New national plan will concentrate on local problems rather than global Goals

In Cameroon the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are the basis for the formulation and evaluation of national policies and strategies, as well as of development programmes and projects. In April 2003 Cameroon adopted a Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) with a macroeconomic framework outlining two scenarios including a “reference” scenario and one based on the MDGs. The reference scenario, which is intended to be more country-specific, has established the national targets for the MDGs in the health and education sectors. One objective was to reduce by two fifths the infant mortality rate in children under five years of age between 1990 and 2015 (instead of by two thirds as prescribed by the global MDGs).

Three years after the implementation of the PRSP, the country attained the HIPC Completion Point. However, the evaluation reveals that Cameroon is a long way from achieving the global MDGs by 2015. In fact, Cameroon has not yet reached the level of economic growth required to achieve the global Goals. A number of constraints stand in the way. Some of the most important are: disparities in the allocation of public resources, non-compliance to the provisions of the budgetary framework of the PRSP, a sluggish business climate reflecting the lack of suitable incentives, and persistence of corruption.

To confront these constraints, the Government of Cameroon decided in February 2007 to revise the 2003 PRSP. The object is to produce by first half of 2008, a second-generation PRSP with a special focus on economic growth and job creation, more effective alignment with MDGs, and a results-oriented management approach. This PRSP II, currently being developed, promises to be a meaningful MDGs-based operational planning tool for the period 2008 – 2012. In this respect, the preparation of the revised PRSP is based on MDG needs assessment which will quantify the human and financial as well as infrastructure required to meet the MDGs by 2015. In order to streamline its planning process, the Government of Cameroon also intends to elaborate a development plan which will set up a framework that charts out the country’s path toward achieving the MDGs and the country’s development vision.

Pioneering initiatives aimed at boosting the development of the country are: a programme for changing behaviour with a view to combating corruption, a plan for reducing grass-root poverty, and the launching of major policy undertakings to create jobs.

Last updated 1 November 2007