WILPF Cameroon is the Cameroon section of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), the world’s oldest women’s peace organization, founded in 1915. We first connected with WILPF in 2012 during the AWID forum in Istanbul through our founder Sylvie Jacqueline Ndongmo, who is now WILPF International President. We were established officially in January 2014 as a Group, and gained full Section status a year later at the WILPF Centenary Congress in 2015.
Our mission is to end and prevent war, ensure that women are represented at all levels in peacebuilding processes, defend women’s fundamental rights, and promote social, economic, and political justice.
Our vision is a world free from violence and armed conflicts, where human rights are protected and where women and men have equal opportunities and hold leadership positions at the local, national, and international levels.
Our main areas of work are: Women/Youth, Peace & Security; Human Rights; Disarmament; Crisis Response through solidarity visits and Empowerment activities; and the Environment.
Our main activities focus on research and analysis, advocacy, community outreach and media campaigns, sensitization, education, networking, capacity-building, and the growing mobilization of young people through the Young WILPF movement to ensure an intergenerational transition.
Over the years, WILPF Cameroon’s work has yielded numerous achievements, the most notable of which are:
Creation and coordination of several platforms with women peacebuilders, women’s organizations and CSOs engaging in peacebuilding such as the Women’s Platform for Peaceful Elections and Peace Education; the Cameroonian Women’s Consultation Platform for National Dialogue, and the Civil Society Committee for Resolution 1325 in Cameroon
Setting-up of the Women and Youths’ Early Warning and Monitoring Room to ensure peaceful elections in Cameroon that have contributed to preventing and reducing violence during 2018 and 2025 elections. The Monitoring Room is equipped with a Call Centre which provides a hotline and instant help/referral for victims of violence.
Setting up and coordinating a legal and judicial assistance clinic that provides appropriate and timely support and effective remedies to victims/survivors of violence and vulnerable people especially women and girls in the communities.
Production of the Gender Conflict Analysis in Cameroon, landmark feminist research that documented women’s organising, barriers to participation, and risks, and now shapes national and international advocacy on peacebuilding.
Crisis response and solidarity with conflict-affected communities, through solidarity visits, trauma awareness, and empowerment activities for women and youth in the North-West, South-West, Far North, and East regions: Economic empowerment of nearly 1,000 people displaced by the Anglophone crises through training in income-generating activities in the localities of Dschang, Penka Michel, Ndooh, Fongo Tongo and Mbouda.
Growth of the Young WILPF Cameroon movement, ensuring intergenerational leadership and mobilising youth for disarmament, community awareness raising, human rights, and environmental justice campaigns.
Creation of a pool of 300 Youth online influencers for peace, leveraging digital platforms to counter hate speech and promote non-violence and feminist peace narratives;
Training, mobilization and setting up a pool of traditional leaders to promote peace and combat gender-based violence within communities
Initiating the Women’s Call for Peace Week #SAPF as part of the International Day of Peace, now an annual mobilisation for women-led peace advocacy.
Mobilizing men and boys for feminist peace, engaging male allies to challenge militarised masculinities and prevent SGBV
Fostering social cohesion among youth to prevent hate speech and political violence in Cameroon through dialogue, education and joint action.
Strategic advocacy on disarmament and SGBV, linking community-level realities to national policy and UN mechanisms, including UPR and CEDAW submissions.
Contribution to the drafting and adoption of the Central Africa Regional Action Plan for UNSCR 1325, ensuring women’s priorities are reflected in regional peace and security frameworks.
Supporting the creation of several other WILPF Groups and Sections across Africa, strengthening the feminist peace movement on the continent.
We were also privileged of organizing the WILPF Africa Regional Conferences in 2015 and 2019, hosting groups and sections from across Africa. Furthermore, as part of our Gender Conflicts Analysis in Cameroon, we invited and hosted an international solidarity mission in 2019 comprising a consortium of eight international experts for experience sharing conflict analysis for adequate crisis responses.
Our partners at the national level include government institutions (Parliament, Prime Minister’s Office, Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and the Family, Ministry of Youth and Civic Education, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Social Affairs, Ministry of Base Education, Ministry of Secondary Education, Ministry of External Relations, Ministry of Communication, the Human Rights Commission of Cameroon, Elections Cameroon, etc.), diplomatic missions (British High Commission, Switzerland), WILPF SWEDEN, International organizations (UN in Cameroon, UNDP, UNDEF, GIZ and its different programmes (CPS, PESOP, PADGOF), FES Kamerun,), civil society, media, educational institutions, traditional leaders, and communities, with whom we work in close collaboration.
At the regional level, WILPF Cameroon collaborates with other WILPF sister groups and sections, Femmes Africa Solidarité, the West African Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP), Economic Communities of Central Africa States (ECCAS), and the African Union. The United Nations Office in Central Africa has greatly contributed to our work through financial and technical support.
At the international level, we collaborate with WILPF International Secretariat, WILPF Sweden, International Organization of Francophonie (OIF) and the UN Democracy Fund (UNDEF)
OUR PUBLICATIONS:
Baseline Study for the Development of an Action Plan for UN Security Council Resolution 1325 and Related Resolutions in Cameroon – 2017
Analysis of the Implementation of Recommendations from International Human Rights Mechanisms
WILPF Cameroon’s Contribution to the Universal Periodic Review
Report on conflict-inducing factors, electoral violence, and electoral violence against women during the electoral process – 2018
Memorandum “The Voice of Cameroonian Women in the National Dialogue” – 2019
Monitoring of violence during the regional council elections – 2020
Analysis of the Gender Dimension in Conflicts in Cameroon – 2020
Engaging Men and Boys in Peacebuilding in Cameroon - 2021
Review of Cameroon’s 2018–2020 National Action Plan on UN Security Council Resolution 1325 and Related Resolutions on the Women, Peace, and Security Agenda – 2021
Assessment of the Impact of COVID-19 on the Rights of Internally Displaced Persons - 2020
Political Actors and Hate Speech: A Guide to Political Education Respecting Diversity and Promoting Peace – 2024
Youth Education Guide on Multiculturalism, Peace, and Social Cohesion – 2024
Through these initiatives, WILPF Cameroon actively contributes to building a more just, inclusive, and peaceful society, placing women and youth at the heart of solutions.
