WORKSHOP ART - ISI@MED « The territorial approach for sustainable human development » In the context of the Africités Summit in Dakar 2012 6 December 2012 – 14:30 – 18:30 Room B 06 Conference Center KFP Hotel
Workshop structure The workshop will be structured around three panels and will be complemented by a discussion at ministerial level on the future of the African continent regarding the post-2015 challenges.
Panel 1: Official Opening - The added value of the territorial approach for the post-2015 development vision Regional and local authorities, as decision-making bodies closer to the citizen, are responsible for ensuring access to basic services and to improve the quality of life in their communities. They are also the linkage between the citizen and national governments, thus strategic in promoting democratic decentralization, good governance and local development. Similarly, mutually enriching relationships between and among territories of both the North and South is an innovative approach to development which links the communities and countries on issues of common interest that directly affect the lives of citizens and are at the heart of the decisions of local administrators and national politicians alike. With a territorial approach to development, regional and local actors can play a key role in putting the citizens at the center of the definition and implementation of national plans and strategies for poverty reduction. Thus, the importance of applying a territorial lens to national development policies and global debates is gaining increasing significance, as reflected by the inclusion of the territorial approach to development in global discussions such as the Busan HLF-4 and the 2012 ECOSOC Development Cooperation Forum. In this context, the official opening will seek to frame the discussions within the global political debate on the changing context of development. The high-level officials will discuss the importance of the territorial approach and the key role of local governments and actors to go beyond the structural causes of poverty, inequality and exclusion, of the importance of the relationship between local governance, local development and the concept of sustainable human development. They will also debate the need for policy coherence at the global, national and local levels to effectively promote sustainable human development. The debate will be based on the African specificities and will aim to provide strategic contributions on the role of the territorial approach in defining the post-2015 UN Development Agenda.
1