10030260-Support for enhancing territorial potential for inclusive local development in northern Togo

The project "Integrated Territorial Development and Good Governance in Togo" is implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). It supports the Government of Togo in advancing decentralisation and territorial development in the regions of Kara and Savanes. Despite progress in decentralisation, regional and local authorities face persistent challenges in exercising transferred competences, delivering quality public services, mobilising local revenues and promoting inclusive local economic development. These constraints are compounded by poverty, climate change, demographic pressure and a fragile security context in northern Togo. The overall objective is to enable regional and local actors to harness the social and economic potential of their territories to improve living conditions in an equitable and sustainable manner. The project applies an integrated territorial development approach with capacity development at individual, organisational and institutional levels. It cooperates with national ministries (Ministry of Local Development, Ministry of Decentralisation, Ministry of Finance), regional councils and municipalities, the National Training Agency for Local Authorities (Agence nationale de formation des collectivités territoriales, ANFCT), the National Association of Municipalities (Faîtière des Communes du Togo, FCT), civil society organisations and private sector actors. To sustain decentralisation and territorialisation efforts, the project also aims at strengthening socio-economic resilience, in particular of communities in the Northen border regions, and provide economic perspectives, in particular for young people. Activities are structured around three complementary outputs: (1) Strengthening the capacities of regional and local authorities to implement transferred competences. (2) Improving collaboration between public institutions, local authorities, civil society and the private sector for inclusive and conflict-sensitive territorial development. (3) Strengthening transparent, participatory and accountable local public financial management. Innovative elements include municipal benchmarking, peer-to-peer learning, digital solutions for local governance, performance-based management and evidence-based decision-making. Gender equality, social inclusion (LNOB), climate resilience, conflict sensitivity and digitalisation are mainstreamed across all interventions to ensure sustainable and scalable results. The assignment targets 38 municipalities in Kara and Savanes through FCT and ANFCT, with a view to progressive replication towards all 117 municipalities. Benchmarking and peer learning will be designed, piloted and institutionalised to steer capacity development and foster continuous improvement. In addition, specialised technical assistance will complement these mechanisms across the three outputs, including support for implementing transferred competences, facilitating inclusive territorial collaboration and strengthening local public financial management (e. g. participatory budgeting, revenue mobilisation, transparency and anti-corruption), while ensuring digital solutions adhere to recognised standards and are interoperable with national ecosystems.