CONCEPT NOTE Project SILENCE THE GUNS

CONCEPT NOTE

Project: Silence the Guns

1.0 Problem Statement and justification

Cameroon is beset with two major violent conflicts: the anglophone crisis in the north and south west Cameroon and Boko Haram in the Far North Cameroon and the rising of ethno-political tensions on-and offline. The conflict, between the government and separatists from the English-speaking minority, started in 2017 and has killed over 6,000 people. It has displaced over 765,000 people. According to the UN, 2.2 million of the Anglophone regions’ four million people need humanitarian. The war with Boko Haram, centred in the Far North, has killed over 3,000 Cameroonians, displaced about 250,000 and triggered the rise of vigilante self-defence groups. Both conflicts have deprived over 900,000 of effective schooling because.

It is commonly admitted that children are the future and that they are the main victims of conflicts and violent extremism since they deprive them from their rights and endanger their future. However, they are generally forgotten and left behind when talking about serious issues concerning their lives and future. The conflict has consequences on human rights and most particularly on children rights and girls/women rights. Through field actions, Children for Peace works to de-escalate conflict and promote a peaceful resolution in the Anglophone regions and the Far North as well as to stop ethno-political tensions from sliding into violence. In order to address this situation, Children for Peace in partnership with the Commonwealth Youth Peace Ambassadors Network (CYPAN) Cameroon to implement the project “Silence the Guns”.

2.0 Objectives of the intervention

2.1 Overarching Objective

Silence The Guns is an integrated citizen engagement project led by Children and especially girls whose overall objective is to contribute to realize a conflict free Africa by engaging children to mobilise all stakeholders to prioritize efforts on peace, children and girls’ rights, effective socio-economic development. The phase 3 of the project Silence the guns is a continuation and expansion of the work done during the first two phases of the project.

2.2 Specific objectives

• Contribute to the education of girls challenged by conflicts to enable them to continue their education
• position children as core actors of peacebuilding and fight against the pandemic in their community;
• Set up and accompany multi-stakeholders networks constituted by religious, traditional leaders and state officials, community members, children, youth and women, in the drafting and implementation of community initiatives driven interfaith dialogue, sensitization, capacity building, advocacy for human rights, countering violent extremism, gender equity, Hate speech and illicit proliferation of weapons
• Strengthen children and community capacities on topics related to the fight against COVID-19, peacebuilding, violent extremism and human rights focusing on children rights, disarmament and illicit proliferation of weapons;

• Mentor and engage children to develop and implement community initiatives related to peacebuilding, children rights, countering violent extremism, fight against COVID-19 and illicit proliferation of weapons,

• Implement online and offline community awareness and advocacy campaign mobilizing local and international medias to sensitize national and international communities
• Engage C4P peacebuilding multi-stakeholders’ networks in the implementation of community roadmap to fight hate speech, violent extremism and illicit proliferation of weapons in communities.
• Promote/valorize children’s peacebuilding best practices as part of the project Silence the Guns

3.0 Expected Results

1. 50 local scholarships granted to challenged girls by conflicts to enable them to resume their education
2. 4 workshops/meetings organize to build directly the capacity of 300 girls trainers of trainers in countering COVID19, leadership, P/CVE, human rights, gender equity, and illicit proliferation of weapons, resulting in a girls declaration on “Ceasefire – Silence the Guns” to be signed and endorsed by at least 1500 children.

3. 300 girls trainers of trainers accompanied to set up at least 100 environmental Peace clubs in communities and build the capacity of at least 3000 girls in leadership, P/CVE, COVID19, human rights, gender equity, and illicit proliferation of weapons.
4. 3 workshops organized to build the capacity of and accompany 50 children, 50 youths and 50 vulnerable people in hot-spot areas (1) in Art work and green entrepreneurship; (2) claim and exercise their rights and benefit from/develop livelihood initiatives; (3) advocacy for the creation of new projects and programmes related to youth, skills-building, employment.
5. A youth march for peace organized under the name “Silence the guns” gathering at least 100 youth including internally displaced children and refugee children
6. 5 multi-stakeholders networks (constituted by religious, traditional leaders and state officials, community members, children, youth and women) set up and accompanied in the drafting and implementation of community initiatives driven interfaith dialogue, sensitization, capacity building, advocacy for human rights, countering violent extremism, gender equity, Hate speech and illicit proliferation of weapons
7. An online and offline community awareness and advocacy campaign implemented to mobilize at least 5,000,000 people operationalized with and by with at least 10 local and international medias to (1) sensitize national and international communities on their role; (2) produce and disseminate a magazine called silencing the guns
8. A show produced to sensitize national community on the topic Silencing the guns, that will be broadcasted in media to sensitize communities on the topic Silencing the guns
9. Interviews with children (storytelling) and the beneficiaries on the impacts of the project Silence the Guns in their lives and community, organized.

5.0 Place and date

The project will be implemented during 7 months from 20 November 2023 to 19 June 2023 in Cameroon.

6.0 Target group 

The project will mobilize children and youths (7- 18 years old) from schools, university, mosques, churches faith-based organizations (including refugees and IDPs).

7.0 Organizers

Children for Peace (C4P) and Commonwealth Youth Peace Ambassadors Network Cameroon (CPAN)