UNITED CITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS OF AFRICA (UCLGA)

OPERATIONAL STRATEGY FOR PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION

1. Introduction

The United Cities and Local Governments of Africa (UCLGA) is a Pan African association of municipalities and national/regional local government associations in Africa.

It is also an autonomous African Chapter of the world-wide organization of local governments known as the United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG).

Vision and Mission

The Vision of the UCLGA is: 'Building African Unity from, and Driving African Development through the Grassroots'.

In order to achieve this vision, the Mission Statement of UCLGA is as follows:

• Unite African local government, place it in the continental political and economic development context and represent it in all relevant forums
• Strive for the establishment of local government as a distinct sphere of government, working in support of national and other sphere of governments in Africa
• Ensure democracy, equality and respect for human rights at the local level
• Promote sharing of human and intellectual capital as well as other resources among local authorities in Africa
• Empower local governments through research, training and capacity development
• Pursue sustainable development in partnership with institutions, structures and programmes of the same mission

In pursuance of the mission, the UCLGA has identified the following priority areas:

• decentralization and devolution of authority and responsibility to local governments
• international relations
• human capital development, capacity building and intellectual exchange
• local economic development
• basic services
• funding and finance
• promotion of equality, and mainstreaming of gender, youth and the disabled
• health and social wellbeing of local communities
• public participation and local democracy
• environmental sustainability
• establishment and development of UCLGA as a network and corporate organ

Operational Programme

To address the context and key challenges facing African local governments, in consistency with the vision, mission and priority intervention areas, the UCLGA has adopted the following overall strategic intent:

'The establishment, consolidation and sustenance of decentralized local government as a distinct sphere of government and the development of the UCLGA network, provide for the inclusion of the concerns of the African people in the development and cooperation agenda of Africa, in order to improve their livelihoods.'

In order to translate this overall strategic intent into results oriented interventions, the UCLGA seeks to undertake the following:

1. Lobby for local government to be recognised as a distinct order of government in the framework of the decentralization policies to be adopted and implemented by all African countries;
2. Support the creation and strengthening of national associations of local authorities in all African countries as well as their association at regional level according to the Regional Economic Communities (REC) of the African Union;
3. Improve the quality and profile of local governance throughout Africa, in particular through the participation and effectiveness of women and youth, an increased participation of communities, civil society and private sector, both in governance and in a better provision of services at the local level;
4. Increase the responsiveness of local governments to the demands of their citizenry including vulnerable and disadvantaged groups in society;
5. Improve the policy and development implementation environment at the local level through facilitating effective and competent voice and influence of local governments at the national, regional and continental levels.
6. Foster the recognition and expression of African culture and heritage as key identity icons in value systems of local government’s development work.

The above strategic intent and its supporting objectives will be implemented through an overall development programme: 'Governance, Advocacy & Decentralized Development Programme for Africa (GADDEPA)'.

Currently, the GADDEPA has three main components:

1. Advocacy and lobbying
2. Corporate learning and knowledge management; and
3. Institutional capacity development.

2. The Role of the UCLGA

The above defines the espoused values of the UCLGA that require translation into programmes and projects that can directly impact local communities. As a continental organisation, it becomes apparent that the UCLGA cannot service all local governments in Africa. It does not have the capacity nor is it feasible nor appropriate for UCLGA to directly undertake projects in all countries and local governments in Africa.

There are tasks that the UCLGA can undertake directly while the major activities will be implemented through regional and national associations of local government. From an operational perspective, the activities of the UCLGA may be categorized as indicated below:

2.1. Political

The UCLGA is a political organisation of local governments. It brings together political leaders at the local level to deliberate and recommend policy on local development. As a fundamental principle, the UCLGA believes that development will be more effective when it is championed, managed and implemented by the local communities themselves, hence the UCLGA’s mission - ‘Building African Unity from, and Driving African Development through the Grassroots’

In order to realise this mission, at the political level, the UCLGA believes that this can best be achieved through the establishment of local governments, the delegation of appropriate responsibility and authority for development and their recognition as the government closest to the people and best placed to understand local challenges and take the lead in resolving their problems and undertaking the development of their communities.

The establishment of this environment requires that the UCLGA engages in dialogue with central governments who have the primary responsibility for governing sovereign states. It entails the development of a culture of trust, accountability and responsiveness. There are several strategies for realising this goal:

1. Conducting research and recommending appropriate models of decentralised governance and any other thematic area relevant to local governments and promoting their adoption by sovereign states through direct engagements, publications, seminars, conferencing and workshops.
2. Setting up Commissions to examine issues and develop solutions.
3. Engaging individual countries in discussions through discussion forums to promote appropriate decentralisation strategies and service delivery practices led by regional and national associations of local government.
4. Engaging regional economic groupings such as SADC, COMESA, ECOWAS through joint platforms comprising local governments leadership and central government ministers, direct representations at the political meetings
5. Engaging the African Union through direct representations within their operational framework. An agreement on terms of reference for such collaboration is preferred as a long term vehicle through which engagement can take place.

2.2. Technical

A major setback for decentralisation initiatives has been the perceived lack of capacity of local governments to carry out mandated responsibilities. It has been argued that even where local authorities could access adequate resources, they have failed in the actual delivery of services. This has been attributed to several weaknesses:

• Lack of capacity to make complex policy decisions;
• Lack of technical knowledge and skills to undertake devolved functions;
• Unethical and corrupt practices by local politicians and bureaucrats.
• Poverty and the consequent lack of financial resources to support local development

In recognition of these perceived challenges, the UCLGA should develop measures to alleviate and eventually eliminate the weaknesses that lead to failure.

The UCLGA strategies include:

1. Commissioning or Conducting research, piloting and other studies to analyse specific and general challenges inhibiting or to improve performance by local governments and developing guidelines, models and principles of good practice to guide local governments;
2. Setting up and coordinating technical teams to develop thematic concepts and recommend strategies for actions;
3. Publishing information and other literature for sharing knowledge and information for the guidance of local governments in carrying out their functions; and
4. Organising and conducting knowledge sharing and dissemination workshops and seminars for national associations of local government and other representative platforms of local governments such as professional groupings. This may be undertaken through direct physical presence and/ or through virtual interactions.
5. Setting up and maintaining on-line information portal for direct support to local governments on various knowledge areas

3. Structural and Process Strategy

An organisation chart indicating positions, relationships and work flow is shown under Annexure 1.

1.  The Council: it is the highest political organ of the UCLGA. Its role is to define and approve policies and appoint the Executive Committee.
2.  The Executive Committee (EXCOM): It is responsible for approving UCLGA’s operational plans and budget and generally supervising the Secretariat. It also provides the platform through which the UCLGA general policy is formulated, political programmes are implemented, and political consultations undertaken. It, thus, engages other political organs in dialogue and may do this through its president and various Commissions it may appoint from time to time.
3. The President: The president chairs both the executive committee and council and oversees the implementation of the decisions of the two deliberative bodies of the UCLGA. The president represents the UCLGA at political platforms and other engagements in which the UCLGA is invited. Engagements with the African Union, Regional Economic Groupings and National Governments will mostly be led by the president. He also oversees the work of the Commissions.
4. The Secretary General: Responsible for the day-to-day management of the secretariat and provides the link between the executive and deliberative organs of the UCLGA. The secretariat comprises all professional and support employees of the UCLGA.
   1. Managing Director: Supervises staff and coordinates administrative and financial matters.
   2. General Manager, Finance: Managing the financial resources and records of the UCLGA, maintaining books of accounts, organising period audits and general administration.
   3. Programme Manager: Responsible for managing the portfolio of projects undertaken by the UCLGA as may be determined from time to time.
   4. Project Officers:  Project officers implement specific projects of the UCLGA and may be engaged for periods fully or partly covered by the duration of each project.
   5. Technical Project Teams: These teams will be assembled on a need basis and will be the main ‘think-tanks’ and platforms for concept development, implementation strategy development, organisational and UCLGA network learning. The relational communication lines indicated are for simplicity to show basic structures and processes as the actual mutations will depend on the specific needs and requirements of each project or assignment.