2021 Congress of Francophone Mayors

The city of Kigali host the 2021 Congress of Francophone Mayors, three days of exchanges and mobilization that will bring together nearly 400 local elected officials, partners, academics, representatives of civil society.

This Congress theme is "The Mayor and Civil Society: What urban dimension for Francophone cities?" with a focus on the role of Mayors in ensuring social cohesion in the territories through a continuous dialogue with civil society.

An expression of responsibility, of collective commitment on the part of the inhabitants for their neighbours or for their territory, the action of civil society is essential to the implementation of the public policies of the city. Whether it is social services, cultural and artistic action, the promotion of entrepreneurship, awareness of social issues and sustainable development, the complementarities are obvious. It is, therefore, appropriate to develop a global approach and a model of partnership between cities and civil society actors, in order to recognise their role as privileged partners in the city’s policies, at all stages, from design to implementation.

Against this framework four thematic workshops will be organized on 20 July:

1. Local governance policies in line with civil society
2. Civil society, living together and social cohesion
3. Mayors' diplomacy and citizen diplomacy
4. Technological innovations for better service to the population

On 20 July (9:15- 10:30 am) Cities Alliance will be represented by Giulia Maci, Cities for Women programme lead, on the panel on Local governance policies in line with civil society, where she will present Femmedina, a project implemented by Cities Alliance in Tunisia, in partnership with the municipality of Tunis and USAID. 

The event will be live-streamed on social media and can be followed here. 

More information (in French) can be found here.