By invitation of the resident representative of the African Development Bank (AfDB) in Cameroon, RESSCAM participated in the Central Africa Conference on Youth Employment in Africa. This conference was held on Tuesday, February 07, 2017 at the Hilton Hotel in Yaoundé. It aimed at informing the public on the Youth Employment Strategy in Africa (SEJA in French), launched by the AfDB. It was the fourth regional conference held by the institution out of the five scheduled in its agenda. The first three were organized for West Africa, North Africa and East Africa during the fourth quarter of 2016. On this occasion several Ministers from ECCAS’s Member States were invited.

This one-day conference was an opportunity for RESSCAM to raise visibility on the role of Social Solidarity Economy (SSE) and make the AfDB officials more aware of its potential in this ambitious strategy. Subsequently, RESSCAM requested a working session with Mr MURARA, one of the AfDB managers. During this working session, the discussions focused on the need for the AfDB to integrate Social Solidarity Economy into the SEJA for the optimal achievement of its objectives. The AfDB manager committed to supporting SSE so that it could occupy its rightful place in SEJA. He also said he would and to take the RESSCAM’s request for partnership in Cameroon into account. Advocacy was also undertaken for a more global partnership with RAESS, the African network on SSE.

For RESSCAM, SEJA is an opportunity to:

  • Advocate for the establishment of a regulatory framework for SSE at a national level.
  • Participate in the value chains promotion project ​​that was recently launched by the AfDB in Cameroon.
  • Contribute more to the socio-economic reintegration of young people in Cameroon.

 

By Elise Pierrette Memong Meno – Epse Mpoung