Esther Omam has been admitted in the hall of fame of African Women who have been fighting for the valorisation and emancipation of women in Cameroon after Delphine Tsanga and Alphine Ekotto.
This was during the celebration of the 60th Edition of The Day of the African Woman organised by the ministry for the Promotion of Women's Empowerment and the Family- MINPROFF. She was recognised for contributing to the empowerment of the Cameroonian Women on Day of the African Women was celebrated under the theme; Building women's human capital for an inclusive sustainable development: tracking the scourge of violence while improving food security and good nutrition in Africa.
Prior to her admission into the hall of fame, Esther was panelist at the African Drive for Democracy Conference 2022: Fighting the Democratic backslide through renewed action and solidarity. She presented a paper on: The Role of Non-State Actors within The Framework of the Regional Economic Communities in Promoting Democratisation on the Continent.
A thousand miles journey...
Esther Omam, the Executive Director of Reach Out NGO has been at the forefront of development issues, building a culture of peace and rights and conducting humanitarian assistance in the South West Region of Cameroon and beyond since 2000. Her activities in the promotion and protection of women and children’s rights took her to the Bakassi Peninsula in 2011.
Her endeavors in building a culture of peace and rights in Bakassi made her to advocate for the Bakassi women’s participation in the celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Re-unification of Cameroon before the Head of State, diplomatic missions, the international and national Communities in February 2014. This request was granted and lead to the empowerment of the Bakassi Women, some of who are today, Senators, MPs and mayors.
She became the Peace and Human Rights Champion of Bakassi which earned her an award from the Canadian High Commission, in recognition of her valuable contribution of protection and promotion of human rights in Cameroon.
Since 2016 she has been involved in peaceful activism to resolve the Anglophone crisis. She is the vision bearer of the South West North West Women Taskforce - SNWOT. She lead a delegation of 28 women in the pre-dialogue in 2019 with the Prime Minster, facilitated the participation of women in the Major National Dialogue -2019 in Cameroon. Esther testified at the United Nations Security Council of May 2019 on the Humanitarian crisis in Cameroon.
She received the 2020 peace award in Cameroon for being the pioneer woman in peacebuilding by the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon Peace Office and the Union of Peace Builders in Cameroon. She was awarded the Cameroon SHERO on COVID19 prevention by the Women in Global Health Cameroon. Esther has gained many other recognitions for her work in the communities and Cameroon as a whole. She received the 2020 Outstanding Humanitarian, Peace and Mediation award by Scoop Media and was a member of the organising Comittee for the first ever Cameroon Women's Convention for Peace.
During the lois Internation Award, Esther was recognised as Best Peace Advocate.
In February 2022, Esther recieved the Civil Society Activist of the year award from The Guardian Post Media group. This recognistion was in light with her contribution to promoting the role of women in peace building.
Esther works with local communities on humanitarian relief, peace and social cohesion and her organisation has served over 500,000 displaced persons and persons in need since the beginning of the Anglophone Crisis.
Compiled by Nkengafack Eucharia