LoGRI Concludes New Property Tax Capacity Building Program in Cotonou, Benin

From October 25-27, the Local Government Revenue Initiative (LoGRI) ran a series of in-person training modules as a part of the recently launched Property Tax Development Program (PTDP) in Cotonou, Benin. This year’s cohort was comprised of 17 talented individuals, hailing from 11 different countries within the continent.

The PTDP in Cotonou

This 3-day training workshop came in the wake of eight online classes conducted throughout the fall and marked the end of the course. While the virtual modules sought to provide participants with a foundational understanding of the property tax cycle, the in-person session allowed participants to deepen their learning through practical exercises that delved into the political and technical elements of property tax reform, while encouraging mutual learning and cross-country collaboration.

“Engaging with this first cohort has been very exciting and insightful,” said LoGRI Executive Director Titilola Akindeinde. “We are seeing that they actually want this knowledge and that they are finding it really useful for their own contexts.”

When asked why he chose to participate in the PTDP, Arsène Dansi, a local tax consultant with the Ministry of Finance and Budget in Cote d’Ivoire, said that “everything we learn in this training program can be put into practice as soon as we get home. The elements we learn are concrete. They are based on case studies that are directly applicable.”

“The course allows participants to “master the entire cycle, better understand the institutional, technological and political challenges related to property tax… and propose an innovative approach to improve these systems.” Said Arsène.

Building Property Tax Capacity

The PTDP is constitutive of LoGRI’s commitment to capacity building across lower income countries for property tax reform. The PTDP seeks to equip participants with the knowledge base and practical tools to support and sustain property tax reform within their municipalities, while connecting them to likeminded professionals from across Africa.

LoGRI Chair and Associate Professor at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, Wilson Prichard, expressed that his hope is that through this program – and LoGRI’s  wider advisory work and research activities – we can continue to “work with government officials and professionals to think about how [we] can diagnose reform challenges and build up fit for purpose, locally appropriate reform strategies.”