Collaboration multisectorielle face aux défis et enjeux de l’éducation complète à la sexualité des jeunes au Cameroun

Abstract

The study of "multisector collaboration in the face of the challenges and issues of Comprehensive Sexuality Education for young people in Cameroon" stems from an observation: Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) is a process involving the cognitive, affective, physical and social aspects of sexuality and which aims to provide young people with the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values that will give them the means to develop. In this respect, this process requires the pooling, or rather, the collaboration between the different actors and sectors involved. With this in mind, the central question of this study was formulated as follows: How can we understand the complex factors that structure the collaboration of actors from several sectors involved in the promotion of Comprehensive Sexuality Education for young people in Cameroon? This question accepted the following hypothesis: The economic, relational and symbolic capital at stake in the field of promoting Comprehensive Sexuality Education for young people in Cameroon is central to the construction of the collaborative relationships that bind the actors involved. The verification of this hypothesis was done by using three theoretical approaches, with BLUMER's interactionism as the main one, MUNCK's critical sociology and BOURDIEU's structuralist constructivism as secondary ones. Qualitative data was collected through documentary observation and direct observation. Twenty semi-structured interviews with staff representing sectoral structures (public sector, civil society and development partners) promoting CSE, based on a purposive sampling, facilitated the collection of primary data. The content analysis made it possible to make the data intelligible. According to the results of this study, sexuality education is a secular activity that has been institutionalised in international conventions and national regulations. The actors are: the public sector, civil society and development partners. Collaborative activities focus on the development of intervention documents and strategies, mobilisation and sensitisation of targets and finally on the financing of CSE. Collaboration is circumscribed to issues and challenges that are shared by the actors working together and that are not always shared by all actors involved. Moreover, the coordination of actors and activities for the promotion of CSE which is dependent on this collaboration is embryonic and carried out by more global frameworks of concertation with encompassing issues such as reproductive health.