Bright Light Projects Cameroon has successfully empowered 14 Internally Displaced Girls with Income Generating skills in Bamenda, the North West Region of Cameroon.
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An International nonprofit and nongovernmental organization, ‘Bright Light Projects Cameroon’ have successfully empowered 14 internally displaced girls with livelihood skills ranging from tailoring and fashion designing, Event planning and management, to Hair Dressing (Pedicure and Manicure).
The Bright Light Project Cameroon is changing the narrative within the Civil Society Sectors operating in the area of humanitarian services. Notwithstanding, providing immediate humanitarian aid to the needy in our communities, Bright Light Projects Cameroon has tailored its aid towards empowering the underprivileged with sustainable and income-generating skills.
According to Mr Franco Bonghan, the Founder and Executive Director of Bright Light Projects, it is time for Civil Society Organizations operating in humanitarian settings to take into consideration the long-term humanitarian assistance that is more sustainable and income-generating. Since the Anglophone armed conflict escalated in 2017, the Bright Light Projects Cameroon have been at the forefront of empowering young girls with income-generating skills.
This time around, on 25 February 2023, the Bright Light Projects Cameroon graduated 14 girls who were recruited under the ‘Girls Shall Rise Campaign Program’ which was launched in 2021 to support internally displaced girls with vocational skills.
During the training which took place for 12 Months in Bamenda, the Bright Light Projects Cameroon hired the services of different training institutions including; Velma Vocational Institute (for Tailoring and Fashion Design), God’s Grace Décor (for Event Planning and Management), and Sister Yvette Salon (for Hair Dressing (Pedicure and Manicure).
While reiterating the need to assist those in need in times of conflict, the Founder and Executive director of Bright Light Projects maintained that ‘All the 14 graduates are internally displaced young girls from neighbouring villages escaping the ongoing armed conflict in the North West and South West Regions.’
In the North West and South West Regions of Cameroon, there has been an increase in population in relatively safe towns like Bamenda. As a result, there have been an increase in insecurity and social ills like an increase in commercial sex workers, domestic violence and gender-based violence.
According to the executive director of Bright Light Projects Cameroon, The Girls Shall Rise Program was a timely and welcoming initiative, which was aimed at contributing towards addressing some of these insecurities through the provision of vocational training skills.
Girls Shall Rise Campaign focuses 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.
Bright Light Project Cameroon is committed to protecting the rights and freedoms of vulnerable persons, especially women and children to support them to become self-reliant and contribute positively to the development of their communities.
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.
