Abstract
Utilizing relational networking and cultural assets provide an arena for village development associations (VDAs) to fill the gaps in infrastructure in resource-limited communities of Cameroon’s north-west region. This case study interrogates the foundational thesis of relational networking and cultural assets deployed to deal with social development challenges. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with community participants. Purposive sampling was used, and data were analyzed and critically synthesized with comparative literature. Communities increasingly shoulder their own development through a multiplicity of the agency displayed by internal and external stakeholders. The analysis captures a typology of incremental cultural assets, galvanized and re-engineered, promoting a rejuvenated community. A multi-layered approach centered on intersecting elements with unvarying input from community members are perceptible. Though the translational benefits are not clear-cut, relational networking and incremental cultural assets hold the prospect for community transformation in infrastructure provision, for example, supply of fresh water, equipping schools, community halls, and building roads, bridges, and community halls. In the process, social inequality and other barriers of disadvantage are narrowed.
Highlights
Powering community development (CD) requires an amplified level of community participation and empowerment [1,2,3,4,5]. Such an approach relies on an asset-based community development (ABCD)
The foundational elements of community development are through strategic leadership and capacity building, a prevalent approach to grassroots perceived through the prism ofnorth-west relational region networking of cultural assets by village development associations (VDAs), development in Cameroon’s
Based on documented web evidence, elicited from the Ndong Awing Cultural and Development Association (NACDA), connections are made between the agency, displayed by NACDA and internal stakeholders, community members (CM)
Summary
Powering community development (CD) requires an amplified level of community participation and empowerment [1,2,3,4,5]. Cultural assets—tangible and intangible resources within the community, mostly under community hierarchy of traditional power, are habitually managed by the Fon (traditional authority) at the helm of the village [12], in collaboration with village development associations (VDAs) which are community institutions championing grassroots development, created largely to fill the gaps in infrastructure [1,13] Cultural assets both visible and invisible enable the community to build on its capability. The foundational elements of community development are through strategic leadership and capacity building, a prevalent approach to grassroots perceived through the prism ofnorth-west relational region networking of cultural assets by VDAs, development in Cameroon’s [3,13].and. This strategy is anchored on mobilizing available assets through streamlined networking and partnerships (Figure 1)
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