Local Councils and Human Livelihood: The Bamenda II Council Water Project, 2011-2019

History

The economic recession in the 1990s and the implementation of austerity measures led to a freeze in expenditure by the government on social schemes like provision of portable water to indigenous communities. Local communities are increasingly shouldering the responsibility of ensuring the availability of water through self-reliant efforts in the context of progressive decentralization and the implementation of the bottom top approach to development. The management of portable water in Bamenda III municipality was a herculean task in the context of population increase and the failure of the top bottom approach to development. It is from this background that the Bamenda III council and Trinkwasser fur Kamerun federated resources to ensure access to the provision of water to the indigenous population. The study argues that efforts by the Bamenda III water scheme wen a long way to mitigate the challenges faced by the population of the municipality as far as access to pipe borne water was concerned. The findings reveal that the implementation and realisation of the project safeguarded access to pipe borne water to the inhabitants of the study locale , though the schemes experienced difficulties in its management .

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