Art for Peace: Arts education in the service of dialogue and peace in Cameroon

Against a backdrop of social tensions and the fallout from the Anglophone crisis, the ‘Art for Peace’ project uses artistic expression as a means of promoting dialogue, tolerance, creativity and peaceful coexistence within educational communities.

Led by the Itaka-Escolapios Foundation, in collaboration with the Order of the Piarist Schools of Cameroon and with financial support from Jaca Town Council, the project has been carried out in four schools in Bamendjou, Bamenda, Bandjoun and Yaoundé.

Between September 2025 and September 2026, awareness raising sessions were held to present the project to pupils, teachers, supervisors and school management. These meetings provided opportunities for discussion and participation centred on the link between art, expression, dialogue and peace. In Bamendjou, in particular, the children were invited to define the concepts of ‘art’ and ‘peace’ for themselves, thereby encouraging their active participation and involvement in the project.

In Bamenda, within a particularly sensitive context, the emphasis was placed on non-violent expression, dialogue and the role of young people in building a culture of peace. In Bandjoun and Yaoundé, the sessions also helped to mobilise the educational communities around creativity, respect for others, solidarity and social cohesion.

To round off the project, the children from the four Piarist schools in Bamendjou, Bandjoun, Bamenda and Yaoundé organised an exhibition of the artworks created as part of “Art for Peace”.

‘Art for Peace’, through the creativity of the children, has been hugely well received, and is regarded by both the educational community and local authorities as a seed of hope in a country that has been grappling with an ‘invisible’ conflict for a decade – a conflict that has already claimed more than 6,000 lives and displaced some 700,000 people.

Through ‘Art for Peace’, the Itaka-Escolapios Foundation and its donors reaffirm their commitment to an education that goes beyond the mere transmission of knowledge and helps to nurture young peacemakers and ambassadors.