For its sixth edition, the Africities Summit will take place in Dakar from 4th to 8th December and the Committee on Local Finance for Development proposes to bring together financial directors from large African cities. Thanks to the financing obtained through its financial partners, the summit will cover all transport and travel costs for participants. This is therefore an exceptional opportunity for these professionals to meet and exchange on local authority financial issues: whether it be their “structural” revenue, their financial performance to access loans, techniques to increase the value of territories or remedies for the Public-Private Partnership.

Financial directors will contribute strongly to the evaluation of the feasibility of one of CLF’s “flagship” projects: The Observatory on local financing. A precise and trust-worthy world-wide data base on the financial situation of local authorities, this observatory will be a fundamental instrument not only in understanding the strengths and weaknesses of a decentralized system but also in advocating stakeholders to favor reforms related to financial decentralization, and in structuring dialogue between local elected representatives and their governing ministries.

They will equally participate in the organization of two special sessions: one dedicated to the improvement of the financial performance of local authorities and reinforcing the capacity building programs that could be conducted on the basis of the PEFA framework: the second centered on financing local investments through increasing the value of territories.

From these exchanges will come the creation of working groups and the drafting of capacity reinforcement programs, in line with national and international training organisms from local authorities and implicated donors. The initiation of the African financial managers’ network will be structured in accordance with the wishes expressed by the directors themselves.