Act IV of decentralization: Faly Seck, the president of the HCDS, highlights the "bet of trust" towards the territories

The president of the High Council for Social Dialogue (HCDS), Faly Seck, placed the issue of trust given to territories at the heart of his speech at the opening of the 44th Plenary Assembly of the institution.

Referring to the statements of the President of the Republic, Bassirou Diomaye Diakhar Faye, during the national meeting on Act IV of decentralization, held on July 2, 2026 in Diamniadio, he repeated the two strong expressions used by the Head of State: "founding act" and "act of trust".

For Faly Seck, this confidence reflects the belief in the ability of local areas to drive their own development. This approach, he believes, implies not limiting the reform to a new administrative structure, but fully involving the stakeholders who contribute to the local economy and social fabric.

From this perspective, the president of the HCDS believes that workers and businesses must find their place in the new territorial governance.

“This act calls on local elected officials, decentralized authorities and entrepreneurs. But it calls on us with the same force, we, trade union organizations, employers' organizations, members of the High Council for Social Dialogue. Because no territorial reform succeeds without the workers and businesses that keep the territories alive,” he stressed.

The HCDS thus intends to support Act IV through organized social dialogue at the territorial level. Faly Seck announced that the institution will present to the Government and the National Assembly a proposal to create Territorial Councils for Social Dialogue in each of the eight planned territorial hubs.

“Many local authorities already possess significant legal powers, but lack the human and technical resources to fully exercise them. Local expertise remains weak. And social actors—unions and employer representatives—have not yet found their place in the emerging territorial governance bodies. If we are not careful, we will witness a decentralization of economic decision-making without a decentralization of social dialogue. This would be a missed opportunity. And, above all, it would be a sure source of future conflicts,” explains the president of the HCDS.

Thus, these tripartite bodies would have the missions of preventing social conflicts, contributing to the construction of local development policies and monitoring the implementation of the National Pact for Social Stability and Inclusive and Sustainable Growth, signed on May 1, 2025.

For the president of the HCDS, Act IV can only fully achieve its ambition if the decentralization of economic decision-making is also accompanied by a decentralization of social dialogue. "Prevent, build, verify": three verbs which, according to him, must guide the actions of the future territorial councils for social dialogue.