New leaders aren't enough for hashtag #decentralization to succeed

With council elections approaching across hashtag#Cameroon and several African nations (hashtag#SouthAfrica, hashtag#Benin and hashtag#Somaliland) this year, the spotlight is on “who” will lead. But after 7 years of observing 384 councils in hashtag#Cameroon, I’ve realized the “who” matters less than the “how.”
The gap between hashtag#decentralization policy and reality isn’t a lack of political will. It’s a lack of infrastructure.

Let’s briefly focus on the hashtag#DigitalInfrastructure

hashtag#Decentralization isn’t just waiting for better laws. It’s about systems that actually serve the community. To build a resilient hashtag#council in 2026, we need two things in my humble opinion:

1) The “Brain”: High-level HR Governance. You cannot manage a territory without a standard for those leading it. This was the core of my work with the International Communities Organization (hashtag#ICO) in London, where my team and I engineered an HR Manual specifically for local hashtag#councils in hashtag#Cameroon.
2) The “Nervous System”: Digital Public Infrastructure (hashtag#DPI). This is what moves data and services to the citizens. Without a digital framework, localized growth remains a dream.
We cannot bridge the Humanitarian-Development-Peace (hashtag#HDP) nexus in fragile regions by building one-off projects. We have to engineer the whole system.
I’d like to hear from experts at hashtag#UNDP, hashtag#WorldBank, and hashtag#AfDB. As we navigate this election year, how are you integrating hashtag#GovTech and hashtag#eGov into territorial strategies to ensure these new councils have a system that actually works?