Interview

We Advocate Change Through Civic Participation Not Through Street Violence

 - Ndasi Elvis Nukam, President Mandela Fellows Cameroon

**Tell us briefly what you invited 500 youth leaders to discuss in Yaounde today.

Ndasi Elvis Nukam, President Mandela Fellows Cameroon

--We invited the youth leaders to listen to edifying discussions from informed and knowledgeable panelists on the various themes for discussion which all centre on the main theme: youth engagement in Promoting Peace through Dialogue and Social entrepreneurship. The discussions will proceed through breakout sessions that is, those who are interested in business and entrepreneurship will be in one hall, those for public management in another hall and those for leadership in a third hall. The discussions will be interactive. At the end of the day we will do an evaluation to be sure that the youths truly had an impact from the discussions.

**You are the Cameroon President of Mandela Washington Fellows; who are Mandela Washington Fellows and what do they do?

-Mandela Washington Fellows are young Cameroonians that were selected from among thousands of applicants to undergo a six-weeks training in leadership, business and entrepreneurship in several Universities across the US. During the training they had the opportunity of meeting with different institutions that are doing works that are similar to their training. This gave them the opportunity to build connections before returning to their countries and see how they can use the knowledge gained to create an impact in their communities. Also you have the Yali Leadership Fellows who also did a similar training like the Mandela Fellows. But their training was here in Africa, in Senegal, Ghana and Nigeria.

**One of the themes of the panel discussions was how to get financing for projects conceived by youths. What advice did you give the youths on how to go about this?

--Unlike what many are wont to believe, it is not only in Cameroon that youths face difficulties getting funding for their projects; it is a global problem. But we make the youths to know that they can easily get funding provided their projects are well conceived and presented. Good projects can get funding even from foreign partners. That is why one of the themes of our discussions is how start-ups can raise capital. During the discussions the panelists edified participants on how they can channel their requests for funding. We made them to know that the government has created many institutions to fund projects of youths and that it is left for them to get to know all these channels and make use of them despite the administrative bottlenecks that are attendant with these government institutions. We advised the youths not to allow their projects to lie fallow in their minds; they should write them out and seek funding for their execution.

**Elections in the country are around the corner. Are Mandela Fellows also looking at ways of encouraging the youth to register and vote during elections?

--Yes if you look at some of our posts you realize that there is a group of Yali Leadership guys who have come up with an action called Yali Vote. This project focuses on encouraging young Cameroonians to register and to vote. So, it our determination and engagement to make sure young people know that we can only bring about change in our country by participating actively in election processes and not through street protests and violence. We encourage them to exercise their civic responsibility by not only registering for elections and voting but also to be candidates in these elections so they can bring change from within.