3 - Friedrich-Ebert

Policy Paper by CAMYOSFOP (Cameroon Youths and Students Forum for Peace)
Title:
“Towards Policy Reforms in Cameroon: Unemployment
and Migration”
Content:
1. Executive Summary
2. Strengths and weaknesses of structures in charge of youth employment and migration.
2.1. Institutional and regulatory framework on youth employment and migration in
Cameroon.
2.2. Ministry of Youth Affairs.
2.2.1. Rural and Urban Youth Support Program (PAJER-U).
2.2.2. Youth Socio-Economic Integrated Project (PIFMAS).
2.3. Ministry of Employment and Vocational Training (MINEFOP).
2.3.1. National Employment Fund (NEF).
2.3.2. Integrated Support Project for Actors of the Informal Sector (PIASI).
2.4. A critical appraisal of youth employment programs in Cameroon.
3. Background on workshop on youth unemployment and migration in Cameroon.
4. Context and justification of the workshop.
5. Voices of the Youth.
5.1. Outcome document of the national workshop on youth unemployment and migration.
“Towards policy reforms on unemployment and migration in Cameroon.”
1. Executive Summary
The Cameroon Youths and Students Forum for Peace (CAMYOSFOP), an NGO working for peace,
youth development, moral and traditional values and human rights in Cameroon, after critically
analyzing the situation of youth unemployment and migration in Cameroon elaborated this policy
paper with ten theses on the need for policy reform on youth employment and migration in
Cameroon. These theses are;
1
1) Youth unemployment is one of the major challenges in Cameroon as thousands of young
people find no outlet after school and are therefore forced to engage in the search for greener
pastures abroad. The United States of America, Europe and increasingly China have become
favorite destinations for Cameroonian youths who often are forced to travel clandestinely.
2) Government has become aware of the dangers posed by the growing rate of youth
unemployment and migration, and has created specific ministries and programs to cater for
the challenges faced by Cameroonian youths.
3) The Cameroonian civil society has also taken great concern in this daunting phenomenon. It
was on the basis of this concern that CAMYOSFOP in partnership with FES organized a
three day workshop with youth organizations from the 10 regions of Cameroon to brainstorm
on these issue(s).
4) Considering the impact of the ongoing programs on youth employment and migration, there
is an urgent need for a critical analysis of these programs in overcoming the challenges and
ameliorate policies on youth employment and migration.
5) It is imperative for government to align youth and other civil society organizations in
formulating policies that would affect the well being of the Cameroonian youths.
6) There is an urgent need for the government to take a keen interest in solving the problems of
youth unemployment and migration by re-designing a national youth employment policy
which would then form the basis for specific youth employment and migration programs.
7) There is a need for the government to create an enabling environment that would favour
access by youths to bank credits, lessen the burden of business establishments and tax
exoneration for starters.
8) Agriculture being the mainstay of Cameroon’s economy needs to be modernized so as to
become attractive to youths.
9) There is a need for an overhaul of the Cameroon educational system and make it to become
job oriented.
10) It is the fervent wish of CAMYOSFOP that this policy document be used by the government
and its partners in formulating sustainable policies on youth employment and migration.
2. Strength and weaknesses of structures in charge of Youth Employment and Migration
2.1. Institutional and regulatory framework on Youth Employment in Cameroon
The problem of youth unemployment in Cameroon may be the greatest headache to the government.
The situation worsened with the unprecedented economic crisis Cameroon suffered in the 1990s
2
causing the government to stop recruitment into the public service. The privatization and liquidation
of most public corporations: all prescriptions of the World Bank/International Monetary Fund
sponsored structural programs aimed at re-launching the economy made things worse. In 2004 the
government began to focus once again on the growing number of unemployed youths who were
forced by the circumstances to massively move out of the country in search of greener pastures
mainly in Europe and the USA. In order to address this issue the government created the Ministry of
Youth Affairs and the Ministry of Employment and Vocational Training on December 8, 2004. We
shall not be attempting in this policy paper to assess the institutional capacity of these two ministries
in handling youth problems in general and the problem of unemployment but shall focus on some of
the flagship programs they have initiated to resolve the problems of youth unemployment and
migration. It should be recalled that most of the programs on youths employment and migration are
cross cutting between these two ministries.
2.2. The Ministry of Youth Affairs - Setting a Framework for Youths Emancipation and
Employment
The Ministry of Youth Affairs focuses specifically on challenges and problems faced by
Cameroonian youths. It was borne of the separation of the then Ministry of Youths and Sports
following the reorganization of the government on December 8, 2004. The Ministry is therefore in
charge of elaborating strategies and policies that aims to facilitate the contribution of youths to
Cameroon’s development. One of the greatest challenges facing Cameroonian youths is
unemployment. According to statistics from the Ministry of Youth Affairs about 11% of youths
between the ages of 15 – 29 years old are unemployed and this situation is worsened in the urban
areas. The underemployment rate for youths between the ages of 15 and 19 years and 20 and 24
years is 94% and 84% respectively. Douala and Yaoundé have the highest rates of youth
unemployment. Against this backdrop, the government through the Ministry of Youth Affairs has
designed specific programs to solve youth unemployment funded mostly from the Heavily Indebted
Poor Countries Initiative (HIPC) for which Cameroon qualified in March 2005.
2.2.1. Rural and Urban Youth Support Program (PAJER-U)
This program piloted by the Ministry of Youth Affairs is aimed at promoting the socio-economic
insertion of Cameroonian youths (educated and non-educated) through social mobilization, training
and financing so as to enable them to become veritable actors of development. The programme’s
specific objectives include mobilizing 5000 youths to develop their competencies in the creation of
micro-enterprises either as individuals or groups and to become employed or self-employed, put in
3
place a well-tailored financing mechanism for youths’ employment and self-employment and followup, create financing structures for small and medium sized enterprises in all the ten regions. These
objectives are quite laudable considering the expected results after the 3 year pilot phase of the
program. We shall look at the program’s actual results at the close of its three years pilot phase and
later make a holistic appraisal of the results.
According to the Ministry of Youths Affairs, PAJER-U in its first year mobilized and trained almost
5000 youths, 889 youth micro-activities received a maximum of 1 million francs each and 50 junior
enterprises by youths were funded at the maximum of 25 million francs1. PAJER-U has received a
total of 29,879 applications and some 4 170 youths mobilised in the 17 branches of the program.
Equally, 1 275 business plans were prepared for the period of 2007 and 2008. In 2007, 185 micro
activities were funded and in 2008 some 723 micro activities were also funded. In 2009, 2 735
youths from 58 Divisions were mobilised by the program. In the mean time, in December 2009, the
credit committee accorded 1 56 000 000 FCFA to 1 484 projects. If these results are credible, then
PAJER-U could be considered as having met its objectives.
2.2.2. Youth Socio-economic Integrated Project for the Manufacturing of Sporting Materials
(PIFMAS)
This program is under the tutelage of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and unlike PAJER-U that is
nation-wide. The program is focused on just four regions of the country: Far North, North, Adamawa
and the Northwest regions. Another major characteristic of this programme according to the project
document is that it targets only youths of between 18 and 35 years who are school drop-outs or have
never gone to school. It is expected that this programme through funding from the HIPC Funds
would help youths in the programme intervention zone to create micro-enterprises specialized in the
manufacturing of sporting materials using local materials. The cost of setting up this programme
validated in 2003 was 1 275 490 000FCFA. Since the putting in place of PIFMAS in 2007 it has
already received 1 465 requests from youths.
The programme expected results at the end of its initial phase include the mobilization of 640 youths,
training of 160 youths as potential producers of sporting materials, put in place 64 production and
marketing centres, train 16 youth groups every year in the manufacturing of sporting materials,
administrative and financial management techniques and the production of 38000 balls and 400 nets
1
Cameroon Tribune, Wednesday, January 10, 2010, pp.7 – 9.
4
to be sold in the national and regional markets. According to the Minister of Youth Affairs, the
programme outcomes include the training of 127 youths between 2007 and 2008 with funding
provided to 101 trained youths.2 According to the Coordinator of the programme, Levy H. Oyono, in
2009 PIFMAS mobilised and inserted 421 youths and trained 352 youths. 35 cooperatives were
created; 8 in each of the three regions of the Grand North and 11 in the North West Region. In total
880 balls and 165 nets were manufactured.3
2.3. The Ministry of Employment and Vocational Training
This Ministry just like that in charge of Youth Affairs was created following the reorganization of
the government on December 8, 2004. While it is not directly responsible for youth affairs, it has the
daunting task to create opportunities to enable youths and other unemployed persons to obtain
gainful employment by creating an enabling environment on skills training. Like the Ministry of
Youth Affairs, the Ministry of Employment and Vocational Training has designed specific programs
that aim to uplift Cameroonian youths from the dungeon of unemployment by providing them with
skills that would help them to become either employed or self-employed. The programmes of this
Ministry are PIAASI and the NEF.
2.3.1. The National Employment Fund (NEF)
The NEF is one of the first structures put in place in 1990 with a direct responsibility to cater for the
increasing youth’s unemployment. It is placed directly under the tutelage of the Ministry of
Employment and Vocational Training. The NEF has over the years designed specific programmes
aimed at bringing youths into the mainstream of the country’s work force. One of the flagship
programmes of the NEF in recent years has been the support program for the return of Cameroonians
living abroad and to facilitate their re-insertion into the society. This program is supported by the
German government. According to the NEF, 1 400 youths have received advice on employment and
migration. The program has also facilitated the insertion of 150 returnee youths with 12 of them in
gainful self employment.4
Other programmes with focus on resolving youth unemployment include the support program for the
development of rural employment. This program aims at helping youths in rural areas of Cameroon
to become gainfully employed and discourages rural-urban migration with the consequence of
2
Ibid.
Interview with Levy H. Oyono, Coordinator of PAJER-U and PIFMAS, February 2010.
4
Tabi Akono François, ‘Les stratégies et les actions menées par le MINEFOP et le gouvernement Camerounais
dans le cadre de la lute contre le chômage et la question des migrations clandestines des jeunes,’ August 2009, p. 7.
3
5
increasing the rate of urban youth unemployment. In 2008, the NEF placed 16 981 on salaried
employment, 6 563 on independent employment and funded 4 192 micro projects giving a total of 23
544 socio-economic insertion. In 2009, the NEF received and oriented 28 430 job seekers giving a
total of 309 786 of persons received since its creation. The number of placements stood at 34 243.
That is 23 935 salaried employment and 10 308 independently employed. In a whole, 152 597
placements have been made by the NEF. Equally in 2009, 8 955 were trained, while 6 679 promoters
of projects were set up for 66.359 jobs generated.5
2.3.2. Integrated Support Project for Actors of the Informal Sector (PIAASI)
This program was designed with the specific objective of training and facilitating financing of
income generating projects submitted by youths. It should be noted that the informal sector in
Cameroon presently recruits more youths. In 2007 PIAASI received 1 450 applications for credits.
1.160 billion FCFA was disbursed for these applications. This action led to the creation of 5 650
direct and indirect employment. This figure increased in 2008 with the creation of 9,960 direct and
indirect employment support to 2,490 promoters of micro-projects at an amount of 1.312 billion
francs.6
In 2009 the project was given a new orientation which involved the implications of
divisional delegations in reinforcing the capacity of actors of the informal sector and to focus more
on youth groups like common initiative groups and economic interest groups.
2.4. A critical appraisal of programs on youth employment and migration in Cameroon
In this section we shall attempt to make a critique of the different programs. It is good to remark that
it maybe early to attempt a vivid evaluation of the different programs put in place by the government
to solve youth unemployment and migration especially as enabling youths achieve success in
pursuing employment requires long term concerted actions that span a wide range of policies and
programmes. Success in designing youth employment programs cannot be achieved through
fragmented and isolated interventions. The impression one gets from looking at the different
programmes in Cameroon is the multitude of government ministries involved in the programmes.
This could pose a problem of coordination. An over-arching and essential guideline for addressing
the challenge of youth employment is the need for an integrated strategy for rural development,
growth and job creation.
5
Cameroon Tribune, Wednesday, January 10, 2010, p.8.
Tabi Akono François, ‘Les stratégies et les actions menées par le MINEFOP et le gouvernement
Camerounais,’ August 2009, p. 7.
6
6
One weakness of youth employment programmes in Cameroon is that, they do not address gender
and age specific challenges of young people. There is also a need to ensure that the aspirations of the
youths match the realities of the labour market. A problem with most of the government institutions
is that they seem to focus more on young entrepreneurs usually followed by a scheme of multiservice
programmes. It would have been expected that the multiservice program approach should instead be
used to integrate the unemployed youths into the labour force through the provision of skills training
programmes.
Some of the programs like PIFMAS are limited in their territorial coverage – covering just 4 out of
the 10 regions. Yaoundé and Douala for instance host the highest number of unemployed youths and
any programme that fails to take into consideration youths of these two regions may just be doing
little in solving youth unemployment. It is not clear whether any of these programs have undergone
an extensive evaluation so as to drum up strong policy conclusions and whenever such evaluations
are done, there is need to analyse the effect of policy interventions.
The different programs on youth employment in Cameroon are designed as credit schemes with
financing provided to youths on reimbursement terms. The period allocated for reimbursement of
these loan-like financing is often considered very short. According to some beneficiaries, the loans
are supposed to be repaid in 15 months. Economically this is a very unviable option as the
beneficiaries are obliged to repay the loan not from the profits of the businesses but rather from the
business capital obtained from the programme. The programmes are more interested in obtaining the
results outlined in the project document such as the mobilization and training of 5000 youths
(PAJER-U) and not effectively solving the problems of unemployment through sustainable
programmes. Since the youths are to repay the loans from their capital, it would not be surprising to
find the same youths jobless after obtaining the financing.
The different programs probably apart from Rural Employment Development Program (PADER)
piloted by the NEF have little to do with agriculture, considering that a substantial share of the
population is attached to agriculture especially in the rural areas. It therefore becomes apparent that
any development agenda must recognise that in the short term only rural activities farm or non-farm
can effectively create occupation for new job seekers. According to the World Bank report, making
well balanced choices for employment intensive investments in agriculture and other rural non-farm
activities can be easily tapped by young people.7 Projects around the development of agriculture as
7
The World Bank, “Youth and Employment in Africa: The Potential, the Problem, the Promise” Washington,
D.C. 2009.
7
potential employment sector for most of the youths need to move away from subsistence agriculture
by introducing commercialization and productivity improvement through technological and
infrastructure development.
Furthermore, It seems that the different programs were designed not with the aim of discouraging
youth migration especially from the rural to urban areas. The problem of migration is generally not
included as a component of the different projects and when it is included it looks mostly at the
outward movement of youths from the country. It should be recalled that the reasons for rural-urban
migration in Cameroon like in most other African countries extend beyond economic motivations.
Because of the lack of “entertainment” facilities in rural areas, youths often prefer living in urban
areas. This therefore entails that rural youth employment programs need to mainstream aspects of
improving living conditions in the rural areas like the provision of electricity and access to new
information technologies. Also programmes that aim at moving unemployed urban youths back to
the rural areas such as agriculture may be unsuccessful especially as such programmes fail to talk to
the youths driving urbanization. A mid-ground solution would probably be to design specific
programmes for the two groups considering the peculiarities of each group.
A weakness common with all the youth employment programs in Cameroon is that they were
designed without the participation of youths. In most cases these programs are products of
bureaucrats. With little feedback from the targeted groups, focus seem to be tilted more towards
emphasizing on the aggregate outcomes rather than the micro level distributions of the outcomes of
the programmes in solving youth unemployment. Further, it cannot be said with certainty that these
programs are free from the general problems of clientalism and corruption as not all youths may have
access to the programmes. It is important to recall that most youths have complained of the unduly
long and perilous process to benefit from the programmes8. Also the programmes seem to be more
supply driven with short term interventions usually with no follow-up. This is because most of the
programmes are focused more on short-term employment creation instead of sustainable
employment and disproportionate training with weak programme development and limited links to
labour market demand.
Most of the programs like PIAASI and PAJER-U seem to target educated and non – educated
unemployed youths. The problem with this approach is that the different groups qualify for different
kinds of jobs and educated elite youth would tend to dominate youth representation and may not
8
Cameroon Tribune Wednesday January 10, 2010
8
adequately represent the views and concerns of undereducated youths who in most cases are the
marginalized youth majority. The educated youths would therefore tend to access the programs’
benefits more than the non-educated or undereducated youths.
While efforts made by the government of Cameroon through the putting in place of different
programs to resolve problems of youth unemployment are laudable, we think there is an urgent need
for the government to design a global youth employment policy which would form the basis for
specific youth employment programmes. This may be more visible now with the coming into
effectiveness of the National Youth Council. The focus of any such policy should consider taping
into the informal sector which presently employs more youths and provide incentives like tax breaks
and facilitates access to bank credits for young entrepreneurs.
Also, the programmes need to consider a more autonomous funding source that would ensure
continued evaluation without putting much burden on beneficiaries as to the promptness in loan
reimbursement. We note that all the programmes are elaborated with funding from the HIPC
Initiative funds and thereby not ensuring the autonomy of the programmes. Though agriculture
seems to be the mainstay of Cameroon’s economy and possible fall-back option to resolve youth
unemployment, there is an urgent need for a policy that would move Cameroon towards
industrialization – a sector that would require more man power especially in manufacturing.
3.1:Voices of the youth on policy reforms on unemployment and migration
This policy paper towards reforms on unemployment and migration youth policy in Cameroon is the
outcome of the national workshop on: Cameroonian Youth, and the phenomenon of
Unemployment and Migration in the 21st Century, organised by CAMYOSFOP9 in partnership
with the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) on August 10 – 12, 2009. The workshop was held prior to the
2009 United Nations International Youth Day commemorated on August 12, 2009 which was
celebrated under the theme: Sustainability: Our Challenge, Our Future. The workshop that took
place in the conference hall of FES Yaoundé brought together 30 youth representatives10
organizations from the 10 Regions of Cameroon to brainstorm on the question of youth
unemployment and migration in Cameroon. At the end of the workshop, an outcome document was
adopted by the youths which is now culled Voices of the youths
9
CAMYOSFOP is credited with her contributions to the drafting of the African Union Youth Charter, the
Cameroon National Youth Policy, the Cameroon National Youth Action Plan, the texts of the Cameroon National Youth
Council, and as a member of the National Elections Commission for the National Youth Council of Cameroon.
10
According to the National Youth Policy of Cameroon which is in line with the African Youth Charter, a youth
in Cameroon is that group of persons that falls between 15 – 35 years. As such, participants for the workshop on youth
unemployment and migration, all fell within this age group.
9
3.2:Voices of the youth on policy reforms on unemployment and migration
The voices of Cameroonian youth towards policy reforms on the phenomenon of unemployment and
migration is basically the outcome document of the workshop on the subject organised by
CAMYOSFOP in partnership with FES on August 10 – 12, 2009. The participants of this workshop
realized and recognised the major impacts of unemployment and illegal migration upon the lives of
youths, thus the need to create awareness through an advocacy paper in the name of an outcome
document to be presented to policy makers. This outcome document carries recommendations and
resolutions for consideration by the government in the process of policy reforms to overcome the
challenges of youth unemployment and migration in Cameroon.
3.3. Workshop Outcomes
Mindful of the key problems confronted by youths regarding unemployment and illegal migration
thus:
•
Limited access to job-market information;
•
Limited access to private sector jobs especially less qualified youths;
•
Limited access to start-up capital in order to start-up small business initiatives;
•
Cronyism, nepotism, corruption and favouritism have also penetrated the private sector
worsening the integration of youths from marginalized economic and political
backgrounds;
•
Inadequate public employment policy for youths especially on ‘placement’ and ‘learningby-doing approach’ to job acquisitions in Cameroon;
•
Poor participation of youths in all decision-making processes and even in political parties
hence most youths feel and act like ‘excluded citizens’ thereby paving the way for illegal
migration;
•
Some university youths are political victims after strike actions and most often, most of
them end up as political asylum seekers overseas;
•
The search for ‘fast cash’ through drug trafficking, “feymania” and prostitution has
prompted some Cameroonian youths to seek illegal migration as the only option to escape
acute poverty;
•
Violation of fundamental human rights;
•
Limited access to vocational skills;
•
Economic growth does not match demographic growth;
10
•
Embezzlement and corruption in the job sector jeopardizing the future of the youth ;
•
Inadequate projects of development for youths (Limited funding and little success rate);
•
Limited fiscal triggers in order to boast investment;
•
Limited Trade Unions for vulnerable groups such as farmers;
•
Social exclusion of minority groups (Linguistic, ethnic and even disable persons);
•
Gender disparity in every sector of the job market.
Effects of Unemployment and Migration:
•
Increased crime wave (Drug trafficking, human trafficking, prostitution, ‘feymania’
homosexuality etc);
•
Violation of human rights through torture;
•
Poor political marketing;
•
Brain drain;
•
Capital and technological transfer.
After thorough deliberations through plenary sessions, workshops and other events, we the
participants have put together the following recommendations that we strongly feel ought to be
implemented in order to empower youths to effectively redress youthful unemployment and illegal
migration practices:
I. Unemployment:
•
Encourage youthful entrepreneurship;
•
Institutionalise youth placements and internships;
•
Provide start-up capital and possibly provide additional capital for youthful actors in the
informal sectors in Cameroon;
•
Empower the National Youth Council to become more present in the field;
•
Put in place the National Youth Service Corps;
•
Provide financial support to youth NGOs;
•
Track all public investments spending on youthful employment in Cameroon;
•
Disseminate information on youth projects across the wider public;
•
Youths should participate in conceiving all projects concerning them;
•
Reform the educational to become job oriented.
•
Increase salary scale to a logical level;
11
•
Reinforce the fight against corruption;
•
Retirement should be automatic for persons on due retirement;
•
Modernise agriculture by creating transformational industries for finish agricultural
products.
•
Ensure all schools have farmland in order to guarantee sustainability for this activity in
the future.
II. Illegal Migration Overseas:
•
Roll back state-terrorism by the forces of law and order on university students who
participated in strike actions in order to deter asylum seekers from illegally migration;
•
Create agreements among neighbouring nations in order to establish a better
understanding regarding pre-empting youth from illegally migrating;
•
Promote and protect fundamental human rights of youths in order to reduce
unemployment and discourage illegal migration;
•
Equip young people with the ability and skills that are required for them to help reduce
unemployment and illegal migration;
•
Strengthen the exchange of information on the job market in order to reduce
unemployment and illegal migration;
•
Increase salary scale for all jobs in Cameroon in order to deter migration.
•
Put in place a National Youth Council capable of designing policies in order to reduce
youthful unemployment and illegal migration;
•
Propagate roll back strategies across key media structures in Cameroon.
•
Resettle repatriated youths through a special support grant in order to guarantee their reinsertion in Cameroon;
•
Motivate and encourage youth participation in all decision-making processes regarding
unemployment and illegal migration;
•
Provide positive role models to influence the behavioural change and improve on the
misperception among youth on unemployment and illegal migration;
•
Strengthen partnerships between the public, private and civil society sectors in Cameroon.
3.4: Resolutions:
•
Strengthening the networking mechanism for the National Youth Forum for networking
created by CAMYOSFOP;
12
•
Design platform projects for Cameroon youths with sub grantees.
•
Greater efforts should be made to inform and influence government policy on youth
employment and migration.
Done in Yaoundé, August 12, 2009.
4.1: Objectives of the workshop on youth employment and migration
The strategic objectives for this workshop were:
•
Provide broad and far more responsive solutions regarding the fight against youth
unemployment and illegal migration by Cameroonians, as adequate options to curb current
trends.
•
Build the capacities of 30 Cameroonian youths in order to fight against rising youthful
unemployment and migration.
•
Ensure greater awareness through the media, policy-makers and the wider public, in view of
cutting down youth unemployment and illegal migration.
•
Craft out a workshop outcome document, inclusive of likely solutions capable of reducing the
level of unemployment and illegal migration.
The topics presented and discussed during this workshop included:
•
Illegal youth migration and the effectiveness and weaknesses of control strategies: Reaping
the benefits and mitigating the risks, presented by Mr. Evina Roger Charles, Programmes
Officer of the Organization for International Migration (OIM) office in Yaoundé;
•
Youth illegal and professional migration: Cameroon development strategies that adequately
attends to concerns of youth
unemployment and migration, presented by Dr. Tabi Akono
Francois, Inspector no 1 at the Ministry of
Employment and Vocational Training
(MINEFOP);
•
Youth participation and integration in national development strategies: From problem
identification, policy choices to national development programs, implementation and
monitoring, presented by Mr. Obam Zoa Francis, Chief of Service in charge of Associative
life and leisure in the Ministry of Youth Affairs (MINJEUN);
•
Migration and development and the realization of the opportunity for Cultural exchanges and
economic impact on human mobility: The
Cameroon and France Accord on migration,
13
presented by Mr. Etoundi Richard Chief of Service at the Ministry of External Relations
(MINREX) and Mr. Tsala Yves, President of the Solutions aux Migrations Clandestine
(SMIC);
•
The Inter-relationship between Migration and Human Rights: Rights and responsibilities of
migrants in their host countries presented by Mr. Langmia Julius Sabum, Head of the
Protection unit at the National Commission on Human Rights and Freedoms (NCHRF);
•
The operational directory of jobs and employment ‘ROME,’ and the support programme to
returnee Cameroonian migrants presented by Madam Nnang Thérèse, Technical Adviser at
the National Employment Fund (NEF);
•
The role of Civil Society Organizations in creating second chances for the integration of
youth unused capabilities in the working of the local economy, presented by Mr. Tsounkeu
Martin, General Representative of the Africa Development Interchange Network (ADIN);
•
Youth Civil Societies and their Influence on Migration and Employment, presented by Mr.
Asek Stephen, Deputy Country Director of the International Governance Institute (IGI) of
Cameroon.
Immediately after the presentations by the resource persons, the participants were divided into three
different working groups. These working groups brainstormed on the following topics: Causes of
unemployment and Migration; Effects of unemployment and migration; and solutions to
unemployment and migration. Results from the evaluation carried out during this workshop shows
how crucial is the subject of unemployment and migration in Cameroon, Africa and the world in
general.11 At the end of the workshop the participants came up with a comprehensive outcome
document on their thoughts on how policies could be improved upon by the government on the
subject of youth employment and migration.
5.1:. Context and justification of the workshop
Today’s youth are tomorrow’s workers, entrepreneurs, parents, active citizens and indeed leaders.
The time has never been better to invest as well as to look carefully into the multiple challenges that
young people in Cameroon continue to face than now.
11
The importance of this workshop to frame a policy paper for the state could be viewed from the calibre of
resource persons that were designated by the various ministries and institutions invited for the workshop to do
presentations for the workshop. These personalities are all at the centre of policy formulation in their ministries. Equally
the participation of the Ministry of Small and Medium Size Enterprises, the German Embassy, the Swiss Embassy, and
the South African High Commission showed the interest these institutions attaches to the question of youth unemployment
and migration.
14
Fresh thinking is therefore needed in seeking actions and measures that would not only boast growth
for young people in sectors such as ICT and Art but also in addressing one of the pressing challenges
facing them today; -“an obvious crises of Youth unemployment and migration”.
Besides, the governance and leadership challenges facing the state, the problem of idle unused and
ineffective youth capacity and constituency continue to threaten “the health of nations and states
worldwide”. The World Development Report of 2007 reveals that the number of people worldwide
aged 12-24 years has reached 1.3 billion, the largest in history. As such, the probability of migrating
internationally peaks within the ranges of this same age group. Rich and poor countries alike
therefore need to do more to raise the share of their young people who are working within their own
economies and reduce the number of youths who are risking their lives by way of illegal and forced
migration in the quest for better opportunities for their lives and families in other societies where
they have little or no knowledge of its customs, laws, institutions, political and socio-economic
dynamics.
In Cameroon, as a result of the economic crisis that affected the country as far back as 1986, the
entire economic and development process was slowed down. Due to this crisis the greatest challenge
faced by the Cameroonian youth is that of unemployment. According to the National Institute of
Statistics, unemployment in the youth milieu stands at 13%. Out of this percentage, 22% of this
unemployed population is found in Douala while 30% is found in Yaoundé. Underemployment rates
stand at 75% for the cities and 68.3% for the youth in the rural areas. According to the same source,
92% of Cameroonian youth work in the informal sector. Finally, according to the Ministry of
Employment and Vocational Training, about 3 million youths in 2007 were inadequately employed,
1million unemployed and 2 million underemployed. This high level of unemployment could be
attributed to the lack of professional training and misplaced educational policies by the government.
Though Cameroon literacy rate in Sub Saharan Africa is rated as highest in relation to the
achievement of goal 2 of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on universal primary
education, the bulk of these educated youths leaving schools and universities are still flooding the
streets of the metropolitan towns of Cameroon and unable to find appropriate employment
opportunities equal to their qualifications.
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The result of this high level of unemployment is endemic poverty within the youth milieu. Therefore,
this has led to rising levels of risky migration by the youth to Europe, America, China and other
continents of the world with the hope of finding greener pastures.
In a bit to reduce unemployment and illegal migration of Cameroonian youths, in 1990, the
government through the social dimension of the Structural Adjustment Plan, created the National
Employment Fund (NEF). Equally, since 1992 the government liberalized and professionalised
studies in higher education. As such, six state universities in Yaoundé, Soa, Buea, Douala, Dschang
and Ngoundere were created. In December 2008, one more university was created in Maroua while
the Bambili Teachers Training College was up graded to a Higher Teachers Training College. Since
then, private universities have been created by individuals, the Catholic and Protestant churches. It
should be noted that since 1990 more than 25 Higher Training Institutes have been put in place by
the government.
Since 2004, President Paul Biya’s programme of the ‘Great Achievements,’ has focused on
improving on the living conditions of Cameroonian youth through the putting in place of a number of
ministries, programmes and structures on empowering them economically. This policy by the Head
of State was concretized on December 8, 2004 with the creation of the ministries of Employment and
Vocational Training and that of Youth Affairs.
In order to assure transparency in the job market and to transform the informal sector to be more
lucrative, the government under the Ministry of Employment and Vocational Training created the
National Observatory for Employment and Professional Training (NOEPT). It has also put in place
an Integrated Support Project for Actors of the Informal Sector (PIASI). The project provides grants
to youths to help them set up small and medium size enterprises. In the big cities of Douala and
Yaoundé an experimental project on Youth and Associative Life for Social Insertion (JEVAIS) has
been put in place under the Ministry of Youth Affairs with the support of the French Cooperation.
Also, the PAJER-U and PIFMAS still under the Ministry of Youth Affairs are expected to generate
thousands of jobs for youths.
Despite the above efforts by the government, the phenomenon of youth unemployment and migration
is still very high. As such, it is important to organize young people who are the most risk group to the
challenges of unemployment and migration, and whose demand for legal migration is on a constant
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rise and most often unmet to safeguard against the high cost of force migration to the state and the
financial burden it brings on poor families.
The fact that international migration, when it is legally done offers tremendous direct effects on the
growth of the state economy, empowerment (poverty reduction) of poor households and families
through remittances and return of migrants with skills acquired from abroad. The issue as such, still
require much attention from the government and its development partners to put in place policies that
will overturn the tides. Consequently, the formulation of these policies necessitates the involvement
of the youths and the consideration of their voices. This is therefore the rationale for the national
workshop on the phenomenon on youth unemployment and migration in the 21st century, that
advocated for the effective and active youth participation towards policy reforms on unemployment
and migration in Cameroon.
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