#community forestry

Transformational leadership style is characterized by the leader that empowers community members, causing positive social change and inducing sustainable development. Whereas in transactional leadership style the leader focuses on using community members as a mean to arrive at his end, with no consideration for their empowerment. This study assessed the leadership practice of community forests (CFs) leaders in Cameroon, based on transactional and transformational leadership theories. Data were collected through the administration of Multifactor Leadership Questionnaires short form (MLQ-S6) to 204 households’ members, selected based on availability and willingness to participate in the survey, key informants’ interviews and documents review. Findings reveal that 34.2% of respondents viewed their leaders as transformational, while a significant majority of them perceived their leaders as mostly transactional (χ2=34.32, P=0.000). Leaders in the Mbam & Kim division exhibited higher levels of transformational leadership style than those of Upper-Nyong (P=0.002); while no significant difference was found for transactional style (P=0.1) between the two divisions. Key constraints to transformational leadership style included inadequate government support in the CFs’ approval process, lack of training on leadership and management for CF’s leaders, and lack of effective monitoring and evaluation mechanisms of leadership and governance. Considering the above, if objectives of participatory forest management in Cameroon are to be sustainably achieved, there is a need to promote transformational leadership style development for CFs’ leadership, and so address the current status of business as usual that mostly favors the expression of transactional style.

Community Forestry (HKm) is a State Forest with a forest management system thectarest aims to empower the community. The HKm at Tanah Laut District in particular hectaress developed a village thectarest needs to be arranged. This study aims to analyze: (1) the HKm policy, (2) implementation of the HKm, (3) problems encountered in the HKm, and (4) the appropriate strategy for the HKm development. The methods used were descriptive and SWOT analyses. Based on the results of the research, the forestry policy currently provides real opportunities to participate in managing the forest, especially the HKm for the community as the main actors of forest development and management. Implementation of the Hkm Program was initiated in 1995 with the stipulation of the Minister of Forestry Decree No. 622/Kpts-II/1995 and then improved in the Minister of forestry Regulation No.37/2007 and then improved again to be the Minister of Environment and forestry Regulation No.83 of 2016 as a guide of real empowerment with the main beneficiaries were citizens village. The current problems at the HKm in Tanah Laut District included the absence of counterparts, the absence of the business permit of the HKm management (IUP-HKm), mostly non-local communities belonging to forest farmer groups and the cultivated land was exceeded the determined land size. Based on the results of the SWOT matrix analysis, three alternative strategies of community forestry development were obtained.

Community Forestry (HKm) is a State Forest with a forest management system thectarest aims to empower the community. The HKm at Tanah Laut District in particular hectaress developed a village thectarest needs to be arranged. This study aims to analyze: (1) the HKm policy, (2) implementation of the HKm, (3) problems encountered in the HKm, and (4) the appropriate strategy for the HKm development. The methods used were descriptive and SWOT analyses. Based on the results of the research, the forestry policy currently provides real opportunities to participate in managing the forest, especially the HKm for the community as the main actors of forest development and management. Implementation of the Hkm Program was initiated in 1995 with the stipulation of the Minister of Forestry Decree No. 622/Kpts-II/1995 and then improved in the Minister of forestry Regulation No.37/2007 and then improved again to be the Minister of Environment and forestry Regulation No.83 of 2016 as a guide of real empowerment with the main beneficiaries were citizens village. The current problems at the HKm in Tanah Laut District included the absence of counterparts, the absence of the business permit of the HKm management (IUP-HKm), mostly non-local communities belonging to forest farmer groups and the cultivated land was exceeded the determined land size. Based on the results of the SWOT matrix analysis, three alternative strategies of community forestry development were obtained.