Abstract
This paper suggests that, while there is a lot of public rhetoric in Cameroon about poverty reduction, the existing institutional and management structures constrain the management of poverty in its urban areas. Although Cameroon is well-endowed with natural resources, the institutional and management structures are poor and thus create new types of poverty that are more evident in the urban areas; for example, young, unemployed secondary school and university graduates, large numbers of under-employed, unskilled informal workers, and people suffering from political and human rights deprivation. This paper views poverty as a dynamic social relation reproduced by ongoing social, economic and political processes that result in the concentration, or deprivation, of influence, wealth and environmental assets that are requisites for social well-being. Poverty reduction in the urban (and rural) areas of Cameroon can only come about by restructuring the institutional and management set-up, so that it can be more responsive to the needs of poor people.