MOHCAM launches NW Women Mediators Network.

The launching took place during a two-day summit, held from June 4 to 5 in Bamenda. It was held under the theme: “Creation and Operationalisation of the North West Regional Women Mediators Network”.

The event saw the presence of 200 participants including community women mediators, peace monitors, traditional authorities, government institutions, civil society organizations, and national and international partners in Bamenda.

The North West Mediators summit is funded by the Open Society Foundation through the Open Society Initiative for West Africa, OSIWA. 

Partners of the summit included amongst others; the Sustainable Women Organisation, SWO; Center for Advocacy in Gender Equality and Action for Development CAGEAD; Organisation for Women Empowerment and Development, OWED; the African Network for the Prevention and Protection Against Child Abuse and Neglect, ANPPCAN; Community Initiative for Engagement in Development, CIWED; Rural Women’s Action for Sustainability and Justice, RWASJ.

Other partners included the Community Initiative for Sustainable Development, COMINSUD; Youth Empowerment and Resilience Network, EARN; Action by Women Lawyers for the Local Protection of Human Rights, AWLEP; and Aspired Women Empowerment Organisation

Speaking during the event, the representative of the Governor of the North West Region, Ignatius Ekane, appreciated the organizers for the project. 

Ekane encouraged them to bring more women into the initiative so as to fasten the peace process. He called on the women mediators to remain steadfast and know that the launch of the network is not the end of the project, but the beginning of a mandate. 

“I give you the assurance that you will not carry that mandate alone, but the government and regional administration is strongly behind you,” he said.

Ekane sounded upbeat that the network will become a beacon of dialogue, inclusion, reconciliation and community resilience throughout the region.

In an interview with the press, the Programme Director of Mother of Hope Cameroon, Sirri Cynthia Wakuna Ngang, revealed that the project was inspired by the occurrence of the crisis.

“When the crisis broke out in the North West, our beneficiaries were burdened by the crisis where women and children were killed,” Wakuna Ngang said. 

She noted that it inspired the humanitarian support to see women beyond victims and bring them on the table where their peace is negotiated and formalized.

This, she said, is to make sure that they are part of the key decision-making structures from the base so that it can have a ripple effect and be mainstreamed into different areas of conflict resolution.

Wakuna Ngang further revealed that the expectation of the network is to see that they expand and make sure that every woman in every community, in the church and social group is able to be a mediator and bring the teaching and culture of mediation into her setting. 

“We think that mediation is the strongest tool to resolution, not the guns nor violence. We think that it is the strongest tool and we are selling the mediation culture within families, institutions, government, and internationally,” she highlighted.

Speaking further, Wakuna Ngang noted that the project is localized in the North West Region to keep them in a strategic position where they cannot be ignored. 

“We are preparing ourselves in a situation where if we have a dialogue, or a peace process that is initiated by the government, women will be ready to sit at the table and preach peace,” she said.

A member of the Board of Directors of MOHCAM, Agbornwei Lilian, said they are expecting the women mediators who have been trained to go to their various communities and continue with what they have started.

“This will not just end at this level but we will have other Mediators trained by those who are there already," she said.

A woman mediator from Boyo Division, Rukiatu Muhammadu, who won a prize as a leader of a njangi group in her community, said she was overwhelmed with the award and hopes to keep preaching peace in her community.

One her part, Buli Patience, a woman Mediator from Donga Mantung Division who won a prize for her hardwork, said she hopes that the award will make her to work harder. 

It is worth noting that MOHCAM has been implementing the Women Mediation Project across the North West Region. 

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3811 of Monday June 08, 2026