Vice President Hilarion Etong stamps the "Seal the Deal" campaign banner

On behalf of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) in Yaounde participated at the Pan African Parliamentarians' Network on Climate Change (PAPNCC), for the Central African Sub-Region held in Yaounde at the National Assembly from 12 to 13 November 2009.

A two-day conference brought together parliamentarians from Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Congo (the Republic of), Central African Republic, Gabon, Chad, and Nigeria. A member of the PAPNCC Executive from Kenya was also in attendance. The theme of the Conference was “Securing an Adequate and Equitable Climate Agreement for the Congo Basin and Africa in Copenhagen”.

Hilarion Etong, the Senior Vice President of the Cameroon National Assembly chaired the opening session of the Conference, on behalf of the President of the National Assembly, Cavaye Yegue Djibril. He called on the parliamentarians to pursue the Central African / Congo Basin voice at Copenhagen, and ensure that the world adopts a fair and effective climate agreement for the safety of our planet.

Minister Hele Pierre stamps the "Seal the Deal" campaign banner

Several Speakers at the opening session including Awudu Mbaya Cyprian, Executive President of PAPNCC, Dr. Klaus Perter Treyote, Representative of Friedrich Ebert Foundation; Representative of PanAfrican Climate Justice Alliance and Bokwe Samuel of Network of Parliamentarians on Forest Conservation emphasized the need to “consolidate African Solidarity, to secure an adequate and equitable climate agreement for Africa in Copenhagen and to call for a Special Climate Fund for adaptation and mitigation for Africa and the Nairobi decision to have "One Africa: One Voice: One Position" at Copenhagen.

Cameroon’s Minister of Environment and Nature Protection, Hele Pierre gave a long background to the African vision and the meetings held by African Heads of State and Ministers of Environment and the Cameroon position taken for Copenhagen.

UNIC Yaounde’s National Information Officer, Anne Nsang presented the Secretary-General’s "Seal the Deal" campaign with the powerpoint presentation sent from UNEP in Nairobi. Ms. Nsang updated the parliamentarians on the Climate Summit held at UNHQ, New York in September and the UN Leadership Forum on Climate Change paraphrasing the UN Secretary General’s remarks at both events.

In addition, UNIC Yaounde mounted a Stamping Station for the signing of the Climate Petition, a follow-up to the June Conference. All the Central African Parliamentarians stamped the Deal led by the Senior Vice President of the National Assembly and the Minister of Environment and Nature Protection.

Thierry Mertens, UN Resident Coordinator reads the SG's message

The Ministry of External Relations organized the Official Event for UN Day 2009 in collaboration with the UN Coordination Office and the United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) in Yaounde, at its premises.

The event began with the Raising of the Flags by Ex-UN Peacekeepers who wore their operations regalia, and the UN blue beret.

Mr. Thierry Mertens, the UN Resident Coordinator in Cameroon read the SG's message for the occasion.

H.E. Adoum Gargoum, Minister Delegate at the Ministry of External Relations gave the main speech of the occasion, retracing UN Cameroon relations and praising UN’s work for the world’s Peace, Security and Development especially relating to Climate Change.

The event ended with visit to the Art Competition entries Board and the Common UN Stand set up by UNIC Yaounde with documents from from many other UN agencies. The Climate Change Information Kit was part of documents given by UNIC Yaounde to the members of government, heads of diplomatic missions and youths who visited the stand.

Journalists and trainers at two day workshop on gender sensitive reporting

The United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) in Yaounde co-organised with the United Nations Fund for Women (UNIFEM) a two day training workshop on gender sensitive reporting. The workshop was held on 23–24 July 2009 in UNIC Yaounde's press room and was attended by 25 journalists.

The group included Editors-in-chief and reporters of electronic and print media from key media organisations in Yaounde. Most of the participants have special newspaper columns and Radio/TV news programme slots which address gender, but had very little or no knowledge of the concepts and notions of gender.

The main objective of the workshop was to impart knowledge on the subject and share information about the United Nations’ activities related to gender through its specialised agency, UNIFEM, so as to enable better quality and sensitivity in reporting gender issues and UNIFEM’s activities.

The workshop began with a detailed presentation about the basic concepts on gender and the impact of gender inequality and its cost by the UNIFEM Consultant/Trainer, Ms. Beatrice Eyong. This training module led to a group exercise during which the participants reported on a UNIFEM event using the concepts learned from the presentation.

On the second day, more practice on gender sensitive reporting was done using the UN Secretary-General's campaign to end violence against women as an example. UNIC Yaounde’s National Information Officer (NIO), Ms. Anne Nsang, presented the key points of the campaign and discussed statistics on violence against women and the International Women’s Day 2009 theme: “Men and Women United to End Violence against Women and Girls.” Ms. Nsang drew the attention of the participants to the effect of violence against women on development, peace and security.

She called on the journalists, both male and female, to consider gender when reporting. Ms. Nsang also gave guidelines on gender sensitive reporting.

At the end of the workshop participants created a detailed media plan for three upcoming UNIFEM/UNIC activities, namely 16 Days of Activism/Int’l Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (Nov. 2009), the Secretary-General's campaign to End Violence Against Women (2008 – 2015), and International Women’s Day (March 2010). The plan incorporated many of the concepts discussed during the workshop.

UNIC Yaounde's National Information Officer with participants at the ECO-Arts workshop

The United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) in Yaounde met with children attending a one month ECO-Arts workshop organised by the Bioresources Development and Conservation Programme – Cameroon (BDCP-C).

During two sessions on 16 July and 20 July 2009, Ms. Anne Nsang, UNIC Yaounde's National Information Officer (NIO), explained to the children the work of the United Nations since its creation in 1945 and presented the United Nations Environment Programme's (UNEP) environmental strategy for children and youth called Tunza.

She described Tunza's objective, which is “to promote the participation of children and youth in every part of the world in environmental activities. Children and youth have a critical role and have a stake in the state of the environment today and in the future. They also have valuable contributions to make in environmental negotiations”, she added.

Drawings were used to explain the issues surrounding climate change in simple language and the children were encouraged to continue their commitment to protecting our planet and to participate in the International Children’s Painting Competition, a Tunza activity organised by UNEP for children between the ages of 6 and 14 years.

The message shared by UNIC Yaounde’s NIO with the children on UNEP’s Tunza strategy led to an exchange of questions and answers on environmental protection and climate change. The children were very aware of environmental issues such as felling of trees and destroying of shrubs, pollution by cars and factories, and throwing of dirt and chemicals around homes and streets and condemned these actions which were destroying the environment. 

Ms. Nsang also shared details of the latest UNEP press release on the upcoming youth conference on climate change to be held in Daejeon, Republic of Korea (17–23 August 2009) during which 800 participants from over 100 countries will gather to demand their governments reach a new climate agreement in Copenhagen.

The children at the Yaounde ECO-Arts workshop expressed their wish to participate at such events in the future and to carry out one event during Climate Week (20–25 September 2009) with UNIC Yaounde’s assistance.