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Factors Impeding Social Service Delivery among the Baka Pygmies of Cameroon

ABSTRACT Conservation organizations, missionaries and the State of Cameroon have put the indigenous hunter-gatherer Baka Pygmy people of southeast Cameroon at the limelight of development interventions that often do not reflect their needs and aspirations. Despite these benevolent initiatives, the indigenous Baka Pygmy people have remained on the margins of Cameroonian society. This paper attempts to answer the question: Why has service delivery been challenging to this population? The paper argues for a vision of people-centered ‘‘friendly’’ as opposed to economic development ‘‘as an act of aggression’’ or an exercise in epistemic violence that prioritizes conservation instead of people and that refuses the Baka’s right to development on their own terms. The factors stalling development and negatively impacting on the Pygmies’ quality of life include – the Bantu’s dominance of relations with Western(ity), Orientalism and paternalism that refuses the Pygmies freedom of choice and the right to be different. The paper suggests that epistemic decolonization, justice and reflexivity in the practice of social work will improve social service delivery among the Baka Pygmy.