Cameroon has strong goals for its growth and development. By 2035, it aims to be an emerging economy. The country’s medium-term goals are focused on alleviating poverty, consolidating democracy, and achieving national unity—while respecting diversity. This report contributes substantively to the Government’s vision on Strategy for Growth and Employment, putting human development and employment at center stage. Cameroon faces three main challenges: • Developing more robust formal and informal employment opportunities by strengthening human development. • Increasing productivity in agriculture, mining, and key value chains (timber, tourism, and information and communication technology). • Advancing growth by investing in infrastructure and improving the business climate and regional integration. The Strategy sets a target for reducing underemployment from 76 percent of the workforce to 50 by 2020 by creating tens of thousands of formal jobs. But based on results from the first two years of its implementation, the strategy is far from achieving that target. This report is meant to support Cameroon’s efforts to build the skills of its workers. This report reaches conclusions and offers policy recommendations to answer six questions: • What has been the trajectory of Cameroon’s economic growth? Which sectors have contributed to growth? • What jobs are being created? • What types of skills are being used in the sectors where the highest percentages of the population are employed? • What are the demand and supply barriers to skills? • Which policies and institutions are in play? Are they sufficient? • What needs to or could be reformed? Cameroon has good prospects for moving to middle-income status. It can create a more dynamic, responsive workforce. But a new strategy is required. It can be done.This report proposes new directions and provides recommendations. Outcomes are expected. Work has never been easy. But many have been working—and Cameroon can work.

Cameroon is a land of much promise, but a land of unfulfilled promises. It has the potential to be an economically developed and democratic society but the struggle to live up to its potential has not gone well. Since independence there have been only two presidents of Cameroon; the current one has been in office since 1982. Endowed with a variety of climates and agricultural environments, numerous minerals and substantial forests, and a dynamic population, this is a country that should be a leader of Africa. Instead, we find a country almost paralyzed by corruption and poor management, a country with a low life expectancy and serious health problems, and a country from which the most talented and highly educated members of the population are emigrating in large numbers. To all of this is recently added a serious terrorism problem, Boko Haram, in the north, a separatist movement in the Anglophone west, refugee influxes in the north and east, and bandits from the Central African Republic attacking eastern villages. This fifth edition of Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Cameroon contains a chronology, an introduction, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 300 cross-referenced entries on important personalities, politics, economy, foreign relations, religion, and culture. This book is an excellent resource for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about the Republic of Cameroon.

Despite strong recent economic growth, Sub-Saharan Africa has levels of economic transformation, poverty reduction, and skill development far below those of other regions. Smart investments in developing skills—aligned with the policy goals of productivity growth, inclusion, and adaptability—can help to accelerate the region’s economic transformation in the 21st century. Sub-Saharan Africa’s growing working-age population presents a major opportunity to increase shared prosperity. Countries in the region have invested heavily in building skills; public expenditure on education increased sevenfold over the past 30 years, and more children are in school today than ever before. Yet, systems for building skills in this population have fallen short, and these shortcomings significantly impede economic prospects. In half of the countries, fewer than two in every three children complete primary school; even fewer reach and complete higher levels of education. Learning outcomes have been persistently poor, leading to substantial gaps in basic cognitive skills—literacy and numeracy—among children, young people, and adults. The literacy rate of the adult population is below 50 percent in many countries; functional literacy and numeracy rates are even lower. Systemwide change is required to achieve significant progress. Multiple agencies at the central and local levels are involved in skills development strategies, making skills “everyone’s problem but no one’s responsibility.†? Policies and reforms need to build capacity for evidence-based policies and create incentives to align the behaviors of all stakeholders with the pursuit of national skills development goals. The Skills Balancing Act in Sub-Saharan Africa: Investing in Skills for Productivity, Inclusivity, and Adaptability lays out evidence to inform the policy choices that countries will make in skill investments. Each chapter addresses a set of specific questions, drawing on original analysis and synthesis of existing studies to explore key areas: • How the skills appropriate to each stage of the life cycle are acquired and what market and institutional failures affect skills formation • What systems are needed for individuals to access these skills, including family investments, private sector institutions, schools, and other public programs • How those systems can be strengthened • How the most vulnerable individuals—those who fall outside the standard systems and have missed critical building blocks in skills acquisition—can be supported. Countries will face trade-offs—often stark ones—that will have distributional impacts and a bearing on their development path. Committed leaders, reform coalitions, and well-coordinated policies are essential for taking on the skills balancing act in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Over the decades, academic literature has too often neglected the complexities and diversity of the African continent and the challenges faced by both multinational companies working across Africa and domestic African companies, particularly in the field of human resources. This edited collection has been compiled with the aim of developing our understanding and practice of HRM in an African context within an increasingly global work milieu. Chapters focus on different African countries and are underpinned by a critical approach to HRM, which goes beyond focussing on the business cases but considers the sensitivity of the national context. The authors will draw on various types of research (conceptual, theoretical and empirical) and incorporate contextual issues such as technology, politics, culture, and economics to supplement the readers’ insights into the current state of human resource management in African countries. By highlighting theoretical underpinnings and emphasising the practical relevance of HR issues, this proposed book will offer an insightful guide for students and scholars interested in HR and management in developing economies.

Malgré la forte croissance économique que l’Afrique subsaharienne a connue ces vingt dernières années, les niveaux de transformation économique, de réduction de la pauvreté et de développement des compétences dans cette partie du monde sont bien inférieurs à ceux des autres régions. Des investissements judicieux dans le développement des compétences, en accord avec les objectifs politiques de croissance de la productivité, d’inclusion et d’adaptabilité, peuvent aider à accélérer la transformation économique de la région subsaharienne au XXIe siècle. L’augmentation de la population en âge de travailler en Afrique subsaharienne constitue une réelle chance d’accroître la prospérité collective. Les pays de la région ont investi massivement dans le développement des compétences†‰; les dépenses publiques consacrées à l’éducation ont été multipliées par sept au cours des 30 dernières années, et le nombre d’enfants scolarisés est aujourd’hui plus élevé que jamais. Pourtant, les systèmes d’éducation de cette population n’ont pas donné les résultats escomptés, et ces insuffisances entravent considérablement les perspectives économiques. Dans la moitié des pays, moins de deux enfants sur trois terminent l’école primaire, et encore moins atteignent des niveaux supérieurs d’enseignement et obtiennent un diplôme. Les acquis d’apprentissage demeurent faibles, ce qui entraîne des lacunes dans les compétences cognitives de base telles que la lecture, l’écriture et le calcul, aussi bien chez les enfants, les jeunes que les adultes. Le taux d’alphabétisation de la population adulte est inférieur à 50 % dans de nombreux pays†‰; la part des adultes sachant lire, écrire et compter de manière fonctionnelle est encore plus faible. Une réforme du système est nécessaire pour réaliser des progrès significatifs. De multiples agences aux niveaux national et local sont impliquées dans les stratégies de développement des compétences, faisant des compétences «†‰le problème de tous, mais la responsabilité de personne†‰». Les politiques et les réformes doivent permettre de renforcer les capacités des politiques qui ont fait leurs preuves et d’instaurer des mesures incitatives visant à faire converger le comportement de tous les acteurs dans la poursuite des objectifs de développement des compétences au niveau national. Le développement des compétences en Afrique subsaharienne, un exercice d’équilibre. Investir dans les compétences pour la productivité, l’inclusion et l’adaptabilité présente des données qui éclaireront les choix stratégiques des pays en matière d’investissements dans les compétences. Chaque chapitre aborde un ensemble de questions spécifiques, en s’appuyant sur une analyse originale et sur une synthèse des travaux existants pour explorer les domaines principaux : • comment les compétences appropriées à chaque étape du cycle de vie sont-elles acquises et quelles défaillances du marché et des institutions affectent le développement des compétences†‰; • quels systèmes sont nécessaires pour que les individus aient accès à ces compétences, notamment les investissements consentis par les familles, les institutions du secteur privé, les écoles et autres programmes publics†‰; • comment ces systèmes peuvent-ils être renforcés†‰; • comment les personnes les plus vulnérables, à savoir celles qui ne font pas partie des systèmes standards et qui n’ont pas réussi à acquérir des compétences essentielles, peuvent-elles être soutenues. Les pays de la région seront souvent confrontés à des arbitrages difficiles qui auront des effets distributifs et influeront sur leur trajectoire de développement. Des dirigeants engagés, des efforts conjoints de réforme et des politiques bien coordonnées sont essentiels pour aborder le délicat exercice d’équilibre que représente le développement des compétences en Afrique subsaharienne.

Debates on African development continue to downplay the achievement of the continent: economic achievements are diminished and the perception of a conflict prone continent continues. Many of the policy prescriptions externally imposed on African countries have done little to transform the continent largely because they have been conceived and applied without context. Using literature from diverse origins, this book expands our knowledge about Africa and makes practical suggestions as to how successful development in a complex, yet dynamic continent can be achieved. Widening the policy dialogue and providing alternative thinking on the key elements and full extent of opportunities and challenges towards achieving the socio-economic transformation of Africa, the book moves the debate from the rhetoric to reality. As a considered reflection on the ‘Africa’s transformation’ narrative, it outlines the practical pathways necessary for Africa’s sustainable development, providing policy makers and researchers with tested solutions. It will be of interest to all scholars, students and policy professionals working in African development, public policy, international political economy, economic policy and politics.