ABSTRACT
This chapter examines Peace Corps service in Cameroon by focusing on the Volunteers' performance in the Agroforestry and Small Enterprise Development programs, both of which were started in the early 1990s. As in many other African nations, Peace Corps services in Cameroon expanded over time to include a variety of programs. Within the next few years, the Volunteers’ service in Cameroon was extended to community development, health, Teaching English as a Foreign Language, and later to agroforestry and small enterprise development. The Peace Corps agricultural program was designed “to enhance productivity through the adoption of permanent farming systems based on agroforestry, and the establishment of a cadre of trained farmer leaders, thereby conserving Cameroon’s natural resources.” One critical roadblock to rural development in Cameroon was the absence of avenues open to locals for saving their earnings and also for securing loans to invest in their businesses.
