Working with International Communities Organisation

by | Sep 18, 2023 | Improving Lives News

“ICO’s goal is to be the leading international organisation working for peace and reconciliation in divided conflict settings with a special focus on enabling minority communities in these divided settings to participate in the respective peace process.”
(James Holmes, Secretary General ICO)

We were surprised and delighted to receive an email and a follow-up phone call from James Holmes earlier this summer. He had found our website and was, frankly, amazed at how much our BSFA/SHUMAS partnership has managed to achieve in Cameroon over the years – but in particular since the start of the Anglophone Crisis in 2016. ICO has been working hard at trying to help forge peace negotiations in Cameroon (and other conflict-riven countries) for some years, but it is never an easy process. ICO’s aim in Cameroon is to encourage dialogue between the francophones and the anglophones and to help in the development of the neglected anglophone regions through capacity building and investment.

James was very impressed at how SHUMAS/BSFA have managed to deliver so many successful projects in the NW Region, which has been such a hot-spot for violence during the crisis. I was sure that it would be useful for ICO to be in contact with our SHUMAS partners because of Stephen Ndzerem’s extensive experience of negotiating with government officials, the non-state armed groups, tribal and community leaders in order to get development projects completed.

Fortunately, in early July Stephen and his family were in the UK for a short while and we managed to arrange a meeting with James in London. We were able to discuss more fully how our respective organisations worked and the upshot was that James invited both Building Schools for Africa and SHUMAS to join ICO’s Cameroon Consortium, a group of in-country NGOs which will work collectively to try to forge peace and development.

It is still early days, but we are excited to be given this opportunity to help in the wider development of Cameroon.

For more information visit International Communities Organisation.

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