The United Nations Development Program in partnership with Youth Connekt programme have distributed food and hygiene kits to vulnerable street youths. This was done in an attempt to strengthen the Socio-Economic inclusion of these vulnerable youths often found in the streets of the town. The ministers of Social Affairs and the Minister of Youth and Civic Education, witnessed the event.
Some 150 kits were distributed, to 150 youths, amongst which were 35 girls.
The UNDP has huge plans for streets children Cameroons biggest cities as Alassane Ba, Acting Resident Representative for the UNDP in Cameroon put it. "We plan on investing close to two hundred FCFA million in the next 6 months, to help the youths leave the streets, facilitate their socio-economic inclusion in the localities of Yaounde, Douala and probably those of Ngaoundéré he said.
The minister of Youth and Civic Education, Mounouna Foutsou appreciated the program citing its uniqueness of being inclusive for youths of all categories without discrimination. "We express our gratitude to the system of United Nations, and especially the United Nations Development Program for it's leadership in this domain which today has introduced this inclusive initiative which has left no youth aside" said Mounouna Foutsou.
He urged the youths to approach the various centres set up for them, in case they found themselves in the streets, facing any difficulty. He also encouraged those present to be ambassadors and not to return to the streets.
Minister Mounouna Foutsou also revealed that his ministry is working in partnership with its various collaborators to ensure that there are no more street youths ever again.
On her part, the minister of Minister of Social Affairs, Nguene Pauline Irène expressed gratitude to the Ministry of Youth and Civic Education for the Youth Connekt program, which is making waves in the transformation of the lives of street children, while stating some positive records of the initiative.
"The inclusion and re-inclusion of street youths is the pilot operation which we launched since 2021 to extract youths from the streets and find centres in which to place them said Nguene Pauline Irène. We were able to extract close to 162 children from the streets. Some were able to integrate families while others were placed in our rehabilitation centres."
She added that the strategy today has changed. We are working with many partners and associations meaning we have real ex- street youths, who have been able to reinserted and who are now accompanying us in the identification of the news of other street youths because they know better" she added.
Sa'ah Siona Ikei, The Post Newspaper
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