Before his election as Mayor of Porto Novo, In 2019, following the constitutional revision, he joined the party UNION PROGRESSISTE as a founding member. He is also a member of the campaign leadership of the 19th district in charge of external relations and spokesperson. He is notably the UP coordinator of the 5th district of Porto-Novo. Municipal Councillor of the city of Porto-Novo elected on the Union fait la Nation list, he was the rapporteur of the finance commission of the Porto-Novo town hall (third mandate).He holds a Master in Audit and Corporate Finance at IIM University and a DESS in Finance and Management Control at the University of Abomey Calavi.

Porto-Novo

Porto-Novo, city and capital of Benin. It lies on the Gulf of Guinea in western Africa.The city is the administrative capital of the government of Benin. Government buildings include the national archives and the library. Porto-Novo is connected by road and rail to the country’s main industrial centre at Cotonou and by road to Lagos, Nigeria. It has been somewhat bypassed for commercial and industrial development since the building of a railway to the interior and the improvement of deepwater harbour facilities in Cotonou. Numerous African artisans and guilds are in the city. 

Mauricio Vila Dosal is the governor-elect of Yucatan. He ran as the PAN-MC coalition candidate. He served as mayor of Mérida from 2015 to January 2018, when he stepped down to enter the gubernatorial race. He has a law degree from the Universidad Marista de Mérida, an MBA from the University of Phoenix and a master’s degree in political management and strategic governance from George Washington University.

Yucatán

The State of Yucatán It is located in the southeast of the Mexican Republic, in the northern part of the Yucatán peninsula. It is bordered to the north and west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the southeast by the state of Quintana Roo, and to the southwest by the state of Campeche. Most of its territory is a plain, made up mostly of limestone rock. Its territorial extension is 39,524 km 2 . It is made up of 106 municipalities, and its capital is Mérida.

Member of Parliament for Malaga (UCD), between 1977 and 1982, and Senator for Malaga (PP), between 2011 and 2014. Francisco de la Torre was President of the Provincial Council of Malaga and Minister of Economy, Finance and Tourism of the first Pre-Autonomous Board of Andalusia.

In 2020, he was appointed to the advisory board of Unitar, the United Nations Agency for Training and Research. This body ensures that the quality standards adopted in accordance with UNITAR’s mandate and UN guidelines are respected and well integrated into all activities of both the agency and the CIFAL Global Network.

He holds a Degree in Sociology from the Pontifical University of Salamanca; Specialist in Regional Development from Rennes, France; and Doctorate in Agricultural Engineering from the University of Madrid.

Malaga

Málaga is capital of the province in the region of Andalusia. The city is Located on the south of Spain and just over 100 km from Africa, its township occupies 395 km ² and is located in the center of a bay surrounded by mountains and crossed by two rivers, the Guadalhorce and the Guadalmedina that flow into the Mediterranean. With 565,000 inhabitants, Málaga is the sixth largest city in Spain, second in Andalusia and also the most densely populated urban area of 160 km from the Costa del Sol. Its catchment area covers 12 other municipalities totaling more than 850,000 inhabitants.

Mr. José Maria Amado da Fonseca is Mayor of the District of Água Grande, whose capital São Tomé is also the national capital. He was State Secretary for Infrastructure and Environment of the 15th Government of São Tomé; Administrative and Financial Director of the EMAE –Water and Electricity Company; Administrative and Financial Manager of the Supermaritime company. Mr. José Maria Amado da Fonseca holds a master’s degree in financial management and corporate audit from the Polytechnic University of Madrid – CEPADE (Spain), and a degree in business and IT management from IUCAI.

Sao Tome-District of Água Grande

São Tomé is the capital and largest city of the Central African island country of São Tomé and Príncipe. Its name is Portuguese for “Saint Thomas“. Founded in the 15th century, is one of Africa’s oldest colonial cities.

Mr. Osei Assibey Antwi, Mayor of the City of Kumasi, is a prominent entrepreneur, a professional Administrator with more than 20 years of senior management experience, an accomplished politician and an experienced international business leader with numerous business interests in various sectors of the Ghanaian economy

He was one of the leading figures in the Ashanti Region’s political leadership during the 2nd and 3rd term of the fourth republic under President John Agyekum Kuffuor. He served as Deputy Regional Minister of the Region.

Kumasi

Kumasi, population 2.5 million, is the capital of the Ashanti region, a formerly independent kingdom pre-dates the formation of Ghana by 100 years. The city has a rich cultural heritage that is particularly evident in smaller surrounding towns. Trade, textiles, farming and mining are leading industries in Kumasi. It is among the largest metropolitan areas in Ghana. 

Yvonne Aki Sawyer is a finance professional with over 25 years of experience in strategic planning, risk management and project management in the public and private sectors. Yvonne is passionate about the development of Sierra Leone. She is a Chartered Accountant and holds an MSc in Politics of the World Economy (London School of Economics) and a BSc Hons in Economics (Fourah Bay College). She is married with two children.

Yvonne was elected Mayor of Freetown on 7th March 2018 with a commitment to transform the city and improve the lives of Freetonians.

Freetown:

Freetown is Sierra Leone’s capital city and the seat of government. It is the largest city in Sierra Leone and the engine of Sierra Leones economy, creating 30% of the country’s GDP despite housing only 15% of its population, and occupying less than 0.5% of the national land mass. With over one million residents, and a growth rate of 4.2% per annum, Freetown’s population is expected to double by 2028

In this Episode Mohammed Sifiani is speaking about the impact of COVID-19 on the City of Chefchaouen in Morrocco.

The pandemic strongly impacted the economy of the city which had to find creative ways to generate income.

Chefchaouen vision is to achieve the status of sustainable and Ecological city by 2030.

Emilia Saiz – Secretary General of United Cities and Local Governments – World Secretariat. UCLG is the world’s leading local government body and its members represent over 200,000 local governments worldwide. Emilia is a leading global advocate for the role of cities in development and has been instrumental in raising the profile of UCLG, bringing cities and local governments to the table at events that were previously the domain of central governments, the private sector and civil society only. One example is the United Nations itself where UCLG puts Local Governments on the platform. UNCDF has joined with UCLG to create the coalition for a global financial ecosystem that works for cities and local governments. To close the first season of Capital LoCAST, we discuss the next steps for our coalition.

Jean Pierre Elong Mbassi – Secretary General of United Cities and Local Governments – Africa. The future is already here – the scale and speed of African urbanization is striking. It is a phenomenon taking place so fast that conceptions of rural Africa are already outdated. How will Africa finance the jobs, mass public transportation, clean energy, drinking water, affordable housing, parks and public utilities for a beautiful urban future? And how will Africa do this in the face of the climate emergency? This is THE issue for African development right now – yet attention is not yet being paid to it and development finance is full of old-fashioned ideas of what Africa is all about. How can we make local government finance the channel for African development finance? Jean Pierre discusses these challenges with us.

Brock Carlton – Chief Executive Officer of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. Brock believes that “Cities and towns build nations; they just need the power.” Under Brock’s leadership the FCM has become a major factor in Canada’s development path - from strategic partnerships with central government to establishing a role for Canadian municipalities in overseas development. Brock joins us to share the story of how the FCM has evolved to play such a major role, how it unites the interests of large cities such as Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal with those small rural towns and how it has contributed to the unity of a country as diverse as Canada. Brock also details how Canada is pioneering the role of municipalities as international development actors.