Blog by Asaah Gideon, co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of Educate a Child in Africa (ECA).
Educate a Child in Africa (ECA), a nonprofit and nongovernmental organization that uses non-formal education and the media to inspire a passion for consequential formal education in children in Africa recently administered one thousand six hundred and thirty (1,630) MY World survey questionnaires to young Cameroonians from the towns of Limbe and Buea of the South West Region of Cameroon. The implementation of MY World survey questionnaires was part of the Building Bridges project that focuses on the priorities of young men and women at the grassroots level and their vision of the world in 2030 based on the Post-2015 UN Development Agenda.
The young people who participated in this exercise ranged from the ages of 15-35 years and represented the 10 regions of Cameroon. MY World survey questionnaires were administered in colleges, higher educational institutions, places of work, religious groups, associations, homes and the man on the streets. They were asked choose 6 out of 16 options based on what is of most interest to them and their families, the world they want.
The survey results were officially presented in a conference that was organized by Building Bridges (BB) and Educate a Child in Africa (ECA) in the University of Buea, Cameroon on the 9th of June. The first three aspects of the world young people in Cameroon want as portrayed by the results are quality education, better job opportunities, access to clean water and sanitation, better transport and roads, better health care and honest and responsive government.
Though some of these young people clearly doubted the possibility of their choices being directly implemented in their country, most of them were however very excited to learn that the United Nations was interested in the opinion of the world they want.
In general, the MY World survey in Cameroon was well responded to and the young people even raised personal concerns that were not listed among the sixteen articles which will would positively affect their livelihood.