European Union 2021-2027 Programming Process: Africa’s Local and Regional Authorities Hold National Seminars

The preparation of African local governments is intensifying with a view to taking part in the negotiations for the 2021-2027 programming of European cooperation. Benefiting from the technical support of UCLG Africa since May 2020, the national associations of local authorities of the continent are working hard to meet expectations during the exchanges scheduled for the end of February 2021.

January 2021 was marked by the holding of national seminars for the validation of the roadmap that the associations will bring to the negotiating table. This roadmap highlights the priority areas of financing for local authorities according to the needs of the populations of their country. For this EU programming cycle (2021-2027), they will be around the table with national governments.

The first associations that have already organized their national seminars to validate their roadmap are : Libya (14 December 2020), Nigeria (19 January 2021), Cameroon (21 January 2021), Zambia (21 January 2021), Cape Verde (26 January 2021).

As a reminder, the national associations of African local authorities will have to lead the advocacy on 3 points:

1) To have local governments recognized as state actors. Associations must obtain this status from national governments on the basis of the EU Communication made in 2013;

2) To have national associations of local and regional authorities considered as political representatives of local governments and have them integrated into negotiations alongside national governments;

3) To ensure that all public policies are territorialized since there is a national dimension and a territorial dimension to any policy that will be implemented, including the financial support to be provided by the European Union.

The financing made available in the new programming of the European Union Commission for the period (2021-2027) amounts to Thirty-two billion euros.