Urban platform in Cameroon

As part of the Urban Platform in Cameroon project, Expertise France is aligning and structuring a cooperative governance framework for land use planning policies. We are focusing on strengthening urban management mechanisms through close cooperation between institutional, local and civil society stakeholders. 

To this end, the project has contributed to the creation of the National Platform of Urban Stakeholders, a physical space for consultation gathering 69 member institutions. This platform aims to become a permanent forum for discussion, policy dialogue and consultation between public institutions, regional and local authorities, civil society, professionals and researchers.

This multi-stakeholder framework for dialogue is helping to build a common vision of urban issues in Cameroon, improve interinstitutional coordination, capitalise on good practices at field level, and make concrete recommendations to develop strategic, regulatory and operational frameworks for urban planning.

Through thematic working groups, field visits, hands-on training, awareness-raising campaigns and targeted expertise, Expertise France is strengthening the technical capabilities of local and central authorities in the field of planning, land management, waste, and urban project management. It is also promoting gender-responsive, inclusive and green urban planning.

The project is addressing another major need: improve the visibility, accessibility, and usability of the urban planning tools developed over the last two decades, as urban stakeholders are still largely unaware of them or do not make sufficient use of them. A centralised open access database has been created for this purpose. It includes the main existing planning documents (Urban Master Plan, national and regional plans, Regional Development Plan, for example) to facilitate use and ownership.

At the same time, work is being carried out to structure and make available socio-territorial data. The objective is to provide all the stakeholders – public institutions, regional and local authorities, researchers, professionals, civil society – with access to reliable and up-to-date information that can be readily used for urban planning and management: map resources, censuses, equipment/infrastructure and urban density, for example.

A Collaborative Digital Platform is also being developed as a follow-up to the Platform of Urban Stakeholders. It will provide visualisation and data sharing tools to facilitate a real spatial and digital dialogue. This interface will help strengthen inter-sectoral coordination in decision-making related to land use planning.

The main direct beneficiaries of the project will be:

• The Ministry of Housing and Urban Development (MINHDU): a long-standing operator in land use planning and the production of equipment and infrastructure in urban areas  
• The Ministry of Decentralisation and Local Development (MINDDEVEL): it is responsible for developing, monitoring, implementing and evaluating government policy on decentralisation and promoting local development
• The Ministry of Economy, Planning and Regional Development (MINEPAT): it is responsible for developing, implementing and planning the national economic policy, as well as for land use planning
• The Ministry of Domains, Cadastre and Land Affairs (MINDCAF): it is responsible for developing and implementing government policy on public domains, cadastres and land
• Cameroon’s local authorities, especially the municipalities of Yaoundé, Douala and Maroua, will benefit from a framework for public policy dialogue, an improved legal framework and feedback from the experiences of the project activities

Other stakeholders are also involved in the project, such as regional and local authorities, international partners and civil society organisations, including the Cameroon National Youth Council and professional bodies (national associations of architects, surveyors, engineers and urban planners), which are members of the National Platform of Urban Stakeholders.