Newsletter – n°14 – September 2012

News from partners

Gathered in Geneva by the International Association of Francophone Mayors, around fifty mayors and local elected representatives, mostly African and European, inaugurated the consultation series in preparation to the European Commission Communication on local authorities.

'In order to insure an enabling environment for local communities, the state must associate them in the elaboration of the legal framework on decentralisation, and a stronger alliance with national parliaments must be sought so as to reach this goal', explained Simon Compaoré, mayor of Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso). Among the other proposals made to the European Commission we can mention the establishment of decentralisation observatories and the commitment of the EU in a political dialogue with local elected representatives. In this respect, Pierre Schapira, deputy mayor of Paris (France) in charge of international cooperation and spokesperson for PLATFORMA, underlined the capacity of the local elected representatives present to be first hand political interlocutors for the European Commission.

Field experiences were shared, such as the success of a Development and joint action forum, led by the Rubavu District in Rwanda, with the participation of local civil society and private sector organisations.