Job Opportunity, Cameroon. UN Women needs the services of an Independent Consultant in the  North West and South West Regions

Deadline: 18 May 2021. The scope of the Needs Assessment is to conduct an education and labour market assessment focusing on the aspirations and opportunities for young women in relation to the local labour market. It equally focuses on identifying the support needed to facilitate the transition of targeted women and young women to gainful employment and entrepreneurship opportunities in their respective communities and beyond. This will be in targeted locations in the North West and South-West regions of Cameroon.

Background: The United Nations (UN) Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security.

Aligned with the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, UN Women’s Second Chance Education and Vocational Learning (SCE) Programme is a solution for women who have missed out on education. Second Chance Education and vocational learning Project (SCE) is a UN Women’s Project that aims at breaking current trends and providing comprehensive solutions for marginalized women and young women who have missed out on education and who are at risk of being left behind.  SCE is executed under the canopy of UN Women’s Leadership, Empowerment, Access & Protection in Crisis Response (LEAP) program that addresses immediate needs of refugees, IDPs and host communities. In this light, the implementation of SCE in Cameroon focuses on conflict affected areas. The project started in Cameroon in 2018 in the East,  Admawa and Far north regions and has reached almost 12,000 men and women, providing 2500 women and girls with professional trainings (Crop farming, animal husbandry, petty trade and tailoring) and start-up kits that has enabled them become autonomous.  The grandiose results recorded so far in three regions (East, Adamawa and Far North), impressed the funder and thus recommends the extension of the project in North West and South West regions that are also presently facing socio-political crisis

The two regions are facing socio political crisis which degenerated into armed conflict between the Cameroonian army and separatists fighters for close to five years now. Conflicts between armed groups and the national army, and fear of being assaulted by armed groups have reduced the presence of public institutions, contractors, and civil society organizations in these regions. The combination of these factors including the low economic opportunities due to ghost towns policy imposed by separatists and the destruction of houses, public buildings, and social amenities forced communities mainly women and children to migrate inside the two regions (toward more secured places) or to neighboring municipalities outside the North West and South West regions.

this crisis in the North West and South West regions started in in 2016like a joke and  escalated into an increased violent conflict in 2018, triggering 459,000 displacements distributed inside and outside the regions.  Out of the 1,001,279 IDPs recorded by UNHCR in September 2020[1], 51% are children. In general, 20.5% are located in the West, Littoral and Adamaoua region. The majority are from the North West and South West region (NWSW).  Only 3.8% of IDPs come from other regions. Among IDPs, 53% are women. Overall, 46% are youth and children under 18. The active population represents 50% of the IDPs compared to 4% of the elderly (60 years and older)[2].

From the observations made during the pre needs assessment mission conducted In the two regions from the 26/04 – 05/05/2021, we have discovered a population difficult to identify because of the loss of their civil status documents, these populations live crammed into makeshift housing with very limited hygiene and sanitation conditions, very prejudicial for the health of women and children in particular. Income-generating activities most often come down to poorly decent jobs in the informal sector or prostitution for young girls. Some of them who remained in their localities are regularly raped or sexually harassed.  In addition to the school fees which they are most often unable to pay, the lack of civil documentation is a real difficulty for children of school age. the Covid_19 pandemic, adds a layer of vulnerability to this population plagued by survival concerns. The local authorities report increased pressure on basic social services, the precariousness of which was already remarkable long before the arrival of these populations.

In addition to the existing deeply rooted discriminatory cultural practices that already expose women to vulnerable situations before the crisis, women’s vulnerability situation becomes aggravated with the challenges of crisis including increased of gender based violence. Moreover, the conflict has generally restricted women’s freedom of movement and has greatly affected their level of education and employment. Many girls have been dropped out of schools over more than four years now.  Many have also lost their jobs in the informal sector.

[1] https://data2.unhcr.org/en/documents/details/78879

[2] OCHA.December 2019. Cameroon: North-West and South-West Regions.IDPs and Returnees factsheet. A recent report of OCHA and MINAT under completion indicated that the Norh West and South West regions have Nord-ouest et sud-ouest 409173 IDPs, Littoral region: 80925, West region: 162726, Centre region: 5293, Adamaoua region: 5300.

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Berinyuy Cajetan, Publisher

Berinyuy Cajetan is the founder and publisher of Human Rights and Legal Research Centre (HRLRC) since 2017. He has intensive experience in strategic communications for Civil Society Organizations, campaign and advocacy, and social issues. He has an intensive experiencing in human rights monitoring, documentation and reporting.