A lot people gathered around the Minister of Housing and Urban Development during the meeting to present the Ebolowa 2024 World Habitat Day to the partners. This took place in the meeting room on the first floor of the Ministerial Building N0. 1 on Wednesday, 04 September 2024. In addition to MINHDU’s closest collaborators, the large delegation from the South region, led by the Chairperson of the Regional Council, Mr Mve Emmanuel, included the Lord Mayors of the city of Ebolowa. As for the partners, several general managers, who accompanied MINHDU in previous WHD celebrations since 2019, turned out in force, as did those wishing to become partners. Célestine Ketcha Courtès availed the opportunity to share the World Habitat Day concept with all her partners, and above all to present the challenges of the Ebolowa 2024 edition, whose theme focuses on the youths.

On 7 October this year, alongside the international community, our country will celebrate the 2024 edition of the World Habitat Day under the theme: “Engaging the Youths for a Better Urban Future”. The United Nations General Assembly, in its resolution 40/202 of 17 December 1985, designated the first Monday of October every year as the “World Habitat Day”, which emphasizes the fundamental right of all people to adequate housing and calls on the international community to assume its collective responsibility for the future of human settlements. It reminds the world that we all have the power and the responsibility to reflect on the state of our cities and towns, and to shape the future.

Housing is at the core of Goal 11 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals adopted at the World Summit on Sustainable Development. It is about ensuring access to adequate and affordable housing and basic services for all by 2030. It also aims to improve transportation systems and road safety. In addition, it aims to promote, by 2020, inclusive, resource-efficient, climate change-adaptive and mitigating, and disaster-resilient housing.

According to UN-Habitat guidelines, the choice of the youths as the theme aims to reflect on how to harness the energy, the creativity and the perspectives of young people, so that they can contribute to more sustainable and equitable urban development, thus ensuring a better future for all. The activities to be carried out during this celebration will therefore aim to highlight the central role of young people in urban development, whether in urban planning, housing development, the promotion of sustainable practices or the fight against climate change; hence the national theme ‘Cameroonian youths, key players in the sustainable modernization of our cities’.

The Minister of Housing and Urban Development seized this opportunity, during her presentation to the partners on 4 September 2024, to hail the contribution of the Minister of State, Minister of Higher Education, in mobilizing the Elite of the South, and the Minister of Youth and Civic Education, a major supporter of the 2024 edition of the World Youth Day. To this end, the MINHDU stated: “I am expecting a massive mobilization of youth organisations, which will be provided with free exhibition space in the Habitat Village, to encourage them to promote innovative solutions aimed at improving government policies and strategies”. MINHDU’s exhortation is based on this quote from the Head of State in his speech to the youths on 11 February 2024: “Do not lose sight, my dear young compatriots, that you are the present and the future of Cameroon. You have the noble responsibility of pursuing, with faith and determination, the exciting work of building this strong and prosperous Nation. You know that you can always count on me. All the time”.