National Workshop : For a better involvement and an effective participation of women in the national process for the reform of the security sector in Cameroon

Since July 2019, FES PSCC has been implementing the "Security for All" project, co-funded by the European Union Delegation in Dakar, which aims to promote inclusive security and democratic governance through the participation of civil society organisations in Mali, Nigeria, Cameroon and the ECOWAS region. One of the main components of this project is the establishment of a regional women's platform for security sector reform and governance.  The operationalisation activities of this platform were started respectively with an expert meeting and a regional conference for the launch followed by virtual sessions for capacity building of civil society actors (in SSR, advocacy, lobbying and communication) and cohesion between the Defence and Security Forces as well as discussions on better involvement of women and consideration of their needs in this area. Since then, several Cameroonian civil society organisations have joined the regional platform in accordance with the provisions discussed at previous meetings.

Tt is to follow up on this momentum of mobilization for the operationalization of the platform at the national level and for capacity building of civil society organizations, that the Competence Centre for Peace and Security in Sub-Saharan Africa of the FES Regional Office in Dakar, in collaboration with the FES Cameroon, organized a national workshop in Yaounde from 26 to 27 August 2021.

This meeting was an opportunity for participants to work on the opportunities, means and strategies necessary for an inclusive platform for effective collaboration between defence and security forces and civil society organisations in Cameroon.

An action plan with activities to strengthen the involvement of women and civil society organisations in the implementation of efforts related to security sector reform and governance was developed by the participants. Similarly, a coordination framework for the Cameroon women's platform was composed by consensus and will be put in place after its validation at the regional conference of the women's platform scheduled for October 2021 in Dakar.