Sahel: collective intelligence serving decentralising and governance
How can we be quicker, more coherent and better define the objectives of governance and decentralisation projects for the benefit of local communities in the G5 Sahel countries?
With a desire to do things differently and to take the needs and realities of local authorities as a starting point, UNDP, as leader of the “governance” group, and Germany, as leader of the “decentralisation” group of the Sahel Alliance*, organized a regional workshop on decentralisation and governance as a vector of peace and stability in Sahel at the end of November. A meeting was organised in collaboration with the Liptako-Gourma Authority.
This event, which took place in Niamey, aimed to go beyond traditional analyses to question realities and policies in depth and find appropriate solutions for the benefit of local and regional authorities. It was an atmosphere of study, innovation, sharing of ideas and the creation of possible solutions, which coloured the daily lives of local elected officials and development actors in the G5 Sahel countries for three days.
Burkina Faso, the Republic of Mali and the Republic of Niger are facing an unprecedented situation of insecurity, particularly in the cross-border area they share in common, the Liptako-Gourma Region, the “three borders” zone. The challenges are multidimensional and call for better coordination of actions by development partners, synergy of initiatives implemented in the region and new responses to complex issues.
“In view of the complex challenges facing the Sahel, the legitimate expectations of the people to live in peace, social tranquillity and to have access to basic needs of life, and taking into account the extreme urgency of the situation, there is a need for in-depth reflection so that local elected officials, with the support of Member States and technical and financial partners, can fully play their role”. His Excellency Mr Alkache Alhada, Minister Delegate to the Minister of State, Minister of the Interior, at the opening ceremony.
Since the 2000’s, the majority of the G5 Sahel countries have chosen decentralisation to address at the same time the issue of citizen participation, a deepening of democracy and the provision of basic services. However, the budget allocations of local and regional authorities are less than 5%, even if there are targets of 20% or more.
“The main actors are unanimous on the relevance of proper management of public goods and a consequent transfer of resources to local authorities to ensure the access of populations to drinking water, medical care, education or social networks which are important levers for the economic and social development of countries and the legitimacy of the State”
Mr Ronald Meyer, Head of the Sahel and West Africa Division, BMZ.
For Jean-Marc Gravellini, Head of the Coordination Unit of the Sahel Alliance, “It is essential to involve local authorities in the drawing up of local development and decentralisation programmes. These communities are the best way to reach out to the populations and ensure that they are concerned by the project. The Sahel Alliance includes many coordination activities, but in the end we will be judged on the involvement of local people and the capacity of our projects to have an effect in the field”.
The complexity of the challenges and the urgency of responding to the priorities of countries and populations call for innovative approaches. New solutions need to be explored to get out of emergency situations. The collective intelligence of the participants was the basis for producing the results of the workshop, which was designed as an “acceleration laboratory”.
The UNDP Accelerator Labs deployed their participatory methodology throughout the work, emphasising local solutions and experimentation. “Ideas need to be tested to get an idea of their value. Coming up with just one solution to a complex problem makes no difference!” according to Amadou Sow, Accelerator Lab Network Specialist / Regional Advisor for Africa, UNDP.
The discussions enabled participants to ask questions about the roles and contributions local and regional authorities can make to prevent and manage the conflicts that generally arise and develop in their territories.
The local elected representatives were able to enter into long discussions about the challenges facing local authorities. On one hand, discussions brought out the challenges of the availability of resources for financing local investments and economic support for communities. On the other hand, the challenge of managing inter-community conflicts arising from the massive displacement of populations and the self-organization of communities for their security with risks of problems was widely emphasized. At the end of the workshop, local elected officials shared a series of recommendations.
The teams involved in the workshop will continue the work of preparing a concrete roadmap. This will be in particular be a matter of:
- strengthening the synergy between the partner structures through the implementation of integrated and coherent programmes based on local, regional and national priorities;
- involving beneficiaries and local authorities in the design of projects. It is also a question of moving towards more effective, inclusive and responsible governance through the articulation of portfolios and programmes around initiatives supporting the transfer of resources and skills to local authorities.
- the roadmap also foresees the use of innovative approaches (acceleration laboratories) with the establishment of a committee of experts to support the formulation of portfolios and programmes for the benefit of Liptako-Gourma and the G5 Sahel, including representatives of local authorities…
In the framework of the Alliance Sahel, the partners have committed themselves with the States to focus their actions on: (i) strengthening the rule of law; (2) improving the efficiency of administrations; (3) strengthening citizen participation; and, (4) improving public finance management with a view to increased mobilisation of domestic resources and their better use.
Speeches, presentations, publications of the workshop could be found here in French
