Welcome to Dissoke’s Place: Face-to-face forum boosts social activism in Cameroon
Organizations learn from technical and financial partners by meeting with them directly
By Steeves Winner
A new initiative is under way in Cameroon — a platform for civil society organizations (CSOs) to learn from technical and financial partners by meeting with them directly. It’s name is Welcome to Dissoke’s Place (“Bienvenue chez Dissoke”).
The problem it’s designed to solve is that, in Cameroon in particular and in Africa in general, the environment is difficult and competitive for civil society organizations advocating for women’s rights, children’s rights, sexual and gender minorities, people living with disabilities, public health and democracy. Difficulties the advocates face include the absence of necessary information, inadequate support from technical and financial partners and shortage of allies.
Jean Jacques DISSOKE, advocacy officer at the LGBTI organization Alternatives Cameroon, said he organized the program because it is time to rethink existing relationships between CSOs and their technical and financial partners. Their collaboration needs to be improved in order to make CSOs more dynamic, he said.
Welcome to Dissoke aims to create an enabling environment that will encourage key partners to collaborate and accompany advocacy organizations as they pursue their missions.
The first meeting of Welcome to Dissoke was attended by two representatives of the Cooperation and Cultural Action Service (SCAC) of the French Embassy — Mrs. Anaëlle ROUCOU, the Cooperation Attaché for Governance, Development and Humanitarian Affairs, and Mrs. Manon BERVAS, the civil society and human rights officer. It was held at the French Institute of Cameroon (Salle Ex-Campus France),
The objective of the meeting, attended by about 60 representatives of Cameroonian CSOs, was to contribute to improving collaboration between them and the SCAC, to educate them about the role of the SCAC, and identify funding opportunities for them.
Steeves Winner, the author of this article, is an activist for LGBTI rights in Cameroon who writes under a pseudonym. Contact him at steeves.w@yahoo.com
