Introduction
Better Breed Cameroon is a not for profit youth-led association with the head office in Buea. The association strives to complete at least four major projects per year. The nature of some of these projects are fixed while some vary. The four major projects carried out this year were the: Sama Randy Youth Write Essay Competition, Better Breed Reading Caravan, Women’s Month Campaign and Better Essentials First Aid Workshop. Detailed in this report is a description of each of these projects.
About Better Breed Cameroon
Better Breed Cameroon is a youth-led, youth-development-focused non-profit association founded in January 2013. Its members believe in the adage which goes; “It is easier to rear a whole child than to fix a broken adult.” Thus, they work towards and advocate for more and better investment in Cameroon’s young people believing that youth empowerment is the most sustainable form of development.
The association which is officially registered with the office of the Senior Divisional Officer of Fako Division as No.072/G.37/D14/Vol II/SAAJP, operates from its seat in Buea with members all over the country contributing ideas, time, and funds towards the quarterly projects aimed at raising a more conscious, civic-minded, capable, and skilled Cameroonian youth population set to lead and serve. As of this year, roughly 500 Cameroonian youths have benefited from the variety of Better Breed Cameroon’s projects.
Projects
A. Sama Randy Youth Write Contest (SRYWC) 2020
Essay submissions for this year’s edition was under the theme: “Unsung, Overlooked, Forgotten & Undervalued.” Participants were called to uncover unrecognized and undervalued Cameroonian nation builders. The aim was to encourage undergraduate students, in higher education institutions in Cameroon, to investigate and discover stories about our people. Stories which often are distorted and used against us due to our ignorance.
Entries were required to comprise a minimum of 1000 words and maximum of 1,500 words in English and submitted via email to the association’s email address; contact@betterbreedcameroon.org. Participants were required to include their contact information in the email body whose subject line read ‘2020 Sama Randy Youth Write Contest Submission. Essays were to be submitted as attachments to their emails and be void of any identifying information.
The competition was launched on the 1st of December 2019 and the deadline set for the 29th of February 2020. Submissions were graded based on intellectual originality, proper citation where necessary, the strength and presentation of arguments, spelling, grammar and compliance with the rules of submission. The panel of judges comprised Mr Collins Fonsho and Mr Nguimba Patrick Mayoh. Twenty-five entries were received and each judge selected the best three.
The first three winning essays were written by;
- Njoke-Tangwing Raisa Ngwenyi, a Systems Engineering student at the Africa Institute of Technology in Bamenda, for the first prize of 100,000FCFA,
- Nanyongo Grace Molua an Accounting student at the University of Buea, for the second prize of 75,000FCFA,
- Mbianyor Bill-Erich Nkongo Agboryah, a medical student at the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences of the University of Douala, for the third prize of 50,000FCFA
Three honorarium winners were each awarded 20,000FCFA. The honorarium winners were:
- Raisa Foletia, a student in the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Buea.
- Mafany Tande Myles, a student in the Department of Computer Engineering, University of Buea.
- Basambo Vernyuy Fabrics, a student in the Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University of Yaounde I.
To protect the wellbeing of all members, volunteers and winners due to risks posed by COVID-19, no award ceremony was hosted. Prize money was transferred to all winners via Mobile Money. Award certificates were mailed out through travel agencies by Better Breed volunteer Djomo Anne Kamsu.
B. Women’s Campaign Month
During the month of March, partly in response to the low number of entries received in the SRYWC, Better Breed Cameroon took up the challenge and hosted a #HerStory online campaign. The aim of this was to uncover the stories of Cameroonian women figures. The month long campaign was sectioned into the three different themes:
- #KnowHerName,
- #SayHerName and
- #SeeOurWalk.
The first of March was devoted to the campaign launch. The next ten days were followed the #KnowHerName theme. The aim of this was to highlight little known Cameroonian women who shattered glass ceilings through their work in different professional spheres from art to activism, scientific feats to political participation. The following ten days were dedicated to #SayHerName theme. In this segment, stories of little known Cameroonian women who were victims of horrible violence were shared. These ranged from liberation fighters to victims of terrorism. The final ten days were used to showcase the journey towards gender equity by highlighting notable milestones. This campaign was carried out on all Better Breed social media Platforms and reached over 2000 persons with over 500 engagements.
C. Better Breed Reading Caravan 2020
This year’s edition of the Better Breed Reading Caravan was scheduled to hold from the 23rd of March 2020 to the 23rd of April 2020 in all the ten regions of Cameroon. To this end, Better Breed Cameroon partnered with Open Dreams to put together a team of 14 volunteers. For the reading sessions, 250 books were purchased. Suitable books were purchased at affordable rates from EISEVRI. Unfortunately, due to the shutdown of schools and increasing risks posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the caravan was suspended.
D. Bare Essentials First Aid Workshop 2020
The first edition of the Bare Essentials Workshop, held in memory of late Dr. Susan Enjema Aweh, was held on the 4th of December 2020. This event was carried out in partnership with Health and Research Organization (HERO) Cameroon and Favour Low-Cost Health Care Foundation (FALCOH) Cameroon. Trainers and some training materials were provided by members of the partnering organisations. The event catered to 25 participants, 7 of whom were trainers. An open call for participants was sent out by Better Breed Cameroon through a Google Form whose link was shared on its social media platforms.
Participant selection was done based on the likely impact each participant would generate from skills learnt. The event was fully paid for participants by members of Better Breed Cameroon. The members who contributed were: Djafa Christine, Mallah Tabot, Monique Kwachou and Brian Tamungang. Prior to the event, there had been rumours of a lockdown and this posed a challenge as 5 participants were absent due to it. This brought the number of participating trainees to18. Also, there were some technical challenges as the audio quality of some of the laptops used during presentations was poor.
E. Youth of the Month Feature and Opportunities
As usual, we shared national and international opportunities for Cameroonian youth on our website (www.betterbreedcameroon.org) and our social media platforms. In addition, we regularly featured Cameroonian youths who are making a difference in their community on our website. The aim of which is to inspire other youths in our ‘Youth of the Month feature.’ The year closed with the launch of the 2021 Sama Randy Youth Write Essay Contest.