“To live like a tree, lonely and free / To live as brothers like trees in a forest”

About Aîssa Doumara Ngatansou

Aîssa Doumara Ngatansou is from the Extreme North Region of Cameroon. She has been a feminist activist for over 15 years and is an expert in gender and violence against girls and women. She is currently a programme coordinator with the Association to Combat Violence Against Girls and Women in the Extreme North Region of Cameroon and a member of the steering committee for the Project ‘We are the solution - let us celebrate women’s role in small-scale farming’ run by the NGO FAHAMU. Aîssa is the author of several articles and educational booklets for girls and women and is married with three children.

Articles by Aîssa Doumara Ngatansou

16 Days: from demystification to denunciation

Aîssa Ngatansou Doumara 1 December 2012

Violence against women is a public plague no one can live with and early and forced marriage remains the main challenge in Cameroon. The road ahead is a long one but with the force of women’s activism we can get there, says Aîssa Ngatansou Doumara.

16 jours: de la démystification à la dénonciation

Aîssa Ngatansou Doumara 1 December 2012

La violence faite aux femmes est une épidémie que nous ne pouvons pas accepter. Le mariage précoce et forcé reste le principal défi au Cameroun et la route sera longue, mais avec la force de l’activisme des femmes nous pouvons y arriver, dit Aîssa Ngatansou Doumara.

Hunger and patriarchy in Cameroon

Aîssa Ngatansou Doumara 2 October 2012

Women in the Extreme North Region of Cameroon face a brutal nexus of violence and hunger. As long as women remain under the domination of forms of violence – including the denial of their right to food - they will be non-citizens, says Aîssa Ngatansou Doumara.

La faim et le patriarcat au Cameroun

Aîssa Ngatansou Doumara 2 October 2012

Les femmes de la région de l’Extrême-Nord du Cameroun sont confrontées à une combinaison difficile de violence et de faim. Tant que les femmes seront sous l’emprise de ces formes de violence – y compris le déni du droit à la nourriture - elles seront des non-citoyennes, dit Aîssa Ngatansou Doumara.

Le Cameroun: une forme de violence sournoise en milieu scolaire

Aîssa Ngatansou Doumara 31 October 2011

Dans la Région de l’Extrême-Nord du Cameroun, des pères privent leurs filles de leur droit à l’éducation. Aîssa Ngatansou Doumara décrit le combat quotidien pour changer les comportements qui transforment ces protecteurs en tyran et font des jeunes filles des éternelles inadaptées sociales

Cameroon: a subtle violence in education

Aîssa Ngatansou Doumara 31 October 2011

In the extreme north region of Cameroon, fathers routinely deprive their daughters of the legal right to education. Aîssa Ngatansou Doumara describes the daily struggle to change the attitudes which turn a guardian into a tyrant, and condemn girls to a life of social exclusion

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