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National Launching Workshop of the extension phase of the Green Secondary Cities Development Program held in Senegal

April 6, 2018 – Dakar, Senegal – Following the formulation of the guidelines for green secondary cities development approved by the Government of Senegal (GoS) in 2016, GGGI has been supporting the roadmap for their implementation in three pilot cities in 2017, which are Tivaouane, Kolda and the Urban Pole of Diamniadio new City. The achievements include the formulation of Green City Development Strategies and a Roadmap to put these cities on a transition path to Green Growth by 2035. For 2018, the objective is to roll out the initiative into 10 new localities and maximize/consolidate the results achieved in the three pilot cities. The cities are as follows: Cap Skiring, Dahra, Diaobe, Fatick, Kedougou, Kidira, Mboro, Ourossogui, Sedhiou & Touba.

Today’s National Launching Workshop was chaired by the Minister of Environment & Sustainable Development. In his opening speech, he stressed that climate change is a reality that affects all parts of the world. The Green Secondary Cities Development Program will provide solutions to the challenges of rapid urbanization that increases the vulnerability of secondary cities to climate change. Finally, he urged the mayors of the 10 cities to increase their commitment and leadership to ensure a strong mobilization of all the active forces, with the hope that the concept will be universally adopted and applied in the whole country. In his speech the Representative of the Association of mayors has indicated the need to change the paradigm and to opt for a realistic model of urban development that places a strong emphasis on renewable energies.

The testimonies of the three pilot cities made by the Delegue General of the Urban Poles, the Mayor of Tivaouane and the Mayor of Kolda, focused on the need for a strong mobilization of the municipal actors and on the approach developed by GGGI which is part of an overall dynamic and prospective model. These interventions have generated a lot of interest from the mayors of the new cities who have marked their commitment and expressed the need to address complex challenges that affect their towns. The ceremony was attended by about 100 people from the Government institutions, secondary cities, civil society organizations, the private sector, international organizations and bilateral agencies.

As part of the program implementation approach, GGGI has established a core team of high-level experts to support the formulation of Green Secondary Cities Development Strategies & Implementation Roadmap in 2018 and beyond. The first meeting of the core team took place on March 27, 2018, as an information session attended by a dozen experts, from different parts of the country. The objective was to clarify their roles and mission and discuss the implementation approach of the Green Secondary Cities Development Program. The model of the core team to support the roll out and expansion of the green secondary cities development is part of GGGI’s strategies of long-term capacity building.