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BIHAPH INCREASES CITIZENSHIP PARTICIPATION IN PEACEBUILDING

 Bihndumlem Humanitarian Association of Peace and Hope (BIHAPH) together with partners have launched a 6month project focused on Providing Space for an Increased Citizen Participation and Civic Engagement, as major tools for Conflict Transformation and Peace Building in the Bamenda I, II and III Sub-Divisions with the North West Region.

Launched in the presence of over 200 local community leaders and actors, the project aims at reducing the rate of violence and enhance the participation of Community members in peace Building in the NWR using a Bottom-Top approach.

BIHAPH will in the next couple of months support actions in the communities that are geared towards Building peace while encouraging and promoting Communities advocating for peace.

Mme Mih Bibiana Executive Director BIHAPH

According to the Executive Director of BIHAPH, Mih Bibiana Mbei DIGHAMBONG, the motivation of BIHAPH and partners stem from the prolonged crisis within the NWR where communities currently live in fear as a result of the increasing rate of violence, abject poverty and uninspiring social service characterized by unstable communities, and dysfunctional family structures. She also noted that, without relative stability, communities remained bogged down in brutal killings, rampant kidnaps for ransoms, torture of civilians, sexual and gender based violence, arising from an atmosphere of growing animosity, hate speech, manipulation, indoctrination and division,

Corroborating, Nueh Anita of BIHAPH, highlighted more on the increasing rate of moral decadence, increased arms proliferation, intimidation ,  loss of human lives, gross disrespect for human rights, looting, mass displacements which he noted should not stand as  values that should be passed on to the next generation.

Haven applied civic engagement and citizen participation as major tools for conflict transformation in other areas with positive results recorded, BIHAPH sought the intervention other partners, for same strategy to be extended to other areas of the region. Embracing this wonderful idea, partners did not hesitate to cast the stone into the water, which will act as a multiplier effect to other parts of the country.

BIHAPH will therefrom the launch, engage men, women and youths via group leaders as well as Community members, institutions and Faith-Based organizations, Community-Based organizations within the next 6 months in activities such as community mobilization, sensitization on peace Building issues, working with cultural groups, religious groups and youth groups to educate them on the need for peace. Different follow-up sessions to ensure effective implementation, while engaging a Start up kit for identified vulnerable persons within the Bamenda I, II and III Subdivisions.

It is expected that with such actions taken, communities will have been empowered to reduce conflicts with various capacity building of actors ensured, increase in the access to information on peace issues by communities that will also assure the reduction in the rate of violence in the communities.

According to one of the local actors, Sai Muaikei, this is a welcome initiative as it echoes the enhancement of citizenship participation using a bottom up top approach which he noted has been missing in most peace building actions on the ground. “Citizens via local actors need to spearhead peace building and conflict transformation actions, because I think they master the local context better than someone who hasn’t lived the crisis for over 5years now,” Sai intimated

BIHAPH is a charity that operates in the North West Region of Cameroon, in the domains of Peace Building, Conflict Prevention/Transformation, Gender Equality Promotion, Promotion of Education, Child protection and sustainable livelihoods.

 By Rosaline Obah

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