ACPLGP partners

The European Centre for Development Policy Management has been fostering better trade and aid relations between the European Union and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries since 1986. It deals with the international policies that govern development between the ACP countries and EU member states. Chief among these is the Cotonou Partnership Agreement, signed in June 2000 by 77 ACP countries and 15 EU member states. Its mission is to help make these policies work by helping individuals and organisations to build their own capacity, so that these stakeholders are well informed and confident to join negotiations and broker the best possible deals for their countries or communities. To this end, it offers a range of resources and expertise for stakeholders to draw on when navigating the maze of ACP-EU policy: policy-related research and information; capacity-building approaches; hands-on facilitation of dialogue between parties; networking, seminars and conferences.

The Municipal Development Partnership for Africa, formerly constituted and operated as the Municipal Development Programme for Sub Saharan Africa, was established by the World Bank in 1991, with the mandate of supporting the process of decentralisation and the strengthening of capacities of municipalities in Sub Saharan Africa.  MDP has two regional offices from which it operates: a Western and Central Africa office based in Cotonou, Benin (PDM), and an Eastern and Southern Africa office based in Harare, Zimbabwe (MDPESA). Following decisions reached by African local government leaders at the bi-annual African Local Government Summit (Africities 2) in Windhoek, Namibia in 2000, MDP has now become a partnership agency which brings together 18 national and regional associations of local government in Africa and the traditional donors and development agencies which have been supporting its programme activities.

The Municipal Development Partnership for Eastern and Southern Africa is an active and hands-on capacity building facility with the aim of enabling effective self-governance at local level in Sub-Saharan Africa. It promotes alternative development approaches to problems and issues that affect local authorities by placing emphasis on ownership and direct participation of key stakeholders. The Municipal Development Partnership for Eastern and Southern Africa operates in 25 countries in Eastern and Southern Africa.