The Minister of Youth and Civic Education has officially launched the ceremony of the Diaspora and Local Youth Joint-venture initiative in Yaoundé.
Minister Mounouna Foutsou through the Assistance Program for the Return and Integration of Young People from the Diaspora (Pari-Jedi), launched this initiative, placed under the high Patronage of the Head of State, President Paul BIYA.
MINJEC was accompanied by its counterparts; members of government like the Minister of Planning and Territorial Development (Minepat), the Minister of Livestock, Fisheries and Animal Industries (Minepia).
The President of the National Executive Bureau of the National Youth Council (Cnjc), Fadimatou Iyawa Ousmanou speaking at the launch said, "Cameroonian youth is a constant concern of the President of the Republic Paul BIYA", inviting young people to make good use of this platform.
Minister, Mounouna Foutsou, MINJEC stressed the importance of the contribution of young people from the Cameroonian Diaspora to the development of Cameroon, while he expressed gratitude to various stakeholders in the implementation of the initiative.
“Indeed, to meet the expectations and Instructions of the Head of State, Paul BIYA, concerning the establishment of incentive measures for the return of young people from the diaspora to Cameroon and accelerate their involvement in local development, the Government of the Republic, through the Ministry of Youth and Civic Education, launched in 2017, the Assistance Program for the Return and Integration of Young Diaspora - the Pari-jedi" he explained.
The general objective of the “Diaspora And Local Youth Joint-venture (Dialyj)” initiative is to create an incentive environment favorable to entrepreneurial expression, resulting from a voluntary and inclusive synergy between young people in the diaspora.
Making Cameroonians; their local peers to make them national champions of indigenous Cameroonian industrialization. It is a question of supporting the industrial development of Cameroon by mobilizing young people of the Cameroonian diaspora and their local peers in the creation of sectors and value chains likely to create jobs for other young people.
Specifically for this initiative, it will be a question of implementing innovative mechanisms, in particular the digital “scoring and matching” platform; set up a special “Dialyj” investment fund and accompanying engineering integrating the facilitation of access to investment incentives in Cameroon.
To finance the business creation projects of young entrepreneurs from the diaspora in joint-venture with young local entrepreneurs, either individually or in groups of young diaspora in promising areas with high potential for economic and technological growth, social, cultural and environmental.
As priorities, the initiative aims to develop entrepreneurial activities between young people in the diaspora and their local peers in the second generation agricultural sector; the poultry production sector; the fishing industry; the dairy chain and its derivatives; the renewable energy sector; the sector of the furniture industry and manufactured wood products; the digital economy sector; the local health sector; the production and sale of industrial machinery sector as well as the maintenance of machinery.
The automobile maintenance sector; the circular economy sector; the construction industry; the textile sector and the technological innovation sector, and also any other field deemed relevant for the emergence of Cameroon by 2035.
Speaking of the target, the initiative is aimed at targeting young people from the Cameroonian diaspora, aged 21 to 35, wishing to undertake in Cameroon with their local peers and to young Cameroonian entrepreneurs working in Cameroon aged 21 to 35, wishing to undertake with their peers in the diaspora.
As for the partners, these are the Sectors; of the Decentralized Territorial Collectivities; of the Diaspora; young local entrepreneurs; Leaders of associations and youth movements and finally Donors.
Prof. Essoh Elame presented the relevance, importance and impact of this initiative as part of the capitalization of the lifeblood of the Cameroonian Diaspora. To him, this initiative is a real opportunity to reconcile national development efforts from inside and outside.
It is therefore a question of valuing the knowledge that is centered on the SND30 and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (Odd). Consequently, the call for projects presented goes in the direction of enhancing and channeling knowledge for the emergence of Cameroon.
Young people in the diaspora are the concerns, focus of the Cameroonian government and therefore, the Head of State, Paul BIYA, has repeatedly invited them to come forward to contribute to the development of their country.
By Ndefru Melanie
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