UNICEF has donated technical workshop equipment and training kits to Cameroon’s Ministry of Youth Affairs and Civic Education, a move officials say is meant to help vulnerable young people gain job-ready skills.
The handover took place July 2, 2026, at the Centre Regional Multipurpose Youth Empowerment Centre in Mimboman, Yaounde. It marks a milestone in the Multi-Year Resilience Programme, a three-year, $25 million initiative that ran from 2022 to 2025 and was funded by the global United Nations fund Education Cannot Wait. The program targets education and training in emergency situations across 64 council subdivisions and is supported by a consortium that includes UNICEF, UNESCO, WFP, UNHCR, NRC, and Plan International.
The backdrop is a sustained education crisis. Since 2021, more than 1.9 million school-aged children in Cameroon have needed emergency educational humanitarian assistance, including children affected by the security crisis in the North West and South West regions, students arriving from the Central African Republic, and children in the Far North region.
UNICEF said the donation is about more than equipment. In remarks delivered on behalf of UNICEF’s representative in Cameroon, the agency framed tools and workshop access as “doors that open,” and opportunities that help young people rebuild their futures after displacement.
The equipment, valued at 129,109,000 FCFA, is intended to furnish practical workshops in Multipurpose Youth Empowerment Centers nationwide. It supports training in fields that include welding, hotel management and catering, masonry, hairdressing, IT, and clothing-related trades. Local leadership at the Mimboman center emphasized that theory alone is not enough, and that well-equipped workshops help trainees learn the basics before they head into internships and on-the-job learning.
Alongside the workshop equipment, UNICEF transferred 1,265 student training kits and 77 trainer kits to supply centers in regions including the Centre, South, West, and Littoral.
Read the full, original article from Cameroon-Tribune here.