Cameroon, a central African country with a population of 23 million, is suffering from a decades long tension between two different groups within their country. These two groups are the majority Francophone community, which heads the federal government and the minority Anglophone group which reside in the North-West and South-West regions bordering Nigeria. Since October 2016, the Anglophone regions have been suffering from armed conflict and violence.
The activists from the Anglophone communities are claiming their political rights as well as economic and social equality. This has caused approximately 400 civilian deaths, 200 military deaths and 500,000 displaced people. It is argued that these tensions are leading to instability, poor living standards, high economic and humanitarian costs and exacerbated poverty.
Activities:
- ICO will bring together a large variety of stakeholders to discuss these problems and their linkages. The goal is to determine a tangible path forward by learning from numerous different perspectives. The events will aim to rally local domain viewpoints with public, private, and not-for-profit sectors, as well as global perspectives from the academic, international institution, and investor experiences. The first event, an investment conferences planned with our partner Valens Emerging Market, has already received support from the prime minister.
- ICO has the opportunity to deploy a large amount of investment into Cameroon within the next five years, which will have a significant economic impact on the country. The goal is to provide sustainable economic growth and poverty alleviation and avenues for lasting peace and reconciliation in the country. Through local partnerships, ICO will be able to measure impact by employing the tailored theory of change to each investment tracking outcomes. Currently the ICO-IMPACT team is engaged in due diligence with 2 of Cameroon’s largest employers.
- ICO is planning to bring together human rights activists and academics to further explore the relationship between the investments and the improvement of human rights issues listed in Cameroon reports from the UN. The purpose is to highlight the direct links between FDI and the self-development goals in Cameroon, positive and negative FDI practices and the impact on human rights in Cameroon and the region is also under investigation.
