Local Strategies and Policies Sessions

SOU-01 | THE AFRICA TERRITORIAL AGENCY, VEHICLE FOR FINANCING CITIES AND LOCAL AUTHORITIES IN AFRICA

19 May

19 May

14:30 to 18:00

Venue: Room 8

LEAD ORGANIZER

United Cities and Local Governments of Africa

Tel: +212(0)537 260 062

Email: info@uclga.org

Web: https://www.uclga.org/

PRESENTATION OF THE SESSION

UCLG AFRICA/ECONOMY AND LOCAL FINANCE DEPARTMENT
Cities and local authorities in Africa intend to contribute significantly to the African Union's Agenda 2063. To this end, African cities will have to invest approximately 25 billion dollars per year to accommodate, under good conditions, 450 million additional inhabitants by 2030, while making up for the accumulated deficit in equipment and infrastructure. Such financial volumes are far superior to the current instantaneous savings of towns and local authorities, even supplemented by the funds allocated by the national States to local investment. On the other hand, debt service capacities are constantly growing and make it possible to envisage raising significant resources on the financial markets. It is for this reason that the leaders of cities and local authorities in Africa are taking the initiative to create a financial institution, the Africa Territorial Agency (ATA).   The project was launched by holding a "brainstorming workshop" on October 30 and 31, 2017 in Rabat, Morocco (rating agencies, private banks, community banks, development banks, etc. ), to define outlines of the financial vehicle based on the preliminary feasibility report. This workshop discussed and approved the preliminary feasibility report and defined the roadmap of the actions to be carried out with a view to the entry into operations of the ATA.   Then a meeting was organized as part of the 8th edition of the Africities Summit held in Marrakech on November 21, 2018. During this meeting, the mayors and elected representatives of local authorities amended the preliminary feasibility report and approved the roadmap proposed by the brainstorming workshop held on October 30 and 31, 2017 in Rabat; they also recommended that the General Secretariat launch an appeal to cities and territories to join the cooperative society, the first 100 members being considered as the founding members of the ATA.   Finally, the first meeting of the founding members of the ATA was held on November 11, 2019 in Durban (South Africa), on the sidelines of the UCLG Congress. Under the chairmanship of the President of UCLG Africa, it made it possible to formalize the Club of founding members of the Territorial Africa Agency, and to define the missions and responsibilities of the members of the Club. Today, around fifty towns and local authorities from 25 African countries have subscribed to the Africa territorial Agency.. The objectives of the session are: -        Mobilize and sensitize African cities and local authorities on the interest of ATA; -        Finalize the establishment of the Club of the first African cities and local authorities, founders of ATA; -        Identify cities and communities to benefit from the upgrading program; and finally Define next steps.
 

PANEL

Programme

Summary

Speakers

  • François NOISETTE

    François NOISETTE

    Consultant

  • François Paul Yatta

    Head of programmes of the United Cities and Local Governments of Africa

    François Paul Yatta

    Head of programmes of the United Cities and Local Governments of Africa

    François Paul Yatta holds a Master’s Degree in Urban Engineering, Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, ENPC, Paris, (France, 1995), a MPhil in Urban and Regional Economics Paris (France, 1994), and a PhD in urban and regional economics, University of Paris XII – Val de Marne (France, 1998)). He is also habilitated to direct research (HDR), University of Paris XII – Val de Marne (France, 2005). Researcher at the research laboratory of the Observatory of Economy and Local Institutions, ŒIL (Observatoire de l'Économie et des Institutions Locales, Paris, France), he participated, in several researches, which the most important are (1) the comparison of the major cities of the world with regard to their GDP (2) the development of a spatialized development model to test, identify and measure a certain number of relationships or assumptions, such as the influence of infrastructure, public policies, etc, (3) the contribution to the "Base 90 regional aggregates" Working Group of the National Institute of statistics and economic studies, INSEE (Division of statistics and economic studies, Paris, France) which has for objective the redesign of regional accounts in France and (4) the participation in the process of the EU regional policy reform, particularly on the criteria for eligibility and allocation of structural funds. Dr Yatta was regional Advisor (1998-2007) at the Municipal Development Program for West and Central Africa, in charge of local finances, local economies and fiscal decentralization. Dr Yatta is now Head of programmes of the United Cities and Local Governments of Africa. Dr Yatta is author of two books (Villes et développement économique en Afrique : une approche par les comptes économiques sociaux, éditions Economica, 315 pages, 2006  and  La décentralisation fiscale en Afrique : enjeux et perspectives, éditions Khartala, 340 pages, 2009), two « Think Pieces» for the 2015 and 2016 African Economic Outlook publish by OECD/AfDB, and several scientific publications on local finances, fiscal decentralization and urban economics, and co-author of four books. Dr Yatta is Member of the International Institute of Public Finance (IIPF), the Development Finance Network (DEFINE) of OECD and the Association of francophone regional science (ASRDLF).

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