Cotonou – The Minister in charge of decentralization and local governance (MDGL), Raphaël Akotègnon, opened this Tuesday in Cotonou, the work of the review of the decentralization and governance sector local under the 2020 management in the presence of the various players in the sector.
“This review is held one year after the normally required deadline. This delay is due to a certain number of imperatives which are on the one hand independent of our respective wills because we still had to adjust our agendas and it is also due to certain difficulties relating to the collection of information for its preparation. MDGL Director of Planning, Administration and Finance (DAPF) Charaf Dine Gado said at the opening of the meeting. Explaining the no less important context of the organization of this sector review, he said that “the review of the decentralization and deconcentration sector remains the privileged space for discussion between the TFPs and all the stakeholders involved in the area,
Regarding the head of technical and financial partners in the decentralization and deconcentration sector, Elisabeth Pitteloud Alansar, she says she is delighted that despite the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, the admissibility mechanism can be hold face-to-face in order to allow decentralization and deconcentration actors to assess the progress made since last year in terms of local governance and this with the ultimate objective of improving the living conditions of the populations of Benin. “The work carried out collectively has thus made it possible to achieve important results. We particularly welcome the increase of more than 15.8% in the resources allocated in 2020 to the decentralized structures. This funding,
The Covid-19 pandemic and its corollaries have certainly negatively impacted the ability of municipalities to mobilize their own resources, but these have had to sustain an average drop of 9.3% in 2020 compared to 2019. This downward trend could continue and even increase in the 2021 financial year, continued Elisabeth Pitteloud Alansar. “In this context, we encourage the deconcentrated structures to strengthen their support for the municipalities to enable the trend to be reversed and to resume the upward trends recorded in recent years”. It has, on behalf of the partners,
“Mr. Minister, the partners reassure you of their commitment to continue their support to the government in the development actions started and for decentralization”, she finally reassured.
At his speech, the Minister in charge of decentralization and local governance (MDGL), Raphaël Akotègnon, told the participants that this meeting will be like that of 2020 essentially devoted to the implementation of PONADEC and operationalization tools, in particular the decentralization and deconcentration plans (PDD), the departmental development action coordination plans, the annual advisory assistance plan and the FADeC. “We will therefore also have to take stock of the implementation of the recommendations resulting from the last sectorial review of 2019, to discuss the performances achieved during fiscal year 2020 and the challenges to be met,
Note that several communications were animated during this review.
Source: Agence Bénin Presse