Situated in the Vina Division, Adamawa region of Cameroon, the Belel Council has for the past seven years stood out as an example when it comes to managing decentralized territorial communities owing to the multiple actions geared toward the development of the population.

 Status

In 2013, the council of this locality was just an administration which later on witnessed the creation of a municipal institution with a running that made it possible to benefit from the existing opportunities, notably the transfer of competences to local councils within the framework of the decentralisation process.

After constituting a specialized cabinet, a diagnosis of the council was made. The conclusion was the need to identify priority developmental projects in the area and organise the mobilisation of financial resources to fund these projects.

In 2014, the locality under Mayor A. Abbo Wakili adopted its first ever council development plan elaborated with the help of the National Community Driven Development Program better known by its French abbreviation, PNDP.

Development

After identifying priority development projects of the council, the Mayor, A. Abbo Wakili launched the maturation process of these projects with the aim to obtain funds from diverse funders, notably local ones, including the Government of Cameroon.

He finally obtained funds from the State for the realisation of three major projects. The first had to do with electrification. It benefited from half a billion FCFA budget.

The second obtained about FCFA 300 million for the construction of a municipal hostel to host tourists and other guests.

After having identified a waterfall from which a summary study was carried out to establish the feasibility of the construction of a hydroelectric power station, the study was conclusive and the Council obtained State funding for this third project which could enable Belel have energy, operate autonomously and much more, sell this energy to certain parts of the sub-region.

Several other important bankable projects obtained fundings from local financial backers, including the Special Council Support Fund for Mutual Assistance better known by its French acronym, FEICOM (reorganized in 2000 to meet the financial needs of Councils) and the PNDP (which mobilizes funds from funders within the framework of the debt mobilization to enable the direct funding of council projects).

Thanks to this dynamism, its budgetary envelop increases yearly.

Health

Cameroon like several other African countries has been hit by the Coronavirus pandemic.

The Adamawa region where Belel is located did not escape from the deadly hands of this pandemic.

To counter this situation, Mayor A. Abbo Wakili and his team followed the sanitation plan elaborated by the Ministry of Public Health.

In collaboration with the local committee, traditional and community rulers, he organised sensitization campaigns.

Added to that, they elaborated a programme with Council agents who toured the municipality and met the population to sensitize them on the importance of putting on a facemask and respecting other barrier measures put in place by the World Health Organisation and the Government.