The laureates

Description

Estelle Ewoule Lobe is a Cameroonian human rights defender and co-founder of Action for the Protection of Internally Displaced Persons and Environmental Migrants in Africa. The laureate is involved in Cameroonian civil society and fights for the protection of human rights of vulnerable people, the preservation of the environment and against climate change. Her activism also aims to fight environmental crimes such as illegal logging and trafficking of protected species, and to prevent irregular immigration through the sensitization of young people to the risks and their integration at the national level.

"Thank you for this program, which was incredibly rich for me (...) There was this abundance of culture, which opened me up to other cultures.

Interview with Estelle Ewoule Lobe - February 7, 2023

Could you please introduce yourself?

My name is Estelle Ewoule Lobe, and I'm a Cameroonian national. I'm co-founder and executive secretary of the association Action pour la Protection en Afrique des Déplacés Internes et des Migrants Environnementaux, better known by the acronym APADIME. I work globally on environmental crimes around the Congo Basin, strengthening the resilience of local forest communities on their procedural and substantive rights. At present, I'm part of a very strong network in Central Africa set up by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Crime through its Resilience Fund. This fund aims to finance and equip civil society actors working in the field to achieve positive results in reducing and denouncing illegal crime.

What do you expect from the Marianne initiative as you consolidate your project?

In fact, what I first expected from the Marianne initiative when I applied was to strengthen my skills in the field of cybercrime and develop my work network. I thought it was an initiative that would open up new horizons for me and enable me to rub shoulders with various international players. I would like to benefit from the expertise of these players, and from the expertise of certain key players in the Marianne initiative, notably its network of lawyers and its network at Sciences Po.

What activities have been most useful to you since the start of the program?

In fact, all the activities at Sciences Po, including training in the creation and operation of French associations. All these activities are adding to my knowledge.

What future activities do you think will bring you the most benefits?

I'd like to be able to set up another association here in France that will work along the same lines as what I'm already developing in Africa, but with a particular focus on migration. It's a theme on which the association works a lot in Cameroon. There's a network with other civil society players, so through the association that will be set up here in France, I intend to try and work on this issue by mobilizing funds to combat migration in the areas of departure in Central Africa.

Would you like to add anything?

I'd just like to say what a wonderful experience I'm having thanks to the Marianne initiative. I hope that this initiative will also enable many others after me to benefit from the expertise and experience it brings us, and that within the Marianne initiative we can create a very vast network of human rights defenders around the world.