| The city of Douala, economic capital of Cameroon, faces two issues for urban development:improve The living conditions of inhabitants in the existing city, and take in the new arrivals in the short and Medium term Every year,100000migrants settle in the city, and the prospect of a further1,5million inhabitants in The next15years will take the agglomeration from a population of2,5million in2012to4million Around2025. This unprecedented growth in population takes place on a background of multi-dimensional crisis:-Economic:loss in competitiveness and attractiveness as industries redeploy across the region;-Environmental:site degradation and constant industrial risk;-Social:issues of access to work and lodgings;-Identity:thinning link between the city and its Estuary. New issues are appearing in the wake of the demographic growth:-linked to the reaction of the informal sector to this inflow of migrants, in all domains of economic life including transport and lodgings;-linked to the overflow of public spaces, which weighs on the general attractiveness of Douala. Those issues are closely interwoven. An immediate consequence of the economic crisis, they could Also-If handled in the right way-give the city levers to enable the informal sector to improve urban economics and keep Douala strong as the economic capital of Cameroon. A first report was made of a fact-finding mission from February11th to17th,2012by "Les Ateliers" on a request from the French Embassy. In this document, we draw on the report and suggest a theme that would tackle the aforementioned problematic. The first mission had brought up a certain number of questions, amongst which the inclusion of informality and the improvement of daily life had seemed most essential to the Government Envoy and the city departments of CUD (Douala Urban Community).This document contains specific elements about including informal economic activities in urban space, for we believe that "les Ateliers" could suggest creative answers to this question. We also suggest that those answers be tested by the teams on a project area, chosen in accordance to the new urban Hierarchy that we see emerging in the agglomeration. Before presenting our problematic, this document will draft an overview of Douala’s economic and Residential situation. We will also recall the aims of the Urban Master-Plan, which defines a plan of Actions to organize the economic and demographic growth of the urban space in Douala for2030.Douala is the economic and social "nucleus" of Cameroon and the Central African sub region, accounting for60per cent of national GDP. Over the past decades, the city has had to contend with the challenges that accompanied staggering population growth rates. But since2000-2009and2010-2015Douala Urban Community had made two reforms a consistent leadership has guided a reform process hinged on sustainable urban development with Changing. Now, Douala transformation is emerging from its former status as an infamous, decaying metropolis into a modern, attractive, and functional city. These reports,1document the critical achievements of the city’s governance over the past decade and a half, the major innovations that accompanied various reforms, the catalysts for this change, and the lessons learned in the process. Chapter1introduces the study and briefly explains its goals. Chapter2captures the origin and development of Douala as a megacity, provides an overview of its governance and political administration, describes the local economy, and outlines challenges to sustainable development. Between2000and2015, Douala witnessed unprecedented infrastructural development, but faced with explosive population growth without effective land-use planning and city management, the city had to contend with various developmental challenges. From2000to date, the Douala Urban Community, through focusing on good governance and strong political leadership, have initiated and sustained the ongoing transformation.The essentials of the reforms that have taken place are captured in Chapter3, which begins by establishing the link between good governance and the reform process. The common vision of successive state governments and the governance by the leadership of the same political party, between2000and the present have been a key factor in the reform process and in the success of sustainable urban planning initiatives. In addition to the exercise of political will to ensure the development of inclusive cities characterized by equitable and sustainable growth, other building blocks of the reform process include:· The strategic visioning of development through which political leaders and the general public were able to envision and take broad long-term views of governance and urban sustainable development initiatives as well as the resources required for their accomplishment;· A knowledge-based approach that allowed the Douala Urban Community to integrate and share specialized knowledge among its various ministries and parastatals, thereby promoting sustainable development;· Budget reform and linkage to the activities of government institutions, through the adoption of the medium-term expenditure framework that projected likely availability of resources over a ten-years horizon (documented in a fiscal strategy paper);· Popular participation and partnership building with the private sector, both at the state and local government levels, through which stakeholder groups were invited to deliberate on draft bylaws and other issues before they were approved;· Policy change, along with legislative and institutional reforms, aimed at improving the delivery of city services;· Resource mobilization coupled with transparency and accountability, leading to significant increases in revenue generation.· Application of information and communication technology and data in governance, through which a robust database of taxpayers was established, ghost workers gradually eliminated, and tax loopholes closed; and· Programmatic interventions hinged on poverty alleviation and sustainable economic growth through the pursuit of the Douala Metropolitan Development and Governance Project that was initiated in collaboration with Cities Alliance support, which funded the preparatory work leading to the project design and approval of the World BankChapter4documents the critical innovations of the various reforms, focusing on three broad issues:(1) the development of plans, institutions, and physical infrastructure for transportation, water and power supply, and solid waste management;(2) urban and environmental planning; and (3) slum upgrading and redevelopment and the interconnected topic of social transformation.The reforms in Douala aim to promote effective, equitable, participatory, and accountable governance as well as the security of life and property. Several lessons can be drawn from the experience of Douala, which are captured in Chapter5. They include the need for an institutional framework for effective service delivery, which has been implemented in Douala through the enactment of laws, policies, including the Douala Urban Community Emergency Management Authority (DUCEMA), Douala Urban Community Emergency Medical Services (DUCEMS), Douala Urban Community Waste Management Authority (DUCWMA) or HYSACAM, Douala Urban Community Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (DUCMATA), and others. Other factors critical to the transformation of Douala include the promotion of participatory governance in all sectors of development; the establishment of mechanisms for effective resource mobilization that included1USD=3004.95UGX1CNY=484.41UGXtransparency and accountability; the planning for, and strategic visioning of, development through long-term land-use planning for all sectors and engaging in an operative poverty reduction strategy; sustainable urban planning and development of a strategic vision in this regard; and the use of information and communication technology and data for planning through the creation of a referenced database, using geographical information system (GIS) images.Chapter6, the concluding chapter, notes that despite Douala’successes thus far, major challenges still remain, including the need to overhaul the administration of physical planning in the state, especially expanding the responsibility for planning beyond the Douala Urban Community to include the local governments. The extent of federal government infrastructure in the city area, require improved levels of cooperation to promote service delivery and public welfare in this burgeoning metropolis. Ideally this would involve cooperation among the government, the Douala Urban Community, the Yaounde government, various local governments, and the private sector. |
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