On July 13, 2026, the Congress Hall in Yaoundé hosted something Cameroon has needed for nine years: a real, high-level conversation on education rights for Internally Displaced Persons. e-Mentor, in partnership with Refugees International, convened Leaving No Learner Behind, bringing together over 100 leaders, civil society heads, government ministry representatives, and Junior Parliamentarians from the Northwest, Southwest, and Center regions.
In my opening address as the founder and executive director of e-Mentor, I shared e-Mentor’s numbers, over 1,500 displaced learners reached, 170 teachers trained, a 21 percent average STEM improvement, but insisted the room look past statistics to the human stories behind them. I announced the adoption of a joint policy statement and a new Technical Working Group to carry the day’s recommendations forward.
The voices that made the day matter:
Ethel Lehdufe (Holistic Queens) shared her own displacement story, forced to abandon journalism studies in Buea, and urged stakeholders to help displaced people build new dreams.
Dr. Sarah Miller (Senior Fellow, Refugees International), joining from Chicago, called displaced people “the ultimate experts on their own needs.”
Nso Delphine (NESODEV) showed how funding small businesses for parents keeps children in school.
Ndzi Divine Njamshi (NEWSETA) highlighted legal identity as a hidden barrier, over 300 IDPs secured birth certificates through a 2022 NEWSETA project.
M. Logmo I de Semnjock Léonard (MINJEC) delivered the biggest commitment of the day: citing 969,000 displaced and 488,000 out-of-school children, he pledged MINJEC’s shift toward a rights-based approach and committed the Ministry’s 440 youth centers to our new Technical Working Group.
That’s government, on the record, at the table.
What made July 13 different from every roundtable before it was the mix in the room. Civil leadership from e-Mentor and NEWSETA, grassroots economic empowerment from NESODEV and the Therapeutic Action Initiative Association, and policy commitment from MINJEC, all in conversation, not in separate silos.
Displacement has always been treated as a humanitarian emergency to manage. What happened in that hall was the beginning of treating it as a policy failure to fix, with a Technical Working Group now tasked with turning Monday's commitments into Ministry budgets, curriculum guidance, and real seats in real classrooms. We know a joint statement is only as strong as what follows it, so we'll be sharing updates as the Working Group begins its first sessions, because the real measure of July 13 won't be how the room felt. It will be how many more displaced children are back in school a year from now.
Read the full story, with more voices and photos from the room, via Journal du Cameroun: Leaving No Learner Behind: High-Level Dialogue in Yaoundé Maps Out Paths to Educational Continuity and Dignity for Cameroon’s IDPs
Want to support this work?
If you’d like to help us empower more marginalised learners like the ones you’ve read about today, we’d love to hear from you. Reach out to us directly at e.mentorcam@gmail.com, or call or WhatsApp us at +237 650 585 400.
Thank you for being part of this journey. This is what’s possible when the right people finally share the same table.
With gratitude, Abongdoh Maluyane Titus Founder, e-Mentor
Mr. Africa
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