Bintou Oumar — Sewing a Future, One Stitch at a Time | United Nations Development Programme

Bintou Oumar — Sewing a Future, One Stitch at a Time

July 20, 2026

Older woman wearing a headscarf sewing pink fabric on a vintage treadle sewing machine. — UNDPCameroon -KSrelief training of beneficiaries (Tailoring) : Bintou Oumar

@UNDPCameroon

In Kosava, a neighbourhood of Kolofata in Cameroon’s Far North Region, where years of insecurity have disrupted livelihoods and limited economic opportunities, 24-year-old Bintou Oumar dreams of something many young women take for granted: earning a dignified living through her own work.

Supporting a household of five, Bintou had already learned the basics of tailoring. But talent alone was not enough. Without a sewing machine, fabric, or a workspace of her own, she moved from one private workshop to another, earning only a few coins daily, never enough to support herself or her family.

"Before the project, I was very vulnerable," she recalls. "I could not meet my own needs or those of my loved ones."

Today, her story is beginning to change. Bintou is among the 350 young women and men selected from 3,168 applicants through a transparent, community-based selection process to benefit from the KSrelief–UNDP livelihoods programme. She is currently receiving professional training in tailoring and embroidery under the technical supervision of the Centre de Promotion de la Femme et de la Famille (CPFF) in Kolofata, where she is mastering modern African tailoring techniques designed to meet local market demand.

While her business start-up kit has not yet been distributed, this will be officially handed over at the end of the training in line with the project cycle. Bintou is already preparing for the future.

"This training is my opportunity," she says with confidence. "Through sewing, I want to build a business that will transform my life and improve the lives of my family."

Her ambition extends well beyond simply earning an income. Once she receives her sewing equipment, Bintou plans to establish her own tailoring workshop and, within the next two to five years, expand it into a well-known, high-quality atelier serving her community, which is very scarce in the area but has high demand; people travel far to get such.

"I want to become a woman who inspires change, a reference for other young women," she says with determination.

For Bintou, the programme represents more than just vocational training. It is restoring confidence, strengthening self-reliance, and opening the door to opportunities that once seemed beyond reach.

When asked what her future might have looked like without this support, she pauses before answering quietly: "My life would have been like hell."

Today, however, hope has replaced uncertainty.

Her final message to the people who made this opportunity possible is simple, heartfelt, and filled with optimism:

"Thank you very much. Thanks to KSrelief, I am becoming the woman I have always dreamt of."