8th Africities Summit

From the 20th until the 24th November the 8th Africities Summit took place in Marrakech (Morocco). The summit gathered together more than 8000 participants of 53 different countries of the whole continent and several different important themes for the region were takled. They discussed, among others, themes like inequalities in the African continent, the role of the informal sector in the African economy, how to facilitate a future for the African youth, and the challenge that the informal settlements imply in the biggest cities of the region. Moreover, special emphasis was placed in the localisation of the Sustainable Development Goals in the African continent and in particular in the key paper that the access to financing has for local governments for them to be implemented; the Europe-Africa Marrakech Pact was adopted to continue with the collaboration for the elaboration of a Charter to promote local gender equality in Africa and it was also highlighted the necessity of including the local and regional governments in the international debates in topics like migration.

Africities is organized by the African section of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG-Africa) and takes place every 3 years in one of the five regions of the continent. The summit brings together communities, local authorities, financial institutions, civil society organisations and stakeholders of the development sector from across the world.

For more information: https://www.uclg.org/en/media/news/8th-africities-summit-envisioning-future-african-region