Empowering community-based organizations in Cameroon

Research project

Empowering community-based organizations in Cameroon: experimentation, operational challenges and avenues of reform for a humanitarian transition from below

This research aims to objectify the process of humanitarian transition from below, as observed today in Cameroon, based on the experience of community-based organizations (CBOs) supported by international NGOs and bilateral and multilateral donors.

Study community-based organizations as vectors of humanitarian transition

This research aims to show how humanitarian transition is taking place directly from the bottom up through community-based organizations, whereas in the past, attention had always been focused on empowering state action and national and local NGOs. This shift towards associations of refugees, internally displaced people and host populations, long caricatured as passive and dependent, marks the heuristic and scientific interest of this research. The aim is to deconstruct the victimized image attributed to these groups (women’s groups, youth groups, etc.) by showing how their capacity to act and their voice can be amplified, via associative frameworks. Using an ethical approach, she shows how certain donors are gradually directing their funding towards the structuring of CBOs, their access to innovative micro-grants and their involvement in collective action networks and platforms.

Adapting the methodology to conflict zones

The research is being carried out in five regions of Cameroon (Far North, East, Littoral, South-West and North-West), reaching around 100 community-based organizations. In each organization, 02 focus groups will be conducted, representing a total of 200 gendered focus groups. Semi-structured interviews will also be conducted with 150 key informants from various UN agencies, NGOs, state structures and the donor community. These lively techniques will be complemented by meticulous documentary research. In the case of the two English-speaking zones in the conflict-ridden west of the country, the methodology had to be adapted. Following government recommendations, a conflict-sensitive research strategy was drawn up. It favors remote data collection and the relocation of meetings with respondents and stakeholders, to minimize the risk of exposure to security threats.

Contributing to research on CBO empowerment

The question of empowering CBOs is still very marginally addressed in existing scientific literature. The works available to date deal with the subject in only a very fragmented way. Yet there seems to be a perceptible need to elucidate this social reality in Cameroon. The aim of this research is therefore to place CBOs (most often refugees, internally displaced persons and members of host communities) at the heart of a humanitarian transition from below, to find solutions with the populations themselves, through the creation of new, innovative partnerships. The aim is to establish a new operating model that will enable community-based organizations to access direct subsidies as well.

Biography

Jean Émile MBA holds a PhD in Political Science, specializing in International Studies. He is an associate researcher at the Centre d’Études et de Recherche en Paix, Sécurité et Intégration (CERPSI) at the University of Maroua (Cameroon). His work focuses on international humanitarian action, migration issues, cross-border dynamics and conflict interference. But also on issues of gender and inclusion; education and protection in crisis situations. As a practitioner with a mixed status, he is constantly moving back and forth between research and action, to forge an alliance and mutual recognition between the academic and humanitarian fields, in order to move from mistrust to efficiency.