Partner Highlight
Che Myra Ndum
CAMEROON
PUTTING SURVIVORS IN THE DRIVING SEAT: grounding new tech solutions in survivor experience to address sexual, and gender based violence.
YEAR 1 IMPACT
20+
Community Leaders Mobilized
Community Members Reached
200+
Women and Girls Trained in Income Generation Skills
100+
Che Myra Ndum (Myra) is an educational researcher and evaluator committed to transforming learning outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa through inclusive, evidence-based approaches. Working in conflict-affected communities in Cameroon, Myra is using community-based storytelling, arts, and dialogue to help women and girls affected by violence to reclaim their voices, promote healing, and challenge harmful gender norms related to Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV). Her BKMF-supported SDG program emerged from witnessing the silence, shame, and deep isolation surrounding survivors, particularly girls and women who lacked safe spaces to speak, heal, or seek support. Over the years, Myra has worked in community development and observed how these unaddressed experiences reinforced trauma and normalized abuse. Guided by her conviction that storytelling is a powerful pathway to dignity, collective healing, and social transformation, she is creating platforms for survivors to be heard, believed, and supported.
In the first year of the Accelerator Fund, Myra’s team mobilized 20+ community leaders to spearhead SGBV prevention messaging in markets, schools, and public spaces, reaching 200+ community members through campaigns, songs, and school clubs. Over 20 survivors shared their stories - many for the first time - while 100+ women and girls participated in income-generating trainings that marked their first steps towards financial independence. The project also built a multi-sectoral coalition of youth groups, community health workers, counsellors, legal experts, and frontline health staff, creating a new referral system that will make it easier for survivors to get help.
In its current phase, Myra is evolving her program to develop an AI-powered digital platform that provides confidential access to psychosocial, legal, and medical services for survivors in the Northwest region of Cameroon. Survivors will co-design the platform and serve as peer navigators and digital ambassadors, using new tech skills and advocacy training to move from isolation to leadership. Anonymized data and digital narratives drawn from the platform can also help push for stronger legal protections and better reintegration measures. With long-term change as the goal, Myra is building a tool the community can take forward - ensuring sustainability and grounding solutions in survivor experience.
“This project, with all its highs and lows, became one of the most defining journeys of my leadership so far. When we first received the grant from BKMF, I felt a mix of gratitude and fear. I had a clear vision, but limited resources, a fragile security context, and a community that was often reluctant to talk about SGBV openly. I remember sitting with my team and saying, “We don’t have everything, but we have heart, and we have the trust of the people. Let’s start there.”