Cameroon : The Effect of Developmental AID on Poverty Reduction and Agro-Rural Development in Sub-Saharan Africa

Cameroon, with her numerous resources, still depends on foreign aid while the rate of poverty remains high. Thus, even though historical evidence gives impetus to the impasse over role of developmental aid, from the top down approach through to development as a springboard raising states from the doldrums of poverty, it is still very difficult to draw a substantial relationship between developmental aid and poverty reduction. Against this backdrop of controversy, I find it apt to put Cameroon on a balance scale. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to critically assess the implications of developmental aid on poverty reduction and agro-rural development in Cameroon, using the RUMPI Area Development Project in the South West region of Cameroon as a case study. The study will situate and contextualize the top-down and bottom-up approaches to development within the basis of a Cameroonian perspective, using the Sachs-Easterly debate. The RUMPI Project was introduced with the objective of improving agriculture and empowering the rural woman; thereby fighting poverty within the South West region of Cameroon. Despite its criticism of the barriers to development created by corruption, political pressure and limited use of local and grass-root partnerships, the study, in assessing these failures also tries to outline vital ways in which the project can be improved upon.