Between July and August 2025, a team from the OSU Foundation visited several neighborhoods in the city of Yaoundé to collect information in order to develop the topic: Roadside trading by women in a context of economic and social instability. Socio-economic and prospective analysis (case of female traders in the sub-districts of Yde III, IV, V).

The days spent in the different neighborhoods of Yaoundé allowed us to understand how "precarious vending" activities operate. The field team consisted of: Ariane TIOGANG, Vincent OMGBA BELIBI, Leila SINEH, and Lauriane NDOMBI MBAPPE.

Regarding the Yaoundé V sub-district (Hôtel du plateau, Essos, Mvog-ada), the data collection in this area generally went quite well, as the women were open and comfortable sharing their daily lives with us—lives that are sometimes difficult, sometimes profitable. We were able to record the testimony of one of them who revealed: "I have been a victim several times of demolitions caused by council agents, and that makes me lose my capital, because I am forced to start buying supplies again for my small business just to survive day to day and send the children to school."

Despite the adverse weather conditions, we were able to talk with roadside female vendors in the Yaoundé IV sub-district (Melen, Biyem-assi). It is important to note that collecting data in these different neighborhoods was not an easy task, as we encountered many refusals and pushbacks. Some believed that we were undercover agents coming to take their personal information for other purposes. Others, seeing us use our phones during data collection, felt they were being recorded. At that moment, the greatest challenge we faced was not only convincing them with supporting evidence, but also adapting to their languages: English, Ewondo, Eton, and Bulu.

In the following days, we were present in the Odza neighborhood, located in the Yaoundé III sub-district. The discussions there went quite smoothly, thanks to the good cooperation of the vendors. Many of them saw us as their own children who walk the streets from time to time to carry out the same kind of work, and for them, refusing us this help would have been a sign of bad faith.

We wrapped up our survey in the Fougerole neighborhood in the Yaoundé V sub-district. Here, everything seemed so complicated to us, especially towards the end, due to the hostility of the vendors, but our work was completed with the expected number.

We would like to thank the OSU Foundation for its support throughout our survey.