CoM SSA helps African civil society to play a key role in the implementation of climate action plans

Civil society actors (namely civil society organizations) met for the second time at the initiative of the Covenant of Mayors for Sub-Saharan Africa – CoM SSA in Dakar from July 16 to July 18. This meeting is a continuation of the Lomé meeting that took place from June 25 to June 26 and aimed at strengthening the capacities of these actors to support the signatory cities of the CoM SSA to develop their respective Climate and Energy plans.

Organized by the Board of the CoM SSA and its partners, the Council of European Municipalities and Regions ( CEMR) the ENDA Sustainable Energy Africa Organization ( SEA), and the French Environment and Energy Control Agency (ADEME), which brought together more than 30 civil society organizations (CSOs) from 10 countries, was an opportunity to strengthen the co-construction process to support the signatory cities of the Convention as part of the participatory process of drafting the SEACAPs, and this training invited the participants to embark on more innovations, according to the representative of the Covenant of Mayors for Sub-Saharan Africa and the coordinator of the NGO Enda Energie.

For this second capacity-building workshop, the trainers reviewed the key steps in the development of the energy and climate action plan and presented the concepts and tools of the project monitoring and evaluation for a better analysis of the changes made in the implementation of the projects supported by communities. It was also an opportunity to return to other aspects such as citizen participation for the integration of population concerns in the implementation of development projects, in order to create a climate of trust between citizens and the rulers and to enhance transparency throughout the process.

Peer learning through the presentation of successful experiences in terms of resource mobilization and community support was also a highlight of this training. CSOs have presented proven initiatives that could help capture funding from cities.

At the end of the session, the 30 civil society stakeholders present were invited to formalize the support they will provide to the cities through a letter of commitment with a description of the activities planned as part of the process.