Microfinance and Public Local Infrastructure Development in Local Councils in Cameroon: The Social Innovation Prospective Approach

Abstract

Local development is an alternative to central government at the local level. Unlike the case with the central government, local development is directed towards local territories usually with the goal of developing their local resources one of which is local infrastructure. This infrastructure is usually financed by public and private sector capitals. The main objective of this study was therefore to prospect the contributions of microfinance social innovations to public local infrastructure development in local councils in the South, Far North, South West, and North West regions of Cameroon. Government’s periodicals and literature on microfinance were used for data collection. The data were analyzed according to contributions, determinants, and challenges of microfinance social innovations in the context of public local infrastructure development in local councils in the regions studied. The findings revealed that the North West and South West regions which retain a higher number of Microfinance Institutions are amenable to more microfinance social innovations which are likely to increase public local infrastructure development in their local councils. This is not the case for the South and Far North regions. Meanwhile, the core challenge faced by municipal authorities in creating public local infrastructure is the lack of mastery and non-respect of both non-financial and financial regulations. We suggest based on the findings above that local councils studied should increase stakeholders’ cooperation and participation in public local infrastructure development in their localities, if they hope to boost public local infrastructure development in their municipalities.