Yesterday 5th May 2022, I had the honor of delivering the keynote address to the Dialogue 2030 Conference in Bonn, Germany. Organized by Engagement Global and hosted by the Mayor of Bonn, the conference brought together municipal leaders (including Mayor Peter Kurz of Mannheim), business leaders, NGOs and academics from across Germany and from partner countries.
I participated in a panel discussion with Dr Barbel Kofler, Parliamentary Secretary in the German Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development before delivering my keynote address. In my address I recognized that Germany has over 10,750 municipalities and that effective decentralisation of urban planning and service delivery functions to local authorities contributed significantly to the country’s development.
I stated that the challenges faced by many municipalities in developing countries include; lack of decentralisation and ineffective implementation of critical urban management functions (especially building permits and land use planning); lack of or restricted access to capital; and the current ecological crisis (climate change, loss of biodiversity and severe water shortages). I explained how through an inclusive, data driven and technology enabled approach, FCC is using the #TransformFreetown framework to address the challenges of our city and how that framework aligns with the SDGs.
Together with Councillor Mohammed Darboh, Budget & Finance Committee Chairman we used the opportunity to meet with GIZ and the Mannheim city team. We have an ongoing partnership focused on strengthening the city’s urban planning capacity through the recruitment of international and local expert urban planners in anticipation of eventual decentralisation. Additionally GIZ is the donor agency supporting the recently concluded C40Cities due diligence mission on the Freetown Cable Car system so it was an opportunity to be updated on next steps in that process too.
#FurtherTogether
#TransformFreetown
