The United Cities of Local Governments of Africa (UCLG-A) has done a fantastic job in broadening and deepening the networks of cities of Africa and creating global awareness of the role of local authorities as partners in development.
Vice-President Danny Faure said this while officially opening the 10th executive committee meeting of the UCLG-Africa at the DoubleTree Resort & Spa by Hilton Hotel Seychelles – Allamanda at Anse Forbans.
Mr Faure commended the work of the current president of the UCLG-Africa, Khalifa Ababacar Sall, who is also the mayor of Dakar, and the strong leadership of his secretary general, Jean- Pierre Mbassi.
“In this year that we are celebrating the twentieth anniversary of the establishment of local administrations in Seychelles we are proud to add a new layer to the broad partnership that we are building with UCLG-A as we collectively reinvigorate efforts aimed at improving local governance and building sustainable cities in Africa,” said Mr Faure.
“If a society has a shared vision of its future, based on trust and cohesion, along with policies that create opportunities for all and fairness in outcomes, its people should have no fear of the future and should be more open to change,” said Mr Faure.
VP Faure also noted that local governments need adequate financing and sufficient capacity to help drive local developments and empowering local governments means also facilitating discussions and exchanges in a meaningful way with civil society as actors of local governments, to bring public, private, non-governmental stakeholders together in your cities and in your communities as they are in direct contact with the population on a daily basis.
He pointed out that they have vital roles to play in key service delivery in a number of critical social sectors.
“By building more sustainable cities, communities and regions you will lead us to a more sustainable world as the prosperity that is generated from the smallest village to the largest city is central to the overall country’s success,” said Mr Faure.
“All governments now know they have to allow their citizens to voice their opinions. Apart from restoring democracy, the citizens want an equal economic, social and human development and shared riches that ensure them employment and better quality of life,” sad Minister Adam.
Jacqueline Moustache-Belle, co-president of UCLG-World and Vice-President of UCLG-Africa for the East African Region and also Mayor of Victoria, said as 2014 has been declared by the United Nations as the “International Year of Small Islands Developing States (Sids)” and Seychelles being the smallest African state both in terms of population and land area, what better moment for a small island state to host the executive meeting of a key organisation from one of the gigantic continents of the world – Africa!
The deliberations of the executive committee meeting of UCLG-Africa are organised around the implementation of the UCLG-Africa activities adopted during the last session of the executive committee meeting held on September 31, 2013 in Rabat, Morocco; the financial situation of UCLG-Africa; the current status of the UCLG-Africa initiative about the adoption of the African Charter on Values and Principles of decentralisation and local development as well as the protocol on Decentralised Trans-Border cooperation at the African Union level; the partnership agreements being discussed between UCLG-Africa and the African Development Bank (AfDB), the European Commission, the Cities Alliance, the French Cooperation, the French Development Agency, the German Cooperation Agency (GIZ) and the Swiss Cooperation.
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