WCC NEWS: Project aims to change the way internally displaced persons in Cameroon are seen, heard

The World Association for Christian Communication (WACC) and the Christian Broadcasting Service of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon have partnered to help promote a more positive attitude and counter hate narratives toward migrants in Douala, Cameroon’s economic capital. An internally displaced woman from Goldavi, Cameroon, folds her hands. Photo: Albin Hillert/LWF, 2019 11 January 2022 Douala hosts more than 400,000 of the more than one million internally displaced persons who have fled in recent years to escape violence. The project will identify migrant citizen journalists from communities in Douala to create inclusive and sustainable media content and gather community feedback on migration. The radio programs will also help provide internally displaced persons with the information they need to access aid, improve their living standards, and exercise their communication rights and human rights. Beneficiaries of the project include migrant communities, migrant citizen journalists, host communities and community media houses. “WACC is proud to partner with the Presbyterian Church of Cameroon to promote the communication rights of internally displaced persons in Cameroon. The ongoing anglophone crisis in Cameroon has resulted in hundreds of deaths and thousands of people having to flee their homes to protect their lives. Unfortunately, the situation has received limited international attention,” said Lorenzo Vargas, WACC programme manager for Communication for Social Change. “In this context, WACC is keen to support internally displaced persons in sharing their stories and exercising their communication rights, which we believe is essential to advance a peaceful solution to the conflict.” The Presbyterian Church in Cameroon and its Christian Broadcasting Service Radio FM 95.3 have been at the forefront of issues involving peace journalism and conflict transformation in the country. World Association for Christian Communication See more

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 349 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 550 million Christians in over 120 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC acting general secretary is Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca, from the Orthodox Church in Romania. Media contact: +41 79 507 6363; www.oikoumene.org/press Our visiting address is: World Council of Churches 150 route de Ferney Geneve 2 1211 Switzerland