Grant awarded to ESCARDEF

ESARDEF (created in 2014 and registered in 2017) is a not-for-profit, and nonpolitical organization in Cameroon (Sub-Saharan Africa) dedicated specifically, on the improvement of community Education, Healthcare, Agriculture, Environmental Safety, Climate Change resilience, Conservation, Democracy, Human Rights and the Rule of Law for the consolidation of Peace and Cultural Diversity. ESARDEF believes this can only be possible by means of diverse Educational activities like; capacity and infrastructural building in schools and in communities, and working towards sustainable livelihood lifestyles through formal and informal educative and training programs in all the community sectors that holistically empowers all especially women/girls, and children/youths.

This project seeks to rescue over 250 women and girls who are Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) with professional skills in Limbe, Cameroon. These women have been seeking refuge on the streets for better livelihoods due to the Anglophone crisis in Cameroon. ESARDEF has already set up a free Computer and Catering Vocational Training Center in Limbe, which aims to empower women with income generating skills, to help keep them off the streets of Limbe for prostitution and other illegal deadly practices. They are currently training 67 women. With an increasing demand there are a number of increasing challenges which include: 1) Inadequate desktop computers, accessories and furniture. 2) No financial motivation for volunteers. 3) Inadequate finance for the catering unit, which is limiting enrollment, and the ability of the training center to function properly. Once these challenges are addressed, the center expects to increase its training enrollment to over 250 women and girls IDPs yearly.  This will help these women and girls increase their livelihoods and hopefully allow them to stay off the streets of Limbe.

This grant will to help them purchase an additional 6 desktop computers, purchase needed furniture, finance motivation for volunteer trainers, and assistance in the running cost of the catering unit. It will provide each IDP with re-usable menstrual hygiene kit as well. Improving these issues will help increase enrollment. Very few organizations are addressing these issues and are typically only providing free food. ESARDEF goes beyond that by training them with employability skills on computers and cooking for local restaurants.

During the training period, trainees will be exposed to practical tasks in the form of assignments and exercises that will be used to determine their success during and after the project. It will measure their ability to recall and do what was taught during class lessons and practical sessions. This will help determine the successes because these same skills will help these women in generating money for their livelihoods when the project is completed. The Grant aims to provide women and girls an opportunity to succeed and become self-sufficient through the acquisition of professional skills. This will allow them to lift themselves and their children out of poverty and misery.