2022 Award "Best Practice in Citizen Participation"

The project to set up and sustain a digital democracy and accountability platform in the municipalities of Cotonou, Abomey-Calavi and Akpro-Missérété is an initiative of the Le Municipal Foundation and the National Association of Municipalities of Benin. It is financed by the Strengthening and Participation of Civil Society (RePaSOC) program on the 11th European Development Fund and has made it possible to set up a digital platform consisting of a website (

www.communesplus.com (External link)) and a Communes+ app (available for androids: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.communesplus.commuesplus (External link) and iPhones: https://apps.apple.com/app/communes-plus /id1559620411 (External link)).

The official activities of the Project were launched at the Conference Room of the Ministry of Decentralization and Local Governance in Cotonou, on July 26, 2019, by Minister Alassane SEIDOU in person. The Mayors of the three partner municipalities were also all present at the launch of the Project. The two tools developed as part of the Project were made available to the public during an Official Launch Ceremony on March 05, 2021 at the Conference Room of the Town Hall of Cotonou by the Director of Cabinet of the Ministry of Decentralization and Local Governance (MDGL), in the presence of all the actors.

This innovation from the Le Municipal Foundation contributes to meeting the current challenge for Benin to achieve participatory decentralization, which makes it possible to mobilize all the actors around the mayor and the communal or municipal council. The aim is to develop an innovative internet solution, easily accessible and capable of resolving in a revolutionary way, in a single investment, the four problems that undermine local governance:

• Citizens' access to information on municipal management to improve citizen participation;
• Feedback from citizens and their contribution to decision-making, the management of municipal affairs and the formulation of municipal public policies;
• The interactive exchanges between the municipal administration and the citizens, the discussion of the concerns of the municipality with the contribution of the populations, the possibility granted to the citizens to follow the sessions of the municipal or municipal council live, the possibility for the Mayor to hold online accountability sessions to allow citizens to access accountability documents or images at any time;
• Dissemination of good practices.

The results of the Project have made it possible to see, in a few days of extension, the enthusiasm of municipal actors who have downloaded the application more than a thousand times in one week and visited the website more than 20 thousand times, especially the page of the city ​​of Cotonou. For the first time in the history of decentralization in Benin, the most unavailable documents such as administrative accounts, municipal budgets, annual work plans, past contracts and the mayor's agenda are available online and accessible at all citizens.

More information:

https://web.facebook.com/Fondationlemunicipal (External link)

Rapport final (External link)

https://youtu.be/sBqnr6yi1dI (External link)