Cameroon, with her numerous resources, still depends
on foreign aid while the rate of poverty remains
high. Thus, even though historical evidence gives impetus
to the impasse over role of developmental aid, from the
top down approach through to development as a springboard
raising states from the doldrums of poverty, it is
still very difficult to draw a substantial relationship between
developmental aid and poverty reduction. Against
this backdrop of controversy, I find it apt to put Cameroon
on a balance scale. Therefore, the purpose of this research
is to critically assess the implications of developmental aid
on poverty reduction and agro-rural development in
Cameroon, using the RUMPI Area Development Project
in the South West region of Cameroon as a case study.
The study will situate and contextualize the top-down and
bottom-up approaches to development within the basis of
a Cameroonian perspective, using the Sachs-Easterly
debate. The RUMPI Project was introduced with the objective
of improving agriculture and empowering the rural
woman; thereby fighting poverty within the South West
region of Cameroon. Despite its criticism of the barriers
to development created by corruption, political pressure
and limited use of local and grass-root partnerships, the
study, in assessing these failures also tries to outline vital
ways in which the project can be improved upon.