Senegal - The Urban Development and Decentralization Program

54802 No. 162 July 2000 Senegal: the Urban Development and Decentralization Program After twenty-five years of experience in the urban development sector in Africa and nearly 400 projects involving a combined investment of US$25 billion, an in-depth study distill lessons from this experience and identifies strategic thrusts for future operations. The Future of African Cities: Urban Development Issues and Priorities presents policy guidelines already built into a number of new projects. This article deals initially with the African situation and then looks at the Senegal experience. The Future of African Cities: New Problem Issues Urban management growing in complexity The urban population is fast becoming the majority: In western Africa, it will represent 65 percent of the total population (270 out of 430 million) by 2020. Imbalance between urban capacities and community resources: Today, urban areas, which account for only one-third of the total population, are credited with 60 percent of the countries' GDP, while the municipalities collect 1 percent of the urban GDP, or US$6 to 8 per capita. There is a similar disparity between the dynamic found in cities and the technical staffing of municipalities. Urban poverty is growing more acute and squatter settlements are spreading: The unfortunate consequence of the haphazard spread of housing, due to the government's inability to organize it and manage land issues in an orderly fashion, is that the provision of basic services is impeded. Unsuitability of urban planning tools. An intractable crisis Resource constraints due to the combined impact of demand from a larger group of countries and greater accountability demanded by the international donor community. Lack of local taxation: Taxation is thwarted by the people's reluctance to pay. What is more, the financial weakness of the municipalities stems as much from their management as from their reliance on oversight. A low-value-added economy that basically relies on the informal sector. Rebuilding the institutional landscape Disappearance of the welfare state, which was the unique feature of the Francophone countries in Africa since they gained their independence. Decentralization, which is found in most African countries and has strengthened the role of local governments without providing them with the technical and financial resources needed to fulfill their new mission. Weakening of central government and emergence of the associative sector: The weakening of government was not accompanied by a strengthening of the public or para-public sector (except in the commercial services sector); rather, it spawned an associative sector built on local solidarity movements. The arrival of new actors: The institutional landscape was enriched by the creation of delegated contract management agencies during the 1990s (Agences d'Ex