01
26
GOLD V REPORT
Africa
Regional chapter
Street show in eThekwiniDurban, Kwazulu Natal, South
Africa (photo: Xiaojun Deng,
bit.ly/2M26fCD).
GOLD V REPORT —— AFRICA
27
1. Introduction
Northern
Africa
Page 29
2. National and local
institutional frameworks
for the implementation
of the SDGs
Page 32
Eastern
Africa
2.1 National institutional
frameworks
2.2 Local and regional
governments’ institutional
frameworks in the region
Western
Africa
2.3 Intergovernmental
relations
Central
Africa
3. The contribution of
local and regional
governments to the
localization of the SDGs
Page 60
Southern
Africa
3.1 Role of local government
associations and local
and regional government
networks in the localization
of the SDGs
3.2 Local and regional
government efforts to align
the 2030 Agenda with
local policies
3.3 Local and regional
government-driven initiatives
to localize the SDGs
4. Conclusions
Page 80
28
Northern
Africa
Western
Africa
Eastern
Africa
Algeria
Egypt
Libya
Mauritania
Morocco
Sudan
Tunisia
Benin
Burkina Faso
Cape Verde
Côte d’Ivoire
The Gambia
Ghana
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
Liberia
Mali
Niger
Nigeria
Senegal
Sierra Leone
Togo
Burundi
Comoros
Djibouti
Eritrea
Ethiopia
Kenya
Madagascar
Malawi
Mauritius
Rwanda
Seychelles
Somalia
South Sudan
Tanzania
Uganda
Central
Africa
Southern
Africa
Cameroon
Central African Republic
Chad
Congo (Rep. of the)
Democratic Republic
of the Congo
Equatorial Guinea
Gabon
São Tome and Principe
Angola
Botswana
Eswatini
Lesotho
Mozambique
Namibia
South Africa
Zambia
Zimbabwe
GOLD V REPORT
1. Introduction
Over the past decade, African governments have
joined other countries across the world, first in
lobbying for and then in adopting a number
of global development policy commitments.
These include the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development, the Paris Agreement on climate
change, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda
(AAAA) on financing for development, the
Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction,
and the New Urban Agenda. This global
policy realignment by Africa is rooted in a
continent-wide policy shift towards sustainable
development, as formulated in the Africa Union
Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want. This shift
reflects a growing recognition of the role of
cities and territories as key sites and actors of
development, and the African region as a major
hub of the global transition to a predominantly
urban world. Thus, it will not be possible to
achieve sustainable development at a global
level without sustainable urbanization in Africa.
Urbanization is key to economic development
and growth in Africa, with cities combining
labour, skills, knowledge and capital. However,
fulfilling the potential of sustainable urbanization
in Africa will depend on overcoming significant
challenges, ones that are at the heart of the
2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs).1
Driven by natural population growth, as well
as increasing rural-urban migration, Africa’s urban
growth rate is currently almost 11 times higher than
Europe’s (although growth rates vary across this
vast continent).2 In 2018, the African population
was estimated at approximately 1.3 billion
people, with a large youth population.3 The urban
population is estimated to be 587 million and is
expected to grow three-fold by 2050. Most growth
Sierra Leone (photo: Annie
Spratt, bit.ly/2pApj25).
GOLD V REPORT —— AFRICA
29
occurring in middle-sized, intermediary cities with
between 50,000 and one million inhabitants and
the majority of city inhabitants are under the age
of 35. Economic performance in terms of jobs,
growth and inequality varies across the region,
but overall the number of decent, productive and
secure jobs is low, while the levels of poverty and
informality remain high.4 At the heart of the lack
of structural economic transformation in Africa is
the absence of basic infrastructure and services in
a context in which on average over half of urban
dwellers still live in informal settlements.5
In addition, the region remains one of the
most unequal in the world, undermining global
progress towards poverty eradication. The United
Nations Economic and Social Commission for
Africa’s 'African Poverty Clock'6 provides realtime poverty forecasts for every country in
Africa and, overall, shows more people entering
than escaping poverty. As of August 2019, an
estimated 34% of the region’s population were
living in extreme poverty (residing in Sub-Saharan
Africa), earning less than USD 1.90 per day,7 of
30
which 49% were children.8 In some countries,
the effects of conflict and an increase in natural
disasters associated with poor urban planning and
climate change are hampering economic progress
even further. There is an urgent need to plan,
manage, finance, as well as monitor and report
on urban and territorial growth and development,
in this context in an inclusive, coherent and
sustainable way. Furthermore, the potential role
of local and regional governments (LRGs) as
policy stakeholders must be fully realized. This will
require radical institutional reforms that support
and strengthen the creation of stronger, more
competent LRGs.9
The establishment by African leaders of the
Sustainable Development Goals Center for Africa
in 2016 to support SDG implementation in line
with Agenda 2063 is testament to the commitment
and approach to SDG implementation that
characterizes the region. The Sustainable Goals
Center is based in Kigali and works to create
partnerships across the SDGs. In 2018, it launched
the Africa SDG Index and Dashboards Report,10
GOLD V REPORT
and released a three-year 'Reality Check', which
concluded that: ‘where progress was assessed,
only three goals (SDG 5 on gender equality,
SDG 13 on climate action and SDG 15 on life on
land) are likely to meet the 2030 Target. Of the
13 goals that have sufficient data (after 2015),
it is considered likely that ten goals will not be
achieved by 2030. In relation to these goals,
countries are not just underperforming; the
reality is that achieving them appears virtually
impossible’.11
Structured in two main parts, the overarching
aim of this chapter is to present the challenges
and opportunities from an African perspective
of the implementation of the SDGs and related
development agendas by LRGs. The first part
of the chapter demonstrates the support for
and engagement with the SDG agenda at the
national level. At the same time, it shows that
the participation of LRGs in SDG implementation
frameworks remains limited, although with notable
exceptions. This reflects the differences between
intergovernmental frameworks and ongoing
In Africa, ‘where progress was assessed,
only three goals (SDG 5 on gender
equality, SDG 13 on climate action and
SDG 15 on life on land) are likely to meet
the 2030 Target'.
decentralization reforms across the continent.
The second part of the chapter gives examples of
those ‘frontrunning’ LRGs and associations in the
region that are supporting localization, as well as
partnerships between civil society, academia and
the private sector. It shows how the creation of
an environment to support, harness and upscale
such initiatives, as well as capacity to generate
locally embedded spatially disaggregated data
on these efforts, is crucial to monitoring and to
achieving progress towards the implementation
of the SDGs in Africa.
View of Oran, Algeria
(photo: K YA, t.ly/egLb3).
GOLD V REPORT —— AFRICA
31
2. National and local
institutional frameworks
for the implementation
of the SDGs
32
GOLD V REPORT
There is strong commitment to the
implementation of the SDGs at the national
level in Africa, reflecting a shift towards
sustainable development that has local
action at its core. Among African leaders,
entrepreneurs, professionals and scholars,
there is also growing recognition of the
role of cities and territories as key actors of
development and the need for an African
urban agenda that takes into account the
potential and particularities of Africa's rapid
urbanization.12 In this context, the localization
of the SDGs and the role of LRGs therein, are
of increasing importance.
The views of African countries on the SDGs
were represented within the G77+China
grouping, contributing to intergovernmental
negotiations and the Open Working Group
on the Sustainable Development Goals that
preceded the adoption of the 2030 Agenda.13
Moreover, Africa was the only region in the world
to articulate a 'common position' on the 2030
Agenda in the run-up to Habitat III, through its
Common African Position.14
Many objectives in the raft of policies of
the 2030 Agenda adopted in 2015 include a
commitment to localization — a position that is at
the core of the African Agenda 2063, a document
approved even before the adoption of SDG 11
or the New Urban Agenda. Agenda 2063 sets
out Africa’s vision for ‘institutions at all levels of
government [to be] developmental, democratic,
and accountable’ and for ‘cities and other
settlements [to be] hubs of cultural and economic
activities, with modernized infrastructure, and
[…] access to affordable and decent housing
including housing finance together with all the
basic necessities of life such as water, sanitation,
energy, public transport and ICT’.15
African institutions such as the African Union,
the United Nations Economic Commission for
Africa (UNECA) and the African Development
Bank (AfDB), have established numerous
initiatives and strategies for an enabling
institutional framework for the monitoring and
implementation of Africa 2063 alongside the
global agendas, such as the 2030 Agenda.16
Development agendas such as continentwide East African Community Vision 2050 have
moreover been adopted at the regional level.
Furthermore, African countries are exploring
the creation of a draft harmonized regional
framework for the implementation of the New
Urban Agenda in the region.17
A staffer of UNDP’s Africa
Bureau sets up the stage
for the high-level event on
“Implementing Agenda 2063
and Agenda 2030”, New York,
September 2016 (photo: Lei
Phyu/UNDP, bit.ly/2o5vNpl).
GOLD V REPORT —— AFRICA
33
2.1 National institutional
frameworks
At the national level, the commitment to
implement the SDGs is evidenced by the
presentation of the Voluntary National Reviews
(VNRs) by a number of African countries to
the annual UN High-Level Political Forum on
Sustainable Development (HLPF). To date, 35
out of a total of 54 African UN Member States
have presented a VNR during the first four-year
cycle of the HLPF (2016-2019).18 Some have done
so several times. Togo, for instance, reported
annually in 2016-2018. Others, such as Burundi,
Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Gambia,
Liberia, Libya, Malawi, Mozambique, Seychelles
and Zambia, have committed to present their
first VNRs in 2020. This report also includes
information available for countries that have
not yet committed to submitting VNRs. These
include Angola, Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea,
Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Guinea Bissau, São
Tomé e Príncipe, Somalia and South Sudan.
Many of those African countries that have
presented their VNRs have made significant
progress in incorporating the SDGs in their
national plans and strategies, raising awareness
and involving stakeholders to create ownership
of the SDGs, as well creating and establishing
institutional mechanisms and means of
implementation, as per the UN guidelines for
VNRs.19 A review of localization processes across
the continent shows that SDG implementation
Benin has put in place various national
strategies and legislation aligned with
the Paris Climate Agreement, the UN
Framework Convention on Climate
Change and the Sendai Framework for
Disaster Risk Reduction.
34
experiences and contexts vary considerably (see
Table 1), but there are a number of emerging
patterns.
Firstly, the majority of countries are focusing
on the alignment with or adaptation of
national development plans (NDPs) to the
2030 Agenda, and continental and sub-regional
level development agendas. The latter include
South Africa (the Southern African Development
Community and Regional Indicative Strategic
Development Plan — SADC-RISDP), Rwanda
(East African Community Vision 2050), and Cape
Verde and Mauritius (Small Island Developing
States — SIDS Accelerated Modalities of Action
— the SAMOA Pathway). A few countries have
developed their own SDG plans. Countries, such
as Mali, where national planning cycles did not
coincide with the adoption of the 2030 Agenda,
are revising their NDPs to align them with the
SDGs. Countries such as Botswana, Kenya and
Uganda have specific SDG roadmaps setting
out guidelines to adopt the SDGs in key areas.
Morocco has a national sustainable development
strategy (NSDS) aligned with the SDGs. Sudan
has an NSDS and implementation plan, but
with a timeline until 2020 only. As well as these
efforts, almost all countries in Africa have made
their national commitments to the UN Framework
Convention on Climate Change, with a view to
fulfilling obligations related to the Paris Climate
Agreement.20 Benin, for example, has put in place
various national strategies and legislation aligned
with the Paris Agreement on climate change, the
UN Framework Convention on Climate Change
and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk
Reduction. Its institutional framework, similar to
that in countries such as Nigeria, Senegal and
South Africa, also includes local governments.
However, Benin’s level of commitment is still an
exception in the region — indeed in the world.21
It is notable also that, in 2018, most African
countries with national urban policies (NUPs) had
not yet explicitly aligned these with the SDGs.
GOLD V REPORT
Secondly,
while
other
sub-national
arrangements can be found, national institutional
mechanisms to coordinate and lead SDG
implementation tend to exist at the highest
political level.22 These include inter-ministerial
entities with leadership by the head of state or
government (e.g. Egypt, Liberia, Madagascar,
Mali, Mauritius, Sierra Leone, Togo); interministerial entities with ministerial leadership
(e.g. Algeria, Botswana, Cape Verde, Cameroon,
Ghana, Mozambique, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal,
Seychelles, South Africa); a head of state or
government office (Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Sudan);
and a specific ministry (Benin, Central African
Republic; Ethiopia, Guinea, Kenya, Uganda).
Some countries, for example Kenya, have
incorporated SDG implementation into budget
processes. Rwanda meanwhile has a strong
monitoring and evaluation framework. Neither
the organizational structure of the state nor the
system of government appear to be determining
factors in institutional follow-up. Three federal
states have implemented institutional follow-up
under the leadership of either the head of state
(Nigeria), or a specific ministry (Ethiopia), or an
inter-ministerial committee under the leadership
of the head of state (South Africa, considered
quasi-federal). Similarly, the three constitutional
monarchies in the region (Eswatini, Lesotho and
Morocco) have opted for different models of
coordination, either chaired by the Prime Minister
or coordinated by specific ministries.
Like South Africa, many coordinating bodies,
such as national commissions or high-level councils
to facilitate the coordination and follow-up of
the 2030 Agenda, are relatively new structures.
Alternatively, they may involve the adaptation of
former structures, as with the National Council
for Evaluation in the Republic of the Congo. In
other countries, coordination relies directly on
the existing planning system which needs to be
reformed to ensure the follow-up of both the
national plan and the SDGs (e.g. the Steering
Committee for the National Development Plan
in Burkina Faso; the High-Level Ministerial
Committee in Ghana, or the National Steering
Committee for the National Development Plan
and the SDGs in Chad). Namibia stands out
for extending its coordination and reporting
mechanisms to include a Development Partners
Forum to provide coordination oversight of SDG
implementation.23
Thirdly, a variety of stakeholders, such as civil
society, private sector and academia, tend to be
included in coordinating and committees (e.g.
Rwanda’s SDG Taskforce, Côte d’Ivoire’s National
Steering Committee and Mauritius’s SDG
Steering Committee). However, among those
countries that reported to the HLPF, very few
such structures include LRG or national local
government association (LGA) representation.
GOLD V REPORT —— AFRICA
Port Louis, Mauritius (photo: air
babble, bit.ly/30Sv209).
In fact, only nine countries (Benin, Burkina Faso,
Cape Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Kenya,
Mauritania, South Africa and Togo)24 reported
that these multi-stakeholder structures explicitly
include or consult with local government
representatives in the HLPF coordination
mechanism. Moreover, LRG representatives
were involved in the consultation process for the
preparation of the VNRs in only 15 out of the 35
countries that presented their VNRs between
2016 and 2019.25
UN agencies such as the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP), UN-Habitat,
the United Nations Capital Development Fund
(UNCDF) and the United Nations Children’s
Fund (UNICEF), play an important role in
supporting SDG localization efforts. On the
one hand, UN agencies directly support LGAs,
(see Section 3.1). On the other, UNDP has been
instrumental in supporting rapid integrated
assessments of the extent of mainstreaming
the 2030 Agenda into national development
frameworks; providing support for the preparation
of VNR reports; developing national roadmaps
for the ‘domestication’ of the 2030 Agenda
and Agenda 2063, and assisting in convening
national stakeholder workshops and conferences
on SDG implementation,26 the latter involving
LRGs and LGAs. A total of 18 African countries
have also benefitted from UNDP mainstreaming
acceleration and policy support (MAPS) missions
that have been deployed to support SDG
implementation.27
To summarize, the participation of LRGs in
the reporting and coordination mechanisms
(only 47% for VNRs and 31% for coordination)28
needs to be strengthened to ensure the
national process is truly inclusive.
35
National strategies and institutional
arrangements for the implementation of the SDGs
Table 1
Algeria
Cameroon
Egypt
National Strategy for
Environment and Sustainable
Development (2019-2035).
Inter-ministerial committee
coordinated by the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs. No mention of
LRG participation.
2035 Vision and the 20102019 Strategy for Growth
and Employment. Technical
Monitoring Committee of the
National Development Strategy
coordinated by the Ministry of
Economy and Planning; regional
and municipal technical
committees (sub-national followup). LRG participation.
Egypt Vision 2030. National
Committee for the follow-up
of the implementation of the
SDGs; inter-ministerial national
committee supervised by the
Prime Minister and under the
coordination of the Ministry
of Planning, Monitoring and
Administrative Reform. No
mention of LRG participation.
Central African Republic
Eswatini
Peacebuilding and Recovery Plan
2017–2021. National committee
set up by the Department of
Environment and Sustainable
Development and the Ministry
of Planning and International
Cooperation. No mention of LRG
participation.
Vision 2022 in the National
Development Strategy (NDS) and
Strategy for Sustainable and
Inclusive Growth 2030. Technical
working team and Steering
Committee. The SDGs Secretariat
is under the Ministry of Economic
Planning and Development. No
mention of LRG participation.
Benin
Action Plan of the Government
developed under the
'Ownership agenda for the
SDGs'. Directorate-General for
Coordination and Monitoring
of the SDGs supervised by
the Ministry of Planning and
Development. LRG participation.
Botswana
The National Vision 2016-2036.
National Steering Committee
(multi-stakeholder) co-chaired
by the government and the
UN; Technical Task Force (multisectoral). Although they are
involved in the SDG alignment
process, no mention of LRG
participation.
Chad
Vision 2030, le Tchad que nous
voulons. National Coordination
for Monitoring the SDGs
(intersectoral and interministerial) under the supervision
of the Ministry of Economy and
Planning. Limited participation
of LRGs.
Burkina Faso
National Economic and Social
Development Plan. National
Steering Committee of the
National Plan chaired by
the Prime Minister; National
Technical Committee;
14 sectoral committees;
13 regional committees. LRG
participation.
36
Second Five Year Growth and
Transformation Plan 20162020. Coordination: Council of
Ministers and House of People's
Representatives and National
Planning Commission. Regional
government participation;
no participation of local
government.
Republic of the Congo
National Development Plan
2018-2022. National Council
for Evaluation (including
Steering Committee, technical
coordination, Permanent
Technical Secretariat and
departmental coordination). No
mention of LRG participation.
Cape Verde
Strategic Plan for Sustainable
Development (2017-2021). Intersectoral body on Sustainable
Development; technical
implementation body on SDGs
under the coordination of the
National Planning Directorate
of the Ministry of Finance; four
thematic groups on the SDGs.
LRG participation.
Ethiopia
Côte d’Ivoire
National Development Plan
2016-2020. National Steering
Committee (inter-ministerial) +
Permanent Technical Committee
attached to the Ministry of
Planning and Development and
Multi-stakeholder Committee.
LRG participate.
Ghana
An Agenda for Jobs: Creating
Prosperity and Equal Opportunity
for All, 2017-2024. Coordination:
National Development Planning
Commission, supported by
16 regional coordinating
councils; the High-Level InterMinisterial Committee; the SDGs
Implementation Coordinating
Committee; and National
Technical Committee. Limited
participation of LRGs.
GOLD V REPORT
Guinea
Madagascar
Mozambique
Guinea’s National Economic and
Social Development Plan 20162020 and the national Vision
'Guinea 2040'. Coordination:
Ministry of Planning and
International Cooperation and
Technical Monitoring Committee
supported by eight thematic
dialogue groups. No mention of
LRG participation.
National Development Plan
(2015-2019). Orientation and
Monitoring Committee headed
by the Prime Minister; and
Technical Committee headed
by the Ministry of Economy and
Planning. No mention of LRG
participation.
The Economic and Social Plan
and Government Five-Year Plan
(2015-2019). National
Commission for Sustainable
Development chaired by the
Prime Minister. LRG participation.
Namibia
Mali
Kenya
Vision 2030 – Second MediumTerm Plan. SDG Coordinating
Department led by the Ministry
of Devolution and Planning;
Inter-Agency Technical Working
Group and SDGs liaison office
in the Secretariat of Council of
Governors. County government
participation.
Strategic Framework for the
Economic and Sustainable
Development Recovery 20192024. National Coordination and
Monitoring Committee attached
to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
and under the responsibility
of the Prime Minister. Limited
participation of LRGs.
Mauritania
Lesotho
National Vision 2020 and
National Strategic Development
Plan II 2018/19-2022/23.
National Oversight and Advisory
Committee, chaired by the
Prime Minister. The Minister
of Development Planning
coordinates the Cabinet SubCommittee on the SDGs and
National Technical Steering
Committee (multi-stakeholder).
No mention of LRG participation.
Liberia
‘National Vision, Liberia
Rising 2030’ and Agenda for
Transformation currently being
revised. National Task Force and
technical working group that
will develop the implementation
strategy. No mention of LRG
participation.
GOLD V REPORT —— AFRICA
Strategy for Accelerated Growth
and Shared Prosperity for 20162030. Inter-ministerial steering
committee chaired by the
Prime Minister and Technical
Coordination Committee. LRG
participation.
Fifth National Development Plan.
Development Partners Forum
(coordination and oversight) and
National Steering Committee
(multi-stakeholder) and National
Planning Commission. Weak
participation of LRGs.
Niger
Five-Year Development Plan
for Social and Economic
Development (2017-2021).
Council of Ministers; Steering
Committee of the Development
Plan (chaired by the Prime
Minister). Coordination ensured
by the Minister of Planning,
assisted by a National Technical
Committee and sectoral and
regional coordination units. No
mention of LRG participation.
Mauritius
Vision 2030 and roadmap
for implementation of the
2030 Agenda. SDG Steering
Committee chaired by the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
Regional Integration and
International Trade. No mention
of LRG participation.
Morocco
National Strategy for Sustainable
Development. A Steering
Committee follows-up the
national strategy and Strategic
Committee on Sustainable
Development monitors the SDGs.
The latter is led by the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs and Cooperation
and the High Commissariat of
Planning. No mention of LRG
participation.
Nigeria
Vision 2020 and the Nigeria
Economic Recovery and Growth
Plan for 2017-2020. Presidential
Committee on the SDGs; the
Office of the Senior Special
Assistant to the President on the
SDGs; the Inter-Ministerial and
Non-Governmental Core Working
Group. Regional government
participation, no participation of
local governments.
Rwanda
Vision 2050 and the National
Strategy for Transformation
(2017-2024). SDG Steering
Committee, facilitated by the
Ministry of Finance and Economic
Planning; district-level Joint
Action Development Forums. LRG
participation.
37
Table 1 National strategies and institutional arrangements for the implementation of the SDGs
Senegal
Sudan
Zambia
Plan for Emerging Senegal.
Directorate-General of Planning
and Economic Policy within the
Ministry of Economy, Finance
and Planning, in collaboration
with the Prime Minister. Limited
participation of LRGs.
Sustainable Development
Implementation Plan (20172020). The Higher Committee for
Sustainable Development chaired
by the Vice-President and the
Secretary-General of the National
Population Council. Limited
participation of LRGs.
Seventh National Development
Plan (2017-2021). SDG SubCommittee for SDG Coordination
under preparation which relies
on National Development
Coordinating Committee, Cluster
Advisory Groups, Provincial
Development Coordinating
Committees and District
Development Coordinating
Committees. No mention of LRG
participation.
Seychelles
Long-Term Vision 2018-2032
and the National Development
Strategy for 2018-2022 under
preparation. National Oversight
and Strategic Committee for the
Implementation of Regional and
Global Commitments, chaired
by the Minister of Finance, Trade
and Economic Planning. Limited
participation of LRGs.
Sierra Leone
Medium-Term National
Development Plan (2019-2023).
Ministry of Planning and Economic
Development ensures SDG
coordination; Regional Planning
Offices of the Ministry being
installed. No mention of LRG
participation.
South Africa
National Development Plan:
Vision 2030. Department of
Planning, Monitoring and
Evaluation coordinates the
national coordinating mechanism
which includes the Cabinet
and its committees, the InterMinisterial Committee on
Sustainable Development
Agendas (the SDGs, Agenda
2063 and SADC-RISDP)
and an interdepartmental
implementation committee with
working groups. Presidential
Coordinating Council and
a National Sustainable
Development Stakeholders
Forum. LRG participation.
38
Tanzania
Long-Term Vision 2025 for
Mainland and 2020 for Zanzibar.
In Mainland: Coordination
Steering Committee supported
by the Coordination Secretariat,
comprised of the Deputy
Permanent Secretaries of key
ministries. Implementation and
monitoring is coordinated by the
Ministry of Finance and Planning.
No mention of LRG participation.
In Zanzibar: Zanzibar Planning
Commission includes LRGs.
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe Agenda for
Sustainable Socio-Economic
Transformation. Steering
Committee at Ministerial Level
(chaired by the Chief Secretary
to the President and Cabinet);
Technical Committee with
stakeholder participation. No
mention of LRG participation.
Togo
National Development Plan
(2018-2022). National Steering
Committee on Development
Policies, chaired by the Prime
Minister; Stakeholder Commission
for the National Development
Plan, chaired by the Ministry
of Development Planning and
Development. LRG participation.
Africa
Tunisia
Five-year Development Plan
2016-2020 (national socioeconomic). Ministry of Foreign
Affairs (diplomatic) and Ministry
of Development, Investment
and International Cooperation
(technical) in charge of
SDG coordination. Limited
participation of LRGs.
Uganda
National Development Plan
2015/16–2019/20. Coordination:
Ministry of Development. SDG
Policy Coordination Committee;
SDG Steering Committee; SDG
National Task Force; and five
SDG technical working groups.
No mention of LRG participation.
Sources: VNRs 2016, 2017,
2018, 2019 (UNDESA 2017
and 2018); 'Compendium
of national Institutional
Arrangements for
Implementing the 2030
agendas for Sustainable
Development'; GTF
Surveys 2016-2019.
GOLD V REPORT
2.2 Local and regional
governments’ institutional
frameworks in the region
The mixed participation of LRGs in SDG
implementation frameworks in Africa is a
reflection of the uneven strength and quality
of sub-national government (SNG) institutional
frameworks across the continent.
Between 2012 and 2018, overall there was
improvement in the enabling environments for
LRGs in Africa. However, countries and regions
vary significantly, with the East Africa region
performing best among regions in Africa in
terms of advances in enabling environments for
LRGs, and the Central African region performing
worst.29
The 12 criteria represent a legal framework: out
of 53 countries, only five constitutions make no
provision for local government participation
(Botswana, Ethiopia, Liberia, Seychelles, Sierra
Leone) and seven make detailed provisions for
their role and responsibilities (Kenya, Madagascar,
Nigeria, São Tomé e Príncipe, South Africa, Uganda
and Zimbabwe). In the remaining countries, LRG
responsibilities are set by legislation, which could
be interpreted as contradictory to the constitution,
unstable or not commensurate with adequate
resources, both financial and human.
A delegation from the United
Nations Security Council meets
with South Sudan Civil Society
in Juba, the capital city (photo:
UNMISS, bit.ly/2p7kj4H).
Decentralization trends
In terms of their formal political structures, most
African states — except for Eswatini, Lesotho
and Morocco, which are monarchies — are
presidential, semi-presidential or parliamentary
republics with a multi-party government system.
Most African countries are unitary states, except
for Comoros, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Somalia, South
Sudan and Sudan, which are federal states, and
South Africa generally regarded as a quasi-federal
state.30 Most constitutions in force in Africa are
relatively new, having either been created or
revised in the 2000s. Exceptions are Benin, Cape
Verde, Ethiopia, Liberia, Mali, South Africa and
Tanzania, whose constitutions have been in force
since the early 1990s.31
There is significant variation between countries
and regions in Africa in their commitment to and
process of accelerating decentralization. As is the
case in many regions of the world, in Africa de jure
decentralization or the distribution of powers and
functions to sub-national structures as defined by
law does not reflect de facto decentralization or the
actual position of LRGs in multi-scale governance
configurations and policy deliberations.
One example of this is the criteria of the UCLG
Africa and Cities Alliance Assessment on the
Institutional Environment of Local Governments.
GOLD V REPORT —— AFRICA
39
Moreover, decentralization may often not
cover all of a nation’s territory; mandates of
local government are sometimes ambiguous/
unspecified;
and
critically,
administrative
decentralization do not always have a fiscal
dimension or the political commitment to realize
the vision of multi-scale collaborative governance
necessary for SDG implementation. It is generally
held that a wave of decentralization hit Africa
in the 1990s. Since then, the push to enhance
the power of public action at the local level has
been coupled with a more general drive towards
democratization.32 Both endogenous processes
and international drivers have contributed
to supporting, but also at times weakening,
decentralization in Africa. Decentralization
can be understood as a response to the social
demand for popular participation and the
democratization of society. In many countries
during the 1990s, decentralization reforms were
initially made in the context of the structural
reforms of the state at that time, as well as in
response to regional conflicts and demands for
autonomy that in some countries threatened the
unity of the state.
In some cases, the relatively little power
assigned to the local level comes from national
political interests: thus, decentralization is used
to strengthen the power of central government
while, especially in capital cities, devolution
is blocked to prevent local governments
and opposition parties becoming a threat to
national government and the ruling party.33
In other cases, decentralization is designed
along ethnic boundaries. For example, the two
Ethiopian charter cities Addis Ababa and Dire
Dawa are devolved as special cases, with special
levels of autonomy, because of their diverse
ethnic composition, and they do not report to
the regional level but only to national federal
government.34 At the same time, their special
status functions as a power-sharing arrangement
to keep possible ethnic tensions in check.35 A
similar logic was behind the reform of the local
governments system in Kenya in the aftermath
of election violence in 2007. Since the adoption
of a new constitution in 2010 and the enactment
of the Urban Areas and City's Act of 2012,
decentralization is concentrated at the regional
provincial level (47 counties). Before this reform,
Decentralization efforts at the continental
level include the adoption of the African
Charter on Values and Principles of
Decentralization, Local Governance and
Local Development in 2014.
40
there were 174 decentralized local authorities.
However, this reform may have shifted the
ethno-politics that characterize national politics
in Kenya to the county level, undermining the
promise of peace and inclusion.36
In some countries, the government holds special
regional elections to address underrepresented
interests in regional and local assemblies of
some groups of the population, although this
does not guarantee local autonomy. This is the
case in Algeria, where the national government
held special regional elections to address
underrepresentation of Berber interests in regional
and local assemblies. However, local autonomy
remains weak and regional governments are still a
mix of appointed executive and elected councils
(with limited powers).
This combination of appointed and elected
representatives exists in several countries in the
region. The power distribution and way in which
these two parts of municipal government relate
to each other varies from country to country. In
Egypt or in Algeria, for example, governors and
executive positions are appointed, and have a
dominant position in elected local councils. This
has changed in Morocco since the adoption of the
2011 Constitution and the 2013-2015 reforms. In
the tradition of some Anglophone countries, there
is an appointed city manager with an executive
role and strong decision-making powers — often
appointed by the local council or the national
government — while the mayor, although elected,
plays a limited role. In Lusophone Angola, provincial
government representatives are appointed by
national government, and municipal administrators
by provincial governors, although this needs to be
signed off by national government.
Furthermore, across Africa a complex web of
interfaces between elected local government and
customary governance arrangements makes the
overall picture of urban and territorial rule very
difficult to read — or indeed reform. In Botswana,
the kgotla (assemblies of tribes) function as a
platform connecting communities to the public
administration. Likewise, chiefdom councils in Sierra
Leone, represent the first level of administration,
but may have stronger connections with national
parliaments and coordinated power-sharing with
LRGs. The example of the constitutional reform
of the tinkhundla system in Eswatini is another
example of this complexity (see Box 2).
International organizations have also played
an important role in promoting and supporting
decentralization and the creation of institutions to
support good governance and new democratic
arrangements. Nevertheless, at the same time,
international donors and financial institutions
continue to back policies that recentralize resources
in central governments, thereby weakening LRGs
and capacity-building and strengthening this level
of government.
GOLD V REPORT
Overview of crucial legal and institutional
decentralization reforms over the past ten years (2009-2019)
Table 2
Country
Reforms and City Enabling Environment (CEE) Assessment rating
Angola
Since 2008, local governments have become budget units and the 2010 Constitution explicitly
mentions local governments as spheres of government. In 2018, the Decree 40/18 increased, de jure,
fiscal autonomy and decentralization of skills.
22
Benin
In the Constitution, decentralization is linked to local free administration and a multi-party system. Since
2009, departmental plans for inter-sectoral development have been formulated within the decennial
national policy of decentralization and deconcentration. In 2017, the government initiated the review of
the policy and laws on decentralization.
31
Botswana
In 2016, a new policy outlined the roles and responsibilities of all levels of government in the process
of achieving sustainable local development. The country is still developing legislative tools to articulate
the decentralization policy. The Constitution is neutral on the topic.
25
Burkina Faso
The General Code of Local Authorities identifies 11 blocks of local government responsibilities which
were progressively transferred until 2015. A new reference framework was adopted in 2018 launching a
ten-year decentralization strategy and five-year action plan.
28
Burundi
Decentralization is addressed in the 2018 Constitution. The country ratified the African Charter on the
Values and Principles of Decentralization, Local Governance and Local Development in 2016. Since
2017, decrees to decentralize responsibilities have been proposed.
28
Cameroon
Since the adoption of the New Urban Agenda, a National Council for Decentralization has monitored
the roll-out of decentralization policies. In 2018, the Ministry of Decentralization and Local
Development was created.
26
Cape Verde
The Constitution recognizes autonomy of local power and in 2010 the government adopted a
Decentralization Framework. A new law on regionalization is underway.
n.a
Chad
The legal framework acknowledges the principle of subsidiarity and the 2018 Constitution recognized
the ‘autonomous local governments’. A capacity-building strategy for decentralization was formulated
in 2013. In 2017, recommendations were presented to the High Committee on Institutional Reforms to
improve financing of local governments.
24
Côte d’Ivoire
A new decentralization process has been underway since 2011. The general territorial organization is
being reshaped with a corresponding general framework for decentralized administration: regional
and municipal councils. Decentralization of responsibilities and resources is recognized in the 2016
Constitution.
26
Eswatini
The reforms mentioned in the 2005 Constitution had not been implemented five years later. Building on
the national decentralization policy of 2006, a bill was presented to parliament in 2015 to replace the
Urban Government Act that had been in place since 1969.
27
Ghana
The objective of decentralization reforms are enshrined in the 1992 Constitution. Since 2010, a quadrennial National Decentralization Action Plans (curr. 2015-2019) are factored within the 2016 amendment of the Local Government Act.
31
Guinea
In 2012, the government approved the National Policy Letter on Decentralization and Local
Development and its action plan. This is a practical strategic instrument. Since 2015, the vast majority
of elected representatives have been replaced by special delegations appointed by the central level;
the last municipal elections were held in February 2018.
22
Kenya
The 2010 Constitution led to three major devolution laws in 2012: the Transition to Devolved
Government Act; the Intergovernmental Relations Act; and the County Government Act. In 2017 a new
Devolved System of Government Policy was adopted to clarify division of tasks between national and
county levels. Both other devolution laws are under revision. In 2015, the Makueni County became the
first LRG in Africa to instate financial commitments on climate change in law; other county governments
are doing the same.
31
Madagascar
Together with the enactment of the 2010 Constitution, new legislative and regulatory provisions
governing local governments were adopted in 2014. Although elections were held in 2015, according to
legal and electoral frameworks, regions and provinces are still under the supervision of appointed
chiefs. In 2017, the country ratified the African Charter on the Values and Principles of Decentralization,
Local Governance and Local Development.
26
Malawi
The 1994 Constitution formalized the decentralization policy. From 2005 to 2014, local councils and
executive bodies were appointed. In 2014, elections took place for heads of councils. The 2017
Local Government (Amendment) Act led to a change of wording replacing 'local authority' with 'local
government authority' wherever it appeared in previous acts.
26
GOLD V REPORT —— AFRICA
41
Table 2 Overview of crucial legal and institutional decentralization reforms over the past ten years (2009-2019)
42
Country
Reforms and City Enabling Environment (CEE) Assessment rating
Mali
The Algiers Peace Agreement, signed in 2015, launched a process of renewing the Constitution. The
constitutional review process has currently been suspended but new ‘decentralization’, ‘territorial
administration’ and ‘elections codes’ were adopted in 2017. Stakeholders are currently addressing
issues raised about the condition of the free LRG administration and the new Local Government Code.
In 2019, the country ratified the African Charter on the Values and Principles of Decentralization, Local
Governance and Local Development.
26
Mauritania
In 2010 the principles for a decentralization reform were presented and the Poverty Reduction Strategy
Paper (2010-2015) consequently assigned additional responsibilities to the administrative regions. In
2017, the Constitution was amended (new Article 98 Title X) to establish regions as a decentralized selfgovernment with political and financial autonomy — changing the system established in 1968.
26
Morocco
The 2011 Constitution (introducing direct elections for regional councils) and three organic laws of 2015
were conducive to the current territorial division and the assignment of competences to different layers
of government. Regional and local elections, held in September 2015, are a milestone of the new deconcentration and decentralization process. Several administrative legal texts have been adopted since.
33
Mozambique
The 2004 Constitution provisions putting deconcentrated state services on an equal footing with local
government services have been met with some ambiguity. In 2018, the Constitution was amended to
recognize the political and administrative autonomy of provinces in relation to deconcentrated bodies.
19
Namibia
Decentralization is mentioned in the 1990 Constitution as are LRGs. Since 2010, the national
government increased its regional presence and appointed regional governors. In 2016, no functions
have yet been devolved to regional councils and the decentralization policies do not match local
government responsibilities to local resources. The country ratified the African Charter on the Values
and Principles of Decentralization, Local Governance and Local Development.
27
Niger
Local self-government in enshrined in the 2010 Constitution. The 2013 National Policy for the
Modernization of the State has made limited progress; of the institutional mechanisms described, only
the National Agency for the Financing of Local Authorities has been initiated. LRG elections scheduled
in 2016 were postponed several times until 2019 and, most recently, the 2016 General Policy Statement
makes little mention of decentralization.
26
Nigeria
The Constitution recognizes three levels of government and leaves decentralization to the discretion
of the federated states. While elections were held in 2015, many mayors are still appointed by the
governors. The most recent attempt at local government reform was made in 2017 with the Fourth
Alteration Bill Nº6.
23
Rwanda
Decentralization policy was implemented in phases. The third and current phase started in 2011. It focuses
on the ‘fiscal and financial decentralization’ component of the Rwanda Decentralization Strategic Framework
(RDSF). LRG responsibilities, competences and fiscal powers were established by a series of institutional acts
in 2013. In 2018, as part of the national reform of local taxation, a new Property Tax was enacted.
32
Senegal
The General Local Government Code of 2013 consecrates Act III of the decentralization. It defines new
legal, institutional and financial frameworks and clarifies distribution of responsibilities. In 2016, a guide for
measuring the performance of local governments was adopted and tested.
32
Sierra Leone
In 2010, Sierra Leone’s National Decentralization Policy set the goals to be achieved by December 2016.
Yet the Ebola epidemic (2014-2016) disrupted the process at all levels. In 2016, a recommendation from
the Constitutional Review Committee to include a Local Government Chapter relaunched the process.
Meanwhile, ministries have kept control of the ‘coordination’ of non-devolved functions at the local level.
29
South Africa
Local governments are enshrined in the Constitution. Provincial and municipal governments are responsible for
the roll-out of the Integrated Urban Development Framework adopted in 2016. This is South Africa’s national
urban policy (NUP), coordinated by the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs.
40
Tanzania
From 2008 to 2013, the second phase of the Local Government Reform Programme (LGRP) was
implemented through decentralization by devolution. In 2013, after allegations of irregularities in the
implementation of the Local Government Development Grant (LGDG), development partners decided to
stop their contribution altogether. Since then, reforms were sought to relaunch a revised LGDG and the
decentralization process as a whole. This process of local government reform is still ongoing.
34
Togo
The 1992 Constitution acknowledges decentralization but from 1987 until June 2019, no local elections
were held. This is the result of various initiatives, such as the 2016 national roadmap for decentralization and
local elections, the territorial reforms creating municipalities (2017-2018) and the creation of the National
Decentralization Monitoring Council responsible for steering the process.
21
Tunisia
The 2014 Constitution marks a new era in the decentralization process. It takes into account the principles
of electing local councils, independent administration, and the functional and financial local autonomy. The
constitutional provisions are reinforced with the 2018 Code of Local Self-Government and the local election
held the same year. The territorial reforms between 2014-2018 resulted in the creation of 86 municipalities,
bringing the total number of municipalities to 350.
27
GOLD V REPORT
Country
Reforms and City Enabling Environment (CEE) Assessment rating
Uganda
In 2009, the Ministry of Local Government and Housing published a Decentralization Implementation Plan
to operationalize the main elements of the decentralization policy adopted in 2002. In 2013, this policy was
reviewed and relaunched. Key revisions within the revised decentralization policy included the recognition
and emphasis on public participation and traditional authority within local governance.
37
Zambia
Together with the enactment of the 2010 Constitution, new legislative and regulatory provisions
governing local governments were adopted in 2014. While elections were held in 2015 according
to legal and electoral frameworks, regions and provinces are still under the supervision of
appointed chiefs. In 2017, the country ratified the African Charter on the Values and Principles of
Decentralization, Local Governance and Local Development.
30
Zimbabwe
Since 2013, local government derives its authority from the Constitution. It also establishes provincial/
metropolitan governments, granted with more powers and greater independence from the central
government as compared to local authorities, and ten members of the provincial councils, as well as their
chairs, are now democratically elected.
31
Source: Reforms per country, OECD/UCLG (2019); and CEE assessment rating of UCLG Africa and Cities Alliance (2018). There are four groups assessed. Ratings of 30 and above are
countries with an environment that is most favourable. Ratings between 25 and 30 are countries whose environment is overall favourable but require certain improvements. Ratings
between 20 and 25 are countries that require significant reforms towards a favourable environment. Ratings below 20 are countries with an environment that is globally unfavourable.
Decentralization efforts at the continental
level include the adoption of the African Charter
on Values and Principles of Decentralization,
Local Governance and Local Development in
2014. This seeks to ‘promote, protect and act as
a catalyst for decentralization, local governance
and local development in Africa’.37 As of 2018,
four African countries (Burundi, Madagascar, Mali
and Namibia) had ratified the African Charter on
Decentralization.38 It has been adopted by the
heads of state and government of the African Union
and is awaiting their final signature and ratification
before becoming an important instrument of
governance for that organization. Nine other
countries signed in 2015-2016 but the ratification
process has yet to be completed.
Table 2 gives an overview of decentralization
reforms in the past decade. However, some
general trends can already be seen showing the
wide disparity in the state of decentralization in the
African region. Broadly, these correlate with the
four categories of countries grouped according to
assessment ratings that show the quality of their
national institutional environments. These reveal
wide variations ranging from those countries with
the most favourable environment for the action of
cities and regions, to those where the environment
is found to be considerably unfavourable.39
An analysis of the state of decentralization and
reforms across the continent (Table 2), shows that
despite improvements, and even when countries
are meeting institutional criteria, in practice the
governance space for LRGs may still be limited
and even decrease over time. This is due either to
the actions of national government, or because of
external events, such as conflict (Mali), epidemics
(Sierra Leone) or natural disasters, that are beyond
the control of both national government and LRGs.
GOLD V REPORT —— AFRICA
Such factors point specifically to the challenges
faced in achieving SDG16 — on peace, justice and
strong institutions — but apply to all of the SDGs.
Some countries in Africa represent frontrunners
that have already completed a major programme
of local government reform, generally dating
back to the 1990s. These include South Africa,
which scores highest on the quality of its enabling
environment by having one of the world’s
most highly devolved systems of government.
However, it is important to note that even here,
devolution remains asymmetric. The so-called,
category ‘A’ or metropolitan municipalities, have
far more autonomy than smaller category ‘B’ or
local municipalities, or the category ‘C’ district
municipalities. Interestingly and directly relevant
to the objective of expanding local capacity to
deliver the SDGs in the South African experience,
has been that it is much easier to strengthen
and extend the capability of already strong and
robust municipal structures than it is to reinforce
weak structures or build new local government
institutions from scratch.40
Morocco is currently implementing a
regionalization reform that has been formulated
by a regionalization consultative commission and
is the cornerstone of a new socio-economic and
environmental development model that aims to
reshape the coherence between national, regional
and local development policies. Uganda and
Tanzania perform well in terms of their institutional
enabling environments. But local governments
have been subject to the recentralization of
power and authority by the central government
in Uganda, while in Tanzania the process of local
government reform is still ongoing and fraught
with major challenges, particularly relating to
sound funding streams to local governments.41
43
A man walks in Bein-al
Qasreen street in
downtown Cairo,
Egypt (photo: PnP!,
bit.ly/33avN6k).
44
In other countries, formal/constitutional
decentralization reforms are more recent,
occurring in the last five to ten years. For
instance, Zambia reviewed and relaunched its
Decentralization Implementation Plan as the
National Decentralization Policy in 2013. Key
revisions include the recognition of and emphasis
on public participation and traditional authority
within local governance. These principles of
collaborative governance are also in the current
Zambian constitution adopted in 2016 that sees
the creation of new council districts. However,
operationally these new districts still lack the power
or authority necessary to decentralize decisionmaking and resource mobilization effectively.42
Similarly, in 2017, countries such as Benin and
Kenya started to revise decentralization policies
and laws that had been enacted and implemented
in the previous decade. However, as in Senegal,
LRG performance in those countries is still not
properly assessed and/or is patchy.
Meanwhile, Kenya has made substantial
progress since the Constitutional Reform of
2010, the reforms of 2012 that transferred
devolved powers to counties and the Devolved
System of Government policy adopted in 2017.
Burundi, Ghana and Rwanda have also made
significant progress: national governments
have implemented regular assessments of
LRG performance and enacted important
fiscal reforms. Along the same lines, the latest
governance reforms in Burkina Faso in 2018 are
aimed at boosting decentralization (a third cycle
of decentralization), with financial programming
of resources to be transferred to LRGs, thus more
closely aligning fiscal transfers and the real needs
of LRGs and their constituency.
A number of countries still require significant
reform efforts to begin to foster an environment
that is favourable to LRGs. For instance, Botswana
has one of the oldest decentralization policies in
Africa but it is still in the process of developing a
legislative tool for its decentralization policy and
fiscal transfers from central to local government
are unpredictable.43 In Guinea Conakry,
decentralization is guided by the National Policy
Letter on Decentralization and Local Development
and Action Plan from 2012, but although municipal
elections were held in 2018, local governments
still lack the administrative and fiscal power to
act autonomously. In Niger, while complete
municipalization of the national territory was
adopted in 1999, municipal and regional elections
have not been held since 2011 and the General
Policy Statement of 2016 makes little mention of
decentralization. The same is the case in countries
such as Cameroon and Angola, where the President
still holds executive power over local authorities. In
Cameroon, local elections have been postponed
since 2017 and regional councils, established by
the 2008 Constitution, remain inactive. In Angola,
parliament has approved a plan for the first local
elections to be held in 2022. In countries such
as Côte d'Ivoire and Mali, the functions of local
government, as well as reforms, have been delayed
or restricted by civil conflict. In the former, a new
constitution was adopted in 2016 specifying the
principle of local self-government and the country
has reported that it actively involves LRGs in its
SDG National Steering Committee and Standing
Technical Secretariat.44 In Mali, legal reforms are
currently underway, including a new constitution,
and the country recently ratified the African Charter
on the Values and Principles of Decentralization,
Local Governance and Local Development. In
Tunisia the adoption of the Code of Local SelfGovernment, as well as new regional and local
electoral laws, have been major milestones in the
country's transition from an authoritarian regime to
a democracy.
Nonetheless, in other countries, decentralization
reforms have stagnated or worse, regressed.
There, the institutional environment for LRGs is
unfavourable. This includes countries where local
elections have yet to take place.45 In Egypt, the last
local elections took place in 2008 but the country
has been functioning without local councils since
2011, when a court dissolved the ruling party
after the popular uprising that ended the rule of
President Hosni Mubarak. In Sudan and Somalia,
there has been insufficient stability to date to
improve existing institutional environments for
LRGs. Power in such countries thus remains highly
centralized and the space for participatory and
transformative delivery demands associated with
GOLD V REPORT
the 2030 commitments to have any prominence, is
therefore limited. Mozambique and Togo fit into
this category. Nonetheless, Mozambique adopted
a new constitutional provision in 2018 intended
to strengthen decentralization processes vis-àvis deconcentrated public administration. This
should result in the head of provincial executive
bodies being directly elected at the next general
elections to be held in October 2019. On another
encouraging note, Togo has seen some positive
developments including its first local elections in
32 years, which took place in June 2019.46
State decentralization is only one part of the
African localization challenge however, albeit a
crucial axis for the delivery of the SDGs.
Territorial organization: structure
of local and regional government
Sub-national government (SNG) arrangements are
highly diverse across the continent and reflect the
wide variety of LRGs, ranging from those in vast
metropolitan areas to those in middle-sized cities
or small towns, as well as rural municipalities,
regions, counties and departments. These all
represent different levels of power, capacity or
resources for SDG engagement. In many countries,
legal and territorial reforms for LRG and citizen
participation are recent or ongoing. According
to the Observatory on Decentralization of UCLG
Africa, there is no evidence of a link between
rates of urbanization and the number of LRGs in
the country. A full overview of LRG systems and
territorial organization can be found in Table 3.
A number of general patterns can be discerned.
Francophone countries tend to have three or
more tiers of SNG (although some of these can
be administrative divisions, not elected local
governments), while Anglophone countries tend
to have two. A large number of countries have
different arrangements for rural and urban areas.
These include Burkina Faso, Cameroon and
Mali, which distinguish between urban and rural
municipalities. In Benin, a distinction is made
between ordinary municipalities and the three main
cities in the country that have special status. Guinea,
Malawi, Niger, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe
also give special status to specific cities or urban
municipalities. Both Ghana and South Africa make
distinctions between metropolitan areas, as well as
regular municipalities and districts. Nonetheless,
the diversity of the African experience in terms of
the allocation of powers and functions once again
mitigates any broad generalization.
Additionally, regionalization reforms have been
implemented in the last decade.50 As mentioned
above, since 2015 within the framework of
‘advanced regionalization’, the regions in Morocco
are self-governing entities. In Mauritania, in 2018,
although still incipient, 15 administrative regions
in six regions merged, with a regional council
elected which in turn elects governors. In Ghana,
GOLD V REPORT —— AFRICA
Box 1
Gender equality in local politics
Countries that have created legal provisions and platforms for
citizen and community participation in local government, with
a particular focus on gender equality include Kenya, Namibia,
Rwanda, South Africa, Eswatini, Tanzania, Tunisia, Zambia and
Zimbabwe. Women’s equal participation and representation in
local decision-making processes is critical for prioritizing women’s
practical needs and interests and for shaping local government’s
agendas to accelerate local economic development (LED) and
localization processes.
Countries that have legislated for candidate gender quotas in
their constitutions or adopted the parity principle in electoral laws
already in place tend to have higher levels of women representation
in their councils. In 2018, out of 49 countries assessed,47 only six
had implemented more than one gender-responsive electoral
policy. Rwanda is a frontrunner on the continent, with the highest
level of participation of women in national parliament (63.8%), as
well as about 40% of councillors, following local elections in 2016.48
Moreover, in spite of the high proportion of youth in populations
across the African continent, youth participation in formal civic
and political processes remains low, especially amongst young
women.49 The rights of citizens identifying as Lesbian, lesbian, gay,
bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual and all other sexual
orientations and gender identities (LGBTQIA+) to participate fully
in civic life are not protected in most African countries, and in
some cases are still criminalized.
the national referendum of December 2018
established six new regions, bringing the total
number of regions to 16. These are headed by
deconcentrated regional coordinating councils. In
Cape Verde, a law on regionalization currently being
finalized should establish regions in the near future.
Likewise, in Mozambique, provincial governors
should be elected in the aforementioned general
elections of 2019. Conversely, in Senegal, Phase
III of decentralization has led to the suppression
of the regions and granted 45 departments local
government status, reclassifying municipalities as
urban and rural.
On the other hand, progress has been
somewhat slow in countries such as Chad,
Cameroon and Namibia. In the latter, appointed
regional governors should improve coordination
between central government and elected regional
councils, but central government functions have
yet to be devolved to regional councils. Likewise,
regional councils in Cameroon are still not active
since being established de jure in 2004. Finally,
in Chad, 12 years after establishing the status
of regions, departments and municipalities, the
first local elections were held in 42 (out of 365)
municipalities — the appointment of the mayors in
all other municipalities remains the responsibility
of the national government.
45
Table 3
46
Territorial organization and number of LRGs by country (2018)
1st level
(municipal)
Total n. of
LRGs
2nd level
(intermediary)
3rd level
(regional/state)
2018
System of government /
form of state
Algeria
Republic/unitary
1,589
1,541
Angola
Republic/unitary
181
163
Benin
Republic/unitary
77
77
Botswana
Republic/unitary
16
16
Burkina Faso
Republic/unitary
364
351
Burundi
Republic/unitary
119
119
Cape Verde
Republic/unitary
22
22
Cameroon
Republic/unitary
370
360
10
Central Africa
Rep.
Republic/unitary
181
174
7
Chad
Republic/unitary
507
377
Comoros
Republic/unitary
57
54
3
Dem. Rep. of the
Congo
Republic/unitary
337
311
26
Congo (Rep. of
the)
Republic/unitary
18
6
12
Côte d’Ivoire
Republic/unitary
234
201
33
Djibouti
Republic/unitary
8
3
5
Egypt
Republic/unitary
407
380
27
Equatorial Guinea
Republic/unitary
30
30
Eritrea
Republic/unitary
56
56
Eswatini
Constit. monarchy/unitary
68
68
Ethiopia
Republic/unitary
927
916
Gabon
Republic/unitary
97
50
The Gambia
Republic/unitary
122
114
Ghana
Republic/unitary
254
254
Guinea
Republic/unitary
350
342
8
Guinea-Bissau51
Republic/unitary
(46)
(37)
(9)
Kenya
Republic/unitary
47
47
Lesotho
Constit. monarchy/unitary
86
86
Liberia
Republic/unitary
102
102
48
18
13
107
23
11
47
8
GOLD V REPORT
1st level
(municipal)
3rd level
(regional/state)
System of government /
form of state
Libya
Republic/unitary
120
120
Madagascar
Republic/unitary
1,723
1695
Malawi
Republic/unitary
35
35
Mali
Republic/unitary
763
703
Mauritania
Republic/unitary
233
218
Mauritius
Republic/unitary
143
130
12
1
Morocco
Constit. monarchy/unitary
1,625
1,538
75
12
Mozambique
Republic/unitary
64
53
11
Namibia
Republic/unitary
71
57
14
Niger
Republic/unitary
262
255
7
Nigeria
Republic/unitary
811
774
37
Rwanda
Republic/unitary
30
30
Sao Tome and
Principe
Republic/unitary
9
7
Senegal
Republic/unitary
602
557
Seychelles
Republic/unitary
25
25
Sierra Leone
Republic/unitary
22
22
Somalia
Republic/unitary
n.a.
n.a.
6
South Africa
Republic/quasi-federal
266
257
9
South Sudan
Republic/unitary
115
83
32
Sudan
Republic/unitary
154
136
18
Tanzania
Republic/unitary
200
169
31
Togo
Republic/unitary
161
117
Tunisia
Republic/unitary
374
350
Uganda
Republic/unitary
169
169
Zambia
Republic/unitary
103
103
Zimbabwe
Republic/unitary
102
92
14,854
14,246
TOTAL
GOLD V REPORT —— AFRICA
Total n. of
LRGs
2nd level
(intermediary)
2018
22
6
49
11
15
2
45
39
5
24
10
289
319
47
Key functions and responsibilities
of sub-national governments
Most African countries recognize the establishment
of LRGs and have administrative divisions at
the provincial and regional level. However, the
territorial divisions at the regional, municipal
and sub-municipal level are not always clear or
recognized in the constitution or other legislative
texts. Moreover, for many countries, detailed
information on intermediary levels, municipal
and lower administrative divisions in terms of
governance, functions, power and responsibilities
are ambiguous or unspecified. Clarity around
functional mandates and jurisdictions is necessary
for successful SDG localization, but in such a way
that it recognizes their multifaceted nature and
takes in the local realities on the ground.
In that regard, it is important to take into
account the role of intermediary cities. On the one
hand, these play a critical function connecting rural
and urban areas through the provision of services
and facilities, although this is often not reflected
in their formal service delivery mandates. On the
other hand, metropolitan city governments are
often faced with the challenge of administrative
boundaries that cannot be adjusted quickly enough
to keep up with sprawling informal urban areas —
thus affecting their implementation of the SDGs.
The capacity of LRGs to deliver services is also
frequently hampered by the disproportionate
share of natural hazards and disasters associated
with climate change that impact on cities, and
the fact that cities paradoxically have neither the
funding nor the mandates to plan or deal with
the costs of disaster prevention and response.
Countries such as Sierra Leone have recently
experienced extreme flooding washing away
infrastructure and disrupting service provision. In
Liberia, Guinea and more recently, Central African
Republic and the Democratic Republic of the
Congo, local governments have moreover been
affected by the Ebola emergency. The burden that
climate adaptation and disaster risk and mitigation
represent for municipalities not even managing to
keep pace with basic service delivery demands of
their residents cannot be underestimated.
There are important differences between
countries and sectors in the extent to which local
governments across Africa have direct control
or decision-making power through ownership
Clarity around functional mandates and
jurisdictions is necessary for successful
SDG localization, taking into account
their multifaceted nature and the local
realities on the ground.
48
or direct management of infrastructure and
the services they have to deliver as part of the
functions allocated to them.52 This has major
implications for how much they are able to plan for
and deliver on targets related to the urban SDG
11, such as waste collection, public transport, and
housing, but also services such as health (SDG 3),
education (SDG 4) or water (SDG 6), since cities
are the main delivery sites of these services. Often
such functions are controlled at the national or
regional level or through national public utilities
or state-owned enterprises (SOEs). As the number
of SOEs and other agencies involved with urban
infrastructure and development increases, so the
governance and administration costs grow and
coordination of planning, customer relations and
urban development becomes more difficult.53 In
this regard, there is a need to improve multilevel
governance (MLG) of infrastructure and services
through the reform of SOEs and innovative actions
in the transport, water, waste and ICT, and energy
sectors, adapted to each particular context, to
ensure more efficiency and, overall, access to
quality public services for all. The successful
reform of Uganda’s National Water and Sewerage
Corporation is a case in point, which turned a lossmaking company into a highly effective service
provider. Burkina Faso, Kenya, Mozambique, Niger,
Senegal and Zambia have also demonstrated
success in reforming their water utilities,
experimenting with private sector participation
and improving their internal governance through
performance-based contracts and third-party
monitoring. However, in other countries, SOEs in
the utilities sector continue to underperform and
efforts to reform them have been unsuccessful (e.g.
ESKOM in South Africa).
Informal providers in these sectors also
represent a critical, but poorly documented,
component of service delivery to some of urban
Africa’s poorest citizens. With about 55% of urban
dwellers in Africa living in informal settlements,
according to UN-Habitat (rising to as much as
90% in Central African countries such as Central
African Republic and Chad), it is simply impossible
to improve service delivery without taking
informal actors into account. Acknowledging
the importance of community actors provides an
opportunity for upscaling and building alternative
decentralized models of service delivery in
ways that build local ownership and are more
economically and environmentally sustainable.
Important examples of success can be found in
countries such as Egypt and Ghana where informal
waste pickers have been integrated into the solid
waste management sector; or in Kenya or Benin
where local organizations have extended water
and sanitation infrastructure into unplanned urban
areas and manage the collection and billing in
these areas on behalf of the water and sewerage
utility company (see Section 3).
GOLD V REPORT
Among the most important set of actors
in roles that are auxiliary to local government
in Africa are chiefs and traditional authorities.
Their role in governance is in some instances
legally recognized and incorporated by national
government, such as in Botswana, Sierra Leone,
Zambia or Eswatini (see Box 2). However, in the
majority of cases, the developmental role of
chiefs is not recognized, regulated or funded
— with the resultant challenges in formative
areas such as land allocation, control and
management. This is a crucial difference between
the African Charter on the Values and Principles
of Decentralization, Local Governance and Local
Development (2014), which recognizes their role,
and the previous African Charter on Democracy
(2007), which does not.54
Other local structures and associations that
play a crucial role in the delivery of services at
the neighbourhood and community level in
Africa include resident and street committees,
neighbourhood watch groups, home-based
childcare facilities, but also large corporations (e.g.
mining), as well as non-governmental organizations
(NGOs) or international organizations. All of
these structures play a key role in contributing
to service delivery at the most local level but in
ways that are not always recognized, supported
or democratically accountable.
There is a need to adequately acknowledge
the role and contribution of all stakeholders
across multiple levels and harness them towards
the fulfilment of the SDGs through modes of
co-production via grassroots or community
engagement or through Public-Private-People
Partnerships (PPPPs) and delegated management
models, while safeguarding inclusiveness and
accountability. Such partnerships can have
impacts that go beyond the mere delivery and
management of services and infrastructures, also
contributing to strengthening urban adaptiveness
and resilience. For instance, the experience from
community organizations such as Slum Dwellers
International (SDI) shows the potential of these
collaborations with organized communities for
achieving slum upgrading but also urban risk
reduction and resilience-building at the same
time (see Section 3).56 The 'Know your City'
campaign and programme launched by SDI and
UCLG Africa, with the collaboration of the Cities
Alliance, is a good example of such partnership
contributing to the implementation of SDG 11.
Local and regional
government finance
Finance is one area in the region where local
government can rarely act alone, yet the fiscal
needs in Africa are the highest of all regions.
Overall infrastructure needs in Africa are estimated
at between USD 130 billion and USD 170 billion per
year.57 This is based on current models of service
GOLD V REPORT —— AFRICA
Box 2
The SDGs and traditional
authorities in Eswatini
In the past decade, the Government of the Kingdom of Eswatini
has embarked upon significant local government reforms.
One major policy shift in line with the 2005 Constitution and
2006 Decentralization Policy has been the incorporation of
the traditional authorities or Tinkhundla into administrative
government. This has been accomplished through the
establishment of the Ministry of Tinkhundla Administration and
Development (MTAD) created in 2009. Key responsibilities of
MTAD include improving the capacity of regional Tinkhundla
and chiefdoms to plan, implement, manage and monitor social
development programmes and the delivery of basic services for
their constituencies. With 55 Tinkhundla that cover the length
and breadth of the country, these structures bring the monarchy
closer to its citizens. However, the policy reforms that have been
initiated fall short of the mandate of the 2005 Constitution which
calls for fully accountable and joined up local governments, since
chiefs are accountable not to their communities but to the King
or Ngwenyama.55
delivery, although the cost of alternative and more
decentralized solutions should be explored.
The limited fiscal resource availability for
African LRGs severely hampers autonomous
policy impact. Thanks to the efforts of LRGs in
promoting the importance of localizing financing
for sustainable urbanization, the Addis Ababa
Action Agenda (AAAA) makes provision for the
appropriate assignment of autonomous fiscal
functions at the sub-national level (paragraph 34).
This is crucial for the implementation of wider
global development agendas on the continent.
The extent to which LRGs can effectively mobilize
revenues, control expenditure priorities, and
engage in borrowing activities are all fundamental
to the fiscal autonomy and effectiveness of
LRGs and their ability to innovate on SDG
implementation.
Notably, sub-national fiscal data for many
African countries is difficult to access.58 A few
countries have complete and reliable data
available online (e.g. South Africa, Morocco).
Several countries have laws that require making
fiscal documentation publicly available, for
example Botswana and Kenya. Many countries
have undertaken extensive processes of
documenting their public finances at the subnational level. According to UCLG Africa, at
least 151 LRGs since 2016 underwent a Public
Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA)
assessment. This includes all provinces of South
Africa (2013-2017); the regions of Ethiopia (20072015) and Nigeria (2008-2017); and capital
49
cities such as Douala, Cotonou, Ouagadougou,
Antananarivo, Nouakchott, Dakar, Johannesburg
and Tshwane, Tunis and Kampala. Despite these
legal fiscal frameworks, challenges around data
availability persist. Almost all African countries
(except for South Africa) rank as limited or low on
the Budget Transparency Index, suggesting that
even when data is collected, other factors might
limit transparency.59
Where data is available for comparison
between countries, there is wide variation in LRG
finance (see Figure 1). It is however important to
single out federal countries (Nigeria, Ethiopia and
South Africa) where LRGs control around half of
state revenues and expenditures. Significantly, this
is mainly concentrated at the level of federated
states or provinces, and not at the local level. For
example, in Nigeria, states are responsible for
37% of total expenditure (more than 55% of total
public investment) and 26.9% of public revenue.
Meanwhile, local governments are responsible for
11% of total public spending.
Expenditures and revenues of sub-national
governments (% of GDP and % of total government, 2016)
Figure 1
SNG expenditures and revenues
as % of GDP
SNG expenditures and revenues
as % of total government
Nigeria
Nigeria
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe
Uganda
Uganda
Tanzania
Tanzania
Senegal
Senegal
Rwanda
Rwanda
Mozambique
Mozambique
Malawi
Malawi
Burundi
Burundi
Benin
Benin
Tunisia
Tunisia
Eswatini
Eswatini
Morocco
Morocco
Kenya
Kenya
Ivory Coast
Ivory Coast
Cape Verde
Cape Verde
Angola
Angola
Namibia
Namibia
Mauritius
Mauritius
Botswana
Botswana
Ethiopia
Ethiopia
South Africa
South Africa
0
SNG expenditures
5
10
15
SNG revenues
20
25
0
SNG expenditures
20
40
60
80
SNG revenues
Source: OECD/UCLG (2019).
50
GOLD V REPORT
Expenditure. Table 4 further illustrates the
wide variations among cities and countries.
From this table, it is not however possible to see
the breakdown in revenue types (for example
between own-source collections and grants). It
is important that this is understood since ownsource collection can be improved through local
enhancement measures (such as updating the
cadastre) and allows for expenditure prioritization
at the local level. In contrast, grants depend on
national contributions and may have conditions
attached to them. Thus, higher levels of ownsource collection may indicate higher levels of
sub-national autonomy.
From an urban perspective, city authorities
have differing levels of autonomy. This depends
on how city governments fit into the fiscal
architecture of countries and regions. This has
implications for how fiscally strong these cities
are and their ability to address the challenges
of sustainable urbanization. Of note, the fiscal
structure of countries is often uneven, with different
types of responsibility given to different types of
areas (e.g. urban, rural, metro, special economic
zones — SEZ etc.). These differences are borne
out when comparing primary and secondary
cities in the same country. In terms of per capita
spending, the UCLG Africa’s Observatory on
Local Finance data suggests that there is a mix
with some countries having higher spending in
primary cities and others having higher spending
Table 4
in secondary cities. For example, Cotonou (which
is the economic capital of Benin) spends almost
five times more per capita than the city of Nikki;
and in Burundi, Bujumbura spends almost four
times more than Gitega. In these contexts, the
larger cities may be significantly better resourced
than smaller urban areas. This is even though
their expenditure capacity is still lower than
primary cities in the rest of the world, which in
turn reduces their capacity to finance the delivery
of public services, operation and maintenance of
infrastructure and actual investments. In contrast,
Kenitra in Morocco spends USD 50 per capita,
compared with Rabat, which spends only USD
5 per capita. In cases such as these, there may
be biases within the fiscal allocation structure or
urban investments are directly financed by the
national government so are not reflected in subnational fiscal data.60
Key to the fiscal autonomy of LRGs is control
over core expenditure areas. The nature of the
expenditure has important implications for the
ability of LRGs to shape development processes.
Most public expenditure is broken down into
roughly three categories. These categories differ
in terminology and scope from place to place.
On the one hand, generally, staff expenditure
(also referred to as personnel or personal
emoluments), and operation and maintenance
expenditure (O&M) make up the current or
recurrent expenditures of LRGs. On the other
UCLG Africa, Observatory on local finance 2018, selected cities
Region
Southern Africa
East Africa
West Africa
North Africa
Central Africa
Country
Malawi
Burundi
Benin
Morocco
Congo (Rep. of the)
Cities
Lilongwe
Blantyre
Bujumbura
Gitega
Cotonou
Nikki
Rabat
Kenitra
Brazzaville
Actual operating
revenue (million)
3.880
2.201
1.68
0.247
21.393
0.765
12.366
26.377
28.692
Actual operating
expenditure (million)
1.292
411.65
1.76
0.159
10.670
0.385
5.972
19.765
18.025
Gross savings
(million)
2.587
1.790
0.081
0.088
10.722
0.379
6.393
6.611
10.666
Actual operating
revenues/inh
3.53
4.58
4.51
1.16
31.51
6.73
10.22
67.59
6.21
Actual operating
expenditures/inh
1.17
0.86
4.73
0.75
15.71
3.39
4.94
50.64
3.9
Capital
expenditure/inh
0
0
1.42
1.30
14.63
5.81
0.58
43.71
0
Personnel costs/
operating revenues
30.9 %
7.84%
68.73%
62.12%
30.35%
20.64%
46.34%
56.82%
62.72%
Self-funding
margin
66.69 %
81.3%
-4.87%
35.53%
50.12%
49.66%
51.71%
25.07%
37.18%
Operating cost
coverage rate
33.31 %
18.7%
104.87%
64.47%
49.88%
50.34%
48.29%
74.93%
62.82%
Note: amounts in current USD, budgets from 2015/16.
Source: UCLG Africa (2018), 'State of Local Finance in Africa'.
GOLD V REPORT —— AFRICA
51
In Africa, sub-national public investment
represented less than 20% of total public
investment and 0.9% of GDP on average
in 2016. In cities such as Abidjan in Côte
d’Ivoire, the entire municipal budget is as
low as USD 0.02 per capita.
hand, LRGs being able to shape investments (also
referred to as capital expenditure or development
expenditure) in local areas allows for political
inclusion of communities. The citizenship finds
tangible implications in participating in local
elections and pushing for local accountability as
well as engaging in participatory processes.
As the LRG finance systems of African nations
become more complex, there is more and
more variation across the continent (see Figure
1 for examples). There are several extreme
cases: in Angola, Eswatini, Burundi, Senegal
and Mozambique, for example, data from
2016 indicates that less than 5% of total public
expenditure are controlled by local governments.
Mozambique is a particularly compelling example.
Approximately one third of public sector spending
is carried out at the sub-national level, of which
16.6% of total public expenditure are controlled
by deconcentrated bodies (districts), and 15.2%
by the provincial level (which includes the city
administration of Maputo). In both cases, the
national government has had a strong oversight
role, but this should start to shift with the
regionalization trends and elections of provincial
governors in 2019. In 2016, municipalities account
for 1.6% of total public spending.61 On the other
end of the scale, local governments in Kenya,
Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, South Africa and
Ethiopia, spend more than 15% of total public
spending. In Ethiopia, data indicate that local
government spending as a share of the federated
state ranges from the Afar region where 38%
of spending are at woreda (district) level to the
Tigray region where 56% are at woreda level.62
In Africa, sub-national public investment
represented less than 20% of total public
investment and 0.9% of GDP on average in
2016.63 Resources for capital investment are
negligible in most city governments in SubSaharan Africa, where in cities such as Abidjan
in Côte d’Ivoire the entire municipal budget is as
low as USD 0.02 per capita.64 In some countries,
for example Kenya, there are regulations which
indicate how much of a budget can be allocated
to each priority (to get a budget passed, at least
30% should be allocated for development). This
has to be a significant limitation on how much the
52
local government can do to advance the SDGs.
In other countries, local governments have more
autonomy to dictate spending priorities.
Similarly, local governments forced to make
harsh trade-offs between O&M and capital
may have to deal with infrastructure that is not
sufficiently maintained (as it is politically more
appealing to invest in new projects). Indeed, if
many urban public investments are decided and
managed by national government or central
government utilities, O&M is transferred to local
governments that were not part of the original
planning or do not have the financial and human
resources to cope.
Own revenues. Sub-national revenues are
generally a combination of transfers from higher
levels of government and own-source revenue
collected from taxes, charges and fees. What
happens locally is thus the outcome of a complex
system of fiscal transfers, conditionality imposed
by national government and local revenue
practices.
According to public finance theory, transfers
are meant to overcome the disjuncture between
the ability of LRGs to collect revenue and the
expenditure requirements placed upon them. In
unitary governments and low-income economies,
central government grants and subsidies tend to
dominate sub-national revenue sources.65 This is
the case in most African countries, but with some
notable exceptions such as Morocco, South Africa
and Zimbabwe. Financial transfers from central
government to local and regional authorities are
determined in different ways in different countries.
As a trend, there is a lack of transparency
and predictability, making it difficult for local
governments to plan and execute projects.66
The relative scale and volume of fiscal
transfers to local government vary greatly among
countries, as well as between and among the local
and regional government within countries. In
some countries, larger cities with higher revenueraising capacity get lower levels of grant transfers
than smaller urban centres or rural areas. For
instance, Addis Ababa receives almost nothing in
national grants while smaller Ethiopian towns get
the majority of their revenues from the central
state. Similarly, in South Africa, metropolitan
governments receive smaller grants per capita
relative to secondary cities and towns. Overall,
however, South African local governments get a
much smaller proportion of their revenue from
transfers, compared with most other African
SNGs. Importantly, as much as the grant amounts
that SNGs receive matter, so too does the nature
of the grants. Ring-fenced or conditional grants
are not uncommon. They allow for higher levels
of oversight, but the highly regulated fiscal flows
also constrict the flexibility of LRGs because this
expenditure is tied and very tightly monitored,
leaving little room for discretion or innovation.
GOLD V REPORT
Of note, many African national governments
have been resistant to fiscal decentralization, in
particular when it requires transferring centrally
raised revenue to LRGs or allocating high value
revenue streams to LRGs. In fact, according to
the Institutional Assessment of Local Governments
in Africa, 31 countries do not ensure transfers of
resources or do so irregularly, and 12 countries
are transferring resources and distributing them
among local governments but annual amounts and
methods of distribution are neither transparent
nor predictable.67 The problem is that rising
expectations of what local government can and
should deliver to residents requires higher levels
of expenditure. The SDGs compound this as they
place additional requirements on sub-national
(and particularly local) governments to deliver on
globally set agendas. Increasing responsibilities,
coupled with limited revenue streams and partial
or fragmented grant allocation processes, result
in local governments facing unfunded mandates
and insufficient local resources to meet their
obligations.68 What is emerging across the
continent is a municipal fiscal squeeze as local
expectations rise, without the matching fiscal
resources to meet these expectations.
The fiscal squeeze faced by most LRGs
means that they are under increasing pressure to
improve revenue generation. All African countries
allow LRGs to collect local revenue. This may
include taxes, charges and fees of various sorts. In
practice, many LRGs are not able to collect ownrevenues as budgeted.
In terms of own-source revenue, property
taxation is one of the major sources of subnational collection.69 In some cases, property
taxation is the single source (i.e. Mauritius) or the
outmost (95% of tax revenue in Cape Verde and
South Africa in 2016).70 In some cities, for example
Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, land leasing (rather than
property taxation) provides significant flows of
revenue to the sub-national level.71 In both cases,
an up-to-date and modernized cadastre system
is key. This is a lesson learnt common to both
the Financial Director of Cotonou and Ex-Chief
Financial Officer of Port Louis.72 The Ex-Chief
Financial Officer of Port Louis, with the support
of central government and the Valuation Office
has, since 2012, implemented the self-assessed
scheme for property tax and mapped out areas
where cadastre values are not up-to-date. The
Financial Director of Cotonou implemented an
Urban Land Registry in 1991 that became an
online tool in 2012. The city government now
signs an annual contract with the DirectorateGeneral of Tax to improve tax collection: in
Benin in 2016, property tax represented 23.3%
of municipalities’ tax revenue.73 Similarly,
local councils in Sierra Leone were required to
implement a property cadastre system in 2017 to
facilitate collection.
GOLD V REPORT —— AFRICA
Moreover, local taxation, and property tax
collection in particular, constitute a relationship
between citizens and LRGs. Reforms and
programmes to strengthen LRG tax revenue
include a component of sensitization of the
population to ensure high levels of taxpayer
compliance. This is particularly the case in Mzuzu,
Malawi with the ‘My city, my responsibility’
campaign. At the end of a five-year Revenue
Mobilization Programme (REMOP), the revenues
of the city had increased seven-fold to over
USD 350 million in 2018. 74
In cases where key services are controlled by
LRGs, their sale can provide valuable sources of
revenue. In South Africa, for example, water and
electricity charges are critical sources of revenue
for metropolitan governments. In Kenya, county
governments recently received the right to collect
hospital fees, which provide large revenue streams
at the sub-national level. However, these sources
are more constrained in nature than property tax
since they must be used to finance the ongoing
provision of the service.
Sub-national revenue collections are small as
a proportion of total government revenue, with
the exception of South Africa, Ethiopia, Cape
Verde and Mozambique whose local government
revenue collection is more than 20% of total
government revenue. In Morocco, 80% of local
budgets come from tax revenues and 7.5% from
tariffs and fees.
With sufficient political will, institutional changes,
and buy-in from urban citizens, own-source
revenue collection could be significantly raised.75
An integrated strategy for domestic resource
mobilization is necessary to ensure that new
provisions in financial law ends unfair competition
between territories that currently denies LRGs a
significant share of their revenue. Collaborative
frameworks
between
LRGs
and
national
governments are crucial since the LRG share of tax
revenue is often redistributed via a shared system,
and in many countries national governments have
control over tax base and tax rate. The parliament
in Rwanda recently passed fiscal reforms to improve
property tax collection rates and gradually reduce
over-reliance on transfers.
Taxpayer compliance also reflects the quality of
the social contract. In Uganda, the experience of
Kampala is a compelling example of transformative
reforms (see Box 3). Although it has not led to
external investment, a common problem, this has
helped improve credit ratings and the possibility
of Kampala issuing its first municipal bond.76 In the
aforementioned Mzuzu, Malawi’s third largest city,
and in the Lagos state government in Nigeria, tax
reform contributed to a significant increase in tax
generation, allowing the leveraging of finances
that could be invested in urban development,
transportation facilities, housing, industrial and
commercial development.77
53
Box 3
Kampala Capital City Authority
Accessing finance for urban
infrastructure
In 2009, in an effort to explore ways to improve urban infrastructure
and the related delivery of services across the city, the Kampala
Institutional and Infrastructural Development Programme
commissioned a study to investigate ways of corporatizing the
management of the city. This culminated in a clear recommendation
to create the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) through an
act of the national government, where the authority itself would
be responsible for the administration of the city as a management
entity separate from the political arm of the city.78
KCCA, which began operations in 2011, recognized that, faced
with rapid urbanization and limited financial resources, it would
need to take decisive steps to boost its organizational robustness
and stability. Through careful planning and a commitment to
improve both billing and collection efficiency, KCCA was able to
increase revenue collection by 89% during a four-year period
(2010/11-2014/15); create a strategic plan outlining a vision of the
future of the metropolitan area, and set out the projects required
over the medium term to achieve this vision.79 The Ministerial
Policy Statement 2017-2018 shows continued momentum in everincreasing revenue flows in the city (Figure 2).80
Nevertheless, despite increased financial flows and stronger
municipal management, KCCA has been unsuccessful in attracting
external investment, which is critically important to delivering
the magnitude of the city’s urban infrastructure needs. Existing
legislation prohibits the city from borrowing anything more than
10% of its annual revenues, so amounts are insufficient to deliver on
the city’s long-term capital investment plan. This inability to access
finance for urban infrastructure represents a sort of incomplete
financial decentralization, a phenomenon plaguing cities across the
Global South.81
Figure 2
Local revenue projections
(billions of Ugandan shillings)
122.8
127.35
112.7
70.1
Actual
2013/14
54
80.4
Actual
2014/15
85.0
Actual
2015/16
Target
2016/17
Target
2017/18
Target
2018/19
Access to long-term financing. In Africa,
the debate about how to retrofit and build
new infrastructure, particularly energy and
transportation, is a critical to overcoming historical
divides and realizing the potential for sustainable
urbanization. It is important that initiatives for
infrastructure finance not only address the massive
infrastructure deficits, but also promote greater
regional integration and productivity. Strategic
investment programmes must take into account
the issue of scale in conjunction with the specific
needs of each contextual space. Moreover,
LRGs must be able to access long-term finance
for LED and support their share of infrastructure
investment for GDP growth, and social and
territorial cohesion in the region.
In the context of the SDG framework, several
reports have pointed to the declining levels
of Official Development Assistance (ODA) in
Africa.82 Africa has been the largest recipient of
ODA in the last three decades although the role
of ODA in promoting good governance and
supporting an integrated and territorial approach
to investment programming has been widely
questioned. Moreover, overall commitments to
Africa’s infrastructure from all reported sources fell
to USD 62.5 billion in 2016, the lowest level in
five years, due mainly to a reduction in Chinese
funding and private sector investments. There
are also stark regional differences in terms of
the destination of funding for infrastructure, with
almost one third going to West Africa, about 20%
each to North and East Africa, and only 10% each
to Central and Southern Africa. Most funding
goes to the transport, water and energy sectors
and less than 3% to ICT, which is crucial to enable
technology-based innovations for economic
growth and development.83
A number of special multilateral funds have
been set up in recognition of the need for
infrastructure finance. At the national level, some
countries are putting financial instruments in place
to attract funding and strengthen coherence
between national policy, major infrastructure
investment and climate.84 Nonetheless, these
do not have a strong urban focus, nor do they
go beyond conventional development finance
solutions.85 While borrowing is often seen as
the best (indeed often the only) way for LRGs to
raise capital for infrastructure projects, in many
countries LRGs have neither the legal authority
to contract debt, nor do their projects match the
current feasibility, bankability and risk standards
that are required. Consequently, LRGs are not
able to access the full range of financing options
available locally, nationally or globally.
Even in cases where LRGs can borrow, this is
often restricted or tightly controlled (as is the case
for South Africa at the provincial level, and for
Kenya and Malawi). Eswatini, Botswana, Zambia,
Zimbabwe, Namibia, and South Africa (at the
GOLD V REPORT
Road traffic in
Kampala, Uganda
(photo: Carlos Felipe
Pardo, bit.ly/30Sjzhj).
municipal level), have been granted borrowing
power with no restrictions but the levels of local
government borrowing are unknown due to a
lack of available data. Although in many countries
LRGs can borrow, they may not be seen as
creditworthy by lenders. It is therefore important
for cities to communicate to credit institutions so
that lenders have a better understanding of local
financial contexts and needs.
While the continent has no municipal bank
or fund, a number of recent initiatives focus
specifically on strengthening the financial means
of implementation for the SDGs in Africa at the
sub-national level. Ultimately, these show that it is
possible for cities to mobilize private reimbursable
GOLD V REPORT —— AFRICA
resources to finance their development, set
examples and learn from them to trigger a virtuous
dynamic of transformational change.
With the support of the African Development
Bank (AfDB), UCLG Africa has initiated an African
Territorial Agency to set up a cooperative
fund financed by an initial investment from the
continent’s main cities (initially some 20 cities).86
The programme aims to help cities to raise
additional resources from financial institutions
and capital markets to finance their investments.
UCLG Africa published a call for expressions of
interest in January 2019 to mobilize a first group
of cities and local governments to be its founding
members.
55
Development banks and international donors
can assist governments and cities building the
necessary technical capacity and creditworthiness
to further unlock and expand access to finance, for
instance through the creation of local government
finance institutions (LGFIs).87 Important work in
this area is happening in West Africa (see Box
4). AfDB has also committed to create the Urban
and Municipal Development Fund (UMDF) for
Africa, to target urban growth management and
climate-resilient development in African cities
by improving governance and the quality of
basic services, including infrastructure. This will
be supported by a EUR 4 million grant from the
Nordic Development Fund (NDF).88
Moreover, case studies of municipal bonds
in Johannesburg, Douala, Dakar, Kampala
and Nairobi show that the chief obstacle to
municipal bond issuance for raising funds is
not related to non-eligibility, lack of capacity
or lack of creditworthiness, but to regulatory
systems or political blockages which prohibit
municipalities from issuing bonds.89 Hence,
national governments, within an MLG approach,
have an important role to play in making laws
to enable borrowing or supporting intermediary
financing institutions. To date, only South African
and Nigerian LRGs have successfully created a
municipal bond market. In Nigeria, a total volume
of EUR 1.186 million was levied against 23 GHG
emissions in local currency. Both these cases
demonstrate the potential of innovative financing
tools that leverage the need for more sustainable
and renewable energy through green bonds and
local climate change funds.
Box 4
Local government finance
institutions in West Africa
The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF),
together with the Global Fund for Cities Development (FMDV),
is working in Cameroon, Madagascar, Mali and Niger to
identify the most effective ways to sustain and diversify the
financial resources of local government finance institutions
to reinforce and support local authorities and bolster their
financial resources.92 This is in partnership with the Network of
African Finance Institutions for Local Authorities (RIAFCO) and
through the Municipal Investment Finance programme.
Such support is particularly relevant for secondary cities
in Africa, which are among those with the most rapidly
rising infrastructure needs.93 RIAFCO was created in 2014 by
founding members Cameroon, Gabon, Burundi and Mali and
now has around ten members, including Benin, Burkina Faso,
Cote d’Ivoire, Madagascar, Niger and Senegal.
56
Furthermore, a number of LGAs provide
technical assistance for project preparation to
access funding mechanisms for cities, such as
the C40 Cities Finance Facility, which supports
larger cities to prepare and deliver climate
change projects. In Africa, this includes support
in the cities of eThekwini and Dar es Salaam.90
ICLEI in turn provides support through a range
of initiatives that better position LRGs to access
finance and to implement innovative local
financing mechanisms.91
LRGs need to be involved in these innovative
approaches to mobilize and improve access to
finance down to the community level. This can
in turn contribute to strengthening participatory
local government and an accountable, effective
state.94 In Kenya, the Akiba Mashinani Trust
(AMT) provides funding and financial services
to the Kenyan Homeless People’s Federation
(Muungano wa Wanavijiiji) by using the funds of
saving groups as seed capital for revolving funds
at the community, city and national scales. The
funds offer informal settlers a range of financial
products, including community project loans,
which allow savings groups to finance social
housing, sanitation and basic infrastructure in an
affordable way.95
Examples from across Africa show the
innovative ways in which technologies are used
to harness the fourth industrial revolution in ways
that include the youth and women and contribute
to generating much-needed employment and
income generation opportunities. The launch of
the software platform MaTontine that automates
the workings of local savings groups in Senegal
is an example of the way in which technology
and innovation can improve and expand financial
services for low-income populations. This builds
on traditional savings circles which can be found
across the continent.96 Similarly, women in the
Nigerian city of Kano are using Whatsapp to
communicate with local politicians, accessing
information about health and safety, connecting
to online study groups, as well as advertising
small businesses or services, resulting in income
generation and saving opportunities.97
GOLD V REPORT
2.3 Intergovernmental relations
Given the holistic, interlinked and transversal
nature of the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs, the
Global Goals cannot be achieved through single
sector or silo approaches. As an example, SDG
target 17.14 calls on all countries to enhance
policy coherence for sustainable development,
as a cross-cutting means of implementation.98
Policy coherence is necessary to ensure that
progress achieved in one goal contributes to,
rather than undermines, progress in other goals.
SDG 17.14 thus entails considering institutional
mechanisms for coherence, policy interaction
and policy effects.99 Such a framework requires
effective intergovernmental relations that
facilitate not only coherent policy but also fiscal
mechanisms and approaches to implementation.
This is encouraged by the African Charter on
the Values and Principles of Decentralization,
Local Governance and Local Development (see
Box 5).
Notwithstanding, the continent has a
disproportionate number of low-income countries
that are aid beneficiaries or dependents of donor
support. In relation to the priority given to the
localization of the SDGs, it is important to note the
opportunity to transform donor methodologies
and conditionality to be more supportive of
MLG and local development, in particular. In that
sense, it is essential to shift assistance away from
mainly sector-oriented and nationally-centred
budget support to a more decentralized and
LRG-centred territorial approach to development
(TALD). Moreover, donors, development banks
and investors should move away from models that
reinforce business as usual, top-down and sectoral
approaches (dealing usually with governments at
the ministerial level) to SDG localization.
Generally speaking, translating and devolving
national policy and expenditure processes around
the SDGs to the local level in a coherent and
integrated way necessitate not only a change of
values but also the recalibration of laws and the
budget, along with the reconfiguration of the civil
service and the overall structures of government.
Furthermore, ensuring greater policy coherence
for sustainable development is a responsibility
shared across a wide chain of actors, including the
private sector, civil society and ordinary citizens.
National urban policies (NUPs) are a useful
intergovernmental policy instrument for
achieving SDG target 11.a and facilitating the
establishment of such collaborative and coherent
frameworks across different levels of governance
GOLD V REPORT —— AFRICA
and between interdependent LRGs and
territories, regardless of their size. Various efforts
to adopt and implement NUPs are underway
across the continent. A narrow definition of NUPs,
or the policies resembling them, means a total
of 18 African countries have NUPs.100 A broader
definition of NUPs that concurs with the UNHabitat description of ‘[a] coherent set of decisions
derived through a deliberate, government-led
process of coordinating and rallying various actors
for a common vision and goal that will promote
more transformative, productive, inclusive and
resilient urban development for the long term’,
means a total of 38 countries have explicit or
implicit NUPs in early or more developed stages.101
Housing and transport are a major focus in
these NUPs. However, many explicit NUPs lack
resources to deploy comprehensive NUPs and
very few countries have the financial and technical
Box 5
African Charter on the Values and
Principles of Decentralization, Local
Governance and Local Development
Adopted in 2014, the African Charter on the Values and Principles
of Decentralization, Local Governance and Local Development
succeeded the African Charter on Democracy (2007) and,
before that, the African Charter for Popular Participation in
Development and Transformation (1990). It is the first charter to
enshrine decentralization, calling for foundations for democratic
local governance and providing an adapted framework for its
implementation in the African context and local realities (Art. 8).
The charter also provides for the inclusion of marginalized groups
and gives them priority in public service delivery (Art. 10).
The charter makes provisions for LRGs to gain expenditure
powers and discretionary powers to manage financial resources,
including the provision to allow, and properly regulate, LRG
access to borrowing (Art. 16). It also recognizes the need to
create legal and institutional environments that encourage
cooperation between different levels of government (Art. 6
and Art. 11). The territorial approach is moreover evident in
specifying that national governments should involve LRGS in
policies that directly or indirectly affect them and at the same
time, LRGs should involve national governments in developing
and implementing local plans. Finally, the charter encourages
inter-municipal and horizontal cooperation which includes the
right to form LGAs (Art. 17).
57
capacity to implement their NUPs. In some
countries, urban strategies have expired and need
to be reviewed.102 A number of countries, such
as Burkina Faso, Kenya and South Africa, have
started making headway in creating a ‘whole-ofsociety’ approach to the implementation of the
SDGs and the New Urban Agenda through the
creation of MLG frameworks. Notwithstanding,
while some challenges have emerged, ranging
from lack of follow-up and review mechanisms
to incomplete fiscal decentralization and lack of
coherence between local policy guidelines and
the different global agendas, it is notable that all
of these countries have NUPs in place.
These countries are taking advantage of
coordination mechanisms (see Table 1) to ensure
greater collaboration between their national
and sub-national levels of government. A few
countries have integrated local governments into
localization efforts. They include Benin, which has
made significant strides in the integration of the
SDGs in national and local plans in ten (out of 12)
departments, as well as annual investment plans
(including both programmed actions since 2017
and implementation costs). This relies mainly on
the mobilization of local governments and civil
society: local governments were not only key
participants in the development of a roadmap for
the implementation of SDGs, but also represented
through the Association for Communes in Benin
(ANCB) in the Steering Committee, chaired by the
Minister of State for Planning and Development
for the SDGs, and the Technical Steering
Committee, chaired by the Directorate-General
for Coordination and Monitoring of the SDGs.103
The diagnostic, developed by the AIMF and the
ANCB in 2018, did stress the need to strengthen
the operations of the Departmental and Local
Committees in the follow-up of the SDGS and the
need to revise ongoing sectoral plans.104
Ghana stands out for actively creating
institutions and mechanisms for SDG review and
implementation, as well as championing the SDGs
ahead of presenting its first VNR to the 2019 HLPF.105
In December 2017, it hosted the High-Level African
Roundtable on SDG Implementation.106 The country
has taken advantage of its ‘decentralized planning
system’ to ensure better coordination of the SDGs.
National SDG coordination is done through the
National Development Planning Commission
supported by 16 regional coordinating councils,
as well as the SDG Implementation Coordinating
Committee. The latter brings together key
ministries and agencies (including the Ministry of
Local Government and Rural Development) as well
as other stakeholders.107 The National Association
of Local Authorities of Ghana (NALAG) cooperates
with the Ministry of Local Government and
Rural Development (MLGRD). Under the District
Assemblies’ Common Fund, at least 10% of GDP
are transferred to the assemblies.108
58
In both Benin and Ghana, local governments
are seeking innovation in integrated, multilevel
governance through the City Deals approach.
Using this approach, cities engage challenges of
rapid urbanization by working together in new
partnerships. In Kumasi, Ghana, a comprehensive
decongestion effort of the city centre is being
implemented by an interdepartmental local
government team together with other local
governments and stakeholders such as market
queens, transport unions, and the university. In
Sèmè-Podji, Benin, waste management is being
addressed by local government together with
SMEs, religious authorities, sanitation groups, and
line ministries. It ensures an iterative alignment of
the policies with upcoming reforms in the waste
management sector.
Burkina Faso has also experimented in this
area by joining together the mechanisms for the
follow-up to the National Plan 2016-2020 (Plan
national de développement économique et
social - PNDES) and the SDGs, from the national
to the local levels. Under its National Steering
Committee for the PNDES, sectoral committees
and 13 regional committees should ensure a
regular dialogue at the territorial level, help to
coordinate the implementation of the PNDES,
and ensure the follow-up of regional and local
development plans and annual assessments. The
regional committees involve sub-national tiers
of government for vertical and horizontal policy
coherence. Local governments may choose to
prepare local development programmes that are
aligned with the PNDES but focus on specific local
priorities. At the regional level, implementation
of the PNDES is reviewed every six months, by
a committee (cadre regional de dialogue – CRD)
that is chaired by the regional governor, with
participation of the president of the regional
council, deconcentrated ministerial bodies, local
governments, the private sector, civil society and
other actors. At the national level, responsibility
for the review of the implementation of the
PNDES rests with the Office of the Prime Minister
and draws on inputs from the regional and local
level. However, the extent to which there is a
separate follow-up and review structure for such
a local development programme is up to the local
governments to decide.109
In Kenya, SDG implementation and monitoring
is coordinated by the National Treasury and
Ministry of Devolution and Planning. The SDGs
Coordinating Department established in 2016
within this ministry serves as the national focal
point. An SDGs liaison office was set up within
the Secretariat of the Council of Governors to
improve coordination between the two levels of
government. Focal points have also been identified
in all 47 counties. The national government, in
collaboration with the Council of Governors, has
prepared county integrated development plans
GOLD V REPORT
(CIDPs) to guide implementation of the SDGs
by local authorities. The monitoring framework
is designed to be inclusive and provide for
multi- stakeholder participation from local
through to national level. At sub-national level,
tracking progress towards the achievement of
the policies, projects and programmes outlined
in each CIDP is undertaken through the County
Integrated Monitoring and Evaluation System
(CIMES). However, a number of challenges
for the implementation of the SDGs in this
framework can still be seen. For instance, despite
having the responsibility for many functions,
the counties do not always have the financial or
technical resources and capacity to fulfil their
responsibilities. These challenges are most salient
in the country’s smaller cities. Moreover, county
budgets are often not implemented as planned.
Even if the budget aligns with the five-year CIDPs,
there is no certainty this will lead to on-the-ground
commitments.110
In addition, in Kenya, a multilevel and
stakeholder approach has been adopted for the
implementation and financing of the SDGs at all
levels of government. This was done through the
creation of SDG units at national and county level
and the involvement of private sector, NGOs and
non-state actors under the coordination of the
Ministry of Devolution and Planning. The Council
of County Governors also participated in the
preparation of the VNR in 2017.111
In federal countries such as Ethiopia, Nigeria
or Sudan, on the other hand, LRG involvement
is restricted to the regional or state level. In
Ethiopia, federal, regional and city administration
government representatives were involved in
consultations preceding the adoption of the SDGs
into the national planning framework through
the Growth and Transformation Plans, but are
considered mere implementing agencies of the
SDGs.112
In South Africa, the national government is
currently working to improve the coordination
and coherence of its global, regional, national,
provincial and local development plans,
particularly with respect to the 2030 Agenda,
the African Agenda 2063 and the SADC-RISDP.
SDG implementation and coordination have
been facilitated through an NDP, mediumterm strategic framework (MTSF) and provincial
growth and development strategies (PGDSs),
as well as integrated development plans (IDPs)
at the local level. In addition, in 2016, the
national government adopted the integrated
urban development framework (IUDF), South
Africa’s NUP and an initiative coordinated by
the Department of Cooperative Governance
and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) in collaboration
with other national departments, LGAs and
international partners. Together with the NDP,
the IUDF represents South Africa’s vehicle to
GOLD V REPORT —— AFRICA
localizing the New Urban Agenda. The IUDF has
been promoted not as a policy or plan, but as an
approach to activating an ‘all of society’ approach
to implementing the New Urban Agenda and
its four strategic goals of spatial integration,
inclusion and access, inclusive growth and
effective governance. Provincial and municipal
governments are responsible for the roll-out of
the IUDF through their provincial and municipal
spatial development frameworks and strategies.
However, clear guidelines and support for the
implementation of the IUDF at the local level, and
the way in which the IUDF can contribute to other
development agendas such as the 2030 Agenda
and Agenda 2063, are so far absent. This is
because the responsibility for the implementation
and monitoring of these agendas lies with other
government departments such as the Department
of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation.
Finally, among those countries that do not
refer to a specific strategy or mechanism to
involve LRGs, some have however mentioned
developments towards decentralization as policies
that could favour the implementation of the
SDGs. The Central African Republic emphasizes
the need to strengthen the presence of the state
throughout the territory by implementing the law
on local government bodies, ensuring access to
basic services, and creating regional development
policies to facilitate and promote decentralization.
Mauritania, meanwhile, underlines the need to
involve its regional councils (recently created as
part of its decentralization policy) in the process of
defining the country’s NDS. In Tunisia, follow-up
on the decentralization process and strengthening
the role of the country’s regions to ‘leave no one
territory behind’ are also central to its sustainable
development policies.113 Notwithstanding, in
these countries, no local government bodies are
currently involved in any national coordination
mechanisms.
As these examples show, it is only through
high-level political support, national reform
and institutional change, following a territorial
development strategy, that enabling environments
can be created to bring LRGs and other relevant
stakeholders into the sustainable development
process, and such efforts must be well-integrated.
Inclusive stakeholder participation is crucial to
ensure the SDGs are owned by people, diverse
actions are aligned, and resources and knowledge
for sustainable development are mobilized. Hence,
the quality of intergovernmental relations and policy
coherence, and not just a narrow understanding of
devolution, is key to overall progress towards the
development agendas in Africa. In this context,
unless they are tailored to African contexts and
supported by domestic institutions, including local
governments, NUPs will struggle to overcome
the political, financial, and practical barriers to
effective, accountable multilevel governance.114
59
3. Local and regional
governments’ contribution
to the localization of
the SDGs
60
GOLD V REPORT
The high-level support for the SDGs and related
development agendas at continent, regional
and national level in Africa has elevated the
profile and emphasized the importance of LRGs
as leading actors towards more sustainable
development. However, as shown in Section 2,
this is yet to be reflected in the overall political,
institutional and fiscal environment for LRGs.
The limits to locally-driven SDG action in Africa
influenced by the intergovernmental framework,
the political realities of decentralization, the local
impact of macro trends, such as climate change
and armed conflicts, and the local consequences
of the policies of development actors, such as
donors or global finance, have been noted. The
analysis now moves to consider the de facto role
of LRGs in delivering the SDGs. The localization
process refers not only to what the devolved
parts of the state need to do to run cities. It
also acknowledges that, if the SDGs are to be
realized, local buy-in will be imperative and local
government, broadly defined, will need to assume
even greater responsibility for the implementation
of the 2030 Agenda, Agenda 2063 and related
development agendas in fostering a territorial
development approach. The role of international
cooperation and partnerships to support the
efforts of LRGs in this regard is crucial to ensure
that ‘no one and no place is left behind’.
This section provides an overview of LRG
initiatives in the localization of the SDGs. LGAs
and LRG networks are playing an important
role in supporting the localization of the SDGs
across the continent, through the organization of
conferences and workshops for SDG exchange
and awareness-raising, training, pilot projects
or technical support. Important progress is also
being made when it comes to the alignment
of national and local strategies with the SDGs.
LGAs as well as decentralized cooperation and
international donors play an important role in
building local capacity in this regard.
Looking at practices at the LRG level, there
are inspiring examples of SDG implementation
GOLD V REPORT —— AFRICA
from across the continent. Some of these
predate the adoption of the SDGs and related
development agendas, while others explicitly
refer to them. Progress in pushing forward an
African Charter for Local Gender Equality, based
on the principles of Agenda 2063, the New Urban
Agenda, the Paris Climate Agreement, and the
2030 Agenda — in particular SDG 5, represents
an important example of the kind of actions that
can simultaneously address multiple goals and
development agendas.115
Recognizing the progress that is being made
in terms of efforts towards SDG localization at
local level, there is still much scope to strengthen
the means of implementation of the SDGs.
This is especially needed when it comes to the
mobilization of finance to sustainably address
Africa’s massive infrastructure deficit and the costs
related to climate change adaptation as well as
the capacity and locally embedded partnerships
required for the production of much-needed data
for the implementation and monitoring of the
SDGs.
An artist paints in the Centre
for Research and Dialogue of
Mogadishu, Somalia (photo:
AMISOM, bit.ly/30WUXnw).
61
3.1 Role of local government
associations and local and regional
government networks in the
localization of the SDGs
Local government associations (LGAs) and
LRG networks play an important role in the
localization of the SDGs in Africa, connecting
cities and regions, facilitating peer-to-peer
learning and exchange, as well as capacitybuilding, and directing advocacy towards
national governments, regional institutions
and international partners for sub-national
sustainable development. The specificity
and scale of African challenges around SDG
implementation and the imperative of finding
alternative and increased funding for the new
focus makes the strengthening of African LGAs
and LRG networks even more imperative.
African networks
and regional organizations
Regional
and
continent-wide
institutions
are actively working to involve LRGs in the
implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the
African Agenda 2063. These include African LRG
networks, e.g. UCLG Africa; LRG international
networks with strong presence in Africa, e.g.
Commonwealth Local Government Forum (CLGF),
the International Association of Francophone
Mayors (AIMF); the Union of Portuguese Speaking
Capital Cities (UCCLA), and their partners, e.g.
Cities Alliance; as well as regional and international
organizations, e.g. the AfDB, the African Union,
the United Nations Economic Commission for
Africa (UNECA), Southern African Development
The crucial role of international city
networks and local leadership for SDG
advocacy, learning and innovation
must be acknowledged, although the
implications for smaller, less affluent
and less well-connected cities are as
important.
62
Community, UN agencies and European Union
(EU) programmes.
In November 2018, with the support of the
African Union, UNECA, UN-Habitat and others,
the 8th edition of UCLG Africa’s major Africities
Summit of African local leaders took place
in Marrakesh, Morocco with a focus on ‘the
transition to sustainable cities and territories:
the role of local and sub-national governments
in Africa’. Through the African Academy of Local
Governments (ALGA), as well as UCLG learning
programmes, UCLG Africa has in the past year
promoted learning, peer-to-peer exchanges and
workshops on SDG localization in eThekwiniDurban, Accra, Ouagadougou and Morocco,
as well as Cape Verde and Mali. The regional
network is also developing strong regional and
international advocacy to integrate African
LRGs into regional development agendas, and
encourage ratification by national governments of
the African Charter on the Values and Principles of
Decentralization, adopted by the African Union in
2014 (see Box 5).
Furthermore, UCLG Africa’s Network of Locally
Elected Women of Africa (REFELA) has been
active in raising awareness among women mayors
on leadership and the implementation of the
SDGs, and has been lobbying national parliament
around SDG 5 on gender equality. UCLG Africa
has initiated a series of major programmes related
to the global agendas to reinforce the role of local
governments in Africa. These include the Climate
Change Task Force; the Global Dialogues on the
New Urban Agenda and the SDGs; the Local
Economic Development Network (LEDNA); the
Knowledge Dialog Sharing Hub; the Observatory
on Finance and Human Resources; the Pan
African Peer Review Facility; different professional
networks (Africa Magnet, Finet and Technet);
LGA support, territorial coaching, transparency
and integrity; and the African Capitals Culture,
as well as the joint initiative with Slum Dwellers
International (SDI) and Cities Alliance to support
local data collection in slum areas, ‘Know your
City’ (see Box 7).116
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Through Metropolis, the UCLG section
representing major cities and metropolitan areas
of the world, large African cities such as Accra,
Abidjan, Abuja, Brazzaville, Dakar, eThekwini,
Johannesburg, Libreville, Rabat and Tshwane have
come together as a unified voice in the quest for
sustainable development in the Forum of African
Metropolitan cities.117 The New Partnership for
Africa’s Development (NEPAD) cities programme
unites the cities of Bamako, Douala, eThekwini,
Lagos, Lusaka, Nairobi and Rabat to debate
key issues related to sustainable development,
in
particular
housing
and
infrastructure
development.118 Similarly, the African Capital
Cities Sustainability Forum functions as a network
for the mayors of capital cities across Africa to
achieve those SDGs that are common to all.119
In Central Africa, where capacity among local
governments is especially weak, the AIMF provides
support to the Association for Central African
Mayors (AMCA) for different capacity-building
initiatives. This project provides support to the
cities of Bangui (capital), Bambari and Bangassou.
The AIMF has an advocacy group dedicated
to localizing the SDGs and has supported
localization and decentralization reviews in African
francophone countries. Similarly, the International
Organization of la Francophonie (OIF) supports a
project on local development and the SDGs in the
regions of Thies, Kaffrine and Louga in Senegal
and the municipalities of Agbétiko, Kovié and
Katanga in Togo.
The Commonwealth Local Government Forum
(CLGF) has also been active in building the capacity
of its members to localize the SDGs, with a strong
focus on local economic development (LED). This
forum launched a number of pilot initiatives, mainly
in Botswana, Eswatini, Ghana, Sierra Leone, South
Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe, to assess how LED
can help local governments deliver the SDGs.
The CLGF also developed a range of knowledge
products to support SDG localization, including
a Commonwealth Local Government Handbook
that profiles local government systems in member
countries, with a section on how countries are
localizing the SDGs.
International city networks such as C40,120
ICLEI121 and the philanthropic initiative of 100
Resilient Cities (100RC)122 have moreover been
instrumental in supporting climate and resilience
initiatives across the continent. For example, the
creation of the Covenant of Mayors in Sub-Saharan
Africa in 2015 is an opportunity to support SubSaharan cities in their fight against climate change
and in their efforts to ensure sustainable access
to clean energy. The covenant has developed
guidance on energy and emission data collection
in developing cities. One hundred and thirty eight
cities across Africa have already joined and nine
developed action plans within this framework.123
Together with the World Bank’s City Resilient
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Programme, the Global Covenant of Mayors
announced a USD 4.5 billion at the One Planet
Summit for 150 cities in the world, including a
cohort of ten cities in Africa.
The African section of ICLEI also seeks to
foster dialogue and exchanges on sustainable
development issues. ICLEI organized several
events, including the Local Climate Solutions
for Africa Congress, a platform for local African
leaders to build positions and forge partnerships
to accelerate local climate action. The meetings
and other activities facilitated by these networks
also offer key platforms for peer learning and
exchanges that can benefit SDG localization.
A number of African cities are members of
multiple city networks and alliances, which attract
funding opportunities and generate global
connectedness, allowing cities to leverage and
coordinate their connections to these networks in
ways that are complementary and create synergies.
The crucial role of international city networks and
local leadership for SDG advocacy, learning and
innovation must therefore be acknowledged,
although the implications for smaller, less affluent
and less well-connected cities are as important.
Local government associations’
actions at country level
Many local government associations (LGAs) in
Africa, as well as the organizations of intermediary
levels of governments (regions, counties, districts,
departments or provinces) have established a
wide range of initiatives to mobilize and support
their members around the SDGs, often backed by
or in collaboration with regional and international
networks.
In West Africa, the national LGAs of Benin,
Ghana and Togo are the most actively involved in
championing the implementation of the SDGs at
the local level. In Benin, the National Association
of Municipalities of Benin (ANCB) developed
a roadmap to support the localization of the
SDGs. The ANCB also launched benchmarking
between municipalities to measure progress and
facilitate knowledge exchange on good practices
(through a group of 37 out of 77 municipalities)
and supported the constitution of committees
for the follow-up of the goals at municipal level.
In Togo, the Union of Togolese Communes
(UCT) has initiated, under the Local Governance
Enhancement Project for Community Project
Management (PAGLEMOC), actions aimed at
strengthening the capacity of the communes in
the management of water, hygiene and sanitation
projects, which links to SDG 6 and 11.124 It also
undertook training for local officers (for both
Benin and Togo, see Section 3.2).
In Ghana, the National Association of Local
Authorities of Ghana (NALAG) addressed the
SDGs at its 2018 regional conference and will
have a special SDG focus at its 2019 national
63
conference. It has undertaken SDG awareness
training for staff and its national executive council.
It also organized nationwide SDG sensitization
workshops in all ten regions in 2017 ‘to educate
our members and the local authorities on what
these targets and goals are and why it is important
to carry everyone along’ and the benefits these
have for District Assemblies.125 The national
association in collaboration with UCLG Africa and
the Ghana Institute of Management and Public
and Administration organized a training of trainers’
workshop in April 2019 to build the capacities of
local government officers to localize the SDGs
and adopt strategic planning at the local level.
The NALAG has also been working with the CSO
Platform on SDGs and development partners
such as the German Society for International
Development (GIZ) and CLGF on SDG localization.
The CLGF has been implementing a programme
to help align assembly development plans to LED
and SDG targets.
In Mali, the Association of Municipalities of Mali
(AMM) organized an information session on the
SDGs for mayors and regional presidents on the
National Day of Communes of Mali in 2017. These
sessions were attended by nearly one thousand
participants, including 703 mayors of Mali.126 In
March 2019, an EU-funded AMM programme was
launched to support the localization of the SDGs in
100 Malian municipalities over a 24-month period.
The programme also aims to assist municipalities
in formulating participatory budgets at the local
level and providing training sessions to local actors
to facilitate the appropriation of SDGs. The AMM
has also taken measures to address the lack of
regular coordination between stakeholders on the
SDGs. A taskforce of locally elected officials has
been set up there, which serves as an advocacy
group to follow-up on the national strategy and on
the implementation of the SDGs at the LRG levels.
The AMM is also active in many committees that
are dealing with SDG-related issues, including the
National Committee responsible for monitoring
the implementation of the SDGs.
In Niger, the Association of Municipalities
of Niger (AMN) disseminated brochures and
information on the localization of the SDGs
during the National Day of Communes of Niger
held in Agadez in July 2018. In Cape Verde,
the Association of Cape Verde Municipalities
(ANMCV) is leading a project in partnership with
UNDP to support localization of SDGs in nine
municipalities and the development of municipal
strategic sustainable development plans using
a participatory approach. The municipality of
Praia in partnership with UNDP also launched
an awareness-raising initiative to promote
SDG empowerment among citizens in three of
Praia’s districts.127 In Côte d’Ivoire, the Union
of Cities and Municipalities of Côte d’Ivoire
(UVICOCI) participated on the 15-16 May 2019
64
to a 'structured dialogue' organized by the AfDB
and UCLG Africa on the role of African local
governments in the localization of Nationally
Determined Contributions (NDCs) and access to
climate finance (for more information see Section
3.2.).128
In East Africa, the national associations of
Kenya and Rwanda stand out for their efforts to
promote SDG localization. In Kenya, the Council
of Governors (CoG) has established an SDG
unit to coordinate SDG implementation and
support county governments in mainstreaming
SDGs in projects, programmes, strategies and
plans. The CoG also takes advantage of social
media to sensitize the public to the SDGs. With
regard to monitoring activities, CoG members
are currently working, in collaboration with the
national Monitoring and Evaluation Department,
to develop a county monitoring and evaluation
handbook that incorporates the SDG indicators.
Handbooks have already been produced for the
counties of Kericho, Nakuru, Taita Taveta and
Kilifi. In addition, the CoG has established the
Maarifa Centre as Kenya’s premier devolution
knowledge-sharing and learning platform for
effective governance and service delivery to
disseminate experiences related to the SDGs.129
In Rwanda, the Rwandese Association of
Local Government Authorities (RALGA) has been
undertaking specific awareness-raising and training
workshops on the SDGs and SDG localization for
its staff and members with support from CLGF/
EU and GIZ. In March 2017, the RALGA convened
a high-level, multi-stakeholder dialogue that
brought together key local government decisionmakers, government representatives and other
relevant stakeholders. The national association is
also leading an SDG localization project supported
by the CLGF and the EU, to strengthen the
capacity of local governments to adapt the SDGs
to their local realities. The project’s components
include SDG awareness-raising campaigns;
providing technical support to three pilot districts
(Bugesera, Gicumbi and Ruhango) for the inclusion
of the SDGs in their development strategies; and
helping monitor SDG implementation in their local
development strategies. In addition, the RALGA
Inclusive Decisions at Local Level (IDEAL) project,
with support from Dutch VNG International, in
all six of the country’s secondary cities (Musanz
Accelere, Rubavu, Huye, Muhanga, Nyagatare
and Rusizi), is strengthening local capacities in
areas such as planning, inclusive LED, sound local
social welfare strategies and services, and gendersensitive policies.
In Uganda, the Local Government Association
(ULGA) has started working with UNCDF to raise
awareness of the SDGs among politicians in district
councils.130 As part of the CLGF’s Framework
Partnership Agreement with the EU, the ULGA
is also operational in Uganda’s different regions
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to localize the SDGs.131 LGAs have organized
training workshops to build the capacities, staff
and members to localize the SDGs. In Burundi,
the Association of Local Elected Officials (ABELO)
has organized workshops on local planning
and the performance of municipalities in the
implementation of the SDGs to help communes
prepare local plans for the SDGs. In Mozambique,
the Association of Local Governments (ANAMM)
provides support to municipalities for the planning
and introduction of SDG-related projects in
different municipalities, placing strong emphasis
on resilience, and reducing the risk of disasters.
The ANAMM is also empowering municipalities in
the fields of local finance, planning and budgeting
from a gender and children’s rights perspective.
At the local level, Pemba City is participating
in a two-year project funded by the EU known
as ‘Shaping Fair Cities’, which seeks to spread
knowledge about the SDGs to local decisionmakers, civil servants, grassroots organizations
and citizens.
In Southern Africa, the South African Local
Government Association (SALGA) has been
raising awareness about the SDGs among its
political leadership and members, for example
during the National Member’s Assembly. It further
made active use of the media to disseminate the
SDGs, in particular through its 'Voice' magazine.
The LGA developed a book, 'Leading change —
Delivering the New Urban Agenda through Urban
and Territorial Planning' in support of SDG 11. In
December 2018, SALGA signed a Memorandum
of Understanding (MOU) with the UN in South
Africa to support South African municipalities in
localizing the SDGs. With regards to its monitoring
activities, SALGA also developed a ‘municipal
barometer’ web-based portal and works closely
with Stats-SA to promote disaggregated local
data.132 SALGA is also collaborating with ICLEI
Africa which in July 2019 organized South Africa’s
first SDG symposium, bringing together local
government representatives to discuss SDG
localization.133 In Zambia, the Local Government
Association (LGAZ) has organized several
workshops to train local elected officials in LED.
The LGAZ also has plans to introduce a project
on 'Building Effective Partnerships for Inclusive
and Sustainable Urban Governance', in 2019,
with the support of the CLGF.134 In Botswana,
Francistown and Gaborone have held training
workshops, with the support of UN-Habitat and
the UNECA, to improve their capacities in such
areas as monitoring, producing disaggregated
data and reporting on SDG 11, using various
statistical tools.135
In North Africa, specific pilot projects and
technical support to accelerate the implementation
of the SDGs have been put in place. In Tunisia,
with the support of different partners, the
National Federation of Tunisian Municipalities
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The South African Local Government
Association has developed a ‘municipal
barometer’ web-based portal and
works closely with Stats-SA to promote
disaggregated local data.
(FNVT) is leading a project to develop strategic
plans to contribute to localizing the SDGs
(e.g. Madinatouna project, see Section 3.2)
and a programme on waste management
(Wama-net), involving 20 Tunisian cities. The
FNVT organized training labs for its members
(Lab’baladiya). A first PRIHQ1 programme for
neighbourhood upgrading was implemented
in 65 municipalities; a second programme
will involve 121 municipalities. The Tunisian
association in collaboration with GIZ also
launched the ‘Citizen Space’ initiative to restore
trust between the citizens and the municipalities
while increasing transparency and accountability
at the local level. In addition, the municipalities
of Mahdia and El Mourouj have promoted a
more integrated and participatory approach
to sustainable urban development, through
the SymbioCity framework, supported by the
international agency of the Swedish Association
of Municipalities (SKL International). The city
of Sousse has also been active in setting up
projects in the fields of citizen participation,
energy efficiency, sustainable environment,
urban mobility and migration, with support from
national and international experts (see Box 9).
In Algeria, a joint programme of the Ministry
of the Interior, the EU and UNDP has been
launched, called the Capacity-building Program
of Local Development Actors (CapDel) (see
Section 3.2).
In Cameroon in Central Africa, the United
Councils and Cities of Cameroon (UCCCCVUC) organized several workshops to raise
awareness on the SDGs held in parallel with
national events or conferences (e.g. Salon sur
l’Action Gouvernementale). In 2017, the national
association together with the AIMF organized a
national workshop to present the results of a study
on the localization of the SDGs in Cameroon
and promote decentralization to support the
localization of the 2030 Agenda.
Despite these positive efforts, relevant data
availability on the SDGs remains weak and
continues to impede effective reporting on the
Global Goals. As pointed out by UNECA’s 2017
assessment of African progress on the 2030
Agenda and Agenda 2063, ‘approximately six out
of every ten SDG indicators cannot be tracked in
Africa due to severe data limitations’.
65
3.2 Local and regional government
efforts to align the 2030 Agenda
with local policies
The alignment of national and
local strategies to the SDGs
In aligning national and local development
strategies, there is also an opportunity to integrate
the different global and regional agendas such as
Agenda 2063, the Paris Climate Agreement, the
Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction
and the New Urban Agenda. In many countries
across the continent, localization strategies and
initiatives around these commitments are still
taking place separately. There is thus a need to
foster synergies between the different global and
continent-level development agendas through
synergistic implementation plans and monitoring
at the local and regional level.136
In Africa, in part as a result the commitment
of LGAs and regional networks and in partnership
with national governments, important steps
were taken to align national and local plans for
a coherent implementation of the development
goals. In fact, almost all respondents from 19
countries stated that they were undertaking
initiatives or specific projects to support the
alignment of local development plans with the
SDGs.137
In North Africa, international support has
been crucial in supporting SDG alignment at the
local level. In Tunisia, the FNVT with the support
of UNDP, Cities Alliance, GIZ, VNG International
and Medcities, has helped eight cities to align
In Tunisia, the cities of Beja, Gabes,
Jendouba, Kairouan, La Soukra,
Medenine, Monastir, Sidi Bouzid and
Tataouine have already aligned their
development strategies for 2030 with the
global agendas.
66
the SDGs with their strategic development plans
in the context of the Madinatouna project.138
The cities of Beja, Gabes, Jendouba, Kairouan,
La Soukra, Medenine, Monastir, Sidi Bouzid and
Tataouine have already aligned their development
strategies for 2030 with the global agendas. The
region of Médénine has promoted a participatory
process to elaborate a guiding framework for the
localization of the SDGs in the region. In Algeria,
ten pilot municipalities are currently working on
the adoption of a participatory approach to local
development planning and the integration of
the SDGs into the planning, implementation and
monitoring of local strategies. In this context,
the municipality of Ouled Ben Abdelkader has
made important efforts to adopt a participatory
approach through the inclusion of local residents
into a Consultative Council for Development.
This initiative is part of the CapDel (see Section
3.1) that benefits from a new law on local
government adopted in 2018, seeking to foster
the implementation of the SDGs at the local
level.139 In Morocco, Chefchaouen mapped the
63 projects belonging to the Communal Action
Plan 2016-2022 and municipal budget against the
SDG framework. This exercise allowed the city to
set priorities and identify the social, economic,
environmental, cultural and human aspects of
actions and municipal investment for the coming
years.140
In West Africa, there is a mix of national
leadership and international support across
countries, with LGAs and regional networks playing
a key role in the alignment process. In Benin, as
mentioned above, the ANCB is supporting the
alignment of the SDGs with local development
plans in the municipalities of ten departments,
in partnership with the national government. The
third-generation local development plans (PDCs)
developed in 2017 have largely taken into account
the SDGs and their annual investment plans (PAIs),
including the programmed actions and related
implementation costs. In Togo, building on efforts
GOLD V REPORT
initiated in previous years, the UCT has supported
five communes (Tabligbo, Bassar, Pagouda, Kanté
and Mango) in the preparation of their local
development plans. These have been aligned
with the country’s national development plan and
the SDGs, through participatory and inclusive
consultation mechanisms and the creation of a
handbook.141 In addition, other local governments
have elaborated their local development plans in
line with the SDGs (Kpalimé, Kara and Dapaong).
A similar initiative is underway in Niger,
through a top-down initiative led by the ministry
in charge of the country’s long-term action plan
for SDG implementation together with the
Ministry of Community Development and Land
Use Planning. This includes the creation of a
guide for planning and monitoring the SDGs
at the local level and for integrating the SDGs
into the country’s Communal and Regional
Development Plans.142 In Nigeria there is
evidence of extensive integration of the SDGs
into the main national development policy and
planning blueprint (NERGP), as well as within
the various state development plans. Many of
these plans, including for Benue, Taraba, Yobe,
Kaduna, Ebonyi, Kano, Jigawa, Anambra, and
Delta States, are aligned to the SDGs.143 In
Burkina Faso, the Association of Municipalities
(AMBF) has helped municipalities to draw up
local development plans and to align them
with both national development strategies and
the SDGs. Thirteen intermediary cities will work
on their respective master plans and the four
GOLD V REPORT —— AFRICA
regional capitals will revise their land-use plans.
In Ghana, LGAs are required to follow guidelines
laid down by the national government and to
align their medium-term district development
plans and activities with the SDGs. The NALAG
works with the Assemblies and the NDPC to
assist such alignment ‘in order to aid reporting
and aid standardization and localization.’144 In
this framework, the CLGF has been undertaking
a programme on achieving the SDGs through
LED in Ghana. to improve the capacity of four
Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies
(MMDAs) to align their development plans to
LED and SDG targets.145 In Côte d’Ivoire, LRGs
are encouraged to align their local plans, and
in particular the Triennial Programme, with new
national priorities and the SDGs. The national
associations (UVICOCI and the Assembly of
Regions and Districts of Côte d'Ivoire — ARDCI)
are involved in the process of localization.
In Sierra Leone, the Local Councils
Association (LoCASL) has organized workshops
to streamline the SDGs into local development
programmes. This alignment process has also
been supported by the Ministry of Finance
and Economic Development and the Ministry
of Local Government and Rural Development,
both of which have encouraged the 22 local
councils to integrate the SDGs into their district
and municipal development plans. The country
is replicating an inclusive local governance
model, entitled ‘The People’s Planning Process’,
led by an NGO. This involves placing chiefdom
A family outside the Wamba
Local Government Primary
Health Care Centre in Wamba,
Nigeria (photo: Dominic
Chavez/The Global Financing
Facility, bit.ly/2LYhR9P).
67
The Kenyan Council of Governors has
worked with the national government to
guide SDG implementation at the local
level. To date, all 47 of Kenya’s county
governments have aligned their County
Integrated Development Plans with the
SDGs.
Community work for the
protection and management
of the Mutsamudu River Basin,
Comoros (photo: IWRM AIO
SIDS, bit.ly/2MkhQvQ).
68
and village-level planning at the centre of
the formulation and implementation of all
development plans and fostering cooperation
with local government councils.
In Senegal, there are new ongoing mechanisms
for integrated regional and urban development
plans in several regions (e.g. Area Dakar-ThièsMbour), as well as new urban plans (e.g. Dakar
Horizon 2035). In Cape Verde, in the context
of the ongoing project on SDG localization
conducted in partnership with UNDP, the ANMCV
has organized several training sessions in eight
pilot municipalities, to support the creation of
thematic committees for local development
platforms and the SDGs. Each platform will put
together a Strategic Municipal Plan for Sustainable
Development for the 2017-2030 period.146 In
Mauritania, following the creation of regions
and the obligation to integrate the concepts of
climate change and sustainable development into
various planning areas, the Nouakchott Region
has embarked on an environmental resilience and
sustainable development project.
In Central Africa, the alignment of the SDGs
with local and regional development plans is still
in its early stages and is mostly encouraged by
national governments. In Cameroon, the national
government has promoted the alignment of
the SDGs and of the national development
plan with local plans (e.g. the municipalities
of Nguelemendouka and Mbona) and, more
recently, with the Public Investment Budget.147
However, the worsening of conflicts in different
regions of the country does not aid progress.
In East Africa, national leadership has been
essential to steer the alignment of county and
local plans to the SDGs, in particular in Kenya.
Indeed, county governments are required to
demonstrate how they will mainstream the SDGs
and other global frameworks such as the Paris
Climate Agreement, and the Sendai Framework on
Disaster Risk Management. The Kenyan Council
of Governors (CoG), working in collaboration with
the national government, has prepared a series
of County Integrated Development Plans (CIDPs)
for 2018-2022, to guide SDG implementation at
the local level. To date, all 47 of Kenya’s county
governments have aligned their CIDPs with the
SDGs. Thus, the SDGs will be mainstreamed at the
local and county level.148 In Uganda, the ULGA has
started working with lower levels of administration
about contributing to the implementation of the
SDGs but it has found that national alignment
must cohere to fiscal management reforms so that
LRGs are enabled to collect and spend revenue
in accordance with local priorities.149 In Rwanda,
local development strategies (DDSs) are being
aligned with the national agenda and SDG targets
through an assessment of the level of integration
of SDG indicators with the support of RALGA
in three pilot districts (Bugesera, Gicumbi and
Ruhango). It is planned to roll out the results in
all the other 27 districts of the country, although
it will require further expertise and new resources
to continue the work on SDG alignment and
awareness-raising.150
In Tanzania, the national government has
promoted the integration of the SDGs into its
local development plans and projects. A strategy
for the localization of the SDGs has also been
presented to the planning officers of the country’s
regional secretariats, its district planning officers
(DPOs) and the assistant administrative secretaries
responsible for coordinating with LRGs. Awareness
and sensitization workshops have also been
organized for LGAs to help integrate the SDGs
and national plans into local plans and budgets.
On Comoros, the municipalities of Moroni,
Mitsamiouli, Wella, Iconi, Foumbouni, Mutsamudu,
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Ouoini and Nioumachouoi are aligning their local
strategies to the SDGs. In Madagascar, regional
consultations have been organized in three of
the 22 regions. At least 18 local governments,
including that of Antananarivo, are now beginning
to refer to the SDGs in their commitments and
policies. In Mauritius, following the adoption of
a Climate Change Charter in 2015, action has
been taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
(GHGs) at the community level. Moreover, all the
country’s seven districts and five municipalities,
as well as the Rodrigo Regional Assembly, have
adopted disaster risk reduction strategies.
In Southern Africa, local authorities have
presented district and urban development plans to
align their priorities with the NDP in Botswana.151
In Malawi, the Ministry of Local Government
and Rural Development (MLGRD) has organized
regional workshops for local councils in the
regions to review local development plans with
the objective of aligning the priorities of rural and
urban councils with the SDGs.152 In South Africa,
progress has been made in terms of aligning
national policies to the SDGs, but local policy
alignment remains incipient. The metropolitan
municipality of eThekwini-Durban represents a
frontrunner when it comes to SDG localization
at the sub-national level through the alignment
of its Integrated Development Plan (IDP) (see
Metropolitan Chapter Box 3). A similar effort has
been undertaken by the City of Cape Town, which
has aligned its resilience strategy to the SDGs
down to the target level. However, it should be
noted that both these cities are metropolitan
municipalities and thus are better able to facilitate
work around the SDGs than some other cities
might be.
As shown above, the alignment of the SDGs
with local and regional development plans is
gaining ground but at different paces in different
countries of Africa. International organizations,
city networks and LGAs are crucial in terms
of facilitating such activities, especially in the
absence of national guidance. However, national
government leadership is indispensable in ensuring
that alignment and implementation is long-term,
covering all territories and scales of government,
and also matched with adequate fiscal capacity.
This shows that successful SDG localization must
be both bottom-up and top-down.
Data availability for monitoring
at the local level
Monitoring and reporting (SDG 17.18 and 17.19)
are essential for understanding where and why
there has (or has not) been progress on the SDGs
(as well as on any other global or national policies
or goals), and where further action is needed. In
spite of continental and national level efforts to
improve data collection and monitoring for the
SDGs, vast challenges remain. The prevalence
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of informality in Africa has implications for
the measurement of the SDGs, as targets and
indicators rely on official data, which exclude
unregulated informal activities.153 Therefore,
Africa is currently vastly underrepresented in
existing global urban databases.154
A number of initiatives are underway that
focus on strengthening the capacity of national
governments to collect and monitor data on the
SDGs and on urbanization. In 2018, the African
Union adopted the (second) Strategy for the
Harmonization of Statistics in Africa 2017-2026,
which seeks to support the production of timely,
quality, disaggregated and harmonized statistical
data across the continent for the purposes of
monitoring and evaluation of the implementation
of development agendas such as the 2030
Agenda and Africa 2063.
In addition, some countries have opted
for mechanisms to collect sub-national placebased data. The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS)
has conducted a review of data availability for
SDG indicator production, which has resulted
in the creation of the National Data Roadmap,
to be implemented through a multi-stakeholder
advisory committee.155 Rwanda provides another
Box 6
SDG monitoring and
implementation in Rwanda
SDG monitoring and implementation in Rwanda is being done
through various fora and systems that include performance
contracting (imihigo), which is now being mainstreamed under
an online results-based management system. The National
Institute of Statistics is responsible for the annual assessment of
performance contracts for all government agencies and districts;
as well as Citizen Report Cards and an Annual National Dialogue
(Umushyikirano) attended by top leadership and a cross-section
of all leaders, and representation of Rwandans in the diaspora.
The Annual National Dialogue is streamed and broadcast live on
all media and citizens can provide instant feedback or comments
to their leaders.157
However, one drawback is that these mechanisms do not
seem to be directly connected to the National Urban Fora (NUF)
that Rwanda has organized since 2008. The NUF are regular
multi-stakeholder platforms to support sustainable urban
development processes and debates through action-oriented
meetings. These meetings address the way in which cities and
human settlements are planned, designed, financed, developed,
governed and managed, through cooperation with committed
partners, relevant stakeholders, and various urban actors.
The purpose of the third of these meetings to be held in 2019
was to assess the progress made and reflect on the continuing
implementation of the New Urban Agenda in Rwanda.158
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Box 7
Slum Dwellers International
and data co-production
Slum Dwellers International (SDI) is a network of communitybased organizations of the urban poor in 32 countries and exists
in hundreds of cities and towns across Africa, Asia, and Latin
America. The network has helped create a global voice for the
urban poor, engaging international agencies and operating on
the international stage to support and advance local agendas.
SDI’s work, specifically their slum dweller federations’ use
of data, has supported the empowerment of women in slum
settlements. As a particularly active member of Cities Alliance,
the organization's methodologies of facilitating inclusion and
participation of informal citizens in urban management through
a gender lens, are now an integral part of all projects being
developed by Cities Alliance, and many local governments
have their own engagement with SDI outside of donor-funded
projects.
SDI has been part of the New Urban Agenda-SDG Joint
Work Programme of the Cities Alliance, which focuses on the
implementation of the global agendas relevant for cities, and has
emerged as possibly the most powerful agent for localization
of the SDGs in Africa. Through the momentum created by SDI,
African local governments’ pivotal role in service delivery and
the imperative of bolstering that capacity if poverty is to be
meaningfully addressed, has gained significant prominence.
example of where different government levels
and stakeholders are involved in monitoring
and evaluation for the SDGs albeit with some
limitations (see Box 6). The next step is to
connect national statistical offices and their
regional offices with LRGs. Indeed, unless
each local authority in Africa has and is able
to utilize its local data,156 the evidence and
knowledge base that informs delivery will be
seriously compromised. For instance, Kenya has
established the County Integrated Monitoring
and Evaluation System; meanwhile Zimbabwe
created focal points appointed by local
authorities to support the work of the national
State Statistical Committee. Interoperable data
facilities (that currently exist in only a few of the
largest and best-resourced African cities such
as the Gauteng region in South Africa) and
systems based analyses that reflect and inform
the complex choices local government officials
face in Africa, will be essential. Only with these
will the interplay and linkages between SDGs be
understood and managed, and local government
be able to maximize its limited capability.
Such processes also need to include and
empower local communities, civil society and other
stakeholders to understand, contribute and use
70
data independently in order to hold government
to account. Civil society organizations (CSOs) are
important in terms of making the voice of groups
in society that are not always represented heard in
formal decision-making platforms, thus ensuring
that ‘no-one is left behind’. A prime example
of this comes from the work of SDI, which has
pushed for a politics of enabling communities to
interact directly with local government by making
poor communities eligible and ready for improved
service delivery. Examples of such innovative
efforts include the work of SDI on collecting
data with local governments and communities in
slums in partnership with UCLG Africa and Cities
Alliance ‘Know your City’ (see Box 7).159 The CSO
African Monitor is also involved in the monitoring
and the review of the 2030 Agenda by working
together with youth organizations and networks in
Botswana, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda
and Zambia.160
A number of examples of research-policy
partnerships between LRGs and academic
institutions and researchers across the continent
also show the importance and potential of multistakeholder knowledge partnerships to assist
local governments with knowledge and data
production for SDG localization (SDG 17.16).
The issues of intellectual property, quality and
interoperability, and the lack of capacity in African
local governments to act as the curators of public
information on the local environment, make data
management issues central to the localization of
the SDGs in Africa.
Since 2017, researchers of the Mistra Urban
Futures research network161 have been working
with local governments in the cities of Cape Town
and Kisumu to support the understanding and
implementation of the SDGs and the New Urban
Agenda and to facilitate transdisciplinary as well
as cross-city learning and interaction.162
Another initiative that bridges the gap
between government and academia is the
Leading Integrated Research for the 2030
Agenda in Africa, a five-year programme that
seeks to increase the production of high-quality,
integrated (inter- and transdisciplinary), solutionsoriented research on global sustainability by
early career scientists in Africa. This knowledge
is used to address complex sustainability
challenges in the region. Projects in Lagos and
Accra as well as Luanda and Maputo look into
co-produced data collection and monitoring of
SDG 11 involving different urban stakeholders,
including local governments.163 A range of urban
research institutes across the continent, such as
the Sierra Leone Urban Research Centre (SLURC)
based in Freetown are doing similar work with
local government and other urban stakeholders
around producing knowledge relevant to the
SDGs.164
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3.3 Local and regional
government-driven initiatives
to localize the SDGs
Many cities across the continent carried out
initiatives, before the 2030 Agenda or the New
Urban Agenda were adopted by the international
community, that posthumously relate to
different areas of the SDGs. In these cases,
SDG localization is implicit. The absence of SDG
‘branding’ of these initiatives does not detract
from the value they add to the global campaign
and the efforts to localize and spread awareness
of the global 2030 commitments through SDG
projects on the ground. Increasing the traction
of the SDGs through the implementation of
such projects has the potential to become an
awareness-raising tool in itself to help African
LRGs conceive of new instruments and priorities
that are compatible with the 2030 Agenda, as well
as with the African Agenda 2063. Simultaneously,
this may contribute to scaling up existing efforts
that have wider transformative potential and that
will maximize progress towards the SDGs as well
as other global policy targets and the New Urban
Agenda principles.
Strong examples of the potential to leverage
SDG benefits can be found across African cities
and regions. The diverse initiatives led by African
LRGs have been clustered into cross-cutting
themes to address the interconnectedness of
sustainable development and local action to
achieve sustainable development pathways.
These local initiatives and policies can be viewed
as possible responses to the challenges of African
urbanization, including widespread informality,
poverty, and lack of access to basic services;
growing vulnerability to climate change impacts;
and increasing inequalities, urban violence
and conflicts. They show how LRGs can lead
transformative approaches from the territories.
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Dealing with multidimensional
poverty and widespread informality
for improved access to basic services
Poverty remains one of the biggest barriers
to development in Africa and the poor state of
education, health, basic services and lack of food
security especially affects the most vulnerable
populations, such as women, children and
the elderly. In Africa, poverty is a widespread
problem, although more concentrated in a
number of the fastest growing countries, as well
as in certain areas. Often it is rooted in structural
issues such as violence, political instability, climate
change and other deep-seated crises.165 Another
critical issue is the magnitude of informality in the
African economy and urban landscape. Most nonagricultural jobs in Sub-Saharan Africa are informal
and most of those are in self-employment, with
informality representing 70%-80% of the urban
economy. The policies and practices of local
governments and the ways in which they respond
to informality thus have an important impact on
urban livelihoods.166 This section outlines selected
examples of local initiatives in food security,
housing and basic services that contribute to
poverty reduction.
While individual SDGs (as compared with the
Millennium Development Goals — MDGs) are
The policies and practices of local
governments and the ways in which they
respond to informality have an important
impact on urban livelihoods.
71
Bread delivery in Cairo, Egypt
(photo: M M, t.ly/Je0O8).
designed to address the complexity of the issues
they cover, they need to be seen together in all
their dimensions in the context of Africa, indeed
in all regions. For instance, achieving food
security in all its dimensions means addressing
not only SDG 2 on ending hunger, but also other
SDGs focused on social development such as
SDG 1 on poverty, SDG 3 on health, as well as
SDG 5 (gender equality), as well as its economic
and specific urban dimension (e.g. SDG 8, 9 and
11).167
Examples of African initiatives that tackle these
various aspects include the cities of Antananarivo
in Madagascar and Dakar in Senegal, both of
which received prizes, for their urban agriculture
and micro-gardens projects, respectively, from
the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact, for innovative
practices and the creation of Urban Food Action
Platforms. Both projects promote the installation
of micro-vegetable gardens in low-income
neighbourhoods to improve food security and
create income-generating activities. A similar
initiative was awarded in Arusha, Tanzania, with a
specific focus on women’s roles as food security
providers and protectors of agro-biodiversity.
The Milan Urban Food Policy Pact not only
supports cities’ efforts to strengthen urban food
systems, but it also contributed to stimulating
the exchange of practices and learning between
signatory cities. This type of peer-to-peer
learning will deepen project work at city level
72
and potentially enable the move from project to
systemic engagement with local government at
its heart on food security.168
The challenges of informality and poverty
come together especially in the area of housing.
UN-Habitat estimates that 62% of urban African
households live in slums.169 It is therefore notable
that there is an increase in the number of African
countries, such as Rwanda, Lesotho and Ghana,
implementing new, more comprehensive housing
policies which set out clearer roles and functions
for LRGs in the planning and production of
housing. In Morocco for instance, in the framework
of the national initiative Cities without Slums, the
city of Casablanca has undertaken important
work in co-financing the rehousing of informally
housed households by mobilizing household
finance and third-party investments.170 These new
policies develop from international housing rights
frameworks and covenants, such as the New Urban
Agenda and the SDGs. Further, an ‘inclusionary
housing’ policy is being adopted by various local
governments. Johannesburg now requires a
proportion of all its units that are developed to
be more affordable housing units. Cape Town and
eThekwini city governments are also proactively
identifying well-located land parcels on which to
develop more affordable housing.171
In the area of slum upgrading and urban
infrastructure, there are also several experiences
of partnerships between LRGs and community-
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based organizations that have been successful
in reducing the gaps in provision and finding
affordable, safe and sustainable solutions.172
UCLG Africa in particular has partnered with
Shack/SDI to implement the ‘Know your City’
programme. Its objective is to enhance greater
collaboration between local governments
and urban poor communities in the planning,
implementation, monitoring and evaluation of
urban planning processes; and ensure a more
inclusive approach to urban development and
management. Initiatives around participatory
slum upgrading contribute not only to better
housing but also to improved access to basic
services such as water and sanitation, waste
management and energy, as well as more
integrated development. A notable example is
the Mukuru slum upgrading project in Nairobi,
Kenya, where Nairobi County created a Special
Planning Area for participatory upgrading.173
Other examples of participatory approaches to
slum upgrading include the town of Epworth in
Zimbabwe, where a settlement profile, mapping
and enumeration of the informal settlement
Magada, provided the basis for an upgrading
programme as part of an agreement between
the residents and their community organizations
and local and national government.174 Transform
the Settlements of the Urban Poor in Uganda
is another example of an initiative where five
secondary cities are supported by an MLG
framework that includes both the national
government and LRGs. This has been extended
to the country’s 14 main intermediary cities,
ensuring the urban poor participate in planning
and decision-making processes, in particular in
the municipal development forums. Similarly, in
Mozambique, the municipality of Beira created
the Multi-Functional Community Centre for
Renewable Energy in the slum of Munhava with
the support of UN- Habitat, to provide slum
dwellers with access to clean energy, better
sanitation and drinking water. The centre is also
expected to provide opportunities in particular
to young people and women to exchange
experiences and generate local initiatives linked
to the development of their communities.175
Informal waste collection happens in the
majority of African cities. In certain cities such
as Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of the
Congo, waste collection services are almost
entirely provided by the informal workers (98%).176
Interesting local examples of participatory coproduction in the informal sector are evident in this
field, such as in Qalyubeya Governorate, Egypt.
There, local informal waste pickers were central to
the launch of an integrated community-based solid
waste management system. The system improved
the local environment, raised the living conditions
of local residents, alleviated the problem of solid
waste and created new jobs without affecting
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current ones. This innovative project was awarded
the 3rd Guangzhou International Award for Urban
Innovation in 2016.177
Similarly, in the city of Accra, Ghana, the Accra
Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) is incorporating
the informal waste collectors into the contracts
signed with waste collection companies, as
part of its membership of the 100RC initiative.
In May 2017, the city commissioned a waste
transfer station that serves as a transit point
for waste hauled from other parts of the city
by informal collectors who service communities
located in poorly planned areas of the city.
Because of the success of this approach, AMA
is in the process of registering all informal waste
collectors to regulate their operations.178 The city
of Johannesburg (South Africa) has established
seven waste buy-back centres, operated by the
informal community of waste pickers, with the aim
of empowering impoverished communities and
providing job security benefits, while increasing
recycling rates. As part of a comprehensive waste
management project, N’Zérékoré (Guinea) has
set up activity zones across the city to inform and
train the population about environmental and
public hygiene and foster good public health
practices. As well as improving living conditions
and public health across the city, this project has
created jobs for disadvantaged groups, including
women.179
Access to basic services in schools, including
electricity, drinking water and the Internet is an
equally critical challenge in Africa.180 In Zambia,
local governments play a crucial role in improving
health interventions in school institutions by
ensuring students have access to drinking water
and sanitation. The Egyptian city of Aswan has
also developed a comprehensive strategy that
integrates gardening and water conservation
programmes in schools, as well as diverse
entrepreneurial training opportunities for all
groups of society.181
In the area of transport, there are significant
initiatives that look into ways to integrate informal
transport systems, such as the MoveWindhoek
project in Namibia. The city of Windhoek,
together with the Ministry of Works and
Transport and GIZ, developed the Sustainable
Urban Transport Master Plan for Windhoek,
which enables decision-makers to develop an
affordable, accessible and efficient public and
non-motorized transport system for the next
20 years, thus addressing the specific needs of
the most disadvantaged urban populations.182
In the case of Tshwane, South Africa, the city
administration has improved its collaboration
with informal transport providers, leading to
improvements in local economic development
(LED) (SDG 8), which has accelerated the rate
of social change and had a direct impact on the
lives of the poorest citizens.
73
Making communities more
sustainable and resilient to mitigate
the effects of climate change
The 2019 Index and Dashboard Report published
by the Sustainable Development Goals Center for
Africa indicates, surprisingly, that African countries
are on track to reach SDG 13 and focused on
taking urgent action to combat climate change
and its impacts.183 However, there is no way in
which the 1.5°C target can be attained if the
current urbanization mega-trend in Africa follows
the same industrial and infrastructure pathways
as Europe and North America from a century
ago.184 Fortunately, recent technology innovations
and political economy shifts render many of the
renewable energy and infrastructure solutions
required compatible with the least-cost and most
tenable options for improving the lives of people
in these cities and adjacent rural areas.
African cities and territories have been
implementing a range of initiatives to adapt
to and mitigate the consequences of climate
change, such as flooding, rising sea levels,
extreme temperatures and drought. These
include projects in the area of ecosystems and
biodiversity, water, agriculture and energy and
urban planning and infrastructure, which link
to a range of SDGs beyond SDG 13 and to the
Paris Agreement on climate change and the
Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.
By adopting sustainable and more integrated
approaches to urban planning, LRGs can
contribute to reduce disaster risks, improve
the delivery of basic services and strengthen
resilience at the community level. Efforts to
improve resilience at the local level may also
contribute to achieving SDG 1 and SDG 11.
The city of Accra has been a pioneer in Africa
in building its capacity to transform commitments
into concrete plans and to become more resilient
and carbon-neutral. The city of Cape Town has
implemented an ambitious climate change policy,
with the aim to reduce the carbon and energy
intensity of its activities, improve its transport
network, and reduce the use of private vehicles.
In addition to these two cities, several other
municipalities such as Kigali, Lagos, Luxor, Nairobi
or Paynesville, have engaged in urban resilience
strategies to better recover from socio-economic
In Mozambique, the coastal municipality
of Quelimane has in recent years
adopted a more forward-thinking climatecompatible development approach
integrated into its urban planning.
74
and environmental stresses, in the framework of
the 100RC. The city of Kigali in Rwanda has for
instance based its action plan on local challenges,
including aging infrastructures, energy insecurity,
environmental degradation, lack of affordable
housing and flooding, while Paynesville in
Liberia has focused its strategy on specific areas
of intervention, such as public health and water
management. The latter managed to provide
education and hygiene supplies to communities
affected with the Ebola Virus Disease, as an
attempt to increase its resilience to future public
health challenges.
Eco-cities projects have also flourished in a
few countries offering innovative models of urban
sustainability. The eco-city of Zenata in Morocco,
located between Casablanca and Rabat, was
conceived based on sustainable development
and resilience principles. The organization of
the city facilitates natural ventilation and 30%
of public areas are green spaces, with public
lighting entirely Light Emitting Diodide (LED). In
Burkina Faso, the new eco-city of Yennenga that
is currently being built 15km from the capital of
Ouagadougou, has been planned paying specific
attention to the Harmattan winds, solar energy
and the collection of rainwater.
A few municipalities have also committed
to take actions to implement effective disaster
risk reduction (DRR) strategies. Béguédo,
Burkina Faso is strengthening and protecting its
ecosystems and natural buffers to make them
more resilient to natural hazards. The municipality
is taking action on good governance of natural
resources; adapting to climate change by
implementing best practices, such as mapping
the protected areas, and working with the
community to show how they can improve their
livelihoods while reducing disaster risk.185 In
Cameroon, Yaoundé 6 has been engaged in DRR
at the local level since 2013 and has shifted from a
sectoral vision to a global and integrated vision of
its development, with a plan covering the period
2019-2030.186
It is important that projects also extend
beyond large cities to small towns, coastal
and rural areas. For instance, in Mozambique,
the coastal municipality of Quelimane has in
recent years shifted from a narrow focus on
economic development and poverty reduction
to a more forward-thinking climate-compatible
development approach integrated into its urban
planning. The municipality has undertaken a
series of actions, as part of a multi-year project
supported by international cooperation, that seek
to address multiple challenges and sustainability
goals. By restoring its mangrove forests,
Quelimane manages to simultaneously enhance
its adaptive capacity to the risk of flood and sealevel rise and provide economic opportunities
for the poor and marginalized communities that
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are tasked with managing the tree seedlings,
thereby contributing to SDG 15. Within the
same configuration on the Atlantic coast, the
city of Saint Louis in Senegal in collaboration
with Enda Energie and Wetlands International
has established a comprehensive framework for
protecting the vulnerable coastal ecosystems.
At the village scale, two villages (Gazi and
Makongeni) in Kenya, have joined forces for
the preservation of the mangrove swamp by
exchanging carbon credits. The profits so far
have made it possible to preserve 117 hectares
of mangroves and ensure regular revenues used
to provide access to water. In 2017, this project
received the Equator Initiative Award, and is
being replicated in other regions in Kenya.
Moreover, the development of national
biodiversity strategies and action plans (NBSAPs)
under the framework of the Convention on
Biological Diversity has become a key policy tool
for many LRGs to plan sub-national biodiversity
strategies. The Fatick Region in Senegal has
for instance developed the Integrated Regional
Development Plan 2012-2018 that used an
ecosystem approach to meet the Global Goals at
the regional level. The transfer of environmental
and natural resource management powers to the
regions enabled Fatick to design and monitor
its biodiversity, safeguarding efforts to protect
wildlife in particular. As of today, 33 forests are
being developed and 100 villages are involved in
forest management. On the same lines, the city
government of Dakar, has organized reforestation
activities with schoolchildren from disadvantaged
areas, in a more inclusive learning environment to
simultaneously raise awareness on climate change
and fight inequality.
While these various projects and initiatives
are important in their own right, in Kenya three
different counties have taken important steps to
approve climate change legislation at SNG level
to address climate change in more structural ways
(see Box 8).
Numerous cities in emerging countries, such
as Lagos (Nigeria) and Tshwane (South Africa),
report higher emissions than cities in more
advanced countries, particularly due to high
emissions in the transport and energy production
sectors.188 Paradoxically, walking share in African
cities is higher than the global average, e.g.
61% in Nairobi, 48% in Dar es Salaam and 34%
in Cape Town.189 In this context, large cities such
as Johannesburg and Cape Town (South Africa),
Dakar (Senegal), Nairobi (Kenya) or Dar es Salaam
(Tanzania) have inaugurated rapid transport
systems in recent years.190 Their aim is to provide
residents with access to a quality, sustainable and
affordable public transport system, while helping
to reduce air pollution and promote sustainable
mobility patterns with the creation of cycle paths
and sidewalks.
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Box 8
Climate legislation and financing
at county level in Kenya for
achieving the SDGs
In 2015, Makueni County became the first SNG in Africa
to instate financial commitments on climate change in law,
allowing for the allocation of the equivalent of 1% of its county
annual development budget to climate change adaptation and
mitigation initiatives.
Wajir County followed in 2016 by enacting a County Climate
Change Act operationalizing the County Climate Change Fund
and allocating 2% of annual county development budget to
climate change with a clear liquidation, disbursement and
management framework. Through a participatory approach,
the county annually identifies climate change projects to benefit
from the fund.
Lastly, Garissa County has initiated climate adaptation
initiatives for its communities, which are largely pastoralists and
recently passed the County Climate Change Act, which allocates
1% of the annual county development budget to address climate
change impacts.
The adoption of these laws will allow these county
governments to address not just SDG 13, but also those SDGs
related to education, healthcare, water and sanitation.187
Certain municipalities have set up initiatives
to foster the sustainable consumption and
production of energy. In Uganda, Kampala
(Capital City Authority) and Jinja are innovative
cities that have implemented solar street lighting
systems. Around 1,800 solar street lights have
been installed in Kampala, and 92 in Jinja. This
system has generated a range of economic,
social and environmental benefits for both cities,
including lower crime rates, better road safety,
a more vibrant night-time economy and higher
property values, contributing to SDG 11, SDG 13
and SDG 16 targets.191 Others have been active in
providing innovative solutions to transform waste
in energy. The city of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia has
recently inaugurated a waste-to-energy station,
which collects the heat emitted during incineration
to produce energy. The waste-to-energy plant is
expected to incinerate 1,400 tonnes of organic
waste per day, representing about 80% of the
city’s waste, and to provide 100 skilled jobs in
Addis Ababa.192 Similarly, in the island of Zanzibar
(Tanzania), a pilot was started in September 2017
in a low-income area of the island called Shauri
Moyo, where 200 households were selected. On
a smaller scale, a waste management centre was
created in 2017 in the village of Houègbo in Benin,
to encourage citizens through financial incentives
75
to collect their organic waste for conversion to
biogas. The project is expected to be duplicated
in the country’s 77 municipalities.
Furthermore, a number of cities are adopting
initiatives towards an urban circular economy.
Cape Town, South Africa, has initiated action to
recover and reduce waste and improve energy
efficiency in municipal buildings since 2009.
By 2015, the city had installed about 500 smart
meters within municipal facilities and developed
an automated energy management system,
the ‘SmartFacility’ application. This interprets
the facility’s electricity consumption data in a
friendly, accessible manner, illustrating the data
on a dashboard for internal end users and the
public. In addition, the Western Cape Industrial
Symbiosis Program (WISP) was established in the
city, and provides business members with time and
technical expertise, connecting companies with
unused or residual resources, such as materials,
energy, water, assets, logistics and expertise. The
cumulative impact of WISP over the last five years
has included: 27,436 tonnes of waste diverted from
landfill; 46,700 tonnes of GHG saved (equivalent
to nine 2.2MW wind turbines installed in South
Africa); EUR 2.8 million generated in financial
benefits through additional revenue, cost savings
and private investments; 143 jobs created in the
economy (25 directly in member companies).
The programme has received multiple award
nominations, including being a three-time finalist
for various circular economy awards. While the
circular economy is still in its infancy across the
continent, as a reformative system it presents
significant opportunities for Africa to deliver on
more inclusive, economic growth, which includes
job opportunities and positive environmental
practices.
Building inclusive and peaceful
cities and territories
Fragility and conflict as well as growing inequalities
are recognized as major factors in hindering
progress towards the SDGs, and in particular a
major obstacle to achieving the targets of SDG 10
and SDG 16. Many examples of local governmentdriven initiatives in the area of peace and inclusive
societies are supported by partnerships with
actors such as UN agencies, civil society or the
private sector in the area of slum upgrading,
participatory planning and budgeting or service
delivery (see above). Partnerships between cities
are also instrumental.
An important example that stands out in this
regard is the partnership between the Beninese
city of Dogbo and the Belgium city of Roeselare
in the area of birth registration. Birth registration
is key to gain a legal identity and ensure access
to basic rights and services (SDG 16.9). The two
cities were twinned in 2010 and work closely on
projects ranging from water schemes to cultural
76
exchanges. Because of the birth registration
project all the children born in the city of Dogbo
had their births registered, compared with
only 40% in 2010. This received an award from
PLATFORMA, the European network of national
LGAs, in 2018.193
African LRGs have supported initiatives to
fight against urban violence and overcome interethnic, religious and socio-economic conflicts.
In critical situations, local governments played a
crucial role in contributing to resolve the crises
and the reception of refugees, as recognized by
the international community. One such example
is the crisis in Mali in 2012, the result of the coup
d’État and occupation of the North of the country
by Tuareg insurgent groups and later by Islamist
groups. The subsequent Sustainable Recovery
Plan of Mali 2013-2014 (PRED), proposed by the
national government, foresaw the strengthening
of decentralization, and LRGs in Europe launched
a strong solidarity movement with LRGs in Mali.
This is also the case with the G5 Sahel Alliance of
Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger. In
the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the local
authorities in Shabunda established ‘permanent
peace committees’, as an effort to stop violence
and restore state authority, in a context of postethnic war in the community. The programme
included awareness-raising to facilitate the
demobilization of combatants.
Africa hosts more political and climate change
displaced persons and migrants than any other
continent in the world. While the refugee crisis
poses significant economic and social burdens
on host countries, some LRGs are implementing
proactive solutions. Within the framework of the
National Strategy for Immigration and Asylum,
the cities of Tangier and Nador in Morocco
acknowledge their humanitarian responsibility
and facilitate access to basic services for migrants,
such as shelter, education and health. Because of
lack of resources, Tangier actively encourages
CSOs to partner with local government actors
around issues of migration.
Culture may also appear as a powerful tool
to promote social cohesion and create peaceful
environments. In 2016, the city of Timbuktu,
Mali launched a strategy to reinforce the socioeconomic and urban fabric and civic participation
in the city, urgently needed after its occupation in
2012 and 2013. The initiative strengthened local
cultural heritage, defended citizens’ freedom to
maintain their cultural practices, and promoted
culture as a strategy for resilience and sustainable
cohabitation.194 Another initiative to foster
interculturalism and social cohesion is found in
Yopougon, a suburb of Abidjan in Côte d’Ivoire.
This project promotes cultural citizenship among
the local youth in a post-election crisis context
through participatory programmes. Although
this initiative enabled the conditions for peaceful
GOLD V REPORT
coexistence, the youth unemployment rate
remains high and requires ongoing dialogue to
ensure social cohesion. Worth mentioning also
is the launch of the celebration of the African
Capitals for Culture during the last Africities
Summit in 2018: Marrakesh was chosen as the first
African Capital for Culture.
The importance of public spaces must
also be highlighted as a means to enhancing
community cohesion and promote health,
happiness and wellbeing for all citizens,
especially children. UNICEF has been working
in seven municipalities in Mozambique as
part of its work on making cities more childfriendly through interventions in the area of
early childhood education, nutrition, and
participation and governance. Cities in Kenya
and South Africa have also been working with
the UN-Habitat Global Public Space Programme
to improve the quality of public spaces. In
Kenya, Nairobi committed to restoring and
rehabilitating public spaces across the city
with the inclusion of local communities in the
governance and management of spaces. Along
with the Nairobi Integrated Urban Development
Master Plan, detailed urban area plans have
been prepared based on the principles of
building safe, inclusive and accessible public
spaces.195 In Johannesburg (South Africa),
public spaces serve as bridges to reconnect
the urban areas to recreational spaces and
allow for freedom of movement. Because of the
spatial legacy of apartheid, parks and public
facilities were all concentrated in higher-income
neighbourhoods, while townships remained
dense areas with almost no open green spaces.
The ‘Corridors of Freedom’ initiative illustrates
this new vision of making public space inclusive,
particularly in poorer areas, and improving living
conditions in former townships.
As part of their efforts to tackle discriminatory
practices, several LRGs have also engaged
in programmes promoting equal access
opportunities for all. Pikine in Senegal has
inaugurated an Office of Rights to provide services
of attention, welcome and advice for irregular
migrants. In addition, 75 Senegalese local
authorities in 2017 adopted a Charter of Citizen
Participation and the Right to the City to commit
themselves to advancing the human rights and
citizen participation agendas at the local level.196
In the Cameroonian commune of Mayo-Baléo,
a Centre for the Promotion of Women and the
Family has been built to train women, girls and
young people in running small businesses and to
offer them a range of other courses (languages,
sewing, computer courses, catering, etc.).197
Finally, African local governments have adopted
a Charter of LRGs on Migration to which over 30
cities have adhered.
GOLD V REPORT —— AFRICA
Ensuring responsive and
participatory decision-making
Most of the interventions at the local level
address the need to ensure responsive, inclusive,
participatory and representative decision-making
at all levels (SDG 16.7). This is interlinked with
SDG 11.3 on the need to enhance inclusive
and sustainable urbanization and capacity for
participatory, integrated and sustainable human
settlement planning and management in all
countries by 2030, as well as with most of the
principles of the New Urban Agenda.
In Africa, planning systems remain highly
centralized with urban planning laws mainly
inherited from colonial times and primarily
under the control of a central government
department. Some governments have committed
to decentralize these laws. However, new laws
have often been written and not approved, or the
necessary changes have not been made to urban
governance and land management legislation.198
The city of Johannesburg, for example, sought
to create a strategy to rethink the nature of
local governance. The Joburg 2040: Growth
and Development Strategy (GDS) is both an
aspirational document that defines the type of
society Johannesburg seeks to become by 2040,
and a long-term planning instrument with a set of
strategic choices to guide the city’s development
trajectory. It lays the foundation for multilevel,
Streets of Nairobi, Kenya
(photo: Xiaojun Deng,
t.ly/2W8G5).
77
multi-scalar and integrated responses to the city’s
urban challenges.
Other initiatives seek to integrate local
communities in the design of local development
planning. For instance, city development
strategies (CDSs) developed by Cities Alliance
support local governments in the elaboration
of long-term development strategies, using
a participatory approach. These strategies
have been formulated in Ouagadougou
(Burkina Faso) and Douala (Cameroon) based
on collaborative exercises involving local
communities, in particular representatives of the
most marginalized and vulnerable members.
These have yielded interesting results in terms
of consensus-building and funding opportunities
for follow-up investments.199 In Cotonou (Benin),
the definition of the urban development strategy
has proven useful in improving the coordination
of urban development issues between the cities
of Cotonou, Abomey-Calavi and Sèmè Podji,
which form part of the Cotonou agglomeration.
In Mozambique, the city of Mandlakazi has put
a particular emphasis on strengthening citizens’
participation with the creation of municipal
participatory forums, to debate and plan
municipal actions. Apart from the municipal forum,
a 30-member women’s forum and a 30-strong
young people’s forum were created to interact
Box 9
Participatory planning for
urban development in Sfax
and Sousse, Tunisia201
In Sfax, the Greater Sfax Development Strategy (GSDS) was
elaborated to promote local economic development (LED)
strategies and prioritize underserved neighbourhoods. This
strategy also sought to foster inter-municipality cooperation for
city and regional development and leverage significant budget
allocation. Almost all segments of the population were actively
involved in formulating a long-term economic development
strategy for Greater Sfax. The Sfax leaders thus provided a
significant example of the power of participatory governance.
A similar project has been promoted in Sousse, where the
city’s urban development strategy has been developed based
on an innovative methodology involving local communities. With
this methodological approach, the city was able to identify five
common strategic objectives: social and territorial cohesion,
economy, competitiveness, spatial planning, environmental
management and governance. In addition, an action plan has
been prepared in order to clarify Sousse 2030’s vision. The
overall participative process made it possible to identify 40
projects for 2014-2017 and 30 others are being considered in
the future action plan.
78
with the city council and participate in planning
activities.200
In Africa, the urban population is expected
to grow threefold by 2050. Thus, planning cities
extensions has become an urgent issue for
LRGs, and different modalities of ‘soft planning’,
particularly to prepare for future land uses and plan
infrastructure development, should be explored.
To be responsive and formulate polices that are
adapted to the importance of informality in Africa,
LRGs are increasingly involving communities in
their sustainable development strategies in these
areas. It is much more expensive to retrofit urban
infrastructure a posteriori than to plan ahead for
land use. This is particularly relevant in the case of
intermediary cities where LRGs have lower financial
capacities while being at the core of national, and
the overall African, urban demographic transition.
Another example is the ‘base-plan’ developed in
12 African cities that has been presented as an
opportunity ahead of the New Urban Agenda.
The success of such practices relies on involving
communities and social actors in the diagnostic,
and anticipating both the existing territorial
dynamics and ‘hard planning’ needs for future
amenities.
Participation in planning processes has also
gained ground in the Maghreb countries. Morocco
introduced such provisions in 2010, requiring
cities to design strategic plans in a participatory
way. The cities of Sousse and Sfax in Tunisia also
provide interesting examples of the development
of participatory urban strategies (see Box 9).
Participatory mechanisms have paved the way
for greater accountability of LRGs and improved
access to basic services. In Sekondi-Takoradi,
Ghana, citizens have access to scorecards to
assess their satisfaction with the quality of public
service delivery to the poorer communities. With
the support of the Open Government Partnership,
the metropolitan assembly of these twin cities has
made considerable progress in obtaining better
sanitation, access to toilets, and street lighting
(which has resulted in a reduction in nighttime crime). Similarly, participatory budgeting
processes provide a route through which groups
not generally involved in political decision-making
can make their voices heard, help to identify
common priorities and have these priorities
realized. Dondo, Mozambique is the first widely
recognized example of participatory budgeting
in Africa: 51 local communities, debating within
consultative municipal fora, discussed the
allocation of up to USD 2.6 million of public
spending. The Municipal Council subsequently
decided to invest these funds in priority public
works such as access to clean water and drainage
(2007-2009). This experience was later supported
by national development cooperation and the
national LGA, and replicated by other municipal
governments, such as Inhambane, during the
GOLD V REPORT
Wood sellers at the Montée
Parc Market, Yaoundé,
Cameroon (photo: CIFOR,
t.ly/3nqw5).
following legislature (2011-2014). This pioneering
experience has been followed by other cities,
such as Rufisque Est District (Senegal), Ampasy
Nahampoana (Madagascar), and Yaoundé 6
District (Cameroon), or Blantyre (Malawi).
The global organization, Women in Informal
Employment, Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO),
developed a collective document outlining
principles and actions for national and local
governments to implement the New Urban
Agenda in a participatory and inclusive way to be
supportive of informal workers. WIEGO has also
developed methodologies for engaging with
local governments to address their needs for
access to public space, public services and public
procurement processes, which were launched at
the Africities Summit in Marrakesh in November
2018.202 These were successfully used in cities such
as Accra (Ghana), where the Focal City Initiative
created multi-stakeholder platforms through a
series of participatory consultative processes with
informal traders that contributed to improved
occupational health and safety in informal markets
and increased awareness of the contribution of
informal workers to the local economy.203
Other examples include the ‘We are Medina’
project in Larache, Morocco, which highlights
local and regional commitment to promote
communities’ participation. Key to the success of
this project was the creation of a bond of trust and
technical neighbourly cooperation, channelled
GOLD V REPORT —— AFRICA
through an interdisciplinary Neighbourhood
Technical Office as well as monitoring committees
with the participation of all the stakeholders
involved. This project won the Dubai International
Award for Best Practice for National Urban Policies
in 2017.204
Transparency and accountability of LRGs
remain crucial in Africa to enable more effective
delivery of basic services tailored to local needs.
A pilot project, known as Leaders in Local
Government for Transparency and Integrity in
Service Delivery in Africa, aims to strengthen
local government transparency and integrity to
fight against corruption in service delivery. This
was launched by UCLG Africa in partnership with
Transparency International in 2017. Three local
governments, Walvis Bay Municipal Council in
Namibia, Kabarole District in Uganda and Tema
Municipal Assembly in Ghana, have volunteered
to participate in the project to assess the
institutional organizational weaknesses that render
local governments susceptible to corruption and
other malpractices in the delivery of services,
and develop policies and systems that mitigate,
detect and attenuate the risks.205
79
4. Conclusions
206
By 2050, Africa will be the most populated region
of the world, with over 2 billion people — more
than the populations of either China or India. Thus,
the overall success or failure in the realization of
the SDGs indeed how realistic their attainment is
will depend to a large extent on whether or not the
Global Goals are achievable in Africa. The UNECA
2019 report on sustainable development (albeit
based on incomplete data available to monitor
progress) shows that the continent is not on
track to achieve most of the SDGs. In particular,
more action is needed to foster inclusive growth
and take full advantage of the potential for
demographic growth in the region.
In fact, Africa will have to implement the
African Agenda 2063, the SDGs and other
related global agendas while undergoing a huge
shift in the population settlement pattern that
sees the continent moving from ‘majority rural’
30 years ago to ‘majority urban’ in the coming
30 years. African decision-makers need to fully
understand the extent to which rapid urbanization
is impacting the economic, social and spatial
dynamics of the continent, making metropolises,
cities and towns, local and regional governments
(LRGs) key and emerging ‘game changer’ agents
in shaping the structural transformation.
This report shows the positive contribution of
the African LRGs to the implementation of the
African and global agendas. It argues that this
contribution could be even greater if enabling
conditions were in place that capitalized on the
energies and life force of African cities that is
the young people who form the majority of the
Africa will have to implement the
2030/2063 Agendas and other global
agendas while undergoing a huge shift in
the population settlement pattern that
sees the continent moving from ‘majority
rural’ to ‘majority urban’.
80
population. Across Africa, there is high-level
social demand to reconfigure the powers and
functions to make the overall system of LRGs work
better for a continent where poverty, the youth
bulge, the backlog in infrastructure supply and
basic service delivery, make the 2030 aspirations
both extremely relevant and difficult to achieve.
Positive attitudes to devolution and reform of local
government bodies to give them greater strength
to deliver the SDGs are espoused in frameworks
such as the African Charter on Values and
Principles of Decentralization, Local Governance
and Local Development. However, the effective
legal and structural changes to the systems of
government remain incomplete, or stagnated in
some countries and globally, they are still fairly
new for almost all African countries. Indeed, the
Charter has been signed by 13 countries and
ratified by only four (Burundi, Mali, Madagascar
and Namibia).
There is a mismatch between the policy
commitments at the highest governance level
of the Africa region and the ability of LRGs
at national level to unlock their potentialities
to deliver on the 2030 Agenda, Agenda 2063
and the other global and continent-wide policy
agendas. Unsurprisingly given this, there are
delays in the localization of the SDGs gaining
real traction. LRG capacity is further eroded by a
variety of factors that include ongoing conflicts,
climate change impact and increasing natural
disasters. Furthermore, in Africa, as elsewhere in
the world, there are clear examples of resistance
by national governments trying to prevent the
diffusion of political decision-making and fiscal
powers away from the central level.
Nonetheless, there is evidence of nationallydriven change enabling rather than detracting
from local action. Below are six key actions that
can help unlock the status quo and catalyse
innovation to scale up the contribution of LRGs
in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and
Agenda 2063. These actions mitigate against weak
overall systems of government and misaligned
intergovernmental systems, factors that are further
incapacitating LRGs and limiting their powers to
deliver on sustainable development.
GOLD V REPORT
Get the management
of urbanization right
Unless bold steps are taken immediately to
re-establish the practice of urban and spatial
planning that more than 20 years of structural
adjustment policies have squandered in most
African countries, Africa will not meet the SDGs.
The result of this lack of planning has been a
boom in informal settlements and slum areas,
a serious backlog in basic service infrastructure,
and poor maintenance and management of the
infrastructure that does exist, in most African
cities. Given the pace of urban growth — with
cities doubling their population and areas in less
than 20 years — the situation could dramatically
worsen. The lack of investment in well-planned,
well-managed cities and territories has largely
contributed to the poor standing and efficiency of
the LRGs and national economies.
It is time for African decision-makers to
recognize the important role that cities and
territories play in the structural transformation
of the continent. As recommended in the New
Urban Agenda adopted by the United Nations
in October 2016 in Quito, Ecuador, every African
country should define and implement a national
urban policy (NUP). It is worth noting that in
2018, most of the 18 African countries that had
an NUP had not yet explicitly aligned the policy
with the SDGs. Thus, more closely linking the
SDGs, the New Urban Agenda and the African
Agenda 2063 would in turn be an opportunity
for LRGs and their networks to promote a more
coherent and integrated urban and territorial
development approach and prevent duplication
that in any case cannot be afforded in resourcescarce contexts.
All countries are compelled to connect their
villages, towns and cities into an organized system
of human settlements with dedicated functions
that will give traction to the overall economic,
social and territorial structural transformation at
the national level. At the regional level, regional
economic communities should endeavour to
define regional spatial plans to support and
invigorate the organization of regional markets
structured around the main cities of the region
that will in turn connect the region to other
parts of the African continent. At the continental
level, it is also important to reflect on the role
that metropolitan cities and city regions play in
connecting all the regions of the continent and
integrating the continent into the mainstream of
global cities that lead the dynamic of the global
economy.
Strategically planning for the accelerated
urban transition, creating enabling environments,
and providing human resources training are key
components for LRGs to transform their planning
and decision-making processes. Developing ‘soft’
and participatory planning of cities’ extensions in
GOLD V REPORT —— AFRICA
Linking more closely the SDGs, the New
Urban Agenda and Agenda 2063 would
be an opportunity for LRGs and their
networks to promote a more coherent
and integrated urban and territorial
development approach.
a way that could contribute to better managing
urban expansions will help reduce urban sprawl
and be more effective than costlier retrofitting
interventions to integrate new informal areas in
the urban fabric.
These reflections would gain greater
traction if the role of cities in the structural
transformation of Africa was considered a
theme to be put on the agenda of one of the
upcoming conferences of heads of state and
government of the African Union.
Get the enabling
environment of LRGs right
In almost all African countries, urbanization has led
to the emergence of a strong social demand for
more proximity and greater people participation
in the management of public affairs. This in turn
has resulted in the definition and implementation
of decentralization policies in most African
countries, which legally recognize greater powers
and autonomy in decision-making of LRGs. As it
is widely known, at least 65% of SDG targets fall
within the realm of the decentralization laws and
regulations entrusted to LRGs.
In the last few years, many countries have
renewed existing institutional frameworks (e.g.
Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana,
Kenya, Morocco, Rwanda or Zambia). In others,
where progress has been relatively slow, there is
new momentum explicitly linked to formulating
coherent strategies in the framework of the
development agendas (e.g. Cameroon, Cape
Verde, Togo where local elections took place
in 2019) or as part of a process of peace and
democratization (e.g. Mali and Tunisia).
Despite these legal provisions, African LRGs are
not truly empowered to deliver on their mandate
and to lead sustainable territorial development. As
concluded by UCLG Africa, in most African countries
the national institutional frameworks for LRGs need
to be revised. Across Africa, LRGs still have limited
decision-making powers, resources and capacities,
including the control of infrastructures for services
as per the functions allocated to them. This has
major implications for the extent to which LRGs are
able to plan and develop strategies to boost local
development and to deliver on targets related to
81
the SDGs. This issue is particularly acute in small
and intermediary cities, where the service delivery
mandate is functional not just for the city residents
but also for the wider peri-urban neighbourhoods
and rural hinterlands, as well as in fast-growing
metropolitan areas.
African governments acknowledged in Africa’s
priorities for the New Urban Agenda the need for
an integrated vision of Africa’s human settlements
and territorial development that spans the rural
environment, intermediary cities, as well as major
cities and metropolises. They also recognized that
LRGs are on the frontlines of the management of
urban growth.
African governments should therefore accept
that only empowered LRGs, with clear mandates,
improved
capacities
and
strengthened
resources, supported by adequate multilevel
governance (MLG) collaborative mechanisms,
can help master rapid urbanization, accelerate
the implementation of national strategies for
more balanced territorial development, and
more inclusive cities and territories, responding
to the 2030 Agenda resolution that ‘no person
and no place should be left behind’.
Get the financial
resources of LRGs right
African national governments and their
development partners should give priority to the
empowerment of LRGs in terms of their financial
resources.
In fact, the fiscal costs of power devolution and
localization of the SDGs are rarely calculated or
provided for. Despite the increased vulnerability
of LRGs from more frequent and intense impacts
of climate change and natural disaster, there is
general ignorance of the cost of implementing
the Global Goals in localities and countries.
Fiscal decentralization and localizing financing
must be enhanced, together with administrative
and political decentralization. Levels of fiscal
autonomy vary greatly between as well as within
countries across the continent. Moreover, given
the political history and the weak fiscal base
– due to both poverty and informality — in the
region, LRGs face a fiscal squeeze. Certainly,
the two challenges in improving sub-national
financing systems are 1) to strengthen local
capacity to mobilize local own resources; 2) to
improve intergovernmental transfers systems.
Greater fiscal autonomy at the sub-national level
must go hand-in-hand with improved systems for
resource mobilization across the different scales of
government, and the development of adequate
transfer mechanisms to share national wealth.
But this will probably not be enough to meet the
colossal funding need.
In many countries, LRGs do not have the powers
to contract debt or attract additional funding.
Even in cases where LRGs can borrow, this is often
restricted, tightly controlled or LRG projects barely
meet the feasibility, bankability and risk standards.
It is therefore essential that national governments
Floating market at
Abomey-Calavi,
Benin (photo: Melissa
Cooperman/IFPRI, bit.
ly/2MtYYuC).
82
GOLD V REPORT
and cities develop mechanisms to upgrade the
quality of LRG projects to meet the conditions
set by the financing institutions, investment funds
and private partners. This is one of the objectives
of the African Territorial Agency championed by
UCLG Africa, as well as other project preparation
programmes led by local government associations
(LGAs) and regional networks. These initiatives
are however still limited to pilot cities; hence
there is an urgent need to develop a range of
sub-national lending mechanisms to respond also
to intermediary and small cities (e.g. through the
creation of local government finance institutions
or strengthening those that already exist).
The expansion of sub-national investments
is urgent considering the social, financial and
environmental costs of catching up, retrofitting
the expanding urban fabric, responding to and
recovering from the climate emergency and
disaster impacts that will only keep growing.
Given the localization of the SDGs as a priority,
it is also crucial that international partners seize
the opportunity of transforming their financing
mechanisms to be more supportive of LRG
development investments.
Get the human
capacities of LRGs right
In order to improve own-revenue generation,
attract more funds and prepare bankable projects
eligible for funding, LRGs need competent
administrations with well-skilled staff. So far, the
dialogue between the leaders of the national
government and those of LRGs has focused
mainly on fiscal decentralization and financial
issues, and not enough on human capacity. This is
despite the fact that the effectiveness, sustainable
provision and good management of LRG financial
resources depends largely on the quality and
capacity of human resources in the political and
administrative bodies of LRGs.
This is why UCLG Africa set up the Africa
Local Government Academy (ALGA) aimed
at improving the skills and professionalism of
LRGs’ elected officials and administrative staff.
ALGA offers two kinds of capacity-building
activities: 1) a 12-month Executive Master
on LRG Management for senior staff (namely
the city manager or director-general of LRG
administrations, the chief finance officer and the
chief technical officer); 2) a series of short-term
training courses delivered in ALGA’s specialized
colleges. UCLG Africa and UCLG World are
also developing peer learning and mentoring
programmes, taking advantage of the wealth
of experience and knowledge that is embodied
within the LRG community.
It is essential to address the human capacity
gaps of LRGs’ political and administrative bodies
if the expectation that they should be more active
in the implementation of the African and global
GOLD V REPORT —— AFRICA
agendas, and specifically the SDGs, is to be met.
The questions that arise in this regard are: 1) how
to make a career in LRG one of the first options
for young people entering the labour market;
and 2) how to attract and keep the best talents.
Looking at the insecure labour conditions of most
LRG personnel and the particularly low wage
levels compared with other employment areas,
the answers to these questions will not be easy.
What is clear however is that the LRGs will not be
up to the tasks expected of them unless the capacity
and professionalism of their political leaders and
administrative staff drastically improves. One area
that should immediately be developed is the
financing of capacity-building activities. Successful
experiences from around the world suggest that
this should be through recurrent resources coming
from a percentage of the wages paid to LRG staff
that could possibly be complemented with a grant
from the national government. The recourse for
LGAs to document and disseminate capacitybuilding experiences and initiatives has also
proven to be instrumental in upscaling their impact
across the membership. Finally, the observation
that mayors and LRG leaders learn best from other
mayors and LRG leaders shows the usefulness for
UCLG to develop in collaboration with its regional
sections, a dedicated peer review and peer
learning programme, with a specific component on
mentoring activities using and benefitting from the
collective endowment of their respective networks.
The fundamental principle here is to realize
the centrality of the human resources of LRGs in
order for them to play their rightful role in the
realization of the 2030 Agenda and the African
Agenda 2063.
Get multilevel governance
collaboration and multi-stakeholder
partnership right
Given the holistic, interlinked and transversal
nature of the 2030 Agenda, the SDGs cannot
be achieved through single-sector or silo
approaches or narrow place-based interventions.
Quite the reverse, higher tiers of government
must build on territorial partnership and the local
political leadership for investment to be adapted
locally and to strengthen local economic, social
and environmental sustainable development.
For instance, the strategic debate over how
to retrofit and build massive infrastructure
to promote greater regional integration and
productivity must consider the issue of scale
in coordination with the specific needs of each
context and territory, actions to be carried out
at different governance levels, from sub- national
and national, to regional and continental levels.
In this sense, multilevel governance matters.
Meeting the SDGs targets will require a
collective effort of all levels of government
and not just the LRGs. Cooperation and
83
The issue of data is not only one of
measuring, reporting and verification,
but more critically a political one. More
structural support for the development
of locally embedded monitoring and
reporting processes is required.
collaboration between the different spheres of
public governance including the alignment of
budget flows is key to putting the subsidiarity
principle into practice. There are inspiring
examples of countries adapting their national
planning systems to increase the involvement of
LRGs with the aim of better coordinating SDG
implementation and follow-up on specific targets
(e.g. Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana,
Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa or Togo). However,
the alignment of national and local strategies
remains, in most cases, a top-down process and
LRGs’ involvement is limited.
In almost all countries, national institutional
mechanisms to coordinate and lead SDG
implementation exist at the highest political
level. Some countries have set up coordination
mechanisms that rely directly on reformed
planning systems, while others have created
new mechanisms. However, the participation of
LRGs in these coordination mechanisms and,
moreover, in the reporting process to the UN
High-Level Forum on Sustainable Development
(HLPF) through the Voluntary National Reviews
(VNRs), remains limited (to 47% of countries that
reported between 2016-2019 for VNRs and 31%
for coordination mechanisms), showing weak
involvement of LRGs. The participation of the
LRGs in national coordination, assessment
and reporting, needs to be further improved
to ensure that the national process truly
reflects a ‘whole-of-government’ approach.
It is suggested therefore that national
governments take positive steps to support
SDG localization strategies involving all levels
of government.
Furthermore, for the SDGs to be an allencompassing, all-inclusive exercise, all layers of
society must participate fully in their implementation
and in the definition of priorities. Adopting a multistakeholder approach to SDG implementation is
the best way to ensure ownership by citizens
and communities, and long-term sustainability
of impact. However, it is one thing to say that
LRGs value a multi-stakeholder approach to SDG
implementation, but it is quite another to put
in place appropriate mechanisms for this to be
effective. In many instances, the participation of
84
civil society, traditional authorities, academia and
the private sector is minimal and confined to shortlived consultation workshops.
Nonetheless, this is an area where true
democratic processes can prove to be instrumental
in delivering concrete progress towards the
realization of the SDGs targets. This is firstly by
deliberating about the priorities to consider
among the 17 SDGs, given the social demands
and the local conditions in each LRG; secondly
by discussing the indicators that seem the most
appropriate in driving social transformation
brought about by SDG implementation; and,
thirdly by collectively defining the data that need
to be produced to inform the chosen indicators
and to contribute to the voluntary reports that
national, local and regional governments should
periodically submit to the UN as part of the
monitoring and evaluation mechanism of the
implementation of the SDGs.
Get the data revolution
started
The localization of the SDGs and related need
for bottom-up reporting mechanisms calls for a
serious reflection on data collection. This analysis
is necessary not only for the sake of reporting to
the UN, but also and mainly for the mobilization
of all actors at national, local and regional levels to
catch up on the full implementation of the SDGs in
Africa by 2030.
The gaps so far observed in this area are
testimony to the poor understanding of the
importance and need to establish routine data
production processes linking all spheres of
government and all stakeholders. This is vital in
order to collectively assess whether countries are
on track or not with regard to meeting the SDG
targets by 2030, and to deliberate on the best
corrective measures in case of setbacks.
The issue of data is therefore not only one of
measuring, reporting and verification, but more
critically a political one. This is because it creates
the framework for the choice of indicators and
information, as well as the resulting analysis, and
thus structures the way in which all stakeholders
will assess and understand progress made in the
implementation of the SDGs targets, following
the trajectories chosen in each country and by
respective LRGs. The challenge is that Africa is
currently vastly underrepresented in existing global
urban databases and much still needs to be done
to build disaggregated, place-based datasets.
The dominant picture on the continent is
that monitoring and evaluation mechanisms for
the SDGs are not nearly established or robust
enough, especially at the sub-national scale.
There is a need for more structural support for the
development of locally embedded monitoring
and reporting processes to national and subnational levels and globally on the SDGs. Such
GOLD V REPORT
Civil society meeting with
local public officials in
Tanzania (photo: SDI, bit.
ly/2LXd3ld).
processes also need to include the empowerment
of local communities, civil society and other
stakeholders to understand, analyse and use data
independently in order to hold government to
account. A good example showing the relevance
of data in building inclusive cities and territories
and a productive dialogue among stakeholders at
the LRG level is the ‘Know your City’ programme,
developed by UCLG Africa in collaboration with
Slum/Shack Dwellers International (SDI) with the
support of the Cities Alliance. In addition, there is
a need for partnerships to produce relevant data
for monitoring development progress, especially
for indicators for which currently no data is being
produced.
In other words, recurrent routine processes
should be developed between different levels
of public governance on the one hand, and
between the public authorities and other relevant
stakeholders on the other, so that data collection
and analysis becomes a collective effort aimed at
measuring whether or not the countries are on
track to meet the SDG targets and recommending
corrective measures in case of setbacks.
GOLD V REPORT —— AFRICA
African national governments, African
LRGs and the other African stakeholders
are inextricably connected in sustainable
development delivery and in the partnerships
upon which this delivery depends. They
should therefore also be intrinsically part of
the production of data and analysis to assess
progress in SDG implementation.
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