Developing resilience in times of emergencies among youths in cameroon

Abstract

The Anglophone crisis in 2016 and the outbreak of the COVID-19 global health emergency in March 2020, in Cameroon have tremendous effects on the entire population in Cameroon and the world at large. Both emergencies and its economic and social impacts have disrupted nearly all aspects of life for all groups in society especially the youths. People of different ages, however, are experiencing its effects in different ways. For young people and especially for vulnerable youth, the Anglophone crisis and COVID-19 crisis poses considerable risks in the fields of education, employment, mental health and disposable income. Moreover, while youth and future generations will shoulder much of the long-term economic and social consequences of the crisis, their well-being may be superseded by short-term economic and equity considerations. In this light, this paper focuses on developing resilience in times of emergencies among young people in Cameroon as well as creating resilient communities so as to avoid exacerbating intergenerational inequalities and to involve young people in building societal resilience. Governments need to anticipate the impact of mitigation and recovery measures across different age groups, by applying effective governance mechanisms and policies in order to help youths to be able to overcome and bounce back in times of emergencies. This paper, therefore addresses two emergency situation within the Cameroonian context (the Anglophone crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic) vis a vis its impact on education and health of youths. It continues by examining Resilience, risk reduction and sustainable development, building resilient communities in times of emergencies, technologies for building the resilience of communities and key policy messages