COMMUNICATION, COOPERATION AND PARTNERSHIP DEPARTMENT

📢 Missions of the Communication, Cooperation, and Partnership Department

This department executes missions that are foundational to the RLA’s ability to govern transparently and attract external funding, directly relating to the autonomy and partnership rights granted by the General Code of RLAs.

1. Communication and Public Relations

This core function is about managing the municipality’s image, ensuring transparency, and facilitating effective two-way communication with citizens.

• Public Outreach: Develops and implements communication strategies to inform the public about the Municipal Council’s activities, projects, and decisions. This is crucial for citizen engagement and transparency (Source 3.1).
• Media Relations: Serves as the primary contact point for the media, drafting press releases, organizing press conferences, and managing the Mayor’s public image.
• Digital Presence: Manages the council’s official website and social media platforms to disseminate information and engage with residents online.
• Internal Communication: Ensures fluid and effective communication between the Mayor’s executive office and the various council departments.

2. Decentralized Cooperation

This is a statutory competency under the General Code of CTDs, allowing communes to partner with external entities for development.

• Inter-CTD Cooperation: Facilitates contractual associations between the local council and other Cameroonian CTDs (communes or regions) to execute joint projects of public utility (e.g., waste management, shared infrastructure), often forming inter-council trade unions (Source 1.1).
• International Partnership: Initiates and manages cooperation agreements with foreign local authorities (town-twinning or jumelage) and international organizations to mobilize technical and financial resources for local development (Source 2.4, Article 26).
• Negotiation and Follow-up: Leads the negotiation, drafting, and follow-up of all conventions and agreements related to decentralized cooperation, ensuring they align with national laws and the council’s competencies (Source 2.4, Articles 6 & 7).

3. Local Partnership and Mobilization

This function focuses on building local alliances to drive project implementation and local economic development.

• Partnership Mobilization: Identifies and engages local, national, and international partners, including public establishments, private sector companies, and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs/NGOs), to execute local projects (Source 2.1, Article 5).
• Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs): Explores and prepares files for PPPs to finance and manage public services and infrastructure at the local level (e.g., markets, transport, utilities).
• Community Participation: Works to implement participatory approaches (like public consultations) that foster communication and cooperation among local stakeholders, including community leaders, youth, and women’s groups, to ensure local ownership of development initiatives (Source 3.2).

The department is essentially the council’s window to the world and its megaphone to the citizens, critical for mobilizing non-budgetary resources and fostering good local governance.

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