Humanitarian Response in Cameroonian Towns: Perspectives and Challenges from the Buea Municipality, South West Region

Humanitarian responses are prime issues of concern to Governments and Organizations as the World continue to face mounting challenges. This is more acute for urban areas in Third World Countries including Cameroon characterized by multitude vulnerability challenges and deprivations for growing low-income population. This paper seeks to examine the perspectives and challenges to humanitarian response using the Buea Municipality, a cosmopolitan urban area in Cameroon. A sample of 250 households was used to represent the entire population of the study area. Stratified random sampling technique was used to map out the appropriate location of humanitarian response and vulnerability zones within the study area. Findings were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science Standard (SPSS version 23.0) and Microsoft, results were presented in the form of maps, tables, figures and plates. Results revealed the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of respondents, diverse perceived rationales for humanitarian actions, levels of awareness, accessibility and frequency as well as the types of humanitarian agencies. Although, humanitarian agencies have diverse benefits for wellbeing improvement, there were limited due to population pressure, limited distribution, security, mistrust, corruption, intimidations, favoritism and poor planning to meet the needs of residents. Therefore, there is the need for humanitarian response organization to institute equality and equity among workers, the recipient populations and communities through collaboration, provide door to door services and employment as well as compile data for vulnerable populations to enhanced community wellbeing. Proper coordination and control for better working conditions, security and financial management alongside collaboration and capacity development in the Buea Municipality could also enhance the efficiency and quality of humanitarian response operations