Category Archives: Human Rights

Lets Beat COVID-19

In an effort to #StopCOVID19 in Cameron, Denis Miki Foundation has been distributing free Reusable Face Masks to churches, starting with Christ Evangelical Ministry International while practicing social distancing, ensuring youth participation and gender mainstreaming with adolescent girls of the Her Voice Club and kid activists taking an active role in our #LetsBeatCOVID19 initiatives. The Face Masks are made following WHO and Center for Disease Control (CDC) prescriptions. This is following our training on the production of locally made Hand Sanitizers and distribution of free Reusable Face Masks in Bokwango village, in Cameroon.

In Cameroon the number of confirmed cases keeps increasing with a total over 900 and over 18 recorded deaths. In response to this alarming situation, the government of Cameroon through the Prime Minister on March 17, 2020 in a press conference announced some 13 actions and measures as government’s response in curbing COVID19. We keep seeing new actions being imposed on the community at both the national and decentralized levels. 

In our immediate community, we still on a daily basis try to convince the lay man or woman of the existence of COVID-19. This sad reality goes to show how the community is still in high denial of the realities of this global pandemic. In our outreaches to distribute resources, train and educate on the preventive measures of this disease we discover the local man or woman has limited knowledge on the virus, it’s symptoms and preventive measures.

As an effort to contribute to #StopCOVID19, Denis Miki Foundation (DMF) has been producing and distributing free Reusable Face Masks, training on the production of locally made Hand Sanitizers in vulnerable communities in Cameroon. The Face Masks and Hand Sanitizers are made following WHO and Center for Disease Control (CDC) prescriptions. We are also running an awareness and education campaign both online and offline using social and local media and platforms like churches, door-to-door sensitization. We ensure social distancing, youth participation and gender mainstreaming in the processes as we involve adolescent girls of the Her Voice Club and Kid activists in our #LetsBeatCOVID19 initiative. We have a fundraiser to mobilize resources to continue with other activities like the translation of key messages on COVID-19 to local languages, produce educative Cartoon books and eLearning games to educate children on the prevention of COVID19. We have impacted 1500 people in 3 villages and 2 towns and over 30,000 by media awareness.

Call to Action: Join us as we #BeatCOVID19 today at https://www.globalgiving.org/fundraisers/letsbeatcovid19/

Cameroon Women’s Global Strike

Denis Miki Foundation (DMF) will be organising the first ever Women’s Global Strike in Cameroon as part of the activities to commemorate the International Women’s Day. We will be mobilizing 30+ grassroots women and girls, women human rights defenders (WRHDs), feminists and gender activists.

The activities include;

a) Mobilize women and girls to join us on Women’s Global Strike March Past on the 8th of March in Limbe holding plackades carrying key messages to be communicated to key decision makers and the general public.
b) Organize media campaigns at both local, national and international media platforms to amplify the voices of grassroots women and girls
c) Run a #HerVoiceMyVoice Podcast Series of stories from women and girls at the grassroots level and publish on Apple and Google Podcasts and amongst different stakeholders to influence decision making processes for the improvement of the conditions of women.
d) Host a Women’s Cirlce for women to have a conversation about issues that affect them which will be recorded and streamed live on our YouTube Channel and Social Media pages to create awareness on the situations women face and bring to notice solutions that work for this situations.
e) Officially launch our Women Support and Empowerment Network and Her Voice Club through a one day Fundraising Gala for Women and Girls Rights.

To join us, call us or email us today at join@denismikifoundation.cm and 652975274 or 670264947 or 677985413 and grab you T-shirt at 5000frs and STRIKE for the Rights of every Woman and Girl in Cameroon.

TRAINING DONE BY NTUI MIRIAM AGBOR THE PROJECT CORDINATOR ON BACK UP OF DATA AS A DIGITAL SECURITY FOR HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS

Today, she was able to train on backup of data as a digital security for Human right activists, journalists etc. It is interesting to know that back up of data is very important as it enables valuable information to be stored in safe places like the external hard drives, cloud ( google severs, drop box) and USB flash etc separately from the originals such that in the event where the original documents are compromised due to virus attacks theft etc, there will still be a copy of your valuables somewhere else.

Training in process

However, there is no one perfect security plan for data. Make a security plan that works for you and for the risk you face. Remember, ” what’s safe today might not be secure tomorrow ” . Hence, it is imperative to continually reevaluate your security practices. Take note that security is a continual process.

Call For Expert Trainers

PROJECT THEME: “Engaging the Voices, Opinions and Perspectives of AGYW groups in HIV/AIDS Prevention and Treatment Processes through Focus Group Discussions”

GOAL

The goal of this project is to provide a space for the meaningful consultation of Adolescent Girls and Young Women (AGYW) in Global Fund Cameroon processes as well as in Divisional, Regional and National processes to reduce new HIV infections among AGYW aged 15-24 to meet Global Fund targets.

OBJECTIVES

  1. To get the voices, perspectives and opinions of AGYW before designing and implementing HIV prevention polices/processes,
  2. To actively engage AGYW in HIV prevention efforts to improve acceptance and sustainable ownership of interventions, increase retention of AGYW in treatment programs and maximize impact
  3. To incorporate solutions proposed by AGYW into HIV prevention/treatment initiatives because AGYW are experts at understanding their own issues and designing solutions.

 

METHODOLOGY

-Together with the team at DMF, Expert Trainers will establish necessary criteria to carry out the study.

-Study procedure, will be explained to each participant by the experts prior to administering consent.

-Together with the team at DMF, the Experts will develop an interview framework that will enable the focus groups to examine risk factors for AGYW as well as strategies proposed by AGYW to address HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment.

-The team of experts will determine the language of study, how the study will be conducted and the coding and consolidation system to make the study effective and the results reliable.

There will be 6 focus group discussions, 3 composed of AGYW aged 15-19 and another 3 composed of AGYW aged 20-24. Each group will comprise 8 participants making a total of 48. All sessions will be recorded and shall take place in Limbe between the 3rd to the 13th of January, 2019.

APPLICATION PROCESS

Expert Trainers in the fields of Health, Community Outreach and Service with proven track records on HIV/AIDS related programs most especially with previous and/or ongoing collaboration with Global Fund programs in Cameroon will be given more priority.

To apply send a One Page Abstract on the project theme attaching your most recent Curriculum Vitae (CV) to Denis Miki Foundation at contact@denismikifoundation.cm copying; Miss Emilia Miki emily@denismikifoundation.cm, Mr Emmanuel Vifansi emmanuel@denismikifoundation.cm, Miss Ndolo Ekema ndolo@denismikifoundation.cm and Mr Parviel Chirsir parviel@denismikifoundation.cm

Deadline: The deadline for submission of abstracts and CVs is the 30th of December 2018 at 11.59PM.

ABOUT DENIS MIKI FOUNDATION

Denis Miki Foundation is a development initiative that since December 2013 has worked with rural and urban-poor communities in Cameroon. Our programs at Denis Miki Foundation focus on primary health care, water, hygiene & sanitation targeting primary school children, youth, women and the underprivileged persons, conservation related activities, community development projects, vocational training and promoting sustainable agriculture, arts and talents promotion activities. DMF’s missions are to contribute to the attainment of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and community development by empowering the people and their communities. We have as objectives to sustainably develop and enhance the capacities of the poor, vulnerable and rural areas of Cameroon.

 

ABOUT HER VOICE FUND

HER Voice is the result of various consultations with women organizations and women’s funds citing challenges faced, particularly by young women, while engaging in relevant policy and program design processes that directly affect their lives.

Through its “Community Rights and Gender Strategic Initiative”, the Global Fund has invested in HER Voice to support the meaningful engagement of adolescent girls and young women in national AGYW and youth related policy and program processes supported by or linked to the Global Fund, for an initial period of 12 months.

HER Voice believes that to respond adequately to the needs of adolescent girls and young women, their voices and ideas must be heard. They must have the opportunity to shape policies and programs that affect them. HER Voice collaborates with and compliment other initiatives geared towards strengthening quality of interventions targeting adolescent girls and young women.

The HER Voice Fund is jointly managed and administered by SHRH Africa Trust (SAT) and Eastern Africa National Networks of AIDS Service Organizations (EANNASO).

YOUNG PEOPLE ARE UNIQUELY SUITED TO SOLVE PROBLEMS THROUGH SERVICE.


Global Youth Service Day (GYSD) is the largest service event in the world and the only one that celebrates the contributions that children and youth make 365 days of the year. Global Youth Service Day #GYSD was commemorated this day in Cameroon at Bobende Village, Limbe II with a Community Service outreach program consisting of human investment activities by the following partner organisations; Green and Better World, American Corner, SAFE Heaven, Global Youth Service America, Bobende Youths Association, HRH Chief of Bobende, Young African Leaders Initiative, IYEC, CODEC, LUKMEF, Community Radios, TV Stations and Newspapers from April 20-22 2017 in partnership with Youth Service America.

Research shows that the first full series of scans of the developing adolescent brain by the National Institutes of Health showed that our brains undergo a massive reorganization between our 12th and 25th years to make the entire brain much faster and more sophisticated. Between the ages of 12 and 25, people are literally wired for excitement, novelty, risk, and peer authority. While these traits can be negative, they also make young people uniquely suited to solve problems, if given the opportunity.

1. Excitement and novelty leads to learning new things and creating new solutions.
2. Risk leads to trying things adults might not.
3. Peer authority leads to changing behaviors; kids listen to other kids more than adults.

DMF Celebrates International Women’s Day Through A Sensitization Campaign at the Field

The theme for the 2017 International Women’s Day celebration is “Be Bold for Change”. For International Women’s Day 2017 and beyond, individuals and organisations were encouraged to #BeBoldforChange by taking ground breaking action that truly drives the greatest change for women. Many influencers around the world committed to bold action to accelerate gender parity, acknowledging their responsibility to do what they can to forge a more gender inclusive world.

At DMF we got youths involved in the development process because it is getting them interested and participative in the 5050 agenda… #IWD celebrations was commemorated by a sensitisation campaign at the field as women in the town of Limbe gathered to show their solidarity and role in building the world they want.

Young Female HIV Peer Educators/Volunteers Trained


Denis Miki Foundation is aware of her legal and moral obligation to protect the rights of all, the responsibility of individuals to act and the benefits of diversity to society and is conscious that HIV/AIDS is a human rights issue too. With the need to partner for the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goal had Young Female HIV/AIDS Peer Educators be trained in the Peer Educators training by Presse Jeune Developpement and Center for Media and Strategic Communication in partnership with Reach Out Cameroon.

In all our activities health education talks and campaigns are not left out and this is to economically empower the people and communities for healthy lifestyles. It is vital for Denis Miki Foundation to include Health education talks, sensitizations and campaigns in her projects and activities. This is in the areas of HIV/AIDS, Sexual and Reproductive Health, Water and Sanitation. It is one of our goals to implement larger projects on health in the poor rural and urban communities we work with since most of them are faced with health challenges of HIV/AIDS, Malnutrition and many others. The HIV/AIDS trainings are facilitated by the trained Peer Educators who were trained by Presse Jeune Developpement and Center for Media and Strategic Communication in partnership with Reach Out Cameroon.

The Peer Educators will be going into the field to train their peers on HIV/AIDS prevention, how to use the female condom, prevention and available HIV/AIDS management methods.

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