In keeping with our focus on Sub-Saharan Africa, the Cities Alliance will have a strong presence at the Sixth Africities Summit, which will be held in Dakar, Senegal 4-8 December 2012.
In keeping with our focus on Sub-Saharan Africa, the Cities Alliance will have a strong presence at the Sixth Africities Summit, which will be held at the King Fahd Palace Hotel in Dakar, Senegal 4-8 December 2012.
Held every three years, the Africities Summit is the premier event on local government in Africa organised by the United Cities and Local Governments of Africa (UCLGA). It is expected to be attended by some 5,000 participants—representing local authorities, central governments, the donor community, the private sector, academia, the media, and civil society—who will gather to discuss the theme “Building Africa from its Territories: What Challenges for Local Government?”
The Cities Alliance will host a large booth (#B14) at the Africities Exhibition, where participants can learn about the partnership, our programmes, and browse a selection of publications in English and French. We will also launch two Cities Alliance publications at our Africities booth:
- Financing Africa’s Cities by Dr. Thierry Paulais, which is the culmination of a four-year period of research and analysis jointly financed by Agence Française de Développement (AfD) and the Cities Alliance. (4 December)
-
The Quick Guides on Housing the Poor in African Cities, a series of practical guides that provide national and local officials as well as policy makers in African cities with tools and practical knowledge to help them enhance their understanding of low-income housing issues so they can make informed policy decisions that benefit the poor. (5 December)
Over the course of the week Cities Alliance will also host three special sessions:
-
Local Financing Strategies, co-hosted with AFD (4 December, 14:30, Room C5);
- Can We Reach Scale? (6 December, 9:00, Room C12); and
- Quick Guides on Housing the Poor in African Cities, co-hosted with UN-Habitat (6 December, 14:30, Room C12).
(Detailed information about the sessions in English and French is provided in this agenda.)
Other interesting sessions hosted by Cities Alliance members include “I’m a City Changer in Africa” (UN-Habitat); “Peer Learning and Local Leadership: A Way for Changing our Cities” (UCLG); and “The Future of Water in African Cities” (The World Bank/ICLEI).
As in previous years, the booth will serve as a gathering place for Cities Alliance members to meet and share information about their activities and resources. Notably, the World Bank’s Water Unit will launch a new report on The Future of Water in African Cities at the Cities Alliance booth on 6 December.
