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Africa put to the test by Open Local Governance: AfricTivistes sets the tone

25 octobre 2023

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Dakar – 12 July 2021

AfricTivistes will bring together stakeholders in open local governance from across the West African sub-region to exchange ideas and reflect on the theme “Africa and the Challenge of Open Local Governance” at the launch seminar for its Local Open GovLab (LOG) project, on Thursday 29 July in Dakar, Senegal.

AfricTivistes’ Local Open GovLab (LOG) is a project that supports and works with local authorities through digital technology to promote inclusive and participatory governance. It provides a six-month supported programme in open local governance, with an AfricTivistes Volunteer for Open Local Governance (VAGOA) assigned to each participating authority.

The event will bring together local governance and open data stakeholders, government representatives and civil society, particularly the mayors of the seven local authorities participating in LOG in Senegal, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau and Niger. They will identify one another’s needs and agree on shared objectives.

Selected through an open call for applications, the seven local authorities are the municipalities of Fass-Gueule Tapée-Colobane and Rufisque in Senegal; Kouroussa and Laba in Guinea; Dankassari and Matankari in Niger; and Bissau in Guinea-Bissau.

During the seminar, speakers will discuss current issues in panel sessions on:

  • “Digital public administration: African public services in the digital age”;
  • “Local elected representatives facing the challenges of openness, transparency and co-creation”.

An opening lecture on Open Local Governance will also be delivered at the event.

During the event, the mayors of the seven municipalities will sign agreements confirming their commitment to hosting the project. Alongside AfricTivistes, they will endorse the Dakar Declaration on Open Local Governance, committing to strengthening participatory democracy, budget transparency and access to information in their local authorities.

Many governments have pledged to adopt the principles of open government: promoting citizen participation, guaranteeing access to public information and being accountable to their populations. Embracing this approach across communities, civil society and public authorities helps set out a clear vision for public administration and how people can contribute to the development of their local authorities.

About AfricTivistes

AfricTivistes is a pan-African organisation based in Dakar. It brings together bloggers and web activists from across the continent to promote and defend democratic values, human rights and good governance through digital technology. Launched in November 2015, AfricTivistes acts as a guardian of democracy in African countries. In this role, the organisation is committed to intervening directly or advocating for others to intervene in processes of political and social change. It leads and manages development projects and initiatives that encourage citizens to engage with democratic processes. It also develops strategies to monitor—and encourage scrutiny of—political leaders’ actions and the fulfilment of their promises, in order to promote transparency and good governance. AfricTivistes is a showcase for enhanced citizenship in Africa.

For further information, please contact:

Seydina Bilal Diallo, Communications Assistant
AfricTivistes, Local Open Lab
77 202 11 94
bilal.dialllo@africtivistes.org
http://log.africtivistes.org

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