Community Empowerment Facility Profile

BACKGROUND

Cameroon is a rural country where agriculture plays a primary role, it being the main source of income for over 80% of the active working population. The economic crisis of the late 1980s led to major changes in the economy. Three "Structural Adjustment Plans" were implemented to boost the economy through market liberalization. However, the need for efficient support measures in the transition process was not fully taken into consideration, especially at the rural level. As a result, rural communities faced a new pattern of natural resources utilization, based on fierce competition and profit-driven mechanisms. In turn, this led to an unsustainable exploitation of the available resources, with an impoverishment of the rural communities' environment.

The National government in Cameroon has recognized the need to rationalize the land tenure system, for it is the main means of production and source of income of the majority of the population. Already in 1974 a law was passed, which tried to link and convert usufruct rights to property rights. According to the law on land tenure rights, ownership of land can only be claimed by possession of a land title certificate. Despite the various modifications, some mechanisms of the intended conversion were left unclear. This led to increasing family/tribal conflicts. Tension has also been generated because of ignorance of the legal steps to be followed by rural peasants who have been evicted from lands on which they could claim certain rights.

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GOAL AND OBJECTIVES

The overall goal of the project is to strengthen rural communities' capacity, in four targeted villages, to defend their land rights and attain eligibility to title deeds on their lands. The project is conceived as an action-research project on land tenancy legislation and on the follow-up popularization of actions to be taken by the peasants, who are often manipulated by better equipped elites.

The targeted villages are characterized by a situation in which anarchical land acquisition processes by some elites are increasing as well as families' conflicts on land tenure. Villagers lack knowledge on the steps and  procedures to be accomplished to obtain a land title. They cannot access the credit system because they lack title deeds, which could be used as guarantees in the acquisition process.

Attaining the overall goal means, in turn, to carry out some specific activities:

• Identify and gather legal texts, laws and bills related to land tenancy issues in Cameroon;
• Formulate a guide on current procedures to obtain title deeds in Cameroon;
• Set up land management committees in 4 targeted villages.

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WHO WILL BENEFIT?

The communities of the rural villages Endom, Bikoman, Zomo and Nkol have constituted together a rural organization named FEOPROPACE - Federacion des organisations profesionnelles des producteurs paysans du Centre. The organization counts approximately 1 000 members, the majority of whom are women, who cultivate maize, cocoa and cassava crops, their sole source of income. Four family groups within FEOPROPACE have been selected as direct beneficiaries. The communities involved selected the family groups to benefit from the project.

Moreover, FEOPROPACE is member of a nationwide organization, named CONAPROCAM - Confederation Nationale des Producteurs de Cacao du Cameroon, which embraces 16 peasant organizations, representing over 12 000 small producers of cacao. CONAPROCAM is present in 4 out of the 7 provinces producing cacao in Cameroon. The results of the current project and lessons learnt will be publicized and conveyed to the other members of CONACOPRAM. The dissemination of the results will be undertaken mainly by our partner ODECO, the NGO implementing the project, together with FEOPROPACE. This will benefit a large number of villagers who can be considered as indirect beneficiaries. The project is intended as a pilot by the CONOPROCAM umbrella organization.

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CONCLUSION

After the guide on procedures to obtain title deeds is completed, the final step will be to set up four land management committees each of which consisting five members, including two women. Committees will be trained to provide technical assistance to poor families in delimiting their lands and applying for property title deeds. Land demarcation proceedings will be carried out with the joint participation of all parties to the conflict, including those bordering on the contended soils. Community elders of the villages will be consulted as they are presumed to have knowledge of the timing of land acquisition and location of family settlements within the communities. After having reached a shared vision on lands demarcation, families will be assisted in obtaining land title deeds.

The Coalition supports the project because it expects the outcomes to be very meaningful in terms of the process. The four local land management committees could install a new mechanism capable of fostering a change of direction in the anarchical land acquisition pattern in rural areas of Cameroon. Providing rural communities with the knowledge required to defend their rights and highlighting participation in the demarcation process, will help villages to enhance their institutions and increase potential for sustainable management of their resources, thus curbing the worsening of their life conditions.

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