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Support to an Integrated and Sustainable Local Development and to Territorial Articulation Platforms

The objectives The programme aims to support the Tunisian Government in the development and operationalization of their policies of decentralization and democratic local governance in accordance with the Constitution of 27 January 2014. This overall objective will be achieved through the identification and institutionalization of mechanisms for consultation, coordination and articulation at national, regional and local levels. These mechanisms will strengthen the planning process within the framework of the Post 2015 development agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Furthermore, the programme aims to support local communities in their efforts to initiate a process of sustainable and integrated economic and social development. Local governments, as decision-making bodies close to citizens, are able to better define their needs and initiate development activities that have greater impact on people's lives. Thus, the link between the local and national level becomes strategic in promoting democratic local governance and local development.

The actions of the programme target in particular youth and women, the most exposed groups to the problem of unemployment, as well as people living below the poverty line. In this regard, young people are taken into consideration throughout the interventions as a crosscutting theme, through which other issues such as education, migration, job creation and local economic development will be addressed.

BUDGET  Total Required Ressources : USD 3 250 000 Allocated Ressources : USD 350 000 Ressources to be mobilized : USD 2 900 000

The pilot regions have been identified based on regional development indices, the presence of other TFPs in the field and the existence of other UNDP projects

Duration of the Programme : 2015 - 2018 Intervention Areas: - Pilot Regions: Medenine, Mahdia and Siliana - Pilot Municipalities: Beni Khedech, Medenine, Kesra, Siliana, Bou Merdes and Mahdia ;

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Context and Key program partners

This programme is identified within the framework of the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) in Tunisia for 2015-2019. The Ministry of Development, Investment, and International Cooperation (MDIIC) and the Ministry of Interior (MI) are the main national partners in charge of the coordination of the project, which will be implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Other partners may join the programme, specially the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF).

The programme has been also identified within the framework of the UNDP ART Initiative (Articulation of Territorial Networks Initiative for Sustainable Human Development). This global initiative was launched in 2005 in order to develop a methodological approach to enhance development effectiveness at the local level, to ensure the multi-level articulation of development actors and inclusive ownership of local development strategies, particularly through the strengthening of existing cooperation structures in the territories.

The programme covers the period 2015-2018 and targets three regions (Medenine Mahdia and Siliana) and six municipalities (Beni Khedech, Medenine, Kesra, Siliana, Bou Merdes and Mahdia) in its pilot phase.

The implementation of the programme actions will start in the region of Medenine and will be extended to other pilot regions as additional financial resources are mobilized. It is expected that the project can be replicated in a greater number of regions and municipalities in the second phase.

Capacity Building

In order to ensure the success of the programme, capacity building actions are considered a key element to achieve sustainable results. The project promotes a “learning by doing” methodology as well as the exchanges on what works and what does not work.

The programme will seek to strengthen the capacity of local authorities on the basis of a self-assessment of their needs. The knowledge generated from the action on the ground will be systematized and disseminated at national level so that it can contribute

to decentralization and democratic local governance processes.

The programme will mobilize decentralized cooperation networks (local authorities, civil society organizations, the private

sector, and academia) that are interested in working jointly with development partners in other countries. The programme will facilitate triangular, South-South and North-South cooperation oriented to share information on best practices and innovations that can contribute to initiate, develop or implement public policies that are the responsibility of local authorities.

The main Partners: - Ministry of Development and International Cooperation (MDCI) - Ministry of Interior (MI) - 3 Regions and 6 Municipalities

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The Territorial Approach The territorial approach promotes the joint work of the plurality of players in a given territory (local authorities, civil society organizations, academia, the private sector, groups traditionally excluded) for the promotion of the sustainable development of that territory. The program and adopts a participatory strategy that reduce conflicts and social and environmental risks. Reinforce Local Governance Multi-level (national, regional and local); multi-sector (education, health, environment, economic, etc.) and multi-partner (public sector, private sector, civil society, academia, technical and financial partners, etc.) mechanisms will be put in place to ensure an integrated approach to local development. They allow the alignment among the development activities on the ground, the priorities emanating from the territory and the national policies, at the same time facilitating the consultations on the post 2015 agenda.

At the national level, a National Coordination Committee (NCC) will be established as a forum for consultation articulation and coordination in support of decentralization and local development processes. The NCC facilitates dialogue between the national and sub national levels, and a better coordination between technical and financial partners involved in supporting local development in the perspective of reducing the fragmentation of aid (Paris Declaration, March 2005; Accra Action Plan, September 2008; Busan Partnership, December 2011) and in support of ODD localization.

At the Regional level, the Regional Working Groups (RWG) will support the Municipal Councils in fostering participation for development planning, and articulation with the municipal and national levels. In the same sense at the local level, the Municipal Working Groups (MWG) will support the municipal councils in facilitating a consultation and coordination framework for local planning and harmonization of actions.

The interconnection between levels allows enriching the reform process of the national policy on decentralization and local governance with discussions emerging from regions and municipalities. In other words, the participatory approach, the involvement of actors at the sub-national level and the sharing of best local democratic governance practices are expected to significantly enrich the political reform process and its implementation. On the other hand, territorial actors can benefit from these multi-level mechanisms in order to participate in debates on national and international policy agendas.

Thus, the program will capitalize on the consultation exercise launched during 2014 as part of the definition of the Agenda Post -2015, which allowed Tunisia to be among the pioneering countries in the process of localization of the SDGs.

Benefic iar ies  

-­‐ 3 regional councils and RWG -­‐ 6 municipal councils and MWG -­‐ The populations of the 6 target

municipalities (about 157,000), including:

-­‐ Young men and women between 18 and 35 who suffer from the highest rates of unemployment and

-­‐ People living below the poverty line.

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Enhance Local Economic Development (LED) The project promotes an integrated territorial approach to human development including economic, social and environmental components of sustainable development. The approach encourages inclusive and participatory dynamics among public, private and civil actors in the formulation of LED strategies; the definition of local priorities; the assessment of endogenous potential and; the identification of required services.

The program will support the identification or reinforcement of a LED mechanism, including LED funding mechanisms. The program will thus optimize the possibilities of funding (public, private and international cooperation) at local and regional levels and introduce tools to strengthen public-private partnerships to contribute to poverty reduction, job creation and income generation.

Key  Result s  

In  Support  of  Local  Governance:    

1. Accompany the process of political reform and support its implementation, ensuring the capitalization of good practices in democratic local governance and decentralisation. Among the good practices will be the horizontal and vertical institutional dialogue to ensure the coherence between the actions implemented at regional and municipal levels and the national policies; the enhanced coordination of interventions and their alignment to the priorities identified by territorial actors; and the results of demonstrative projects.

2. Reinforce territorial actors participation in national and international decision-making, including the localization of the Post 2015 agenda.

3. Promote participatory regional and municipal planning processes.

In  Support  of  Local  Economic  Development:  

1. Elaborate local economic development (LED) strategies and action plans to improve employment opportunities (especially for youth and women), to generate revenues and to strengthen social cohesion in the pilot areas.

2. Promote public-private partnerships and sustainable private sector involvement in local development.

3. Identify and support a mechanism to promote the LED in pilot regions and strengthen the modalities and instruments for LED financing.

In  Support  of  Capacity  Bui lding:  1. Promote capacity building and knowledge sharing through peer-to-peer learning and the promotion of South-South and triangular cooperation mechanisms.

2. Support the creation of a national platform for coordination of the Decentralised Cooperation and foster partnerships focused on the exchange of know how and technical expertise.

3. Create a knowledge management tool to improve discussions on decentralization and integrated sustainable development at the local level.