Some thirty media men and women drawn from the audiovisual, print and online media in Cameroon have been intellectually edified on how to better cover and report migration stories. This was during a three day Forum on Migration Issues and Training Workshop on Investigative Journalism Techniques for Migration that took place from the 28th-30th of August 2019 in Douala.
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| L-R: Mr. Kassie Claude (Bureau Chief, UNHCR - Douala), Madam Bongouen Hortense (Focal Point - MINCOM), Mr. Salah Khaled (UNESCO Central Africa Regional Director) |
Organized by the Multisectoral UNESCO Regional Office for Central Africa as part of implementing the project “Empowering Young People in Africa through Media and Communication” with funding from the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation and support from the Cameroon government, the workshop attendees were schooled on how to pass unto young people, quality information on the risks of irregular migration and the opportunities they have back home in terms of entrepreneurship and employment.
Mr. Salah Khaled, UNESCO Regional Director for Central Africa in justifying the context of the workshop said “The project is basically working with the journalists to enhance their capacities in telling the stories to young people aspiring for a possible potential future in other places outside Cameroon and aspiring to travel to Europe, hoping for a better future without knowing the risks they could face and probably perish in the Mediterranean or in other countries by showing the youths of this country and the entire Central Africa Sub Region the huge economic potentials and opportunities that they could have in their own countries.”
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| Mr. Salah Khaled, UNESCO Central Africa Regional Director |
After being declared open by Madam Bongouen Hortense, Focal Point personnel from the Ministry of Communication, working in collaboration with UNESCO to implement the project, participants within the three days exchanged with the various facilitators on various migration related topics and investigative journalism techniques on migration issues.
Peter Tambe of P-News Magazine had once migrated out of Cameroon only to realize the grass wasn’t actually greener on the other side of the fence as he had thought. Today, he is back to fatherland and practicing journalism. Cautioning young people on the dangers of irregular migration, he said “Staying here, you could help to build your country while going out there, it is what others tell you it is but it’s not really what you think it is. Back home, you know what it is and you can make an idea on how to build it up. Going to somebody’s land is like going to a place you’ve never seen, a place that only lives in your imagination but home is not imagination. Home might be bad like many people think but it’s not that too bad and if it’s bad, it’s for all of us to fix it up.”
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| Officials & Participants |
Due to its geographical, socioeconomic and political peculiarities, Cameroon is an exit, entry and transit zone for migrants. Findings have shown that neither are migrants the poorest in society nor do they originate only from poor countries. Among the many reasons that provoke (irregular) migration are climate, sociopolitical instability, natural disasters, studies and the quest for better life, better opportunities.
Massabe Rafiatou, a returnee migrant is one of the many victims of irregular migration that have faced the thick and thin of the practice. Luckily, after all the hurdles encountered, she was fortunate to have been brought back to her country of origin thanks to the IOM and the Cameroon government. Today, she is gradually reintegrating herself back into the society. She now belongs to an organization that is educating youths on the risks and dangers of irregular migration. UNESCO brought her at the workshop to tell her story.
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