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Citizen participation is making progress

More funding for municipalities

Landkarte von Togo

As of: 12/2022

Togo’s political and economic life has so far been concentrated in the capital Lomé. The country, which is one of the poorest in the world, has set out to give the municipalities more scope for their own decisions and investments. As a result, citizens are also more involved in municipal development plans and development is promoted across the board. Togo has made initial progress in decentralisation. On behalf of the German Federal Government, KfW is supporting the Togolese municipalities in building and improving their own infrastructure. KfW also promotes FACT – the national municipal development fund – which provides infrastructure at the municipal level. A new project in the area of e-governance will enable digital solutions for more efficient administration in the future.

Project titleProgramme to support decentralisation and municipal development
Commissioned byCommissioned by Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Country/RegionTogo
Project partnersMinistère de l’Administration Territoriale, de la Décentralisation et des Collectivités Locales (MATDCL)

Current situation

Togo is one of the poorest countries in the world. 40% of the population lives on less than USD 1.25 per day. Political and economic decisions have so far mainly been made in the capital city of Lomé, where the infrastructure is also best developed. But in contrast, elsewhere municipalities are suffering from a lack of funding. This hampers economic development. Marketplaces, school buildings, water supply, sewage disposal and roads are often in very poor condition in many places and urgently need investment to expand and rehabilitate them. The government has now made efforts to decentralise.

After local elections had been postponed for more than 30 years, they were held again for the first time in 2019. Mayors and local councillors in a total of 117 municipalities were newly elected. This facilitates a fresh start in order to better exploit and expand the previously untapped potential of the municipalities.

Project approach

KfW is financing 40 new town halls in rural communities on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). To this end, an architectural competition was held to design the town halls. The construction work for the first 25 town halls is already underway, with 15 more in the pipeline.

On behalf of the BMZ, KfW is also initially supporting the construction or refurbishment of marketplaces in three selected medium-sized cities, namely Sokodé, Tsévié and Kpalimé. In a second phase, five more cities are to be included in the programme. The aim is to make trade easier and for municipalities to generate income from the rental of market stalls, for example. The first construction measures have now been completed. The opening of the markets had been delayed, particularly due to the restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the first two markets are due to be up and running shortly.

In addition, KfW supports the direct participation of the population in local proposals with the aid of a digital citizen monitoring system. This is intended to enable citizens to provide immediate feedback on the activities, quality of service and planning of the local government

KfW also promotes the municipal development fund FACT (Fonds d'Appui aux Collectivités Territoriales), which provides funds for the newly created communities so that they can set up their own infrastructure, such as schools and health centres. In addition, the municipal representatives are trained to operate and maintain the infrastructure themselves and to implement their own small infrastructure measures independently.

Impact

With the construction of the town halls and the expansion and renovation of the markets and the resulting increase in income for the municipalities, the programme is helping to strengthen the basic supply of medium-sized cities by improving economic infrastructure and public services. The medium-sized cities are given the opportunity to become growth poles in their regions. Merchants also benefit from the fact that their market stalls are now safer and cleaner. This will also make purchasing in the markets more attractive. The revenues of merchants and municipalities – through the leasing of market stalls – will increase.

Citizens and their interest groups in the municipalities can now articulate and raise their concerns via digital citizen monitoring, which was created by the project. As a result, they are more involved in municipal decisions.

The project contributes to the achievement of these following United Nations Sustainable Development Goals:

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KfW Development Bank

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