The paper discusses the new paradign shift when it comes to addressing issues of development. Economic growth must not be the obly variable to be taken in consideration to address poverty, inequality and backwardness.

1. Rethinking Economic Growth in Cameroon: Towards an inclusive Grass Root Growth Development under the NEPAD framework<br />By<br />Alain A Ndedi<br />Executive Director: Comerci.com /President: Yenepad <br />Email: alain_ndedi@hotmail.com / alainndedi@ymail.com<br />Tel: 237 9646 3013 <br />ABSTRACT: <br />Contemporary Africa (Cameroon not being an exception) is still struggling with the legacies of slavery, colonialism and the deleterious impact of Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) and now globalisation fifteen years after independence. Some parts of postcolonial Africa have attempted to set up ministries of economic development. Others have concentrated in attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) whilst some others have early realised that the state and private capital should work hand in hand for development. Unlike East Asia, which has enjoyed a dramatic reduction in the number of people living in poverty over the past 50 years, sub Saharan Africa has seen dramatic increases in both the total number of poor people and the fraction of its population that is poor.<br />In order to deal with the above mentioned challenges, various initiatives have been adopted even though most of them are tantamount to rhetoric. From Tony Blair’s Africa commission, the G7 Finance Ministers debt relief, the live 8 concerts, the make poverty history campaign and the G8 Gleangles promises to the United Nations 2005 summit, Africa’s gains seem to be reduced to some kind of public relations exercise indicating that the world has taken stock of the plight of the continent. However, since 2001, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), a vision and strategic framework for Africa’s renewal was launched as a driver for African countries to move from long severe poverty to sustainable economic development. <br />Almost ten years after the launch of the initiative, African states in general are still suffering from the same ills. These different approaches have not always necessarily had the results that are necessary for sustainable development. To make matters more complicated, the continent and Cameroon included have to struggle in a context where trade remains inequitable and finding a niche for themselves remains a difficult task. <br />The main reason behind this failure is that development has been seen and interpreted within the narrow confines of economic growth. So rethinking economic growth in Cameroon has become imperative and different stakeholders have an important role to play in the process. Furthermore, recent studies in Cameroon showed that inequality is widening despite the acceptable levels of economic growth. Reports showed that an overwhelming share of the change in the economy over time explained by high economic growth will continue to be without any improvement of the lives of marginalized ones unless there are changes in wealth distribution within the different layers of the Cameroonian population. This phenomenon is seen with sustained growth without any creation of employment and value. Therefore, pro-poor economic growth must be developed in order to achieve the expected results of achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015 in the Cameroonian context. <br />The paper seeks to unpack the NEPAD programme and develop some variables (investment in physical and human capital for example) needed to be included in the structure of Cameroonian economic growth components. The exercise aims to assist development practitioners to determine the sources of growth and inequality, and ultimately develop strategies aiming at intervening in these variables to have an impact on poverty reduction on stricken citizens, called here the bottom of the pyramid.<br />Key words: Economic growth, Pro poor, Cameroon <br />