The meeting was an opportunity to share experiences in preparing the Strategic Action Plan component of the CDS, currently being finalised with the support of the technical partners of the project. The Strategic Action Plans define the projects and programmes to be implemented in the short, medium and long term in order to realise the strategic objectives and vision of the respective city.

Following the methodology developed by MedCities, the meeting also marked the passage to the final phase of the project, which involves creating the conditions for the implementation of the CDS. This phase defines the technical and political structures that will steer, manage and monitor the performance of the strategic plan, mobilise resources and stakeholders for the implementation of projects and evaluate their impact through a set of indicators.

The event benefited from the participation of a representative of the city of Tétouan (Morocco), who were invited to present the city’s experience in implementing, monitoring and evaluating a strategic plan.

As the methodological partner of Madinatouna, on 6th July MedCities organised a workshop, along with the technical partners, for the review of the methodology based on the identification of important issues and the specification of adaptations and improvements to be introduced.

The short guide that was the outcome of the methodological workshop will be included in the report of the project, which will be produced in the coming months by the various Madinatouna partners. The aim of the report is to capitalise on the experiences and lessons learnt during implementation as a way to streamline strategic planning in Tunisia, as the country makes efforts to increase decentralisation.

Active since November 2016, the Madinatouna project is coordinated by UNDP Tunisia, in partnership with MedCities, GiZ, CILG-VNGi and the National Federation of Tunisian Cities.