Introduction

The village of Melim is just some 5 Km from the Kumbo, the capital of Bui division. Youths and their activities are one of the major axes of intervention of KUDOC. It is in this light that the youths of Melim were provided with a youth field by KUDOC. In the year 2003, the entire population of the village of Melim identified the major cause for rural exodus of youths to be the lack of recreational facilities for this group of people. Their leaving the village greatly reduces the work force of the village and KUDOC and the population identified a possible solution to be the provision of a recreational facility. The youth field will serve the young people of this village to have a venue for the organization of their cultural ands sporting activities, which are their major activities throughout the year.



Bulldozer working in levelling youth field

Verifying the Goal and objectives.

The main mission of this project was to reduce the rural exodus of youths through the provision of a recreational facility. The objectives set to attain this goal was the first of all, the survey of the possibility of acquiring a field for the youth. To be able to reach at this, the traditional ruler of the village was contacted and a sensitization of the youths carried out to assure massive participation in the project. The second objective was in the identification of the proper land available for sale. There was serious search on the part of the youths and other resource persons within the village that resulted in the purchase of a piece of land of dimension 250m x 100m. This was bought to the tune of 500.000 FCFA with 50 % of the funds coming from the KUDOC's coffers and the remaining 50 % from an external source. The third objective was the preparation of the field for use. The activities were the levelling of the field, which KUDOC has financed, and the pending planting of green grass by the youths.

The way forward

The youths of Melim now have a facility for the organization of their sporting and cultural activities. This project, which has seen KUDOC bringing youths together and working with them in this "youth field for the reduction of rural exodus" project, KUDOC has set the platform for the for future engagement of youths in projects that will empower them for sustainable development. This project has been executed in just one of the many villages where youth rural exodus in a major cause of the low agricultural productivity potential of the area. KUDOC intends to look for more funding to be able to get more youths remain in the communities to increase local work force.

Conclusion

KUDOC believes that the provision of basic facilities for the proper up bringing of the youths who are the future leaders of tomorrow is indispensable for proper human development. This is why other projects involving mostly youths are in the pipeline especially in the sectors of health and the environment.



Positive participatory signs as the community turn out to help in the levelling of the youth field.



Bulldozer at worker in the Melim youth field project