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Declaration of UCLG Africa Regional Strategic Meeting for Central Africa Region

The UCLG Africa members of the Central Africa Region attending the strategic meeting held in Libreville on April 16th and 17th, 2018 declare the following:

1. We welcome the holding of the Regional Strategic Meeting and recommend that this meeting be organized periodically, ideally during the first quarter of each year.

2. We are aware of the important responsibilities incumbent upon us in the implementation of continental and global agendas, notably Agenda 2063 of the African Union; Agenda 2030 of the Sustainable Development Goals; the Paris Agreement on Climate Change; the Sendai Protocol; and the New Urban Agenda.

3. We are convinced that these agendas will not be realized if they are not integrated into the territorial policies and we commit ourselves to territorialize these agendas as recommended by the United Nations.

4. We welcome the support that the European Union has been providing to the international and continental associations of local and regional governments following the adoption of the 2013 Communication. We are grateful to the European Union for having recognized local and regional governments as public entities and for having granted to their national representative associations the monopoly position for access to European cooperation funding in their respective countries. We therefore undertake to contact the European Union delegations in our respective countries to confirm our willingness to set up an active partnership for the implementation of the provisions of the 2013 Communication.

5. With regards to the future Partnership Agreement, which in 2020 will replace the Cotonou Agreement, we support the point of view of the African Union for the future agreement to be negotiated between the European Union and the African Union, in collegiality with UCLG Africa, the umbrella organization of local and regional governments on the African continent, to ensure they are stakeholders of the negotiations of the new agreement right from the beginning and at all stages of the implementation and evaluation of the impact of the future agreement.

6. We insist that the local and regional governments be at the forefront in the management of the migration issue. We therefore demand that the national associations of local governments be involved in all relevant discussions and decisions.

7. We took special note of the numerous initiatives taken by the General Secretariat of UCLG Africa to structure the African movement of local and regional governments. We commit ourselves to forward an updated list of the members of our respective associations and members of the national chapters of the Network of Locally Elected Women (REFELA) in our respective countries within 15 days. We also undertake to promote the national chapters of the African networks of the professionals of local and regional governments in our respective countries, namely the Network of City Clerks (MAGNET); the Network of Chief Financial Officers of Local Governments (FINET); and the Network of Chief Technical Officers of Local Governments (TECHNET).

8. We took special note of the completion of the feasibility study for the establishment of the African Cities Development Fund (FODEVA). We also noted the call launched to the main cities of our region to be members of the of the Founders’ Club of FODEVA in return for the payment of Euros 100,000 per local or regional government. We encourage the mayors of these cities in our region to subscribe to the fund as soon as possible so that its launch can be announced at the next Africities Summit in Marrakech. Finally, we noted the establishment of an Internet platform for meetings between the investors and the local and regional governments in Africa. We ask our members who have projects and programs to be funded, and who are interested in participating in this platform to contact the UCLG Africa secretariat to be listed on this platform.

10. We welcome the initiative to set up a Climate Task Force within UCLG Africa, in response to members’ requests to have easier access to climate finance, particularly the Green Climate Fund. We invite the UCLG Africa members in Central Africa to get involved in the Climate Agenda and to adhere to the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy, whose focal point is hosted in our regional office for West Africa in Accra, Ghana. We also support the approval of UCLG Africa as the ‘Implementing Partner’ of the Green Climate Fund.

11. We welcome the launch of the African Academy of Local and Regional Governments (ALGA). We request our national governments to provide institutional and financial support to the Academy and we pledge to make it the primary agency for capacity building of the authorities and senior staff of the local and regional governments of Africa.

12. We wish to express our sincere gratitude to the Kingdom of Morocco as well as to the Moroccan Association of Presidents of Municipal Councils and to the Association of Regions of Morocco for having accepted to host the 2018 Africities Summit in Marrakech from November 20-24, 2018. We urge the local and regional governments of the Central Africa region to fully participate in this Summit and the Africities Exhibition. We commit ourselves to participate in the official ceremony to launch the preparation of the Summit scheduled to take place in Rabat on May 15, 2018. We unanimously agree that all future Africities Summits be held in Marrakech to avoid the risks observed with the rotating organization of this flagship event of Africa’s cities and territories.

13. In preparation for the General Assembly of UCLG Africa, we agreed on the following candidacies for the different bodies:

Pan-African Council (9 members):

AMG (Association of Mayors of Gabon) – AMC (Association of Mayors of Congo) – AMCA (Association of Mayors of Central African Republic;

UCCC (United Councils and Cities of Cameroon) – ANVC (Association incomplete – ANCT (National Association of Local Governments of Chad) – AARA / STP (National Association of Mayors of Sao Tome and Principe);

City of Malabo

Executive Committee (3 members)

AMG – AMC – AMCA

Financial Management Commission

UCCC

Electoral Committee

ANVC

14. For the Network of Locally Elected Women of Africa, the Central Africa Region submits the following candidacies:

Pan-African Council (9 members)

Mrs. Célestine Ketcha-Courtes, Mayor of Bangangté, Cameroon; Kirnakiming Clémentine, Mayor of Kelo, Chad; Mrs. Ossibi Nancy Sidoine, Congo; Marie Josée Nyongo, DRC.

Mrs. Henriette Manga Ndongo-Henriette, Cameroon; Mapangou Maite, Mayor of Nde Nde, Gabon

A female elected official of Sao Tomé and Principe

A female elected official of Equatorial Guinea.

Executive Committee

Mrs. Célestine Ketcha-Courtes, Mayor of Bangangté, Cameroon;

Kirnakiming Clémentine, Mayor of Kelo, Chad;

Mrs. Ossibi Nancy Sidoine, Congo.

15. We propose, on grounds of the eminent services His Majesty renders to our organization, that UCLG Africa should consider making a request to His Majesty Mohammed VI, King of Morocco, to kindly accept our invitation to be the patron of our continental organization.

16. We reiterate our support and consideration to Mr. Khalifa Ababacar Sall, Member of Parliament, Mayor of Dakar and President of UCLG Africa.

17. We wish to express our gratitude to the President of the Republic of Gabon and his government as well as to the Mayor of the City of Libreville, for all the facilities made available to the delegates during their stay and for the solicitude displayed in favor of the associations of local and regional governments of the Central Africa Region and their representative organization at the continental level, UCLG Africa.

Libreville, April 17, 2018

The Participants

CENTRAL AFRICA REGION READY FOR AFRICITIES SUMMIT 2018

Libreville, Gabon, April 17, 2018

The United Cities and Local Governments of Africa (UCLG Africa) Regional Strategic Meeting for Central Africa, was held at Le Méridien Re-Ndama Hotel in Libreville, Gabon, April 16-17, 2018.

The meeting was organized in partnership with the Libreville Municipality. Six of the eight countries in the Central African region participated in the meeting: Cameroon, Congo, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon and Chad. Delegates were Presidents from the national associations of local governments, leaders from the Network of Locally Elected Women of Africa (REFELA) and the permanent secretaries of the national associations.

The meeting was officially opened by Mrs. Judith Koumba Pemba Mombo, Secretary General representing the Minister of the Interior and Security in charge of Decentralization and Local Development, in the presence of: Mr. Diderot Moutsinga Kebila, Governor of the Estuaire Province; Mrs. Rose Christiane Ossouka Raponda, Mayor of Libreville, Vice-President of UCLG for Africa; Mr. Christian Roger Okemba, Mayor of Brazzaville (Congo) and Vice President of UCLG Africa for the Central Africa Region; Mrs. Celestine Ketcha Courtès, President of REFELA; Mr. Mohamed Yassine Daoudi, Vice President of the Moroccan Association of Presidents of Municipal Councils (AMPCC); and Mr. Jean Pierre Elong Mbassi, Secretary General of UCLG Africa.

The proceedings were chaired by Mr. Christian Roger Okemba, Mayor of Brazzaville (Congo) and Vice-President of UCLG Africa for the Central Africa Region and moderated by Mr. Jean Pierre Elong Mbassi, Secretary General of UCLG Africa.

The first day was devoted to an exchange of information on the state of decentralization in the countries of the Central Africa region and the role of local and regional authorities in the implementation of the African Union Agenda 2063, and the international agendas adopted by the United Nations in 2015 and 2016. The session also provided an update on the signing and ratification of the African Charter on the Values and Principles of Decentralization, Local Governance and Local Development, as well as the creation of the High Council of Local Authorities as an advisory body of the African Union.

The participants from the Central Africa region are facing several similar realities in implementing the decentralization process in their country. Where the legislation governing decentralization exists, its implementation is slow to materialize. According to the UCLG Africa report on “Assessing the Institutional Environment of Local Governments in Africa,” the Central African region is the lowest ranked country in terms of a climate favorable to local authorities.

Members of UCLG Africa in the region were invited to contribute to the update of their country fact sheet within this report and also to advocate for their country’s ratification of the “African Charter on the Values and Principles of Decentralization, Local Governance and Local Development.” Since its adoption in Malabo in 2014, the charter has been signed by 13 countries and ratified by only 3 countries (Madagascar, Burundi and Namibia), with none from Central Africa. The Charter will become a legal instrument of the African Union when it is signed and ratified by 15 countries and filed with the African Union Commission. Concerning this point, a delegation was received by the Interior Minister of Gabon who pledged to raise the issue to ensure the ratification of the charter in his country by June-July 2018.

The national associations were also invited to write memoranda on the state of decentralization in their country and to mark the celebration of African Decentralization Day, a day to be celebrated annually on August 10th by the African Union.

Participants examined their involvement in the implementation of the New Urban Agenda and were invited to invent their own urbanization. Only 12 countries on the African continent have a national urbanization policy. They were encouraged to make twinnings between cities and universities to produce quality data adapted to the realities of each African city (slums, household waste, etc).

Regarding the SDGs, they filled in the questionnaire of the UCLG World Organization on the localization of the SDGs and the 2030 Agenda. The results of the questionnaire will represent the voice of local Africa in a report that UCLG will produce for the commissions of the United Nations Regional Offices and for the United Nations High Level Political Forum (HLPF) in July 2018.

During the second day, attention focused on UCLG Africa’s relations with the European Union. In 2013, the EU adopted a communication, which for the first time recognizes local authorities as fully-fledged public authorities. Following this recognition, the European Union has entered into a framework partnership agreement with international and continental associations of local governments, including UCLG Africa. The participants were also informed of the fact that, in accordance with the provisions of the 2013 EU Communication on Local Authorities, national associations can be considered as being in a situation of monopoly in their respective countries and as such can access EU cooperation funds allocated to local authorities without going through a call for proposals, provided that they present and discuss with the EU delegation an implementation program agreed with the members of the said national association. The participants were also informed of the start of negotiations on the post-Cotonou Agreement that will govern the cooperation relationship between the African Union and the European Union for the next 20 years.

UCLG members from Central Africa were urged to advocate with their national governments for local and regional authorities to participate as key partners in the various stages of discussion of the agreement. It was also recommended that a delegation of political decision-makers from UCLG Africa should meet the President of the African Union Commission to request that the territorial authorities be involved alongside the African Union Commission from the beginning of the negotiations of the post-Cotonou agreement. In addition, UCLG Africa members from the Central Africa region were asked to meet with EU delegations in their respective countries to discuss the implementation of the provisions of the 2013 Communication. One of the problems raised was that of the weak capacity of national associations to prepare applications that are eligible for European funding. Members asked the secretariat to consider setting up a technical support unit for associations to prepare funding requests. This unit should also be deployed at the level of the regional offices.

Participants discussed the establishment of a local authorities transparency and integrity Index. This concern is increasingly highlighted by citizens as well as by central governments and the financial community. As such, it is necessary to anticipate the demand for transparency, for which territorial authorities are being increasingly challenged to act. This was followed by discussion of Internet-based communication strategies and the Secretariat’s offer to members to assist them in the setting up their websites.

Members were informed of the launch of the three main campaigns at the heart of the 2018-2020 three-year action plan of the Network of Locally Elected Women of Africa (REFELA): African Cities without Street Children; African Cities: Zero Tolerance to Violence Against Women; and African Cities Promoting Women’s Leadership and Economic Empowerment. The local governments of Central Africa subscribed to the “African Streets without Street Children” campaign, which will be officially launched at the Africities 8 summit in Marrakech, Morocco from November 20-24, 2018.

Members were invited to participate in large numbers in the summit and were also informed of the importance of their participation in the General Assembly of UCLG Africa and in the Assembly of the Network of Locally Elected Women of Africa (REFELA) to be held during the summit. They were also reminded of the rules and procedures of the Elective General Assembly to be held on November 23 at the Africities Summit.

The official launch of the 8th edition of the Africities Summit will take place in Rabat, Morocco on May 15, 2018. The theme of this edition is, “The transition to sustainable cities and territories: the role of local African governments.” The Africities Summit will also be the setting of the elective general assembly of UCLG Africa (November 23, 2018). In order to submit the candidacies of the Central Africa region to the various bodies of the organization, a caucus, bringing together the presidents of the various national associations, was held on April 17 and resulted in the nominations included in the final declaration of the regional meeting.

The regional strategic meeting held in Libreville followed that held in Nairobi, Kenya April 9-10, 2018 for the East Africa region. Further meetings scheduled include the Strategic Meeting of Southern Africa in Walvis Bay, Namibia, May 7-8, 2018; the Strategic Meeting of West Africa in Accra, Ghana, May 28-29, 2018; and the North Africa Strategic Meeting in Rabat, Morocco, June 18-19, 2018.

For further information, please contact:

Gaëlle Yomi: Tel: + 212 610 56 71 45

e-mail: gyomi@uclga.org

Nairobi to Host the Regional Strategic Meeting of UCLG Africa

The regional strategic meeting of the United Cities and Local Governments of Africa (UCLG Africa) for the Eastern Africa Region will be held at the Intercontinental Hotel in Nairobi, Kenya, on April 9th and 10th, 2018. The meeting is organized by UCLG Africa, the Pan African representative and the voice of local governments on the continent in collaboration with the Council of Governors (COG) of Kenya.

Kenya’s capital, will kick-start a series of UCLG Africa strategic meetings that will take place across the five regions of Africa (North Africa, West Africa, Central Africa, Eastern Africa, Southern Africa). As the representative voice of local authorities on the continent, UCLG Africa aims to:

1. Take stock of the state of decentralization in the different regions and address the priorities of the decentralization agenda in the regions

2. Deliberate on the priority actions required to support local governments to become reliable partners for national governments; the regional economic communities; other development partners and stakeholders.

The meetings will address specific issues such as:

• Updating the UCLG Africa members in the region on the Global and African Agendas and the involvement of local governments in their implementation, especially the African Union Agenda 2063, the New Urban Agenda, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Climate Change Agenda, and The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction;

• The status of the signature and ratification of the African Charter on the Values and Principles of Decentralization, Local Governance and Local Development in the different countries of Eastern Africa

• The participation of the UCLG Africa members in Eastern Africa in the preparation and implementation of the Africities 2018 Summit, the flagship event of UCLG Africa, which will be held from November 20 – 24, 2018 in Marrakesh (Kingdom of Morocco), around the theme: “The transition towards sustainable cities and territories: The role of African local governments.”

• The preparation and participation of the members of the Eastern Africa Region in the Elective General Assembly of UCLG Africa to be held on 23 November in the framework of the Africities Summit.

The official opening of the meeting will be chaired by Mr.Festus Mwangi Kiunjuri, Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Devolution and Planning, representative of the Minister, in the presence of:

• His Excellency, Governor Josephat Nanok Koli – Chairperson Council of Governors

Mr. David Andre, Mayor of Victoria Seychelles, UCLG Africa Vice President, Eastern Africa Region

Mr. Jean Pierre Elong Mbassi, Secretary General of UCLG Africa.

The meeting will be attended by the presidents of the national associations of local governments, leaders of the Network of Locally Elected Women (REFELA) and the permanent secretaries of national associations of local governments. Other participants in the meeting will include experts on decentralization, urbanization and climate change.

The national and international media based in Kenya are invited to cover the opening ceremony this Monday, April 09, 2018 at 09:00 am at the InterContinental Hotel, Nairobi and the closing press briefing on Tuesday, April 10 at the same venue at 05:00 pm.

The upcoming UCLG Africa regional strategic meetings will take place respectively in Libreville (Gabon), on 16 – 17 April 2018, for the Central Africa Region; Walvis-Bay (Namibia) on 7 – 8 May 2018, for the Southern Africa Region; Accra (Ghana) on 28 – 29, May 2018, for the West Africa Region; and Rabat (Morocco) on 18 -19 June 2018, for the North Africa Region.

For further information, please contact:

Gaëlle Yomi: Tel: + 212 610 56 71 45

Email: gyomi@uclga.org

You can download the press release here