Africa – Local economic development (2015)

Decentralisation is an extensive institutional reform that is considered by many analysts as the most fundamental reform since most African countries got their independence. Today, it has become a tidal wave sweeping across the 31 million km2 of Africa and affecting the life of its population of about a billion people. Designed as a political strategy for the provision of local public services to the greatest number, decentralization faces two challenges: a rapidly growing population (2.5% per year), characterized by its extreme youth (median age: 20), is made up of a mosaic of peoples speaking many languages; urban development; the rate of urbanization in African countries ranges from 40% to 70% with a strong growth in metropolises with more than one million inhabitants that are beset at varying degrees by the rapid growth of impoverished suburbs, as well as deficiencies in infrastructure, public transportation and basic urban services.

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