Inclusive municipal development and decentralization in Madagascar

As of March 2017, the Governance Portfolio of the GFA Africa Department has been supporting GIZ in Madagascar in implementing the Inclusive Municipal Development and Decentralization project (ProDéCID). The project aims at empowering rural municipalities as key actors in local economic development. Managed from two project offices in Antananarivo and Diego Suarez, this project’s intervention area encompasses the three diverse regions of Analamanga, Boeny and Diana that are characterized by agricultural activities.

GFA is responsible for diverse services in the project's intervention area 2, Local Economic Development, while cooperating closely with the other three GIZ-implemented intervention areas. The GFA team focuses on strengthening selected municipalities’ capacities to collaborate with local business initiatives and make use of their potential. For example, the experts intend to reinforce the municipalities' capacities to collaborate with the private sector. The project is based on a commune-centered approach, which fosters dialogue and cooperation processes between the different economic actors. Potential innovations in local value chain management are identified in order to boost local economic growth and income.

GFA has a team of six long-term experts, four support staff and a pool of international and national short-term experts available. They will support the implementation of 30 specific initiatives for economic development that are developed in a dialogue between private sector actors and relevant municipalities. Ten initiatives are directed by female entrepreneurs. The ongoing intervention period for the intervention area GFA is responsible for lasts from March 2017 to December 2018.