Stakeholders Participation: Myth or Reality? : A Case study of Community Water Supply Management in Bambui-Tubah Village in Cameroon

Abstract: The aim of this study was to make an assessment on rural water supply management with particular focus in sub-Saharan African countries because of the water crisis that has plagued them for decades now. Most sub-Sahara African countries lack potable water supply as a result of mismanagement of resource and / or inadequate infrastructure provided by their governments. The last two decades saw the stagnation of rural water supply with long term break down of many infrastructures because of lack of technical personnel and resource. The concept of participation was widely introduce in the early 1970s to address this issue as it is believed that involving people having problem in the problem solving mechanism will provide better results (participatory approach). This paper focus on community involvement in water supply and management, working along side with other stakeholders and seeks to evaluate the level of participation of the stakeholders and to see if participation in reality is working in solving this problem. A case study was done at Bambui – Tubahin Cameroon, assessing the involvement of the various stakeholders in the management of their water scheme. This work was done through literature, interviews, discussion and observations, and from results gotten from field. It was obvious that the success of the scheme which has been running for decades now can be attributed to the collaborative actions of the various stakeholders working together. From the survey it was apparent that participation in reality was instrumental for sustainability of the scheme with decentralization being a key factor in enhancing this phenomenon.