Benin/Financing the SDGs at the local level: The ANCB is working to set up a participatory financing platform

The Digital and Technological Innovation thematic commission of the National Association of Benin Municipalities (ANCB) held its first ordinary session of the current year from Thursday 11 to Friday 12 August 2022 in Covè. Funded by the Government, the session which brought together Mayors, Deputy Mayors, elected officials and technical executives of the municipalities as well as resource persons, allowed to propose strategies and a roadmap to the National Office of the ANCB in order to set up a participatory financing platform.

This platform, which is one of the responses of the umbrella organization of Beninese communes to the challenges of mobilizing resources to finance local development projects, was selected following a study conducted by the ANCB in 2020 with the financial support of the German Cooperation (GIZ) through the Support Program for Decentralization and Development of Communes (Programme Appui à la Décentralisation et Développement des Communes).This platform, which is one of the responses of the umbrella organization of Beninese communes to the challenges of mobilizing resources to finance local development projects, was selected following a study conducted by the ANCB in 2020 with the financial support of the German Cooperation (GIZ) through the Support Program for Decentralization and Development of Communes (PDDC).

For the occasion, participants were entitled to presentations on the policy, directions and achievements of the Government in the Digital sector.

In her speech at the opening of the session, Irène BEHANZIN, Third Deputy Mayor of Cotonou and President of the Digital and Technological Innovation thematic commission invited the participants to give the best of themselves in order to help the ANCB to put at the disposal of its members, tools allowing them to take advantage of the numerous possibilities that the digital sector offers.

For the cabinet director of the ANCB president Robert HANGNILO, one of the major concerns of the umbrella organization at present is the operationalization of the participatory financing platform whose relevance is not in doubt. He therefore invited the participants, on behalf of ANCB President Luc Sètondji ATROKPO, to work selflessly to achieve the objectives of the session.

Agreeing in the same sense, the Mayor of Covè and Deputy Secretary General of ANCB said that it is now impossible to do without digital technology in life. Auguste AHIHUNHIN therefore congratulated the President of ANCB Luc Sètondji ATROKPO for the initiative of setting up a platform of participatory financing before thanking him for the choice of his town to host the session.

Source: www.ancb.bj