The Minister of Women’s Empowerment and the Family, Marie Therese Abena Ondoa has urged administrations, civil society organisations, technical
and financial partners working for the development of Cameroon, to henceforth take into account the family as an institution in their respective development programmes and projects.
The Minister insisted on this as she chaired activities marking the 30th anniversary of the International Year of Families, alongside the International Day of Families, this 15th May, 2024.
Drawing inspiration from the international theme, “Families and Climate Change”, Cameroon coined the theme, “Resilient families in the face of socio-economic, migratory, climate and technological challenges”.
Globalisation, Affecting the Family
The event was highlighted by a panel discussion on the Cameroonian theme, pointing to how climate change, migration, technology and other socio-economic factors are affecting families.
The first panelist, Florine Mukong, indicated that human activities have led to the negative effects of climate change which are in turn affecting the family nucleus.
An expert in technology, Motuba, on his part, frowned at the fact that people spend more time with their phones than with their families. This has led to the neglect of social values.
He also noted that increase in cyber crimes in turn affect the family, especially scamming and the sharing of intimate content with strangers which later leads to blackmail.
The technological expert suggested that there should be an age limit for children to have access to electronic devices.
An expert from the International Migration Organisation, Maurice K. took to the rostrum to explain how migration has affected families.
He explained that migrating from one place to another, affects the individuals concerned as well as their families.
He advised that families should fix rules and have activities to keep children busy.
Emmanuel Lingong Juste on his part, used the religious approach as he discussed with focus on family, peace and social cohesion.
He called on parents to purify their hearts, manage their frustrations and build peaceful homes so as to achieve a peaceful nation.
To crown it all, a Sociologist, Bingono Bingono pointed to the fact that, the human being is at the centre of every emergence. He argued that no contemporary problem is new to us, so we must look back at how we solved such problems in the past in order to face them today.
Eleanor Ayuketah Ngochi
