Forum of Maghreb and Sahel Local Authorities in Nouakchott

From January 27 to February 2, 2024, at the invitation of Mrs. Fatimetou Mint Abdel Malick, President of the Nouakchott Regional Council in Mauritania and President of UCLG Africa, Vice-President of the International Association of Francophone Mayors (AIMF), a delegation from the General Secretariat of UCLG Africa, comprising the Secretary General Mr. Jean Pierre Elong Mbassi and his Advisor for Political Affairs and International Relations Mrs. Rahmatouca Sow, visited Nouakchott on January 29 and 30, 2024, to take part in the meeting of Maghreb cities on the theme “Local authorities at the heart of new regional dynamics“; and on January 31 and February 1, 2024, to the meeting on the theme “Strengthening the strategic partnership between local authorities in the Sahel and the AIMF for more concrete action and solidarity to benefit populations impacted by the security crisis“; meetings co-organized by the Nouakchott Region and the AIMF.

The meetings were held under the High Patronage of His Excellency Mohamed Ould Cheikh Ould Ghazaouni, President of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania. The theme of “Local governance in favor of women’s leadership” was addressed throughout the meetings.  

The Maghreb cities meeting was organized around the following two round-table discussions:  

  1. The Public-Private Partnership (PPP), attractiveness of territories and local development: state of the art of legal frameworks, mechanisms to support cities in the development of public-private partnerships, challenges and opportunities; Round-table introduced and moderated by Mr. Karim Zahmeur, Professor at the University of Meknes, Morocco. The panel discussion brought together representatives from: 

(i) central authorities: Mrs. Sonia ATTIA Jrad, Director General of the General Body for Public-Private Partnerships (IGPPP) in Tunisia; and Mrs. Tama Maouloud, Director General of Public-Private Partnerships in Mauritania, who insisted on the fact that PPP really means Preparation-Preparation-Preparation, as the preparation of a successful public-private partnership agreement takes time.  

(ii) local authorities: Mr Abderrahim Outass, 1st Vice-Chairman of the Casablanca City Council; Ms. Ingrid Pechell, Project Manager, Casablanca City Council; Ms. Wafa Gandouz, Chief Civil Engineer and Director of Technical Services, City of Monastir, Tunisia.  

  1. The attractiveness of territories and the role of the Social Solidarity Economy (SSE) as a level for local development, introduced by Mr. Saïd Ramli, consultant and co-manager of the Solidarity Entrepreneurs Cooperative. 

The panel discussion brought together:  

(i) for the Nouakchott Region, Mr. Sid’Ahmet Khou, consultant; the Honorable Mr. Soumare Yakhare, secretary general of the NGO Actions and Dr. Yacouba Sidi Diagana, national coordinator of the NGO Actions;  

(ii) for other countries, Ms. Asmaa Rhlalou, President of the City Council of Rabat, Morocco; Mr. Guidara Ahmed, Secretary General in charge of communal affairs, City of Sfax, Tunisia.  

After the two round tables, the 2024-2025 strategic orientations of the Maghreb Cities Network were presented and discussed. This chapter was introduced and moderated by Ms. Donia Ben Romdane, AIMF expert in charge of the Maghreb Cities Network. The Maghreb Cities Network’s work will focus on two main areas: dialogue and synergy between the region’s local authorities, and priority projects to be carried out in the field: public-private partnerships and regional attractiveness; environmental management in the context of climate change; and the implementation of regional projects.  

The debates confirmed the validity of using public-private partnerships (PPPs) to help improve infrastructure and service provision for local authorities in the Maghreb countries. However, the debates showed that the financial community’s risk assessment of African countries limits the use of PPPs, because investors wish to mitigate the risk they take by resorting to state subsidies or guarantees raised from the central government, financing institutions or development banks.  

Local and regional authorities must be involved in the design of PPPs, to ensure that they take into account the basic needs of the local population. Decentralization laws are incomplete if they do not include mechanisms for financing local authorities through financial institutions such as the deposit and consignment office or institutions specialized in financing local authorities, in particular in support of PPPs. The other problem posed by PPPs is how to put together projects and carry them through to maturity, so that they attract the attention of investors. PPPs are therefore not a panacea.  

On the other hand, the legal and regulatory framework for PPP contracts may require the implementation of procedures that can prove restrictive to innovation and flexibility, which are among the reasons often cited for resorting to partnerships with the private sector. Compliance with legal and regulatory procedures means that PPP contracts take an average of 3 years to negotiate and sign. The participants unanimously called for a simplification of these procedures, and for greater awareness and training in the preparation and implementation of PPPs among the elected representatives and managers of local authorities in the Maghreb.  

The proceedings ended with the validation and adoption of the roadmap and timetable of activities for the Maghreb Cities Network for the period 2024-2025.

January 31st and February 1st of 2024 saw the official opening of the meeting on the theme “Strengthening the strategic partnership between local authorities in the Sahel and the AIMF for more concrete action and solidarity to benefit populations impacted by the security crisis“, during which the following personalities spoke:  

  • Mrs. Fatimetou Mint Abdel Malick, President of the Nouakchott Regional Council, Vice-President of AIMF;  
  • Mr. Arnaud Ngantcha, Deputy Mayor of Paris, representing Mrs. Anne Hidalgo, Mayor of Paris, President of the AIMF;  
  • His Excellency Gwilym Jones, Ambassador of the European Union to Mauritania;  
  • Mr. Dominique Kabeya, Program Coordinator, Special Office for Development in the Sahel, United Nations (UNISS);   
  • Mr. Mohammed Ahmed Mohamed Lemine, Minister of the Interior and Decentralization of Mauritania.  

Following the official opening ceremony, a panel discussion was organized on “Local governance in favor of women’s leadership”. The panel was introduced by a presentation by Ms. Arianna Ardesi, AIMF Advisor, on the study on the state of play of women’s leadership in territorial institutions in the various Maghreb and Sahel countries, conducted as part of the AIMF Gender Equality program. The presentation was followed by a discussion moderated by Ms. Mame Tacko Diallo, AIMF expert.  

Experience sharing 

Two round-table discussions followed:  

Roundtable 1: “How to create greater synergies and collaboration in the sub-region between the various players (network of local authorities, NGOs, donors)”, moderated by Dr. Die Mohamed, a specialist in national policies and institutional governance, particularly in the extractive industries and infrastructure sectors.  

During the round table, participants discussed the experiences of the following local authorities:  

  1. a) City of Banfora, Burkina Faso (approx. 100,000 inhabitants), one of the country’s 49 urban The town benefited from a 1.3 billion city contract over a three-year period, financed by the World Bank for infrastructure, equipment and community activities. These city contracts have improved the commune’s project management capabilities. The commune has developed decentralized cooperation partnerships with Chauvigny and Pessac in France, and Rimini in Italy, with the support of AIMF;
  1. b) The urban commune of Birni N’Gaouré in Niger, which has been very active in setting up the 3N Initiative (The Nigeriens Feed Niger) aimed at food self-sufficiency. As part of this initiative, a Farmer’s House has been set up, with a community radio station to raise awareness of the urgent need to contribute to self-sufficiency and food sovereignty; a food bank to distribute seeds and foodstuffs; and trade apprenticeship centers, especially for young people and women. These initiatives have been reinforced by the program for resilience and safeguarding the homeland, launched in 2023, which has transferred the question of land recovery and the Food for Work Initiative actions to local authorities. In this context, support amounting to 12 million CFA francs is being provided to women’s groups in Birni N’Gaouré. In addition, thanks to UNDP support, a project is being developed along the lines of the Songhai Center in Porto Novo, Benin;
  1. c) The communes of Malanville and Segbana in Benin, where safety management involving women’s groups is being implemented. The project has enabled local committees to be set up to support the integration of young people who have dropped out of school, who benefit from an 18-month apprenticeship At the end of the apprenticeship period, the young people receive assistance to set up their own businesses;
  1. d) City of N’Djamena, Chad, on the experience of community participation in wastewater management;
  1. e) City of Niamey, Niger, on the initiative and management of decentralized cooperation partnerships;
  1. f) Region of Nouakchott, Mauritania, on shared city management. 

Roundtable 2: “Implementation of a local security policy, issues and challenges for local authorities”, moderated by Mr. Amadou Sall, President of the Think Tank Mauritanie Perspectives; and Mr. Seidik Abba, Expert on security crises in the Sahel. Round table 2 discussed the necessary relationship between security policy and development issues, illustrated by:  

  1. a) Mauritania’s approach to security and development;
  1. b) the strategy for implementing local security plans in Burkina Faso;
  1. c) supporting local authorities in implementing security policies in Sahelian countries;
  2. d) the role of community mediation in the implementation of local security policies and initiatives in Mali;
  1. e) community safety management tools and actions in the city of Niamey, Niger;
  1. f) N’Djamena’s contribution to the fight against terrorism;
  1. g) the institutional multi-actor exchange system for safeguarding security in the commune of Arlit, Niger.

Work continued in four workshop groups:  

Group 1: The role of local authority umbrella organizations in South-South cooperation and in supporting cities in project management, led by Mr. Youssouf Diakité, Executive Director of the National Association of Mali Municipalities; and Mr. Abdouh-Moumouni Adam, Head of Governance and Inclusion in the National Association of the Communes of Togo;  

Group 2: Co-building cross-border projects, led by Mr. Sebastien Kima, Secretary General of the Association of Mayors of Burkina Faso and Ms. Hayatou Hassani, AIMF Project Manager;  

Group 3: Co-building projects and programs on essential services (water, sanitation and education), led by Ms. Arianna Ardesi, AIMF Advisor and Mr. Saleck Moulaye Ahmed Cherif, Director of Studies, Programming and Cooperation, Nouakchott Region; 

Group 4: Co-building health projects and programs, led by Mr. Florent Kacou Bi, West Africa Consultant, AIMF.  

The discussions highlighted the following main contributions made by local authorities to peace and security policy in Sahelian countries:  

  1. Safeguarding and consolidating social cohesion and living together (e.g. the Banibangou Agreement in Niger on refusing to stigmatize ethnic groups);
  1. The bridging role between the defense and security forces and the population to restore confidence and safeguard peace and harmony;
  1. Combating youth idleness and raising awareness of alternatives to recruitment by jihadist groups;
  1. The provision of basic services accessible to the population and the promotion of development actions at local level to reduce the population’s recriminations towards public authorities and offering prospects for improving living conditions for resident populations; 
  1. The implementation of solidarity and assistance actions for communities that have suffered attacks, to ensure the safe reception of displaced populations and access to water, energy, food and essential services for people who have stayed behind, as well as the securing of outlying areas. 
  1. The participation of local authority umbrella organizations in institutions responsible for monitoring conflicts, security and peacekeeping at national and regional level;
  1. Decentralized cross-border cooperation;
  1. The urgent need to resolve the issue of resource mobilization in a context of security crisis, and the need to make local authorities responsible for implementing security-related actions and correlative development projects in the field, and to avoid systematically resorting to NGOs to implement projects, in ignorance of local authorities.

To this end, awareness-raising seminars should be organized with government representatives in charge of security issues. Some of the key messages that emerged from the work include:  

  1. The need to adopt a holistic, participatory approach to the role of umbrella organizations in supporting local authorities;
  1. The importance of daring and innovation, as seen in the case of municipal intervention in conflict monitoring, intelligence and security protection in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso;
  1. The usefulness of institutionalizing security issues within territorial policies and linking them to national and regional security and peace mechanisms;
  1. The urgent need for dialogue frameworks open to civil society, traditional authorities and the private and academic sectors;
  1. Synergies between local, national and regional initiatives to manage safety issues;
  1. Priority to be given to the adoption of a decentralized cross-border cooperation program among the priorities for cooperation between Sahelian countries. 

At the end of the session, participants put forward the following project ideas for local authority umbrella organizations:  

  • Regional study on the impact of the security crisis on local authorities’ resource mobilization; 
  • Regional study on people’s access to basic social services in a context of security crisis; 
  • Capitalization by national umbrella organizations of national experiences of intervention by local authorities in the field of peace and security; 
  • Mapping of partners involved in issues of peace and security, development and strengthening of local authorities; 
  • Development and management of a regional observatory of territorial authorities on monitoring, security and conflict management; 
  • Capacity-building program for LPAs and national administrations on actions and projects to be implemented to link security and development; 
  • Set up technical support units to create projects and mobilize funding at the level of local authority umbrella organizations; 
  • Launch of the process to register LPAs as implementing partners of the Green Climate Fund.