Empowering Cameroon’s Future Leaders: MINPROFF, UNICEF Celebrate Adolescent Female Volunteers

In a landmark ceremony celebrating youth participation and gender advocacy, the Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and the Family, MINPROFF and the United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF on August 7, 2026 in Yaounde hosted the official commencement ceremony for the second cohort of UNICEF’s Adolescent Girls’ Advisory Group, AGAP.

Various Stakeholders

The high-level event brought together hundreds of adolescent girl advisors, government dignitaries, civil society representatives, and international partners. To honour the achievements of young advocates who are directly shaping policies affecting children and adolescents across Cameroon.

Government

In her keynote address, the Minister of Women’s Empowerment and the Family, Prof. Marie Thérèse Abena Ondoa, emphasized that adolescent girl leadership is indispensable to national development. "The message is this: The voices of adolescent girls count. They can take part, they should take part in decision-making. We are training them in leadership, in participating in issues that concern adolescent girls who are the future female leaders of our societies.

International Commitments

“The programme is inclusive... We first cohort made significant change in those who took part in it. So, I think we are hoping that we'll continue to benefit from the support of partners so that this programme can continue until - I'll say forever," Minister Marie Thérèse Abena Ondoa said.

Concrete Platforms For Leadership

Reaffirming UNICEF’s commitment to youth participation rights, the UNICEF Representative in Cameroon, Mrs. Nadine Perrault, underscored that the initiative creates concrete platforms for real-time leadership.

"First of all, we must thank them because, as you know, it is an adolescent advisory group for UNICEF. So, these girls really work alongside UNICEF, and they are here precisely because they have the right to participation. And we offer them these spaces where they can participate in development, in discussions, and also in implementing our own initiatives.

Meeting True Expectations

“We ensure that when UNICEF develops a programme or initiative targeting girls, it truly meets their expectations... These are girls who are called not only to become leaders, but to exercise their leadership right now. And acquire the skills that allow them to be true agents of change for society in general, for the benefit of their country," Nadine Perrault pointed out.

Peer Mentorship

Illustrating the sustainability of the initiative, 21-year-old Njocku Ngetchi Visi Noella, a member of the inaugural cohort who joined at age 18 while a high school student in Government Bilingual High School, Toukébou, shared her experience transitioning into a mentor for the incoming cohort.

"The purpose of the advisory group was to consult young girls on the issues that affect them, so that during the creation and implementation process of policies and programs... they could have a raw, unfiltered, first-hand opinion... We attended ministerial meetings, spoke with ministers, delegates, and United Nations representatives...

Intergenerational Continuity

“Leaving the programme today, I have become a mentor for the second cohort. And I am eager to pass on this same feeling to them - the feeling that every action you take for the good of others can have enormous repercussions," Njocku Ngetchi Visi Noella noted.

As the second cohort begins its formal tenure and prepares to mentor the next wave of leaders, the partnership between MINPROFF and UNICEF reinforces a growing institutional consensus in Cameroon. Meaningful development begins by giving youth a seat at the decision-making table.