Implication of Rural Population in Planning Local Community Development in Cameroon: A Need for Policy Reform

Planning local community development is an important process in order to increase the decentralization process in Cameroon. The involvement of the population is important so that their real needs can be found in the local plan. However, participation of the population is not really massive especially in non- centralized societies. The purpose of this research is to identify factors that can influence an individual's participation in the materialisation of the planning process at the village level. A structured pre-tested questionnaire was used to collect data from 108 respondents in the Bonalea and Dibamba councils. To determine the characteristics that can influence their participation in the planning process, binary logistic regression was employed. The findings reveal that an individual's implication is influenced by his or her affiliation (membership) with a farmer's group as well as his or her knowledge of the program's activities. This suggests that the government should increase sensitization or awareness creation about the program's activities and the benefits of being a member of a farmer's organisation. The family's origins influenced their participation. A non-native of a locality does not consider it important to participate in any development process in their host locality, implying the need for the government to implement a special plan for non-indigenes in localities, such as refugees.