Uniting our Alumni in Cameroon – a New Hub

Freshly established in 2026, the GCSP Alumni Hub in Cameroon is set to enrich our growing global network of now 36 Alumni Hubs worldwide and will help foster a strong local community in one of our priority countries for the year. At the helm of this new Hub are two alumni: Ms Danielle Marlyse Ngo Tehna, with a background in humanitarian development and peacebuilding; and Dr Tabi Tita Zama, a Medical Doctor with extensive experience in health and security. They will both bring their dedication and leadership to this role.

As they embark on this new adventure, we asked them a few questions about their vision for the hub, the role of the GCSP network in their careers, and the impact of the courses they took with us.

The Cameroon Hub within the GCSP Network

The aim of both our hub leaders for the Cameroon hub is to develop it as a dynamic platform between local security realities in Central Africa and the GCSP and its network. As Danielle Marlyse Ngo Tehna expresses, “the ambition is to transform the hub into a platform of influence and a strong hub for peace and security in Central Africa organised around an active community engaged in dialogue and the sharing of experience”.

The goal is to enable alumni to actively collaborate on human and state security issues specific to Cameroon. She namely mentions the support to local challenges, such as violent extremism, peacebuilding, and climate security. Through mentoring, further promoting the GCSP’s executive education training in Cameroon, they will enhance the cooperation between Cameroon, the GCSP and furthermore Switzerland.

Tabi Tita Zama highlights the importance of positioning “the Cameroon Hub as a bridge between local security realities in Central Africa and the broader global conversations within the GCSP.”

Thus, its positioning as a neutral and intellectually credible platform for dialogue, particularly on conflict prevention, social cohesion, governance resilience, and the security dimensions of health. Through structured annual activities encouraging the alumni community in Cameroon to share their expertise, and by strengthening partnerships with institutional actors in the country, such as diplomatic and academic stakeholders, the Hub shall become reference point for strategic reflections on Central Africa within the GCSP’s network.

The Role of GCSP Alumni Network in Professional Development 

Isabelle Gillet, Head of Alumni & Community Engagement: Looking back on your careers, how has the professional network of the GCSP supported your work? Can you share an example of how it had proved valuable in practice?

Danielle Marlyse Ngo Tehna: Looking back on my career, the GCSP’s alumni network has been a powerful catalyst for my vision and confidence. Its most valuable impact has been to inspire me to structure my expertise. Concretely, the spirit and teachings of the GCSP have directly shaped my consulting firm project. The network enabled me to understand the global challenges of peace and security, while the training courses gave me the tools to translate these complex issues into strategic solutions applicable in the field. It was this process that gave rise to my consulting services. Aside from this professional impact, on the community level, creating the Cameroon Hub also felt like a logical outcome. It is my way of moving from the individual application of this expertise to its collective dissemination. The Hub becomes a platform for sharing this knowledge, amplifying our collective impact and enabling others to benefit from this strategic vision. Thus, the proof of the value of the network is not in a past project but exists in an ecosystem that I am building: a consulting service that professionalises my expertise and a Hub that puts it at the service of the community.

Tabi Tita Zama: The GCSP’s alumni network has broadened my understanding of security as an interconnected system rather than isolated sectoral issues. It reinforces the importance of multilateral thinking and cross-disciplinary engagement in addressing complex crises. This is further enhanced by the exposure that we, as community members, have to each other, as we are all professionals from different regions that can provide practical insights into how policy, diplomacy, and operational realities intersect. Thus, the network remains a valuable, trusted space for professional exchanges and informed reflections.

What Distinguishes the GCSP Alumni Community

Both Danielle and Tabi describe the GCSP Alumni Community as an important vector in their professional journeys.

Danielle explains how the participants in her GCSP courses from all horizons and backgrounds helped her shape her thinking. She underlines that the GCSP Alumni Community precisely has this ability to convene a global outlook with local relevance. Internationally, this network of over 13,000 professionals and leaders from 174 countries offers an unrivalled diversity of perspectives for tackling complex challenges; and locally, within Cameroon, the Hub aims to create a space for collaboration in order to adapt this global expertise to our realities. What this means for security professionals, is that they have access to a trusted network for information exchange and collaboration in often siloed environments.

On the other hand, Tabi emphasises the GCSP Alumni Community’s commitment to dialogue across different sectors and perspectives, even in politically sensitive environments. For Cameroon, this network offers a rare opportunity for strategic, non-partisan reflections on pressing security challenges. Whilst at the international level, the GCSP has created a platform where professionals can engage beyond geopolitical divides, which is increasingly important in today’s fragmented policy landscape. Furthermore, the alumni network successfully blends academic rigour with policy relevance, and practitioner experience.

The Lasting Impact of GCSP Courses 

Having taken various courses at the GCSP, what struck Danielle the most was their pragmatic, action-oriented approach. The emphasis was not on pure theory, but on equipping the participants with the tools and skills to act effectively in crisis and complex situations. These aspects complemented her professional career. Having been able to learn about the crisis management framework, about peacebuilding strategies, and about leadership development, she can now respond to emergency situations and complex problems effectively, and has concrete tools for working towards conflict resolution, as well as the skills to bring different actors together and build a vision for a common goal.

“Overall, the GCSP’s courses equipped me to become a more strategic and effective practitioner, capable of translating security concepts into actions that have a real impact on the ground.”

For Tabi, as a Medical Doctor and Health Project Manager, the Global Health Security course profoundly reframed his understanding of health as a core pillar of national and international security. It became clear that pandemics, fragile health systems, and biosecurity risks are intricately interwoven with governance, stability, and trust.

“I greatly benefitted from the course’s multidisciplinary and highly interactive learning environment, which strengthened my strategic thinking and crisis analysis skills. To this day, this experience continues to influence how I approach leadership, institutional coordination, and policy development.”