Bright Light Projects enrolls 10 new beneficiaries for Skills Training at the Women Empowerment and Family Center in Buea-Cameroon under the Girls Shall Rise program.
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Bright Light Projects, an International NGO, operating in Cameroon, Sierra Leon and USA has again under their flagship program, “Girls Shall Rise“ enrolled ten girls at the Women Empowerment and Family Center in Buea, the South West Region of Cameroon. The provision of sustainable humanitarian aid to vulnerable persons in Cameroon remains a priority as one of their forefront programming areas. For the past years, Bright Light Projects (BLP) has continued to empower vulnerable persons in Cameroon.
The “Girls Shall Rise” The program which is taking place in Cameroon and Sierra Leone aims at empowering selected beneficiaries with skills such as Tailoring and fashion design, Hotel Management and Catering, Welding, ICT/computer, Hairdressing and cosmetology, and a host of others in selected training centers in Cameroon. Survivors of domestic violence and Gender-Based Violence, internally displaced girls affected by the Anglophone crisis in Cameroon, and post-civil war in Sierra Leone are our main targets for this ongoing livelihood Girls Shall Rise program.
As part of the ongoing Girls Shall Rise Program, BLP on 17 October 2023 launched another phase with the recruitment of 10 beneficiaries at the Women Empowerment and the Family Centre (WEFC) in Buea, the South West Region of Cameroon. Girls Shall Rise Program is one of BLP’s flagship program focusing on providing educational support, skills training, and advocacy for Survivors of Gender-Based Violence (GBV) specifically violence against women and children, Commercial Sex workers, and other vulnerable girls and women.
The ongoing conflict in the North West and South West Regions has led to a catastrophic humanitarian crisis with an increase of internally displaced persons from remote villages to major cities which are considered to be safe spaces like Buea. Most of these vulnerable persons live below the poverty line while girls and women are more vulnerable. Poverty, underdevelopment, and lack of job opportunities have caused the majority of internally displaced girls to be deprived of their basic right to education and have tremendously contributed to other social problems such as child marriage, and trafficking. Though the Cameroon government has the responsibility to protect the rights of these vulnerable persons, the BLP with the motto “rebuilding broken communities” has been on the field complementing government efforts in providing humanitarian response to the affected persons, especially to survivors of Gender-Based Violence by building their capacities towards sustainable livelihood.
BLP has since 2016 engaged beneficiaries with many training centers in Cameroon and Sierra Leon to empower its beneficiaries to become self-reliant and contribute to community development. This time around, we signed a memorandum of understanding with the Women Empowerment and the Family Centre in Buea to train 10 Beneficiaries. BLP has other trainees at Cameroon Opportunities Industrialization Centre in (COIC) Buea, and also at Royalty World at Mile 16 Bolifamba all in the southwest region of Cameroon.
During the launching ceremony, the Chief Executive Officer, Mr Franco Bonghan reiterated that, “Empowering rural women entrepreneurs is critical and our best shot at eradicating global poverty for a Sustainable and Inclusive Future,” It is worth noting that, to complement the Girls Shall Rise Program, BLP recently launched the Young Men Entrepreneurship Program (YME) to engage boys and young men in entrepreneurship.
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.
