Our proposals
to the commune of Bédjondo.

1. 1among the most fundable

   Drinking water access programme

   • Boreholes fitted with solar pumps
   • Rehabilitation of existing water points
   • Local water management committees

   Already in our filesDrinking water advocacy · “A village become a town”, proposal 4 (in French)

   What LONODJI could contribute

   • An inventory of water points (condition, flow, management committee) and a survey of the existing network. Drinking water advocacy (in French)
   • Emergency repair, with the diaspora, of broken boreholes found by the inventory, and training of local repairers. Drinking water advocacy (in French)
   • Support to management committees and training in bookkeeping. Drinking water advocacy (in French)

   Programmes to approachPAEPA SU MR phase IICountry programme 2027-2030 (water, health, education, protection, civil registration)NexSudHumanitarian Response Plan 2026

2. 2among the most fundable

   Modern inter-community market

   • Construction of a covered market
   • Storage and preservation areas
   • Selling areas for women traders

   Already in our files“A village become a town”, proposal 7 · Note to the commune, § 5 (in French)

   What LONODJI could contribute

   • The studies and the funding application, entrusted free of charge to the skills of the diaspora. Note to the commune, § 6 (in French)
   • The diaspora subscription for solar lighting of the market, the first proposed project. Note to the commune, § 5 (in French)

   Programmes to approachSupport to local authoritiesAgri-food entrepreneurship programme (PEA, including PAMELOT)

3. 3among the most fundable

   Agricultural processing centre

   • Processing of cassava, maize, groundnuts and sesame
   • Training of cooperatives
   • Creating local added value

   Already in our filesAgriculture and food security (in French)

   What LONODJI could contribute

   • A census of producers, farmed areas and groups, canton by canton, handed to the agricultural services and programmes. Agriculture and food security (in French)
   • A census of workshops and master craftspeople, trade by trade. Vocational training advocacy (in French)

   Programmes to approachSODEFIKAAgri-food entrepreneurship programme (PEA, including PAMELOT)RENFORTNon-timber forest products (néré, shea, honey)

4. 4among the most fundable

   Women’s and Youth Centre

   • Vocational training
   • Functional literacy
   • Entrepreneurship support

   Already in our filesVocational training advocacy (in French)

   What LONODJI could contribute

   • A pilot training workshop in solar installation, with the diaspora’s engineers and technicians. Vocational training advocacy (in French)
   • A mentoring network linking Bedjond professionals and students to pupils, and a scholarship fund. School advocacy (in French)
   • The scholarship fund open first to orphans and young mothers returning to school. Social protection and inclusion (in French)

   Programmes to approachSWEDD+RENFORTVocational skills along the N’Djamena–Douala corridor

5. 5

   Communal sanitation programme

   • Waste collection and treatment
   • Hygiene awareness
   • Creation of green jobs

   Already in our files“A village become a town”, proposal 6 · Diagnosis: sanitation (in French)

   What LONODJI could contribute

   No commitment published yet: it remains to be defined with the theme concerned.

   Programmes to approachCountry programme 2027-2030 (water, health, education, protection, civil registration)Humanitarian Response Plan 2026

6. 6among the most fundable

   Communal digital centre

   • Digitised administrative services
   • Digital skills training
   • Internet access for young people

   Already in our filesProject: digital space · Broadband advocacy (in French)

   What LONODJI could contribute

   • Co-funding, with the diaspora, of a first community digital space (satellite connection, solar power), also open to the commune’s services. Broadband advocacy · Project: digital space (in French)
   • Setting up the town hall’s digital tools and training those who will keep them. Note to the commune, § 4 (in French)
   • Training young people from the town to maintain the equipment. Broadband advocacy (in French)

   Programmes to approachPATN

7. 7

   Irrigated market gardens

   • Solar irrigation
   • Year-round production
   • Women’s and youth cooperatives

   Already in our filesAgriculture and food security (in French)

   What LONODJI could contribute

   • A census of producers, farmed areas and groups, canton by canton. Agriculture and food security (in French)
   • Training young people in solar installation and maintenance, useful for irrigation. Electricity advocacy (in French)

   Programmes to approachRENFORTNexSud

8. 8

   Reforestation and environmental protection

   • Communal woodlands
   • Fighting deforestation
   • Adding value to forest products

   Already in our filesEnvironment and resources (in French)

   What LONODJI could contribute

   No commitment published yet: it remains to be defined with the theme concerned.

   Programmes to approachNon-timber forest products (néré, shea, honey)

9. 9

   Communal micro-project support fund

   • Funding local initiatives
   • Support to community groups
   • Developing the local economy

   Already in our filesnew proposal

   What LONODJI could contribute

   • A proposal, at the general assembly, for a solidarity fund with written rules and a designated treasurer. Social protection and inclusion (in French)
   • A census, with the consent of those concerned, of rotating savings groups already active, and the search for a microfinance institution working in Mandoul. Social protection and inclusion (in French)

   Programmes to approachSupport to local authoritiesRENFORTSWEDD+

10. 10

    Updating the communal development plan

    • Participatory assessment
    • Investment planning
    • Mobilising technical and financial partners

    Already in our filesNote to the commune, § 1 · “A village become a town”, proposal 12 (in French)

    What LONODJI could contribute

    • A participatory assessment of existing facilities with the neighbourhood committees, and a summary of the needs-map reports. Note to the commune, § 6 · Needs map (in French)
    • A survey and map of the town by the diaspora’s urban planners and surveyors. Note to the commune, § 6 (in French)
    • Funding applications to partners. Note to the commune, § 6 (in French)

    Programmes to approachGovernance for local development (RGDL)Support to local authoritiesCountry programme 2027-2030 (water, health, education, protection, civil registration)

1. Get our house in orderunder way

   An up-to-date registration receipt, a recognised board, a bank account in the association’s name, and a focal point living in Bédjondo: without these, no agreement can be signed.

2. Open the dialogueto come

   A meeting with the mayor to hand over the note and these proposals; visits to the prefect of Mandoul Occidental, the sub-prefect of Péni, the canton chiefs of Bébopen, Nderguigui and Yomi and the chieftaincy of Bédjondo.

3. Put it in writingto come

   A one-page framework agreement — each party’s commitments, ownership and maintenance of facilities, publication — and a quarterly consultation committee: town hall, association, administrative and traditional authorities, women and young people.

4. A first result within six monthsto come

   The participatory assessment and the water-point inventory handed to the commune, or the town hall’s digital tools; then solar lighting of the market, the first visible project.

5. Seek funding with the communeto come

   The commune leads, the association prepares: Bédjondo proposed as a pilot commune for Swiss support to local authorities and for UNDP’s local governance programme.

Four rules throughout: no party and no candidate, and no substituting for the commune or the chieftaincies; no money collected before a bank account is open in the association’s name; nothing promised that is not in writing; every meeting and every agreement published and dated on this website.

1. Make the communal development plan public: one page posted at the town hall and online, with three priorities that are dated and costed, debated in session.a decision, no spending

   Note to the commune, § 1 · Decentralisation (in French)

2. Back it with a simple land-use plan: main and secondary roads, residential areas, land reserved for public facilities, areas where no building is allowed.

   Note to the commune, § 1 · “A village become a town”, proposal 1 (in French)

3. Issue a first by-law freezing construction in low-lying land and in rainwater runoff corridors.a decision, no spending

   Note to the commune, § 1 (in French)

4. Mark on this plan the perimeters of sacred sites and burial grounds, at the request of the traditional chieftaincy: an outline on a map, with no reason or name given, that subdivisions, tracks and works respect.

   Sacred sites and burial grounds · “A village become a town”, proposal 1 (in French)

5. Survey plots and compounds: one register that serves as land registry, street addressing and base for property tax.

   Note to the commune, § 2 · “A village become a town”, proposal 2 (in French)

6. Reserve now, in the plan, the land needed for facilities: extension of the water network and standpipes, roads, school sites, the vocational training centre site, a solar plant and street lighting, a public digital space.

   Drinking water advocacy · Roads and bridges advocacy · School advocacy · Vocational training advocacy · Electricity advocacy · Broadband advocacy (in French)

7. Adopt by by-law and post — at the town hall, in the cantons and on the ground — the livestock corridors, grazing areas and cropland mapped with canton chiefs, farmers and herders.

   Agriculture and food security (in French)

1. Regularise the collection of market fees: numbered tickets, a revenue office, monthly posting of the amounts collected.

   Note to the commune, § 2 · Decentralisation (in French)

2. Open an “infrastructure and maintenance” budget line, fed by a fixed share of revenue, so that maintaining what is built does not depend on the next budget.

   Note to the commune, § 2 (in French)

3. Earmark it in particular for drain maintenance and, for solar lighting, for the lamps and battery replacement.

   Roads and bridges advocacy · Note to the commune, § 5 (in French)

4. Until pumping is solarised, secure a fuel line in the budget so that water distribution no longer stops.

   Drinking water advocacy (in French)

1. Announce council sessions in advance, post the agenda, make decisions available for consultation; hold a public session every quarter.a decision, no spending

   Note to the commune, § 4 · Decentralisation (in French)

2. Recognise by by-law a neighbourhood committee in each neighbourhood: relaying needs, organising clean-up days, looking after local facilities.

   Note to the commune, § 4 (in French)

3. Keep a register of grievances at the town hall, read out in session.

   Note to the commune, § 4 (in French)

4. Present public accounts every year, at the excellence ceremony that already brings the town together each summer.

   Note to the commune, § 4 (in French)

5. Open an official town hall page on social media; enter the civil registry and plot registers in a spreadsheet, then back them up.

   Note to the commune, § 4 (in French)

1. Water — create by by-law a management committee for each water point and a communal water service in charge of maintenance, with a tariff that covers upkeep.

   Drinking water advocacy (in French)

2. Electricity — include electrification in the communal development plan and carry the request to provincial and national bodies.

   Electricity advocacy (in French)

3. Broadband — carry the request to the relevant bodies, provide a budget line for a public digital space, report each step forward to residents.

   Broadband advocacy (in French)

4. Health — guarantee water, solar power and sanitation at the health centre; organise with neighbourhood chiefs a community relay (community health workers, emergency transport).

   Health advocacy (in French)

5. Roads — include a road and drainage plan in the communal development plan, reserve rights of way before buildings close them off, organise road maintenance with neighbourhood chiefs.

   Roads and bridges advocacy (in French)

6. Schools — guarantee water and solar power in schools, support the parents’ association.

   School advocacy (in French)

7. Vocational training — guarantee water and solar power at the centre, add to the commune’s contracts a clause favouring local graduates and craftspeople, and place its first order for school furniture and joinery with the centre’s workshops.

   Vocational training advocacy (in French)

1. Formally approach the Swiss cooperation and Caritas Switzerland programmes already active in Mandoul, so that their next works are located in Bédjondo.

   Note to the commune, § 3 (in French)

2. Refer the Bédjondo–Békamba road bridge to the State and the province, requested by the town’s women since November 2023.

   Note to the commune, § 3 · Roads and bridges advocacy (in French)

3. Seek a twinning with a French or Swiss commune.

   Note to the commune, § 3 (in French)

4. Sign written agreements with associations stating, for each co-funded facility, who owns it, who maintains it and with what budget — starting with a one-page agreement with ADEB LONODJI.a decision, no spending

   Note to the commune, § 3 · Decentralisation (in French)

5. Guarantee in writing, with the chieftaincy, a site for the sports complex, for sports use and for a long period.

   Sports complex (in French)

1. Solar lighting of the market and the main road: stand-alone street lamps, funded half by the commune and half by a diaspora subscription run by ADEB LONODJI, with a share of market fees earmarked for maintenance and battery replacement.

   Note to the commune, § 5 · Electricity advocacy (in French)

This page translates the French page Nos propositions à la commune de Bédjondo, which is the reference and also lists the problems in our territorial diagnosis that fall to the commune. The full note, the article and the legal framework are in French. A development partner interested in one of these projects? Write to us.