Successful gamble for CODAS Caritas Douala and its partners on 19 and 20 December 2019. The CODAS Caritas Douala brought together 164 actors involved directly or indirectly in the development of Cameroonian cities during the first edition of the Salon Villes et Toits du Cameroun. These actors came from five (5) cities in Cameroon. This bet was successful thanks to the support of its partners, such as the Platform of Organizations for the Promotion of the Right to Housing, ASSOAL, the Association of Municipalities and United Cities of Cameroon, Habitat International Coalition, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, UN-Habitat and Misereor, its technical and financial partner.
This meeting was held within the framework of the Project for the Protection and Promotion of the Right to Decent Housing by Supporting the Improvement of Popular Neighbourhoods, abbreviated as the “AQP” Project, which has been implemented since the beginning of 2019. Its aim, as stated in the theme of the Fair, was to highlight “the potential of working-class neighbourhoods“. A concern taken up by the various stakeholders. For Bishop BAYEMECK, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Douala and President of the Salon, “… The inhabitants of the working class districts should not feel excluded from social life. They must take their responsibilities to make their living environment viable…“. In the same vein, Professor Auguste NGUELIEUTOU stressed during the presentation of the inaugural lesson, the need for collaboration between national and local authorities and the populations of these working-class districts. According to him, this cooperation would make it possible to work towards the eradication of stigma and the transformation of the pejorative views of these districts so as to perceive them as a kind of niche with potentialities and wealth to be developed.
Within the framework of the thematic sessions, several sub-themes were the subject of presentations and exchanges between panelists and participants. Civil society actors and authors of initiatives to improve working-class neighbourhoods also shared their experiences. At the end of these different works and of the first edition of the Cities and Roofs of Cameroon Fair, the recommendations were formulated by the participants and addressed to the following actors:
- Recommendations for the Populations of Populated Neighbourhoods
- Recommendations to the CODAS Caritas Douala
- Recommendations to the partners of the CODAS Caritas Douala
- Recommendations to the administrative authorities of Cameroonian towns and cities
More info at the report available in French Caritas-Douala-Sallondesvilles.
