As part of the trial of the Programme Approach in Togo, a Steering Committee (COPIL), a body for analysis, guidance, influence, consultation and decision-making, has been set up, made up of representatives of ministries, civil society organisations, the umbrella organisation of communes and regional technical services. Its purpose is to provide strategic guidance for the implementation of the Programme Approach in order to ensure its successful deployment.
This body held its last statutory meeting of the year 2023 on 19 and 20 December 2023 in the Savanes region, at the Dapaong hotel. 16 statutory members out of 18 and the governor of Aide et Action/Action Education Togo and the International Council, Mrs Jeannine K. AGOUNKE, took part in the meeting.
This last COPIL meeting of 2023: (i) took stock of the roll-out of the programme approach and the progress made in the 02 experimental municipalities, (ii) collected guidelines or suggestions for the effectiveness of the experiment and (iii) shared the outlook for 2024.
As a prelude to the COPIL session, a field visit to the two communes testing the Programme Approach (Oti-sud2 and Tône2) was organised on 19 December 2023.
The analyses and discussions during the field visit and the COPIL meeting revealed the following lessons, among others, about the quality and effectiveness of the deployment of this approach: the rallying/cohesion of stakeholders, including the traditional chiefs of the various cantons in the two communes; the leadership and impartiality of the mayors (particularly in Tône2) in mobilising the active forces and all levels of society; the strengthening of synergy between stakeholders; etc.
At the end of the meeting, seven recommendations were made, two of which stand out: to speed up the process of supporting micro-projects, given the high expectations of communities, and to mobilise resources and partners (other stakeholders) to support the preparation of the Communal Development Plan (CDP) for the Tone2 commune.
