At closing of Peace Weavers training in Bamenda: Civil society organisations, media associations march against hate speech.

Further emphasis was made on leveraging administrative authorities and traditional authorities to mitigate hate speech through advocacy in communities.

To mark the end of the session, a sensitisation walk was carried out from the Customs Junction, Up-Station Bamenda to the Auditorium of the North West Regional Assembly.

Representing the President of the North West Regional Assembly, the Commissioner for Economic Development, Hon Ghejung Awunti, appreciated the efforts towards tackling hate speech and encouraged other organisations to follow suit. He said the fight against hate speech is a continuous process.

"We appreciate the organisations that have put people together today. We ask that others get involved because hate speech is not limited by name. Hate is something that is like a cancer, it eats us up and we need to purge it,” Hon Ghejung Awunti said. 

Ngala Desmond of hate speech mitigation civil society organisation, Civic Watch Association, said the main objective of the Peace Weavers’ initiative is to mobilise youth action in bringing peace to communities.

"We are all aware of the situation in the North West and the South West Regions. As I youth leader and a community-based organisation, hosting the Defyhate initiative in Cameroon, we are mobilising youth action and civic action to fight against hate and bring peace to communities,” Ngala said.

“The term Peace Weaver comes from the fact that we believe that young people should be able to be weavers of peace. They should initiate peace at their respective villages and communities. In the coming months or years, we should have peace from a bottom-up approach. That is why from the North West and South West Regions, we are bringing youth together not only to give them skills on how best they can maintain and consolidate peace in their communities, but also how they can spread this news to other people to mitigate hate speech, misinformation and disinformation,” he added.

He continued that: “As we approach another year when we will be having national elections in Cameroon, it is but normal for us to engage these young men and women, but also lead us to the different communities and hopefully we know that the results are going to be very visible in the coming months".

Ngala Desmond went on to spell out what is expected of the trained Peace Weavers.

"The Peace Weavers have already taken the engagement to go back to the communities and replicate what we have told them. They will also look very contextually how well they can bring peace. This will be either through sports, culture, dance, social media, among others,” he detailed. 

The sensitisation walk brought together Peace Weavers, former African Fact Checking fellows, youth-led associations, community-based organisations and members of the press.