Contribution de la coopération décentralisée au développement des collectivités territoriales décentralisées en Afrique subsaharienne : une application au cas des communes de Yaoundé – Cameroun

The purpose of this article is to examine the contribution of decentralized cooperation to the development of CTDs, the case of the municipalities of the city of Yaoundé. To achieve this, the methodology follows a qualitative approach of the constructivist type. The data collected comes from both documentary sources and semi-structured interviews carried out with three officials in service in the municipalities of Yaoundé 1, Yaoundé 3 and Yaoundé 6. The results from the content analysis (manual and automated) reveal that the framework of decentralized cooperation revolves around a certain number of actions, both internal (investments, training, public relations, etc.) and external (partnerships, donations, conventions, aid, etc.) and the benefits in terms of local development are evaluated either in the form of socio-economic, infrastructural, cultural gains and social responsibility of the municipalities internally; or in the form of the transfer of resources, technology, skills and a positive international country image perceived externally in a complementary way. This study may prove to be an interesting contribution for practitioners in that it provides local managers with additional opportunities for learning as part of the desired capacity building in decision guidance in the CTDs. As a priority area for improving local public policies, the study recommends that public decision-makers insist on the casting of needs before any managerial initiatives are taken.