US aid to Cameroon : its impact on agricultural and rural development

assistance to Cameroon's agricultural and rural sector are assessed in this report, which traces A.I.D.'s involvement there from 1961 to the present. Although initial levels of aid were low (the Yaounde Mission, like many others in Africa, was in fact closed for 6 years, 1968-74), subsequent events - most notably the Sahel drought and the 1973 New Directions legislation - have gradually increased the level of U.S. bilateral assistance to Cameroon to $22.5 million (as of 1984), while at the same time focusing this assistance on agriculture (the sector accounted for 80% of A.I.D. assistance in 1982). Separate sections of the report (1) provide a detailed breakdown of the volume, content, and sectoral distribution of A.I.D. assistance to Cameroon since 1961; (2) examine the rationale behind A.I.D.'s program; (3) examine in detail the appropriateness and effectiveness of six agricultural projects from the period 1975-85; (4) discuss the impact of the program; and (5) recommend changes to maximize the program's effectiveness. It is concluded that while USAID/C has done relatively well in developing a coherent development strategy, implementation has been hampered by lack of accountability within the A.I.D. bureaucracy, lack of staff continuity, unrealistic project designs and uneven evaluation quality, and legislative restrictions.