The Support Facility for Decentralisation and Local Development (FADDEL) aims to support the start-up of regional councils in Cameroon, by mobilising French and Cameroonian expertise for priority regionalisation projects: regional development planning, local public service, financial autonomy of decentralised regional and local authorities (DRLA), etc.
This start-up facility will contribute to the formulation of a more extensive technical assistance programme to support decentralisation and the future stages of regionalisation in the country.
In agreement with the Ministry of Decentralisation and Local Development (MINDDEVEL), and following a fact-finding mission at the start of the project, the project’s activities are based on five main areas of operation:
Area 1: Support for the establishment of the regions
Area 2: Optimisation of the human resources management of the DRLA
Area 3: Support for the financial empowerment of the DRLA
Area 4: Structuring of the arrangements for solidarity and cooperation between the stakeholders
Area 5: Preparation of a potential decentralisation operation under the Debt Reduction-Development Contract (C2D)
The project will consist of methodological support for the formulation of Regional Development Plans for the ten regional councils and multi-year budgetary frameworks. It will organise a training session for the teams targeted by the regional councils (the elected official designated as a focal point and the Secretary General).
FADDEL will also assist with the management and development of the human resources of the DRLA, through reflection on the future creation of a local government system and support for building the curriculum of the new training school for officials and officers of the DRLA, the National School of Local Administration (NASLA).
Finally, as a more crosscutting activity of this project, sharing on French and international experience in regionalisation will be organised through the organisation and coordination of five “Regionalisation Meetings” webinars and two study visits (the first in a French-speaking country, the second in an English-speaking country).
The decentralisation process was launched in Cameroon in 1996 with the Constitutional Law, which provides for the creation of decentralised regional and local authorities (DRLA) and defines the guiding principles of decentralisation.
The Ministry of Decentralisation and Local Development (MINDDEVEL) was set up in 2018 to facilitate the creation of regional councils, implement tools to improve basic social services and manage and monitor the decentralisation process.
Since the election of regional councillors on 6 December 2020, the regional decentralisation process has gathered pace with the recent establishment of executive offices and the appointment of regional secretary generals and tax collectors. The regional councils are now operational with the objective of transferring the competences from the State services to the DRLA, by accelerating regional development and the democratisation of local public action.
