"Les Bambin"

Today, Cameroonian youths face diverse challenges; from rising juvenile delinquency to falling moral and ethical standards of adults in various aspects of public life. All these provide wrong models for children to grow up within high moral standards necessary to build responsible and corruption-free societies when they grow up. According to Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index (CPI) of 2021 on Cameroon, which stands at 144th least corrupt nation out of 180 countries, there is an urgent need to accelerate the fight against corruption and other anti-values if we are to attain our shared vision of emergence by 2035. To imagine that this ranking is Cameroon’s best fit over the past five years suggests that much effort to fight these vices is required.

Building a World of Integrity

It is in this regard that CAMPEACI in collaboration with Transparency International Cameroon (TI-C) engages youth in a sensitization campaign through football that seeks to address key cross sectional issues affecting them. It is no news that Cameroon is a prominent football nation not only in Africa but the world at large, and this, owing to the passion of most Cameroonians to the sport. Football is a major crowd pulling event that brings together people of different races, culture, religion, age, ethnicity and gender and is used from education to health, politics and justice for varied purposes. With the possibility of this tournament bringing together about people, this will serve as a perfect platform to raise awareness and sensitize the youths on the importance of moral values, fight against corruption, vices and other anti-values.

The UN 2250 Resolution which was adopted by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) in December 2015 highlights the role of youths in Peace Building. Accordingly, this initiative which has received admiration and blessings from the FECAFOOT President of the Mfoundi Division is looking to get Cameroonian youths to meaningfully participate in building peaceful, just, equitable and prosperous communities for the present and future generations.

The theory of change that guides this campaign is based on the conviction that if children are exposed to the right information at an early age; if they are made to understand the negative consequences of corruption and other anti-values to the life of the country, they would actively fight against them starting from home. While many have erroneously felt that the battle against corruption and other anti-values should be limited to the working class, both private and public sectors, CAMPEACI strongly believes that if children are trained with the right values, when they grow up they will practice them.
In view of becoming an emergent nation by 2035, we need to today work towards a sustainable change the mindset of the youth. This sustainable change in mindset will save the millions of dollars that are disappearing through corrupt practices. This will fuel job creation, creation of schools, end hunger, debilitating poverty, provision of social amenities, and go a long way to clean up Cameroon’s image at the National and International levels.

More information: 1st Edition Report