Power, the Hidden Factor in Development Cooperation. An Example of Community Forestry in Cameroon

Abstract

This paper is concomitant with our comparative study analysis of the interests and power of the stake-holders involved in Community Forestry (CF) in six countries. The study hypothesises that, “governance processes and outcomes in CF depend mostly on interests of the powerful external stakeholders”. For this paper which is on CF in Cameroon, the study hypothesizes that, “Power is a hidden factor in Development cooperation”. Based on political theories, the paper uses the “actor-centered power” (ACP) concept of the Community Forestry Working Group (CFWG) in G?ttingen, Germany, the post-development theory and empirical findings, to back up the assertations made in the study through the analysis of thirteen different CFs in the South West region (SWR) of Cameroon. It analyzes the empirically applicable ACP concept, that consists of three elements: trust, incentives and coercion and at the same time connects these elements with the post-development theory. The elements were derived from the basic assumptions on power made by Max Weber in political sciences and Max Krott in forest policy. The study confirms the existence of powerful internal and external stakeholders that influence CF in Cameroon and aims to empower important but marginalised communities. It concludes that, CF as a development instrument to alleviate poverty and increase livelihood while sustainably managing the forest has actually not brought significant or meaningful development to the targeted sector of the societ

Investigating the Role of the Local Community as Co-Managers of the Mount Cameroon National Park Conservation Project

“…Power, which is considered "a hidden factor in development assistance", is evident in MCNP, where external stakeholders have become more influential, while local stakeholders are powerless with no option, but to follow reluctantly. This paper supports Movuh and Schusser [15], who show that MINFOF and GIZ are powerful influential actors determining the outcomes of natural resource management projects in the South West Region (SWR). While local communities are relying on unchecked information from these influential stakeholders, they still comply without checking alternatives because they trust MINFOF-SWR, who also trusted GIZ and the accepted management conditions laid down by them without checking for alternatives.…”

“…Projects designed for village development plans included pipe-borne water, farm-to-market roads and crop preservation facilities. A financial agreement was signed between Cameroon (Ministry of Finance and MINFOF) and Germany (GIZ) as a development aid for sustainable management of natural resources within the South West Region (SWR), and €7,000,000 was disbursed [15]. The aim was to sustainably manage forest, promote community participation and alleviate poverty, but this has also increased the grip of MINFOF over local communities.…”

International and Domestic Sustainable Forest Management Policies: Distributive Effects on Power among State Agencies in Bangladesh

“…A contrasting result was found for a community forestry study in Nepal [72], where the Forest Department enjoyed the highest level of coercion power. However, three power elements were used by the Ministry of Forestry in Cameroon [76], Namibia [74] and Forest Department in Indonesia [73]. Meanwhile, this research found that the Forest Department utilizes the highest level of dominant information and incentives power.…”

“…The sources of power of these three elements are specific and observable, and offer the opportunity for collecting empirical data [62,71]. The actor-centered power approach, which is used in this research, has already been tested within several cases in Nepal [72], Indonesia [73], Namibia [74], Germany [75] and Cameroon [76]. The observable facts or sources of action are labeled best in a policy program, by way of allocating the tasks among the relevant bureaucracy.…”

International Forest Policy by International and Transnational Organizations

“…While the theory has already been applied in many community forestry studies across many countries (Devkota 2010, Maryudi et al 2012, Yufani Movuh and Schusser 2012, Schusser 2013, Schusser et al 2015, lately it has also been used in studies on the implementation of the international forest regime complex at national level (Brockhaus et al 2014, Mohammed and Inoue 2014.…”