BACKGROUND OF THE ORGANISATION:
AC-YA is a young people welfare network and alliance building service which started in November 2006 with preliminary meetings initiated by the founder (Tata Nelson Berinyuy). After that AC-YA members resolved that there was a need to conduct an inferential study into the problems and needs of young people in Cameroon. The Alliance not yet officially registered decided to conduct this survey into the determination of the actual problems/needs of the Cameroonian youths, solutions and to infer if there is a need for a Youth Alliance. This was conducted in all the 10 regions of Cameroon involving youth associations, individual youths, associations and youth welfare organizations, state departments (involved in activities of young people) like the then Provincial Delegations of Youth and Physical Education, Social Affairs, Basic Education, Secondary Education, Women Empowerment and the Family, Public Health and at the Central level the Ministry of Higher Education amongst others.
A prudent analysis and interpretation of the results showed a glaring need to promptly and urgently create the Youth Alliance to help address problems faced by youths. The objectives, strategies, programmes, goal, values/culture etc were developed from the needs and wishes expressed by the young people and stakeholders.
It also portrayed the glaring and ultimate need to actively involve youths in seeking for solutions to youth problems and to create the Youth Alliance for the youths and led by youths.
It is a unique approach of enabling youths to empower and massively develop peers through associations, ensuring youth active participations at all levels in decision making and empowerment.
AC-YA is considered to be the first local association where its creation is very methodical preceded by a scientific and inferential study into the need and problems of beneficiaries before creating the association and designing its programmes/ objectives that squarely addresses needs of the envisaged beneficiaries. It was a very expensive and time costly venture but indeed very necessary to address with precision the core realistic problems faced by youths in Cameroon.
After legalisation in 2009, that same year we were able to achieve the following, that has acted as a foundation for our work today.
- Establish the National Secretariat (Head Office) and the Legal authorization of the Alliance for Cameroon Youths Associations.
- Conducted Intensive Media Sensitization and Education on Sexual and Reproductive Rights of Young People in Partnership with the Ministry of Public Health and Youths as a Pilot Phase of the Project in Mezam Division for prospects of further extension to the whole of Anglophone Cameroon.
- Placed 02 volunteers on a stipend to Greenery an organization that is engaged at bringing modern bio fuel and clean energy technology for domestic use in the North West Region sponsored by the UNDP Cameroon.
- Trained 20 youth groups on setting up basic book keeping systems for their associations, how they raise income for sustainability, the application of OHADA accounting system codes and the use professional simplified accounting software adaptable for civil society organization called “QUICKBOOKS Pro 2000”.
- Conducted Intensive Media Sensitization and Education on Sexual and Reproductive Rights of Young People in Partnership with the Ministry of Public Health and Youths as a Pilot Phase of the Project in Mezam Division for prospects of further extension to the whole of Anglophone Cameroon.
- Conducted 03 very successful fund raising ceremonies
- Increased membership from 10 to 25 youths associations in 04 regions of Cameroon
- Fully implanted the organizational management structure and held its first ever enlarged College of Delegates (Annual General Meeting)
- Conducted participatory monitoring and review of AC-YA, mile stone participatory evaluation meeting, internal auditing of all the finances and an annual evaluation of all AC-YA activities for the financial year 2009.