REPUBLIC OF CAMEROON Paix-Travail-Patrie SERVICES DU PREMIER MINISTRE SECRETARIAT GENERAL
REPUBLIC OF CAMEROON Peace-Work-Fatherland PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE SECRETARIAT GENERAL
PRESS RELEASE FOLLOWING NATIONAL DECENTRALIZATION BOARD OF TUESDAY 7 MAY 2024 ***
Yaounde, 7 May 2024
The Prime Minister, Head of Government, His Excellency Joseph Dion Ngute, Chairperson of the National Decentralization Board this Tuesday 7 May 2024, at 10 a.m., presided over an extraordinary session for the year 2024 in the Auditorium of the Prime Minister’s Office. The session was attended by his close aides, Members of Government, Members of Parliament, representatives of the Economic and Social Council, representatives of Regional and Local Authorities, as well as those from civil society.
The meeting’s agenda focused primarily on reviewing the Methodology Document for calculating Cameroon’s Local Development Index (LDI) and the Report on the Local Development Index calculation test conducted on a sample of forty councils.
In addition to the Prime Minister’s opening statement, the Board listened to presentations from the members of the ad hoc committee tasked with updating and producing the LDI. They presented the committee’s methodological approach, the methodology for calculating the LDI, and the preliminary results of calculating the LDI on the selected sample.
In his opening remarks, the Prime Minister emphasized the significance of constructing Cameroon’s LDI within the framework of expediting and enhancing the decentralization process mandated by the PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC. In fact, the LDI will serve as a tool for impartially evaluating the development status of regional and local authorities, prioritizing interventions on their behalf through rational resource allocation. It will also foster local governance.
Regarding the methodological approach of the ad hoc committee, the Chairperson who doubles as the Permanent Secretary of the National Decentralization Board provided a brief overview of the background, highlighting that the State initiated the LDI construction process to facilitate the efficient and equitable distribution of human, material, and financial resources to Regional and Local Authorities (RLAs).
In the committee’s efforts, a scientific and participatory approach was favored, notably through the comprehensive involvement of various stakeholders. Thus far, the committee has selected relevant areas and indicators for calculating the LDI, prioritized them, and developed the formula for calculating the index.
A pilot survey conducted by the National Institute of Statistics among a representative sample of 40 councils in the ten regions achieved several objectives. It allowed for the (i) measurement of selected indicators, (ii) gathered the opinions of local elected representatives and experts on the weighting of selected areas and indicators, and ultimately (iii) chose the most robust formula for calculating the LDI.
The methodology used to calculate the LDI was based on a comprehensive review of scientific and technical literature, considering current regulations and international standards. The committee capitalized on its methodological approach and critically reviewed the LDI Document validated in 2018. Furthermore, the committee conducted a comparative analysis with similar indices existing at the international level or in other African countries.