Assessing the Institutional Environment of Local Governments in Africa 2018, 3th Edition © 2018 United Cities and Local Governments of Africa (UCLG Africa), Cities Alliance This report includes the Introduction, Methodology, Analysis and Country Sheets of Assessing the Institutional Environments of Local Governments in Africa. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. 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The terms used to describe the legal status of any country, territory, city or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries, or regarding its economic system or degree of development do not necessarily reflect the opinion of UCLG Africa or the Cities Alliance. The analysis, conclusions and recommendations of this report do not necessarily reflect the views of all members of UCLG Africa. This document has been produced with the financial assistance of the Cities Alliance. The contents of this document are the sole responsibility of UCLG Africa and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the Cities Alliance and that of the United Nations Office for Project Services. Study Coordinator: François Yatta Cover photo: View of Ribat de Sousse, Tunisia (BishkekRocks) Translation, French to English: Eriksen Translations Ltd Graphic design and layout: Babel com, Rabat Printing: Lawne, Rabat Production and Editing: Juliet Bunch, Honey Mehta, Ekaterina Perfilyeva 3rd Edition, November 2018 Foreword INCE 2012, United Cities and Local Governments of Africa (UCLG Africa) has worked with the Cities Alliance to publish a report on the institutional environments of local authorities in Africa every three S years. The 2018 edition covers 53 African countries, with the exclusion of Libya. It considers the original ten criteria for assessing the institutional environment of local authorities covered in the 2012 and 2015 editions and adds two new ones that align with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement. The two new criteria address the institutional environment put in place for women’s participation in political life and governance of local communities, and the institutional environment created for the participation and contribution of local communities in the fight against climate change. Each criterion is scored from 1 (lowest) to 4 (highest). The rating scale thus goes from 12 points (the lowest grade) to 48 points (the highest grade). As in previous editions, the application of different criteria results in a synthetic notation (index) by country. This rating is the subject of explanatory analysis leading to identification of proposed reforms. For comparative purposes, it was agreed to compare the 2018 rating based on the 10 criteria selected for the 2012 and 2015 editions of the report. This comparison makes it possible to observe several trends. The general trend is to improve the political space given by African governments to city action and local community action: at the continental scale, the average rating increased by 18 per cent in 2018 compared to 2012. Thirty-five countries saw a growth in the space given to the local communities, with 13 countries recording a significant improvement compared to the average African rating scale. The indicators that have contributed most to the improvement of the index are, in order of significance: 1) Citizen participation in local governance; 2) Financial transfers from state level to local level; 3) Improvement of local democracy resulting in the organisation of local elections; and 4) The improvement of the legislative framework for decentralisation in several countries. However, two thirds of the countries (34 out of 53 countries analysed) have substandard indices and still need to undertake major reforms to provide an enabling environment for the initiatives and actions of their cities and local communities. The adoption of urban strategies is, among the evaluation criteria, the one that has paradoxically experienced the slowest progress. This situation raises questions, since it is three years after the adoption of the United Nations New Urban Agenda that recommends that member states – and African countries in particular – adopt national urban policies in order to be able to meet the challenges posed by the now predominantly urban world. Africa’s rapid urbanisation highlights the urgency of strengthening the contribution of African cities and local authorities to the structural transformation of the continent. Indeed, strengthening the role of African cities should be a challenge to be considered for one of the next Heads of State and Government Summits of the African Union. n William Cobbett Jean-Pierre Elong Mbassi Director Secretary General Cities Alliance United Cities and Local Governments of Africa 2 Table of Contents Introduction 5 Methodology 7 1 The Project: Assessing the Environment Surrounding the Actions of Cities in Africa 7 2 The Context 8 3 Criteria for Evaluating Countries Based on the Favourable Enabling Environment They Offer Cities 8 3.1. Constitutional Framework 9 3.2. Legislative Framework 9 3.3. Local Democracy 9 3.4. Financial Transfers from the Central Government to the Local Governments 10 3.5. Own Revenues 11 3.6. Capacity Building of Local Government Administrations 11 3.7. Transparency 12 3.8. Citizen Participation 13 3.9. Local Government Performance 13 3.10. Urban Strategy 14 3.11. Gender Equality 14 3.12. Climate Change 15 4 Presentation of the Ratings 14 Analysis for the period of 2012-2018 17 Country Profiles 25 3 Assessing the Institutional Environment of Local Governments in Africa 4 Introduction The present report on the assessment of the The criteria used to assess whether the institutional institutional environment for cities and subnational environment is favourable to cities and subnational governments in Africa is a follow-up to the first governments in 2018 did not change from those version issued in 2012 and published in 2013 and the used for the two previous reports. Ten criteria were second edition published in 2015 at the time of the used in 2012 and 2015, with provisions for: 1. the 7th Africities Summit held in Johannesburg, South constitutional framework; 2. the legislative framework; Africa from November 29 to December 3, 2015. 3. local governance; 4. financial transfers from the This third report updates the country sheets created central government to the local governments; in 2015 and analyses the development of the 5. the local governments’ own resources; 6. capacity institutional environment for cities and subnational building for local governments; 7. transparency in the governments from 2012 to 2018, and from 2015 to operation and management of local governments; 2018. It specifically measures the change in latitude 8. citizen participation; 9. the performance of local provided to cities and subnational governments. Two governments; 10. the existence or lack of a national parallel processes were carried out. strategy for urban management. The 2018 edition adds two new criteria, with provisions for: 11. the The first process consisted of ensuring special inclusion of women in national and local governance; monitoring of countries that experienced significant and 12. local governments’ involvement in the fight institutional changes between 2012 and 2015, against climate change. including: South Africa, Burkina Faso, Kenya, Mali, Morocco, Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, The 2018 edition of the report assessing the Senegal, Tunisia and Zimbabwe. In conjunction with institutional environment for cities and subnational the Ministries in charge of local governments and/ governments benefited from three peer review or decentralization and national associations of local processes: one with various national associations governments for the aforementioned countries, a of local governments; a second during a workshop review of the sheets was carried out, specifically in organised by UCLG Africa in Rabat; and a third terms of the initial objectives assigned to different by mobilising a group of 15 experts led by Cities institutional changes. Alliance. The second process consisted, for all the other UCLG Africa organised a series of meeting in the counties, of collecting information and data various regions of the continent with two objectives: necessary to update the