Workshop:

  • Preparatory summary
  • Participants
  • Minutes of the workshop

Context and Problem:

Since Decolonization, Africa has not succeeded in elaborating and implementing an « endogenous » vision of its development, particularly at the economic level. Ideologies and exogenous models which did inspire attempts to break the under-development, poverty and despair circle have as common denominator the failure to take local realities into consideration in the design of development policies.

The time to make the territory more visible, ensure its emancipation-through decentralization particularly- and to put it as the major actor of development. In fact, it is necessary to give value to territories in the inspiration and development management in Africa; based on an economic model of sustainable development, meaning endogenous, inclusive and integrated. This type of option does need local resources and potential valorization through collective projects informed with rooted knowledge and know-how, effective collective projects negotiated and appropriated by all actors and linked to all levels, from local to continental level.

Proposition 10: Building viable and durable territorial economies that can carry a national and African development

Issues for discussion

  • How to prepare and build the capacilities of actors for the conception and application of a new vision that gives a real place to local actors whose initiatives enable territories to take off?

  • What indicators and statistical data to produce for informing inhabitants, enlightening the action of local actors and ensuring the sustainable monitoring of the development strategies of territories (infrastructure development, environment, energy…) ?

  • How to favour the development of a shared economic vision between territories acting as full economic actors?

  • What practical and innovative modalities to link and harmonize conceptions, visions and interventions inside territories and also between different territorial levels (collective future construction can be done following ascendant/descendant direction)? Territories to be viewed as inhabitants concrete life spaces, spaces of creative ideas, initiatives and cross-cutting actions.

  • What principles and values to ensure optimal and durable utilization of the potential of African territories and resources at different scales?

  • Territorial development viewed in the African context often refers to the rural area, and is the city also concerned? Could these two types enrich each other?

Proposition 11: Developing and strengthening innovative modes of financing territorial development

Issues for discussion

  • What are definitely true innovative modes of funding development-oriented to be instituted and consolidated inside territories?

  • Innovative financing mechanisms are largely discussed in recent international literature. Nevertheless, there is no unique definition. Regarding Africa, what could be the definition and the scope enabling to structure these tools of knowledge?

  • What are conditions and challenges of legitimation regarding innovative modes of financing development?

  • What are the reforms to be carried out for adapting classical financial systems to territorial development challenges?

  • What linkage between the development of innovative financing modes and classical financial systems?

Proposition 12: Basing the stimulation of local economies on the evolution of popular economy

Issues for discussion

  • How to use incomes generating popular economy through activities implemented by the population in a spirit of solidarity?

  • What approach to be adopted to avoid the solidarity of popular economy from continuing to take away public resources (especially tax revenues) from African states, due to the scale of informal activities?

  • How to strengthen the institution of popular economy in the stimulation of local economies (knowledge and recognition by other actors categories, particularly local public institutions)?

  • How to build the capacity and the action of actors of popular economy , especially regarding the elaboration and control of local economic policies in order to reduce their sociopolitical marginalization?

  • What training and information training tools for popular economy? How to optimize ICT utilization for example in terms of local economic policies or popular economy dynamics at the local level?

Proposition 13: Promoting services delivery with the territory as the matrix and best practices that can ease delivery

Issues for discussion

  • What spaces and mechanisms to ensure inclusive and consensual deliberation, and creation/co-management of economic activities at the territories scale?

  • What values and guiding principles for a partnership management of services and economic goods?

  • How to prepare and strengthen each category of actors in participating in the creation and management of economic activities and to ethically and efficiently fulfill their responsibilities in the territory?

  • What values and principles to be included in the training of local public agents, locally elected officials, local businesses and associations for an adapted rational and efficient local public service delivery?