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If the targets for the first goal are to be met, a number of measures and actions need to be undertaken:
- Self-income generating initiatives such as young farmers projects, home gardens, etc. need to be encouraged, supported, and promoted;
- Government must create mechanisms that ensure young people are involved in the development of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper;
- Development policies should prioritize the growth of rural areas, which have high percentages of unemployed youth and little public infrastructure, by engaging young people in creating necessary services and infrastructure; and
- Young people should be engaged in the fight against corruption.
GOAL 2: ACHIEVE UNIVERSAL PRIMARY EDUCATION
Education is the single most important factor for young people in leading productive and responsible lives. Their ideas, talents and skills must be developed to foster peace, equity and sustainability. Education is development – it creates choices and opportunities for people, reduces the twin burdens of poverty and disease, and gives people a stronger voice in society. For nations it creates a dynamic workforce of well-informed citizens able to compete and cooperate globally, opening doors to economic and social prosperity.
In Cameroon, the government’s education policy is commendable; there is free primary education, and each year new institutions of learning are created, teachers are recruited, and the budget allocation for education is always a heavy package. Education is the only domain with four ministries to carry out government’s policy: MINEDUB, MINESEC, MINESUP, and MINESEP. Much, however, still needs to be done if this goal is to be achieved. The Education Policy needs to be tailored toward meeting the employment needs of the country; amongst other things:
- Youth, who make up a great proportion of the teaching staff in schools, need to be more committed in their jobs;
- Government needs to take more measures to ensure that primary education is effectively free;
- Terms and conditions of service and training for the teaching staff need to be improved; and
- Measures need to be introduced to ensure that all students attend school and that students are involved in the enforcement of these measures (student councils).
Achieving Target 3 of the MDGs will help achieve targets for all the MDGs; it will combat poverty, promote gender equality, create awareness of HIV/AIDS and maternal health, and promote environmental sustainability.
GOAL 3: PROMOTE GENDER EQUALITY AND EMPOWER WOMEN
Gender inequalities have important negative implications for development outcomes and the well-being of families. Women and girls generally bear the most direct costs of these inequalities because of discriminatory social norms, incentives, and legal institutions. There is a great need to promote gender equality and the empowerment of young women and girls.
Gender inequality starts early and keeps women at a disadvantage throughout their lives. In Cameroon, girls are more likely to drop out of school and to receive less education than boys because of discrimination, education expenses and household duties.
The Cameroon government’s gender policy (essentially implemented by the Ministry of Women Empowerment and Family) pays attention to these challenges, hence the steady, albeit slow, increase in the number of female ministers, parliamentarians and mayors, and the appointment of female divisional and sub-divisional officers, who can act as role models to young women and girls.
In order to consolidate the policies and actions that have been embarked upon, steps should be taken to:
- Introduce programs that provide opportunities for young women to fully participate in decision-making processes including male advocacy programs;
- Encourage and support the advancement of women in the political arena; and
- Strengthen national efforts to implement initiatives under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
The empowerment of women is linked to every MDG and gender analysis should be incorporated across all the MDGs.
GOAL 4: REDUCE CHILD MORTALITY
In Cameroon, 95% of children under five years die for every 1000 births – the vast majority from causes preventable through a combination of good care, nutrition and medical treatment. The major causes of child mortality are a lack of access to family planning, poor water quality and sanitation along with related diseases such as cholera, diarrhea and malaria, lack of sexual and reproductive health education and services and poverty.
Young people can contribute toward the reduction of child mortality in their communities. This is possible through training young people to provide health related services to their peers. Young mothers, midwives, health professionals and community health workers need to be trained in the provision of high quality pre and post-natal care. Youth advocacy initiatives are needed to ensure the provision of essential vaccinations, clean water and air, and sanitation to children at risk. These is also the need to promote peer-to-peer education on adolescent reproductive health and unwanted pregnancies.
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Writer Profile
AJI JAMES
I developed an interest in writing in primary school, where writing and documenting the stories that were told in the evenings when the family gathered around the fireside was a hobby.
This interest increased when I travelled to Nigeria for university studies. My thoughts found a way of expression through poetry, which I had hitherto thought very complicated.
I presently have over fifty poems, a little below twenty short stories, and several articles on diverse social issues.
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Comments
A very Brilliant Performance Ajomuzu Collette Bekaku | Apr 8th, 2006
James presentation during the Cameroon youth Leadership Forum organised by CAPEC was very enriching and many youths got to understand what MDGs actually stood for and how they could use it to develop their communities.
hello Tih Felix | Jul 14th, 2008
the note i ve just read have enriched my thoughts
notably on MDGs
i ,am very interested in youths and MDGs...i believe what i ne just read is the best plan ever to raech the MDGs
Kids Can Make A Difference (KIDS) neil jay wollman | Sep 6th, 2009
Kids Can Make A Difference (KIDS) is an innovative educational program for middle school and high school students. It helps them understand the root causes of hunger and poverty and how they as individuals can take action.
KIDS has three major components:
►Teachers’ Guide: Finding Solutions To Hunger: Kids Can Make A Difference has provided over 5,000 classrooms, religious schools, after school programs and homeschoolers with tools to help young people to understand the causes of poverty and become informed and effective citizens, realizing their own capacity to change the world. Students learn about the pain of hunger; the importance of food; the inequality of its distribution; and the links between poverty, hunger, joblessness, and homelessness. They are then given the skills to take what they have learned into their communities.
►Website: The KIDS web site is rated one of the top 20 websites for educators by Educational World. The site provides news, a hunger quiz, hunger facts, suggested books, back issues of the newsletter, the table of contents, sample lessons, program notes from the teacher guide; and
►Newsletter: The three yearly issues highlight current hunger issues, showcase student initiatives, and feature teachers' experiences teaching the KIDS program and students' experiences making a difference in their community and world.
Contact KIDS at:
Larry Levine, Co-Founder
KIDS, 1 Borodell Avenue
Mystic, CT 06355
(860) 245-3620; (860) 245-3651 FAX
kids@kidscanmakeadifference.org; www.kidscanmakeadifference.org
KIDS is a project of WHY (World Hunger Year),
a leading advocate for community based
solutions to hunger and poverty.
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