Local Councils : Training To Better Tackle Land Affairs

Land disputes have remained a pressing issue for many municipalities in Cameroon over the years. The aggravating factor being lack of adequate field knowledge by regional and local authorities to tackle issues they face on the field. To address this, a national training programme aimed at equipping municipal and regional authorities with land management skills is currently underway in Yaounde, running from May 12 until May 16, 2025. The initiative organized by the National Training Program for City’s Management with technical and financial support from the Cameroon urban platform, seeks to strengthen capacity among regional and local authority agents as well as urban development actors to address land disputes, improve planning, and align traditional land practices with legal frameworks.
Interim Coordinator for the National Training Programme for City’s Management Hermine Nna Ekono, urged participants to seize this opportunity to master land procedures and enhance their performance in their respective councils. She emphasized that land management is a pressing issue in Cameroon, where local elite and traditional leaders often clash with formal governance systems. The Head of the Cameroon urban platform, Muriel Bissek, stressed the importance of training field actors, noting that these officials are the first responders to civilian complaints regarding land issues. “If we don’t train the actors...