Ntambag Community Development
Ntambag is the oldest quarter in Bamenda and is comprised of three smaller quarters – Ntambag I, Ntambag II and Ntambag III. Approximately 15,300 inhabitants live in Ntambag with a density of 161 inhabitants per hectare. The ethnic and religious backgrounds of Ntambag residents are varied and influence the inter-resident relations substantially. This quarter has a number of streams cutting across it and houses which have been built too close to the water ways are at risk due to landslides and flooding.
Ntambag has undergone phases 1 and 2 of the Local Economic Development (LED) project and is currently in phase 3. Below are some highlights from the LED process.
Empowering Local Ntambag Animators
Local quarter members act as volunteer animators to help mobilise the Ntambag population, raise awareness and encourage inhabitants to participate in the local economic development process. They facilitate workshops with Ntambag and represent their quarters at the councils to ensure the authorities take into account their quarters’ concerns and demand
First meeting with ntambang administrators
Focus Groups with Ntambag Members
IDF with the help of the local animators, facilitated a number of focus groups with Ntambag community members including quarter heads. These focus groups helped the Ntambag constituents identify existing services in their quarters, identify the needs that are currently not being met in their quarters and prioritise their needs. The focus groups results were then used to develop the LED action plan
Members of Ntambag quarter participate in focus group
Ntambag Iron Boys
The Iron Boys are young boys who earn a living by collecting scrap metal on the roads. In the focus groups with these youth, they voiced concerns about the negative impact of road improvements on their livelihood. Better roads would results in less scrap metal being collected since it is more difficult to remove the scrap metal from the tarred roads as compared to dirt.
Iron boys of Ntambag
Using maps to get residents to visualize
Creative Tools to Engage Communities
In order to ensure that the community members are fully engaged and can actively participate in the local economic development process, IDF carries out many awareness building campaigns. Using props such as large maps, conference paper lists, pictures and charts, IDF helps community members visualize their existing communities as well as the improvements that could be made.
Participatory Decision Making
Ntambag residents have been active in the participatory decision making process. Once priorities and a list of possible improvements to Ntambag was generated through focus groups and community meetings, a decision making meeting at the Bamenda Council was held. At the meeting Ntambag residents were able to vote on the community development projects that are to be undertaken in their areas. Some of the selected improvements including grating certain roads, and improving heavily used footpaths.
Ntambag residents participate in LED process.
Young inhabitants of Ntambag read notices informing them about the developments in their quarter and about how to participate in the LED process.