The Africities Summit is the appointment for Africa’s Local Authorities. Organized regularly every three years, by United Cities and Local Governments of Africa (UCLG Africa), the event has become a distinguished opportunity for the evaluation of the implementation of decentralization policies in Africa. The Summit aims to pursue two major objectives: defining appropriate shared strategies in order to improve the living conditions of the people at the local level and contribute to the integration, peace and unity of Africa starting from the grassroots.

This year’s edition will be held in Johannesburg, South Africa, from 29 November – 3 December 2015. Its central theme will be: “Shaping the future of Africa with the people: the contribution of African local authorities to agenda 2063 of the African union.”

The Summit takes place in the aftermath of the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development that sets the global development agenda for the upcoming 15 years. The 2030 Agenda aims to tackle the bottlenecks of development through 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which were agreed upon at the 70^th United Nations General Assembly, in September 2015.

The process towards the 4th World Forum of Local Economic Development: Opportunities for Africa

In this context, the 3rd World Forum of Local Economic Development (LED), held in Turin in October 2015, offered a first opportunity to explore the experiences and practices on LED as a valuable strategy to implement the new SDGs at the local level.

As widely debated at the 3rd World Forum of LED, the localization of the SDGs – which LED is fit to enable – is indeed linked to (and a condition for) more balanced, inclusive and sustainable growths paths, improved local governance dynamics, and stronger territorial and social cohesion. These issues are at the heart of the public agendas of African local authorities and to explore further these issues, the global network of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) , the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) organise a session that will aim at:

• Present the outcomes of the 3rd World Forum of Local Economic Development (click here to read the Forum’s final declaration);

• Discuss opportunities and challenges associated with the application of LED as an instrument of implementation of the 2030 Agenda at the local level in Africa;
• Analyze potential opportunities to engage African countries and partners in the 4th World Forum of LED, to be held in 2017;
• Building a toolkit for the localization of the new Sustainable Development Goals.

It is widely agreed that the achievement of critical objectives and challenges of the SDGs will largely depend on local action and leadership embedded in a coordinated and effective multi-level governance system.

Building on the results of the global consultation on “Localizing the Post-2015 Agenda”,facilitated in 2014 by the UNDP and UN-Habitat, on behalf of the United Nations Development Group (UNDG), together with the Global Task Force of local and regional governments (GTF), a session will bring forward the debate on how to assure a “local implementation” of the SDGs. Upon the request of the consultation’s participants, the three institutions are currently promoting the elaboration of a “Toolkit for the localisation of the SDGs”, reflecting the need to identify various specific mechanisms, tools, and processes to effectively translate the SDGs into practices at the local level and to monitor them from the African perspective. The session, co-organised by UNDP, UN-Habitat and UCLG, will discuss the role of African local and regional governments (LRGs) in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, and in particular will look at how they can better play their role as champions for the localization of the SDGs. The inputs and conclusions of the session will feed the elaboration of the Toolkit

Click here  for further information 

We look forward to your participation and contribution to these two sessions and we remain available to provide further information!

12/18/2015  
Challenges and opportunities of public space as a generator of growth in African Cities