Environment & Urbanization

World leading environmental and urban studies journal

The Booklovers, the Mayors and the Citizens: Participatory Budgeting in Yaoundé, Cameroon

Author(s): 
Edward Paice

Publisher: 
Africa Research Institute

Pages: 
37

Year: 
2014

This paper describes how participatory budgeting was introduced to Yaoundé (Cameroon).

It begins with an introduction to participatory budgeting (PB), a mechanism that incorporates citizen input into decisions about how municipal funds are used. In general, the benefits include poverty reduction, improved governance, community ownership of projects, and enhanced trust between citizens and local authorities.

PB is at an early stage in Cameroon, where it has been championed by civil society organizations as a way of strengthening basic services and infrastructure. Chief among these organizations is ASSOAL, whose original name in French was Association des Amourex du Livre – the Society of Booklovers. ASSOAL and others have found that PB implementation is challenged by the country’s weak democracy and slow decentralization, but it has already resulted in visible improvements in the form of public works.

In Yaoundé, receptivity to PB has been mixed. Mayors hold a great deal of power in Cameroonian municipalities, and some of Yaoundé’s mayors have been reluctant to embrace the new model of participation represented by PB.

Along with civil society (as represented by the ‘Booklovers’) and mayors, citizens make up a key PB group in Yaoundé. Citizen participation in Yaoundé’s PB meetings increased enormously from 2009 to 2011, aided by the use of SMS messages, although it has been difficult to achieve completely inclusive participation. In the future, one indicator of citizen engagement will be increased payment of local taxes, which is necessary for supporting PB. It will be some time before the effect of PB on revenue collection can be seen.

There is great potential to expand PB in sub-Saharan Africa, given that the proportion of public funds allocated to local authorities is only 10%. The figure for OECD countries is 40–50%. In Cameroon, ASSOAL and other organizations are working toward mandatory PB adoption in all councils. Whilst warning against unrealistic expectations for PB, the paper recommends certain pathways of its promotion in the future, including careful donor support to local civil society organizations as well as stronger ties among those working on PB.

The Booklovers… will be most useful to those interested in exploring how PB works beyond its South American origins. Providing many quotations and examples from residents of Yaoundé, the paper focuses on the practice rather than the theory of PB.

 

To download this paper or for a summary in French: http://www.africaresearchinstitute.org/publications/participatory-budgeting-in-cameroon/

 

For more information on the publications of the African Research Institute, see http://www.africaresearchinstitute.org/

 

Further reading:

Cabannes, Yves (2004), “Participatory budgeting: a significant contribution to participatory democracy”, Environment & Urbanization Vol 16, No 1, pages 27–46, available at 

http://eau.sagepub.com/content/16/1/27.full.pdf+html.

 

Book note prepared by Christine Ro

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