ONGOING PROJECT
Brief Discription:
This is a One Year Project which seeks to strengthen previous endeavours towards building peace through Conflict Transformation by different communities. For a more holistic approach toward achieving sustainable peace, the project involves women, men & youth as key defenders of peace through well-structured Community-Based Networks.
Initially, the project targeted 08 communities; Balikumbat, Bambalang, Bamukumbit, Mbesa, Baligashu, Baligangsing, Bawock and Bali Nyonga. However, with the high level of insecurity and complete inaccessibility of these areas, we have decided to target well organized village communities of Internally Displace Persons based in Bamenda town.
It has two (02) Outcomes;
1. Youths are empowered to contribute towards Peace and Sustainable Development in target communities
2. Women Peace Committees, Men and Youth are empowered to effectively identify the signs of possible conflict and contribute towards addressing them.
Nov14
Justice and Peace Commission Members from Parishes and Elected Members at Archdiocesan Level Gain Knowledge on Stress Management
This took place on Saturday the 14th of November 2020 at the Auto Data Center, Big Mankon, facilitated by Mme. Mbianga Shalotte, JPC Archdiocesan Chairperson, and Mme. Diana Kume, Chairperson of the Commission in St. Theresa Parish, Azire, with support from the Justice and Peace Service.
It came as a follow up commitment taken at an earlier workshop on Stress Management, Trauma Healing and Resilience that took place from Wednesday 18th to Sunday 21st October 2020, facilitated by experts from Mission 21.
As the population of the Archdiocese in particular, and that of English Speaking Cameroon in general continues to be overwhelmed with the negative effects of the ongoing Armed Conflict, added to the usual pressures of meeting their day-to-day needs, this workshop had as raison d’être, to multiply the message and skills gained on managing stress to other stakeholders of the Commission so that a multiplier effect can in tend be achieved.
This, in all, is another attempt of the Commission to begin to put in place early recovery measures which are very necessary to curb the effects of the war on the physical, emotional, intellectual, as well as the spiritual well-being of community members so that they can always be able to fish for themselves, rather than always given fish whenever we get to post conflict.
The workshop was very interact and interspersed with fun activities and games, added to exercises that made participant laugh and play, thereby relaxing and relieving themselves from the burdens of life, which must only be managed than allowed to deal with them.
It ended with participants elaborating their individual stress management plans and taking commitments to work towards realizing them. The JPS on its part, assured them its unflinching support to this regards wherever there is a challenge
Justice & Peace Organizes Workshop on Stress Management, Trauma Healing & Resilience.
This 03 Day Workshop, facilitated by Wango Y. Bennaka and George V. Minang of Mission 21, ran from Sunday the 18th to Wednesday the 21st of October 2020 in the premises of La Verna Spiritual Center, Foncha Street Bamenda.
It had as participants, some of our project beneficiaries (amongst them Internally Displaced Persons), Justice and Peace Commissions members, and Staff of the Justice and Peace Service.
Characterized by experience sharing, group works, daily prayers and evaluation, the workshop had as objectives to help participants know the Differentiate between Trauma and Stress, Understand the causes, symptoms and effects of Trauma, Know the different types of Trauma, Understand the different responses to trauma, be able to understand what happens when trauma is ignored, and what Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is all about.
- While they departed very refreshed, especially with the effects of the ongoing armed conflict in English Speaking Cameroon, participants expressed gaining knowledge which has built their capacities to a level where they are more resilient (bounced back) and are willing to help others back in their families and communities to be able to manage stress and trauma as a contribution to building a stable, balanced and centered society.
Individual, as well as group action plans were elaborated as a commitment to effectively transmit the message of the workshop to other stakeholders living in the war torn communities of the Archdiocese. These will be put into effect in the days ahead, and monitoring and evaluation will follow suit, with possibilities of scaling up as need arises.
JPS Empowers Women & Youth Leaders in the Bamenda III Council Area on Gender Based Violence in Emergencies
Facilitated by the Coordinator of the Service, this One-Day Workshop held on the 13th of August 2020 at the Conference Hall of Bamenda III Council with over 50 Women and Youth actively taking part, coming from over 20 quarters in the municipality.
The facilitator defined Gender-Based Violence as an umbrella term for any harmful act that is perpetrated against a person’s will, and that is based on socially ascribed (gender) differences between males and females. It includes acts that inflict physical, sexual or mental harm or suffering, threats of such acts, coercion, and other deprivations of liberty. These acts can occur in public or in private.
To ensure more comprehension, she also defined Sex and Gender, while using some of the participants to act role plays. She also defined Emergency as a situation that poses an immediate risk to health, life, property, or environment, then went further to present how GBV manifests in such a situation, particularly in Armed Conflict, while highlighting its trends, with 01 in every 03 women suffering from it.
From the Group Works where participants shared their views on common GBV issues in their localities and proposing strategies & solutions to go about them, they shared their results in plenary which mostly centered around emotional, economica and sexual GBV.
As a way forward, among others, they proposed a formal collaboration between the council and the JPS, involving quarter heads in the fight against GBV.
On her part, the Second Deputy Mayor promised the re-establishment of the Bamenda III Women’s Forum, creating a WhatsApp Group for participants to keep in touch and share their experiences, and like other participants, expressed the need for the creation of a center for counseling and a women’s Empowerment center within the council.
Thw Workshop ended with the JPS distributing some of its educative materials (posters & flyers) on GBV, Resolution 1325 on Women in Peacebuilding Processes, Trafficking in Persons, etc. and exercise books, while promising to organize another workshop in the future on Reporting Cases of GBV.
JPS Bamenda Empowers Female Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) on Bookkeeping
This initiative is part of JPS’ early recovery program in response to the ongoing Armed Conflict in the North West & South West Regions of Cameroon.
It aimed at empowering participants, who have business ideas, with skills to keep record of the daily running of their businesses as an imperative, while also being able to track progress, and making conscious decisions to ensure they make profits.
This is to ensure that they become economically viable, support their basic needs and those of other IDPs within their households.
Facilitated by Seka kiven Arnold, Accounting Consultant, it took place on Wednesday, 22nd July 2020 Auto Data Resource Center, Big Mankon, and attended by 10 Female IDPs selected from different parts of Bamenda Town with business ideas such as crop farming, hair dressing, barbing, sale of food items, etc.
In the days ahead, accounts will be opened for each of them, and they will be supported with Start Up Capital by the Service based on the Business Plans they submitted.
The Justice & Peace Service supports the Center for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa (CHRDA) to Organize Workshops on Monitoring, Documenting & Reporting Human Rights Violations
