Les pratiques et les instruments de developpement local en Afrique de l’Ouest et leur lien avec les Objectifs du Millenaire pour le Developpement : synthese des etudes de capitalisation des projets FENU : Benin, Burkina Faso, Guieée, Mali, Niger, Senegal

Report on UNCDF’s experiences with local development and decentralization in West Africa. The report represents a synthesis of studies on UNCDF work in Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Niger, Mali and Senegal. Its purpose is to present new thinking and approaches to local development and also to stimulate and support an exchange of ideas among practitioners, locally-elected officials, citizens and development partners. The report presents an analysis of the political and legal contexts in which local development projects, including rural water supply and sanitation, take place and explains how this environment influences their implementation. It also highlights the difficulties UNCDF and its development partners face in implementing decentralization policies and programmes in the region. Furthermore, the report describes the instruments and tools commonly used in UNCDF’s decentralization and local development projects and focuses on the development results obtained. Finally, the report pays a great deal of attention to partnership in all its forms. On a broader note, the report seeks to link decentralization and local development in local communities in rural areas with the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.