Civil Society and the Search for Development Alternatives in Cameroon

Authors

Emmanuel Yenshu Vubo (ed)
Wilfred Jingwa Awung (ed)
Samah Abang-Mugwa (ed)
Maurice Ufon Besseng (ed)
John W. Forje (ed)
Charles C. Fonchingong (ed)
A.V. Kini-Yen Fongot-Kinni (ed)
Max Memfi Ntangsi (ed)
Enoh Tanjong (ed)
Joseph Nyambo Temngah (ed)
Emmanuel Ndenecho (ed)

Keywords:

Civil Society, Development Alternatives, Cameroon

Synopsis

CODESRIA, ISBN: 978-286978-220-4 ; 227 pages, 2008

Recent developments have witnessed the emergence of civil society as a major development actor whose potentials and capacity, especially in Africa, are often taken for granted and treated as limitless.

A critical assessment of some of their structures (NGOs, religious organisations, trade unions, home-based associations, women’s mobilisation structures, local community organisations, and the youth) and the legal and political context of the operation of civil society in Cameroon shows a popular effervescence that is visible in social development initiatives; Although this would complement the state and free enterprise, it is however often frustrated by the state’s suspicion in a context of rising social awareness and protest that is assimilated with political opposition or attempts at manipulation along partisans lines.

This book is a call to reform the framework and civil society to assess its components and roles in shaping the future of Africa.

 

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Author Biographies

Emmanuel Yenshu Vubo

is a Senior Lecturer in Sociology. He obtained his Doctorate from the University of Yaoundé in 1991 and has served in several senior capacities at the University of Buea. He is a member of several scholarly societies and has published several scholarly journal articles plus book chapters in the domain of sociology and social anthropology

Robert Mbe Akoko

 holds an MA in Anthropology from the University of
Ibadan and is currently pursuing a PhD at the African Studies Centre of the
University of Leiden. He is a lecturer in Anthropology at the University of Buea
and has published a wide range of articles in the domain of the anthropology of
new religious movements. His research interests are in the domain of the
pentecostalisation of mainline Christianity.

Wilfred Jingwa Awung

 holds an MA in Agricultural Economics from the
Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife and is currently pursuing a PhD in
Economics at the Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. He was a laureate of
the 1998 cycle of Robert McNamara fellowship at the Economic Development
Institute of the

Samah Abang-Mugwa

 holds a BSc in Sociology and Anthropology from the
University of Buea, a post-graduate diploma in the teaching of philosophy from
the Advanced Teacher Training College, Yaoundé and a Postgraduate Diploma
in Political Science and Strategic Studies from the University of Yaoundé II.

Maurice Ufon Besseng

holds a post-graduate diploma and an MSc in Gender Studies from the University of Buea.

John W. Forje

 holds a PhD in Political development from the University of
Lund and another PhD in Technology and Science Policy from the University of
Salford, England. He is a lecturer in the Department of Political Science of the
University of Yaoundé II after having served for a long time at the Institute of
Social Sciences and is the author of several books and scholarly articles. He has
been Archie Mafeje Fellow at the African Institute of South Africa, Pretoria.

Charles C. Fonchingong

 holds an MSW (Community Development) from the
University of Ibadan (1997) and has been lecturing in the Department of Women’s
Studies at the University of Buea. He has a wide range of scholarly publications
to his credit and is currently pursuing a PhD in Social Policy Studies at the university
of Canterbury.

A.V. Kini-Yen Fongot-Kinni

studied a wide range of the humanities and the
social sciences in Rome and at the Universities of Paris I, V and VII of the
Sorbonne and obtained several qualifications among which the Doctorat d’Etat
in Political Science. He worked with the United States Information Service (ISIS)
of the United States Embassy in Yaoundé and the Peace Corps Service of the
same country attached to Cameroon before setting up the Afhemi Museum of
Anthropology and Art Gallery in Yaoundé where he serves as curator.

Max Memfi Ntangsi

holds an MSc in Economics from Ahmadu Bello University.
He is a Senior Lecturer in Economics and Coordinator of the Short Courses
programme of the Faculty of Social and Management Sciences of the University
of Buea. He is the author of several scholarly publications

Enoh Tanjong

obtained a PhD in Mass Communication from the University
of Wisconsin – Madison, USA in 1986. He served in several senior capacities at
the Ministry of Information and Culture which later became the Ministry of
Communication, Yaoundé, Cameroon and the University of Buea. He is a consultant
with several national international organisations and has published extensively
in the domain of mass communication and grassroots organisations.

Joseph Nyambo Temngah

obtained a Doctorate from the University of
Yaoundé in 1996. He was recruited to teach in the Department of English Law
of the University of Yaoundé II in 1996 and was appointed as Head of
Department, Department of Common Law at the University of Douala since
1999. He has published in several scholarly journals.

Emmanuel Ndenecho

obtained a PhD in Geography from the University of
Buea in 2003 and is a Lecturer at the Annex of the Higher Teacher Training
College of the University of Yaoundé I at Bambili. Before then he was Director
of the Bambili Regional School of Agriculture of the University of Dschang.
Research interests: land use and problems of the ecosystem.

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Published

June 25, 2008

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