone northwest province to regional work in francophone Cameroon. In January, CEDS held a National Training of Trainers (TOT) Institute for 26 women’s rights activists and community leaders in Garoua, francophone northern Cameroon. French is spoken by 80% of the population, and English by the remainder 20%, but Cameroon’s linguistic diversity includes over 250 indigenous languages.

Participants decided to launch an advocacy campaign against forced early marriage, where they will apply their newly acquired participative leadership, communication, and advocacy skills.

Early marriages is one of the contributing factors to the perilously high maternal-mortality rate in Cameroon.

One participant, Sandrine,* said, “I am very pleased to learn about this concept of leadership because I have the responsibility of training women in my organization. I will use these ideas about leadership when I train women to be economically self-sufficient.”

Another declared, “Even though horizontal, egalitarian leadership is difficult to achieve, I will work to see it applied in polygamous homes. For all leadership types can be created and destroyed by people. Our old hierarchical system of leadership can be changed.”