REWAC’s blend of compassion and expertise is transforming refugee support in Cameroon, fostering resilience and dignity.
In Cameroon’s refugee communities, resilience is not just a word; it is a daily act of courage. Families displaced by conflict continue to rebuild amid endless uncertainty, often without the infrastructure or visibility their struggles deserve. Yet, in this landscape of challenge, a quiet revolution is unfolding, one that merges human compassion with systems of intelligence and shared learning.
This is the story of how the Refugee Welfare Association Cameroon (REWAC), founded by Dr. Mukete Tahle Itoe, is redefining what it means to support refugees by blending humanity with institutional knowledge, learning systems, and collaboration at scale.
From Law and Justice to Human Dignity
Dr. Mukete Tahle Itoe, a well-respected legal scholar and human-rights advocate, has spent more than 25 years defending the rights of refugees, detainees, and displaced persons. As a Senior Legal Officer with Cameroon’s Ministry of Justice and Co-Founder of REWAC, he has devoted his life to protecting the most vulnerable members of society.
“Every refugee deserves more than survival; they deserve access to justice, education, and the dignity of being heard,” says Dr. Itoe. “REWAC was founded to give them that chance.”
Since its establishment in 2009, REWAC has grown into one of Cameroon’s most trusted humanitarian organizations. The organization supports refugee education, healthcare access, gender equity, and legal aid, all delivered through community-based programs. However, as REWAC expanded, it faced a challenge: how could it preserve and share the institutional knowledge accumulated over years of field experience? How could valuable local wisdom be used to improve future interventions?
The Hidden Crisis of Knowledge Loss
Humanitarian organizations often face a silent crisis, the loss of institutional knowledge. When experienced staff leave, projects end, or reports are not shared, valuable lessons can disappear. For smaller NGOs like REWAC, this loss can slow progress and weaken the continuity of impact.
Recognizing this issue, REWAC began building systems to capture and preserve its institutional knowledge, strengthen collaboration, and support evidence-based decision-making.
“Technology must serve people, not the other way around,” says Jordan Richards, an institutional technologist working with humanitarian and government sectors on digital transformation. “True maturity begins when information becomes insight, and insight becomes shared progress.”
Intelligent Systems Rooted in Empathy
At REWAC, the emphasis is not on adopting technology for its own sake, but on creating structures where learning becomes part of the organization’s DNA. Through streamlined knowledge-sharing frameworks, staff and volunteers now capture field insights, codify community lessons, and share them across programs.
Every insight or lesson learned, whether from a refugee caseworker in Buea or a volunteer nurse in Bamenda, contributes to a living body of knowledge accessible to the entire organization. Over time, these systems enhance institutional resilience, transparency, and operational efficiency, ensuring that experience compounds rather than dissipates.
“Experience and knowledge are the lifeblood of sustainability,” Dr. Itoe notes. “When experience, skills, and lessons are captured and shared effectively, it multiplies the impact of every act of compassion.”
From Data to Dignity
At the heart of REWAC’s evolution lies a shift in thinking: humanitarian impact is not only measured by aid delivered, but by learning transferred. When lessons learned from one project inform another, when communities help shape solutions, and when technology amplifies local voices, knowledge becomes dignity in action.
Richards calls this “digital empathy”, ensuring that systems are built around human realities, not administrative checklists. For REWAC, this means creating an environment where insight drives strategy, and every project contributes to a deeper institutional memory.
A Model for Institutional Transformation
REWAC’s approach offers a model for how developing nations and civil-society organizations can professionalize their internal knowledge systems while maintaining their humanitarian mission. This model is becoming increasingly relevant for governments and international agencies addressing the same challenge: how to retain experience amid change, ensure continuity, and embed institutional learning into national systems.
Richards refers to this emerging discipline as Institutional Knowledge Engineering, a bridge between policy, people, and technology.
“Whether in humanitarian work or government reform, the issue is the same,” Richards explains. “When experience walks out the door, institutions lose not just knowledge but capacity. The solution lies in designing architectures that preserve and evolve institutional intelligence.”
Building Resilience, Restoring Lives
Alongside strengthening its internal learning systems, REWAC continues its crucial humanitarian mission: supporting women and survivors of gender-based violence (GBV) through trauma care, education, and livelihood programs. Its current initiative, Resilience Building for GBV Survivors, seeks to empower affected women and restore a sense of safety and purpose in their communities.
Those who wish to contribute can do so through REWAC’s verified campaign on GlobalGiving:
Resilience Building for GBV Survivors Campaign
Every contribution fuels REWAC’s mission to combine compassion with capability, ensuring that knowledge, empathy, and opportunity reach those who need them most.
Knowledge for Humanity
As global crises multiply, from conflict to climate displacement, humanitarian systems must evolve. REWAC’s experience shows that the future of compassion lies in intelligence: in using knowledge to make empathy scalable, sustainable, and systemic.
“Technology does not replace empathy,” Richards reflects. “It scales it. And when institutions combine heart with intelligence, they become truly sustainable.”
About REWAC
The Refugee Welfare Association Cameroon (REWAC) is a non-profit, non-governmental organization established in 2009 to uphold the rights and well-being of refugees, asylum seekers, and internally displaced persons in Cameroon. REWAC provides direct support in education, gender equality, and healthcare while promoting long-term resilience through policy advocacy and community engagement.
Those who wish to support REWAC’s mission can learn more at www.rewac.org or contribute directly to its verified GlobalGiving campaign: Resilience Building for GBV Survivors.
Dr. Mukete Tahle Itoe, PhD
Sponsor and Trustee of REWAC: Dr. Mukete is a seasoned legal professional with over 25 years of experience in justice administration and human rights. His leadership and expertise guide REWAC’s efforts in creating impactful and sustainable change for refugees in Cameroon.
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Jordan Richards
Institutional Technologist and Knowledge Implementation Specialist: Global advisor on digital transformation and organizational learning, supporting governments and humanitarian institutions to capture, retain, and operationalize knowledge for sustainable impact.
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