Luc Atrokpo: Pragmatic Leadership
At the head of the National Association of Communes of Benin (ANCB) since 2015, Mr. Luc Sètondji Atrokpo has positioned himself over the years as a key player in the country’s local governance. Mayor of the capital city Cotonou, since his election on 6 June 2020, Mr. Atrokpo began his duties in 2003 as first Deputy Mayor of Bohicon. Five years later, he took the reins of the municipality of Bohicon and rose through the ranks by occupying the position of President of the Union of Communes of Zou and of the National Association of Communes of Benin in 2015.
Reelected in December 2020, for five years at the head of the ANCB. Under his authority, the Association made headway and succeeded in asserting its role as the voice of local authorities and interface, in terms of advocacy with the national authorities. Particular emphasis was placed on decentralized cooperation. It was under the leadership of Luc Atrokpo, that the umbrella organization of the seventy seven Beninese municipalities carried out a number of actions to achieve the 2030 Agenda.
These include “training campaigns for local elected officials and executives of territorial administrations, the implementation of several studies including: the Lexicon of themes and common expressions on the SDGs, identification of the needs of Municipalities; the implementation of the toolbox for the financing of the SDGs, the production of advocacy documents to increase the transfer of resources by the national Government to the Municipalities; participation in various national and international fora; the documentation of experience and best practices related to the SDGs in the Municipalities; the study on the specialization of the SDGs in collaboration with the DGCSODD; strengthening the partnership for the implementation of the SDGs and decentralized cooperation; and the signing of numerous Agreements between the Government and the Municipalities for interventions for the benefit of sustainable development “, indicated the local councilor in his foreword in the report on the localization of the SDGs in Benin, produced in 2020 with UCLG World.
Amongst the members of UCLG Africa, ANCB is deemed one of its most seasoned and experienced members. In February 2020, in partnership with UCLG Africa, ANCB organized the Cotonou forum on: “Territorialization as a lever to accelerate the implementation of NDCs in Africa: The contribution of the Associations of African Local Authorities in the mobilization of African cities in favor of climate action”. In March 2020, the new ANCB headquarters was inaugurated in Abomey-Calavi.
During the month of June 2021, ANCB held a series of training activities for its members on climate, gender, and participatory local democracy. The major meeting was without any doubt the seminar for the reactivation of decentralized cooperation between Benin and France, held on 22 June. “Our main goal at ANCB is that Beninese municipalities should take advantage of partnerships to not only strengthen themselves, improve their technical capacities and their know-how, but also to constitute with their counterparts in France a force of proposals in order to mobilize resources around concrete projects in favor of the populations”, declared Luc Sètondji ATROKPO.
Express Bio
Luc Atrokpo whose full name is Luc Sètondji Atrokpo is a Beninese politician born in Bohicon, Benin, won at several elections as member of parliament at the National Assembly, as well as in the post of mayor of the commune of Bohicon. During the municipal elections of 2020 he was elected mayor of the commune of Cotonou on the list of the Progressive Union party.
On the international scene, he was first vice-president of the Council of Local Authorities of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU), member of the Board of Directors of the International Association of Francophone Regions, and member of the Networks of the International Association of Francophone Mayors.
In his capacity as mayor, Luc S. Atrokpo was the recipient of several trophies:
- Prize for the “best municipality” from the German cooperation in 2009,
- Prize for “best actor in decentralized cooperation in Benin” at the Djembe Awards Ceremony in 201011.
During COP21, Luc S. Atrokpo presented an impressive plan to fight against floods linked to runoff in the Zou basin. An outstanding project carried out with the support of the French inter-municipal Associations and the study of which, will be partly financed by France. In this regard, he said: “The city of Bohicon is located in a valley. Water is a nuisance there, we want to make it an asset “12,2.
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