Marrakech, Morocco, November 24 – Representatives of the GGGI Morocco team participated in the 8th Africities Summit, organized by United Cities and Local Governments of Africa (UCLG Africa) in collaboration with the Moroccan Association of Presidents of Communal Councils (AMPCC) and the Association of Regions of Morocco (ARM) with the support of the Ministry of the Interior of the Kingdom of Morocco. The Summit hosted 8,300 participants representing over 77 countries, including 53 African countries and nearly 3,000 local elected representatives, mayors and other leaders of local authorities. The Africities Summit is the largest platform for dialogue in Africa on decentralization, local governance, and the contribution of local and territorial communities to Africa’s development and integration. This Summit’s theme was “The Transition to Sustainable Cities and Territories, the Role of Local Authorities in Africa.” Three days were organized around the issues of migration, climate and urban planning.

On November 21, Nicole Perkins, GGGI’s Country Representative for Morocco participated in roundtable discussions “Taking action to localizing climate finance: preparing projects, strengthening local engineering, accessing financing” and presented GGGI’s technical assistance to the Government of Morocco to design a multi-sector National Financing Vehicle to support the financing of bankable projects aligned with Morocco’s National Sustainable Development Strategy, Nationally Determined Contribution and Sustainable Development Goals. Mr. Carlos de Freitas, Head of Programs for FMDV/Global Fund for Cities Development moderated the roundable, which included the participation of Rajae Chafil, Director of 4C (Climate Change Skills Center), Mr. Bouzekri Razi, Director of the Climate Change Department at the Secretariat of State for Sustainable Development, and Mr. Victor Gancel, Programme Manager – Low Carbon City Lab, Climate-KIC.