This paper critically considers the ethics of conducting community-based participatory research, which engages community members, including young people, as active participants in research about them, in the context of the protracted armed conflict and crisis of the Lake Chad region. We highlight the intersection of cultural practices and religious belief systems prevalent in this context, which further deepens the complexities arising from researching populations experiencing protracted armed conflict and crisis. This raises the possibilities of understanding research ethics in such contexts via the lens of a postcolonial frame. Using participatory photography allowed engagement in face-to-face collaborative data collection. In doing so, the research team was able to pay attention to verbal and non-verbal dimensions arising from community engagement, which supported learning about the community’s positions and needs as a resource for thinking about how these might need accommodation in the project. It is not straightforward to lead this kind of project as researchers based in the Global North in terms of deciding what is right and what research practices would be considered just, compassionate, and trustworthy in these contexts. The approach taken was to distribute leadership in the project to include local actors such as NGOs working at local levels, community leaders (traditional and religious), as well as to draw on in-country research teams and the members of each of the participating communities. We argue that a more nuanced understanding about how to mitigate identified ethical concerns has implications for enhancing community-based research, especially when researching similar populations.
The major world conferences on women in the past four to five decades have been laden with so much talk about women's empowerment and their role in development as equal partners resulted in most nations committing themselves through the signing of various conventions to henceforth involve them as active partners in the development process and not just passive recipients of its benefits through the trickledown effect. Proponents of women, gender and development theories have consistently purported that women are equal partners in development. It is in this light that the government of Cameroon embarked on the project to empower women and promote their influence in the community in recognition of the pivotal role they play in improving living standards and alleviating poverty, particularly in rural communities which also falls within the overall development plan for the nation. With this plan in mind, the government has set up structures, coupled with the activities of international and national stakeholders to train and develop skills of the rural women to participate in improving the living standard in the community. Some of these good will programmes can be seen in the policy framework directed toward women (MINADER 2006). Despite attempts made to improve on the socioeconomic status of the women as stipulated in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the inputs from various stakeholders like the government, development agents and other partners, much is yet to be realised after the midterm evaluation of 2015. Given that women form half or the greater part of the population, Mustapha (2014) asserts that no any nation can prosper if half of its resources (women) are neglected. Cameroon's constitution upholds the principle of gender equality. However, a complex legal system comprising a mix of Napoleonic code and common law as well as customary and written law do exist. These sometimes act as obstacles to women's empowerment and participation in community development. Regarding the position of women visa -vis customs and traditions, there are numerous views within various brands of feminism, including radical feminism, liberal feminism, Marxist or socialist feminism, black feminism, and post-modern or post structura list feminism. All views agree that gender inequality and oppression of women are real problems which need to be remedied. One key concept developed by feminists is patriarchy, which they identify as an obstacle to women's empowerment and participation in community development. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), 2010 opines that while there has been significant progress towards achieving gender equality, across the world, many women continue to face
Media can play a crucial role in dousing tensions and maintaining peaceful coexistence among culturally diverse peoples. However, the role of media is yet to be fully comprehended in the ongoing sociopolitical crisis in the northwest and southwest regions of Cameroon since 2016, arising from two distinct colonial heritages. Mindful that Cameroon has not experienced threats of separation stemming from cultural diversity prior to this time, the Cameroon radio and television (CRTV) is challenged as to how to report this crisis in a manner that will result in containment and management, promoting unity in diversity. The theory of framing was used to analyze interviews with key informants, CRTV news content, and documentaries. Therefore, the question of how state television uses frames in this sociocultural and political crisis involving two cultural entities brought together by history is at the heart of this study. The state through mainstream media uses news frames that promote national unity in cultural diversity in contrast to separation advocated for by separatists through social media.
Since the beginning of the current millennium, Boko Haram has terrorised the residents of Northern Nigeria with devastating and high profile campaigns resuming in 2010. First responders struggle to cope with planning for and responding to the aftermath of these attacks. This paper describes analysis that can help emergency services preempt the geography and magnitude of susceptibility to attacks and the potential of the terrorists to generate severe attacks. The data used for the study were five years of terrorist activities. Results suggest that the efficiency of Boko Haram is not necessarily random and that attacks are generally well calculated to hit communities with disproportionate concentrations of vulnerable residents. The analysis is the first attempt to examine how a spatial segmentation framework might offer insight and intelligence towards understanding the configuration of terrorism for operational response.
Cameroon has recently become a target of deadly attacks including shootings, kidnappings and suicide bombings by the Islamic insurgent group Boko Haram. Cognizant of the fact that Cameroon has not experienced anything like this since independence, the Cameroon mass media is challenged as to how to appropriately report this insurgency in a manner that will result in conflict containment and management rather than escalation. The researcher set to examine the role of the media in managing this armed conflict through the critical analysis of documents as well as interviews and observations from the theoretical perspective of framing. Framing by the media has been a very effective strategy in managing the conflict by mobilizing the national population against the sect while maintaining calm and lessening panic and anxiety. This effort by Cameroon media is highly commended although more still needs to be done.
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