Youth affairs minister, Mounouna Foutsou has monitored the establishment of municipal and regional youth councils by Minjec.
Launched on February 1, 2021 in Méri, Far North region, thanks to the events of the 55th edition of the Youth Day, the Youth Municipal Councils (CMJ) and Regional Youth Councils (CRJ) offer young people the unprecedented opportunity to immerse oneself in the management of local public affairs.
In a national context marked by the completion of the decentralization process. This held on August 12th, 2022, at the Djeuga Palace Hotel in Yaoundé, chaired the meeting to assess and monitor the establishment of its Municipal Councils and Regional Youth Councils in Cameroon.
It is a question for MINJEC to ensure the effectiveness and the smooth running of these. This ceremony was held in the presence of development partners such as UNICEF, Cvuc, Unfpa, Giz, Minddevel and many others.
The Secretary General of Minjec, Benga Zachée Robert Théophile, also chairman of the working group responsible for setting up the Cmj and Crj, made a presentation of the summary of the 2021 general report.
He returned to the context of implementation of these additional youth support entities and the legal anchoring that enshrines these entities. The Cmj and Crj find their foundation both in the National Development Strategy 2020-2030 (SND30), in particular in its second pillar devoted to the development of human capital and well-being.
In the regulatory mechanism of decentralization, those under 35 represent 79, 28% of the population and this fringe is characterized by the low participation of young people, especially young girls, in local development actions.
Despite the supervision efforts made by the public authorities, a weak perception of development issues and challenges still exist at the national level and locally. To this end, the Youth Parliament needs to device a means for the mobilization, reception, supervision and action of young people aged 15 to 34.
They need to voluntarily engage in a one-year course with a municipality in order to give their time, contribute and acquire or enhance knowledge, skills in public action applied to local development.
It is also an innovative framework for promoting the commitment and voluntary participation of young people in the management of local public affairs; a space for learning and initiation into responsible citizenship, intergenerational exchanges, construction and consolidation of civic awareness among young people.
The project targets, for a period of five (05) years, renewable, 66,000 young Cameroonians of both sexes.
Following Minister Mounouna Foutsou's appraisal, who welcomed the establishment of Youth Municipal Councils with the support of the partners present, recalled that the establishment of these youth bodies is part of the materialization of the vision of the President of the Republic, Head of State, Paul BIYA.
He then announced the establishment of the very first Regional Youth Council in the Far North region. It is on this note of hope that he declared open the meeting to evaluate the establishment of the Youth Municipal Councils.