CR CRISIS Project 2 · Summer School
UNDERSTANDING THE ANGLOPHONE CRISIS

CRISIS

Understanding the Anglophone Crisis, its impact, and our responsibility to build a better future.

A crisis does not only change governments or institutions. It changes schools, families, businesses, communities and the dreams of young people.
Explore the Story Imagine the Future
Children playing at a school field in Buea
BEFORE Children playing at school Buea, South-West Region
A security patrol walking along a quiet street
DURING Security patrol on a quiet street Lysoka, near Buea

START HERE

First, What Do We Mean by Crisis?

A crisis is a serious situation that disrupts the normal functioning of a community, country or organisation and requires urgent attention.

  • Political crisis
  • Armed conflict
  • Economic crisis
  • Health crisis
  • Natural disaster
  • Humanitarian crisis

Our Focus: The Anglophone Crisis

This project explores the ongoing sociopolitical and armed crisis affecting Cameroon's North-West and South-West regions.

We are studying what happened, how it affects everyday life, and what a better future could look like — not arguing about who is right.

WHERE IS IT HAPPENING?

Two Regions. Millions of Lives.

Map of Cameroon showing its ten regions

Cameroon has ten regions. The North-West and South-West are its two predominantly English-speaking regions.

View over the city of Bamenda

Bamenda

NORTH-WEST

Regional capital of the North-West.

View over the town of Buea

Buea

SOUTH-WEST

Regional capital of the South-West.

HOW DID WE GET HERE?

Understanding the Beginning

2016

Protests Begin

Teachers and lawyers raised concerns related to the Anglophone educational and legal systems and what they saw as marginalisation.

Source: Human Rights Watch

2017

Tensions Increase

Confrontations intensified, and separatist movements increasingly called for independence for the English-speaking regions.

Source: Human Rights Watch

After 2017

Armed Conflict

The situation developed into prolonged violence involving armed separatist groups and government security forces.

Source: Human Rights Watch

Today

Years of Crisis

Communities across the North-West and South-West have experienced displacement, insecurity, interrupted education and damage to infrastructure and livelihoods.

Source: United Nations in Cameroon

THE HUMAN COST

Behind Every Statistic Is a Person

Six ways a crisis reaches into ordinary life.

📚

EDUCATION

When schools close, dreams are interrupted.

Schools have been attacked or closed, teachers have fled some areas, students have been kidnapped, and many children have experienced significant interruptions to education. Human Rights Watch estimated in 2021 that around 700,000 students had been deprived of education because of the conflict.

Source: Human Rights Watch, 2021

🏠

FAMILIES & DISPLACEMENT

A home can suddenly become unsafe.

Violence has forced hundreds of thousands of people to leave their communities and seek safety elsewhere in Cameroon or neighbouring Nigeria.

Source: Human Rights Watch

💼

BUSINESSES & JOBS

Conflict makes it difficult for communities to prosper.

Businesses have closed, livelihoods have been lost, and economic activity in the two regions has suffered.

Source: Human Rights Watch

🏥

HEALTHCARE

Getting basic services becomes harder.

Years of disruption have affected access to healthcare and damaged essential infrastructure.

Source: United Nations in Cameroon

👥

COMMUNITY

Fear can divide people who once lived together.

Long periods of conflict can weaken trust between communities, institutions and individuals.

💡

YOUNG PEOPLE

Growing up in uncertainty changes childhood.

Conflict can affect education, opportunities, relationships, aspirations and how young people imagine their future.

A DAY WITHOUT CRISIS

What would an ordinary Monday look like without the crisis?

6:30 AM

Children prepare for school.

8:00 AM

Teachers begin lessons.

12:30 PM

Markets and businesses operate normally.

3:30 PM

Students play football and attend clubs.

5:00 PM

Parents return from work.

7:00 PM

Families prepare for another peaceful day.

Peace can sometimes feel ordinary. But when it disappears, ordinary life becomes something people deeply value.

THE COST OF CRISIS

What Do We Lose When Conflict Continues?

We lose learning. We lose businesses. We lose opportunities. We lose infrastructure. We lose trust. We lose lives. We lose time.

Time spent fighting is time that cannot be spent building.

WHAT CAN WE LEARN?

Lessons From Crisis

Dialogue matters.

People need peaceful spaces where grievances can be heard.

Education must be protected.

Children should not lose their future because adults disagree.

Human life comes first.

Civilians should be protected regardless of their background or position.

Differences should not make us enemies.

Language, region and opinion are part of a country, not a reason to divide it.

Development depends on peace.

Roads, schools and hospitals are built in times of stability.

Young people's voices matter.

The generation that inherits the future should be part of shaping it.

RECOMMENDATIONS — THE ROAD FORWARD

From Crisis to Community

Six stops on the road out of conflict — each one depends on the one before it.

  1. 01

    Listen

    Create opportunities for affected communities to express their concerns safely.

  2. 02

    Dialogue

    Encourage meaningful dialogue involving communities, authorities, civil society, young people and other relevant stakeholders.

  3. 03

    Protect

    Protect civilians, children, schools, teachers, healthcare workers and essential public services.

  4. 04

    Rebuild

    Restore schools, health centres, roads, water systems and other community infrastructure. Recent recovery initiatives in affected regions have focused on restoring precisely these kinds of essential services.

  5. 05

    Create Opportunities

    Support employment, entrepreneurship, education and skills development so young people can see possibilities beyond conflict.

  6. 06

    Reconcile

    Rebuilding physical infrastructure is not enough. Communities also need trust, cooperation and opportunities to heal relationships damaged by years of violence.

THE YOUTH QUESTION

What About Us?

We may not have started the crisis, but we will inherit the Cameroon that comes after it.

What kind of Cameroon do we want to inherit?

  • 🕊️
    Peace
  • 📚
    Education
  • 💼
    Opportunity
  • 🤝
    Unity
  • 💡
    Innovation
  • ⚖️
    Justice
  • ❤️
    Respect

CHOOSE THE FUTURE

Two Paths From Here

PATH A

Conflict Continues

  • More disrupted education
  • More displacement
  • Less investment
  • Damaged communities
  • Fewer opportunities

PATH B

Peace & Cooperation

  • Schools function
  • Businesses grow
  • Communities rebuild
  • Young people innovate
  • Families return home
  • Opportunities increase

Which future would you choose?

Build Peace

The Future Is Still Ours to Build.

The story of the North-West and South-West regions does not have to end with crisis. It can also become a story of rebuilding, education, opportunity, dialogue and a generation determined to do better.

Peace is not only the absence of conflict. It is the presence of opportunity.
Children playing on a school field

Sources

Factual claims about a conflict should be sourced, not copied from social media or presented as personal opinion.

  1. Cameroon: Killings, Destruction in Anglophone Regions — Human Rights Watch, 2018
  2. Witness: Defying Attacks on Education in Cameroon's Anglophone Regions — Human Rights Watch, 2021
  3. "They Are Destroying Our Future": Armed Separatist Attacks on Students, Teachers, and Schools — Human Rights Watch, 2021
  4. "How Can You Throw Us Back?": Asylum Seekers Abused in the US and Deported to Harm in Cameroon — Human Rights Watch, 2022
  5. Rebuilding the Basics: Restored Infrastructure Changing Lives — United Nations in Cameroon

Photographs and the regions map are from Wikimedia Commons, used under Creative Commons licences (CC BY / CC BY-SA). Image credit belongs to the original photographers.