UCLG Africa presents the weekly online press review of main stories and news of African local governments from 23 to 27 October 2017.
The overview of news from Local Authorities of the continent available in one click here
You can subscribe to the mailing List, available at the end of the review, to receive it every Monday.
The United Cities and Local Governments of Africa (UCLG Africa) will organize a training workshop for the first cohort of members of the Pan African Local Government Peer Review Team from November 1-2, 2017 at the Rive Hotel, Rabat, Morocco.
The Pan African Peer Review Program was set up by UCLG Africa to promote self-assessment and peer learning within local government. It aims to improve delivery capacity and good governance in local governments and their national associations and to bring a local and territorial perspective to the African Peer Review Mechanism of the African Union (APRM).
Launched in 2012 with the financial support of the Luxembourg Grand Duchy and the technical support of the Local Government Association of England & Wales (LGA) in the United Kingdom, the Program began as a pilot project with 5 peer review exercises targeting 3 categories of cities that expressed their interest: Small cities (less than 100,000 inhabitants) represented by Otjiwarongo, Namibia; medium-sized cities (between 100,000 and 1 million inhabitants) represented by Tiassale, Cote d’Ivoire; and major cities (over 1 million inhabitants) represented by Yaounde (Cameroon), as well as 2 national associations of local governments, the National Association of Local Government of Ghana (NALAG) and the Ugandan Local Government Association (ULGA).
These peer review exercises were well received by the political leadership in all five categories after which the office bearers of UCLG Africa decided to transform the pilot project into a fully-fledged Pan African Local Government Peer Review Program.
The 2-day training workshop aims to capacitate local government officials and officers who have volunteered to serve as members of the Pan African Local Government Review Team to master the process and skills needed to efficiently implement a peer review exercise.
The workshop will be attended by 35 participants from all regions of Africa and will include political leaders, city managers, chief city finance officers, chief city technical officers, permanent secretaries of national associations of local governments and directors of UCLG-Africa regional offices.
For more information, please contact:
Gaëlle Yomi. Phone: +212 610 56 71 45
email: Gyomi@uclga.org
The City of Praia (Cape Verde) will host the 4th World Forum on Local Economic Development (LED), October 17-20, 2017.
Over 1,500 participants from 120 countries are expected to attend the meeting organized by UNDP (United Nations Development Program); UCLG (United Cities and Local Government); ILO (International Labor Organization); FAMSI (The Andalusian Fund of Municipalities for International Solidarity); and ORU-FOGAR. UCLG Africa, the umbrella organization of local governments on the continent, will participate in the event with a delegation led by the Secretary General, Mr. Jean Pierre Elong Mbassi.
The Forum will be a venue for exchange on local economic development. The theme of the 4th edition is, “The contributions of local economic development to the implementation of the 2030 development program.” It aims to provide guidance and principles for action to implement SDG 8: Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all and SDG 17: Partnerships for the goals.
The organizing committee’s presentation sheet specifies that a special emphasis will be placed on the reduction of inequalities through local economic development.
The forum will witness the participation of the President of the Republic of Cape Verde; the Prime Minister of Cape Verde; ministers from Ivory Coast, Angola, Mauritania and Bolivia, as well as numerous local and regional elected officials from Africa and other parts of the world.
During the forum, UCLG Africa will organize two sessions on October 18, 2017; the first of which is entitled, “Climate Change and LED: How to mitigate the effects of Climate Change while promoting Local Economic Development.” This will focus on the economic opportunities that climate change offers to people, including the poorest, building on the good practices of some African cities, notably Porto-Novo with the Songhai project implemented in Benin and on the experience of the 11 pilot cities, parties to the Covenant of Mayors for Sub-Saharan Africa.
The second session entitled, “Informal economy between regularization and access during transitional phases,” will highlight the issues that need to be addressed with regard to the integration of the informal sector into the local economic development strategies and solutions provided by local governments in Africa and elsewhere.
Please consult the key positions of local and regional governments on local economic development
To learn more about the forum:
Website of the Forum
For further information on LED in Africa:
For further information, please contact:
Gaëlle Yomi: +212 610 56 71 45
Mail: gyomi@uclga.org
The first forum for local government officials and managers of training institutions who offer training for African local governments took place at the Campus of the International University of Rabat (UIR), located at the Technopolis of Salé (Morocco), September 18-20, 2017. The forum was dedicated to the theme, “Human Resources in African Local Governments: The Time to Act … is Now!” and was sponsored by the United Cities and Local Governments of Africa (UCLG-Africa) and its African Local Government Academy (ALGA).
The forum was attended by more than 400 participants from 58 countries, of which 46 were from countries in Africa, including Ministers, Presidents of Associations of Local Governments, Presidents and Directors of Training Institutes, local government senior staff, experts in local governance and members from civil societies and the general public.
Proceedings were opened by His Excellency Mr. Noureddine BOUTAYEB, Minister-Delegate to the Minister of Home Affairs of the Kingdom of Morocco at the opening ceremony which was attended by: His Excellency Mohamed BENABDELKADER, Minister Delegate to the Head of Government, in charge of Administration and Civil Service Reform, Morocco; Her Excellency Ms. Jeanne d’Arc KAGAYO UMURUNDI, Minister of Municipal Development of Burundi; Her Excellency Ms. Hajia ALIMA MAHAMA, Minister of Decentralization and Rural Development of Ghana; Mr. Ahmed Ould BAH, Director of External Relations of the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO); Mr. Cheikh Ould Ahmed Ould BAYA, President of the Association of Mayors of Mauritania, Vice-President of UCLG-Africa for the Region of Northern Africa; Mr. Mohand LAENSER, President of the Association of Regions of Morocco (ARM); and Mr. Mohamed BOUDRA, President of the Moroccan Association of Presidents of Municipal Councils (AMPCC).
The three day forum addressed the following issues with extensive discussion around:
– The place of human capital in the new geopolitical context of decentralization in Africa;
– Networking of local government senior staff and peer learning;
– Promotion of the quality of education, training and capacity building targeting local government administration;
Attendees included the following partners: the Department of Public Administration and Development Management; the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs; the Bahrain Institute of Public Administration (BIPA); Cities Alliance; the National Center of Local Government Civil Service (CNFPT); the Seoul Human Resources Development Center (SHRDC); the Metropolis International Training Institute (MITI); the International City Management Association (ICMA) of USA; European Federation of Local Government Chief Executive Officers (UDITE); AAPAM Africa; the French Union of Directors General of Local Governments (SNDGCT); the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF); and the African Training and Research Center in Administration for Development (CAFRAD).
Proceedings ended with the adoption of a declaration from Salé which highlighted the challenges being faced in human resources for local governments, the urgency for training and the need to find sustainable solutions that would address the problem of funding for training and capacity building of elected officials and senior staff in African local governments.
The African Local Government Academy (ALGA) of UCLG-Africa was proposed as a center of excellence for the modernization and professionalization of management for local governments on the continent.
Participants expressed their interest that the forum of Salé be scheduled as an annual event at the International University of Rabat (UIR) under the aegis of UCLG-Africa and ALGA.
For further information, please contact:
Gaëlle Yomi: +212 610 56 71 45 / Mail : gyomi@uclga.org
In partnership with the Ministry of Home Affairs of the Kingdom of Morocco, the Association of Regions of Morocco (ARM), the Moroccan Association of Presidents of Municipal Councils (AMPCC), the International University of Rabat (UIR); and United Cities and Local Governments of Africa (UCLG Africa) is organizing within the framework of its African Local Governments Academy (ALGA), the first Forum of Territorial Managers and Training Institutes dedicated to the capacity building of Local Governments in Africa. This event falls within the celebration of the 2017 World Public Service Day, held every year on 23 June.
The Forum will be organized from 18 to 21 September 2017 at UIR. Its theme is “Human resources of African Local Governments: The time to act … is now!”
The Forum which enjoys the support and partnership of several African and International Partners, including the Commission of the European Union, will take place at the Campus of the International University of Rabat, within the Technopolis of Salé, starting on 18 September 2017, from 8:30 am.
Africa is urbanizing at a rapid pace. Experts have estimated that in the next 15 years the continent will have 1.2 billion city-dwellers, the equivalent of the current population of Africa, 3 times the one of United States, and 4 times the one of the European Union. It is a major upheaval of the continent’s population, which entails both opportunities and risks. If well-managed, urbanization can be a powerful lever for sustainable development. If poorly managed, it will precipitate the majority of people into the poverty trap which will be extremely difficult for the countries to come out from.
To take advantage of the opportunities offered by the dynamics of urbanization and minimize its negative impacts, the experts have predicted that Africa has a window of opportunity for environmental action for about ten years, beyond which the capacity to control urbanization would become erratic. In any case, it is this sense of urgency which inspired the adoption by the United Nations in New York in September 2015, of Sustainable Development Goal 11 within the framework of Agenda 2030, as well as the New Urban Agenda in Quito, Ecuador, at the end of the Habitat III Conference in October 2016 and finally the Climate Change Agenda.
The time to act is now, with an urgency to work towards the training, capacity building and professionalism of the leaders and staff of the territorial administrations who are on the front line in the management of urbanization in Africa. The poor qualification levels of human resources for the cities and territories of Africa does not create conducive conditions for them to be able to effectively plan and manage urban development. Most of the cities of the Continent, notably the secondary cities and the small towns, do not benefit sufficiently from their potential for growth and development, largely due to the inadequate capacity of their local governments. Whereas, these cities account for, today, 2/3 of the urban population, and some of them will be emerging as metropolitan cities in the near future. If they are left in their present state, these administrations will not be able to meet the increasing expectations of the people in terms of job creation and access to services, which further risks increasing the lack of confidence between the people and the public authorities, indeed even develop a feeling of distrust vis-à-vis the authority, a situation that could turn out to be uncontrollable.
The Forum offers the opportunity to ascertain the extent of the challenge, and brings together the first concerned, namely the officials and managers of local governments and the officials of the training institutions who currently offer courses for the benefit of local governments. The event will also be used to address issues related to the prospects of decentralization in the African context, the funding of training dedicated to local governments, and the development of networking among the managers of territorial administrations in African countries, including the integration of these African networks into the international networks of professionals of local administrations.
The Forum will bring together at least 300 participants from 43 African countries, including Ministers of Decentralization and Local Governance, Presidents of National Associations of Local Governments, Mayors, Local Elected Officials / Managers of Local Governments, Presidents and Directors of Training Institutions, Heads of professional networks of local administrations as well as experts in Local Governance.
The opening ceremony of the Forum will be presided over officially by His Excellency Abdelouafi LAFTIT, Minister of Home Security of the Kingdom of Morocco, in the presence of:
For further information on the event, please see the aide-memoire available below.
To contact the African Local Government Academy (ALGA), please contact:
Dr Najat Zakaria, Director of ALGA
Email: najat_zarrouk@yahoo.fr
Ms. Wafae Boumaaz, assistant to the director of ALGA
Email: wafaeboumaaz@hotmail.com
At the invitation of the United Cities and Local governments of Africa (UCLG Africa) 90 Chiefs technical officers of African city and subnational governments from 41 African countries participated in the launching of the Constitutive General Assembly of the Network of Chief Technical Officers of Cities and Territories of Africa, Africa TechNet. The constitutive general assembly was held at Ivotel Hotel, Abidjan, Ivory Coast, on 3 July 2017.
The members of Africa TechNet elected a Bureau of the network, which is composed as following:
The main goals of Africa TechNet are to:
In the framework of the launching of Africa TechNet, the members of the network received a first 2-day training course on the theme: “Territorial Development and climate change: realities, constraints and opportunities”. The training course was delivered by a team of experts mobilized by the association ENERGIES 2050, a partner of UCLG Africa in the setting up of a ‘Task Force’ put in place to supporting African cities and territories to climate finance and notably the Green Climate Fund, which will be in operation starting from the year 2020.
The Abidjan meeting was organized in collaboration with the Ministry of Interior and Security of theRepublicof Ivory Coast, the Union of Towns and Municipalities of Ivory Coast (UVICOCI), the Assembly of the Regions and Districts of Ivory Coast (ARDCI).
For further information, please contact:
Gaëlle Yomi, +212 610 56 71 45 / Email: gyomi@uclga.org
In collaboration with the Ministry of Interior and Security of the Republicof Ivory Coast; the Union of Towns and Municipalities of Ivory Coast (UVICOCI); and the Association of Regions of Ivory Coast (ARDCI), United Cities and Local Governments of Africa (UCLG Africa) will organize the Inaugural General Assembly for the network of Chief Technical Officers (CTOs) of the cities and territories of Africa (Africa TechNet), from July 03 to July 05, 2017 at Hotel Ivotel of Abidjan (Ivory Coast), with120 CTOs from the five regions of Africa expected to attend.
The official opening ceremony will be chaired by His Excellency Hamed Bakayoko, Minister of State and the Minister of Interior and Security of Ivory Coast.
UCLG Africa presents the weekly online press review of main stories and news of African local governments from 22 to 26 May 2017.
The overview of news from Local Authorities of the continent available in one click here
You can subscribe to the mailing List, available at the end of the review, to receive it every Monday.
UCLG Africa Executive Committee will be meeting at “La Tour Hassan” hotel in Rabat (Morocco) on 29 -30 May 2017. This executive committee is organized with the support of the Moroccan Association of Presidents of Local Governments Councils (AMPCC) and the Association of Presidents of Regions of Morocco (APRM).
The meeting will be opened by H. E Abdelouafi Lafti, Minister of Interior of the Kingdom of Morocco.
UCLG Africa presents the weekly online press review of main stories and news of African local governments from 15 to 19 May 2017.
The overview of news from Local Authorities of the continent available in one click here
You can subscribe to the mailing List, available at the end of the review, to receive it every Monday.