The African Union (AU) adopted the African Charter on the Values and Principles of Decentralisation, Local Governance and Local Development (African Charter on Decentralisation) in 2014. The Charter seeks to promote decentralisation as a vehicle for improving the livelihood of people on the African continent. It is the first to provide a decentralisation framework or model framework for local government for the African continent. Like most international instruments, member states of the AU will only be legally bound by the Charter once they have ratified it. Most Member States of the AU have not ratified the Charter due to varying reasons, including, the fact that the ratification process in many countries is often cumbersome. Non-ratification could also be due to the fact that there is not yet a clear understanding of the meaning and significance of the decentralisation framework which the Charter provides. Thus, the actual impact of the Charter on changing the poor state of local government on the African continent upon coming into operation is as yet unknown. This problem is inflated by the fact that there is present no scholarly commentary on the Charter, given that it is relatively new. This article provides a critical analysis of the Charter, looking at its strengths and weakness, against the background of the international literature on decentralisation and ‘best’ practices on local government.

中文翻译：

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加强非洲的权力下放：《非洲宪章关于权力下放，地方治理和地方发展的价值和原则的回顾》

非洲联盟（AU）于2014年通过了《非洲权力下放，地方治理和地方发展的价值观和原则宪章》（《非洲权力下放宪章》）。该《宪章》旨在促进权力下放，以此作为改善非洲人民生活的工具大陆。它是第一个为非洲大陆地方政府提供权力下放框架或模型框架的机构。像大多数国际文书一样，非盟成员国只有在批准《宪章》后才具有法律约束力。由于种种原因，包括大多数国家的批准过程通常很繁琐，非盟的大多数会员国尚未批准《宪章》。不批准也可能是由于尚未对《宪章》规定的权力下放框架的含义和意义有清楚的了解。因此，《宪章》生效后对改变非洲大陆地方政府贫穷状态的实际影响尚不清楚。由于《宪章》相对较新，目前尚无学术评论，这一事实加剧了这一问题。本文在关于权力下放的国际文献和地方政府的“最佳”做法的背景下，对《宪章》进行了批判性分析，着眼于其优缺点。《宪章》生效后对改变非洲大陆地方政府的贫穷状况的实际影响尚不清楚。由于《宪章》相对较新，目前尚无学术评论，这一事实加剧了这一问题。本文在关于权力下放的国际文献和地方政府的“最佳”做法的背景下，对《宪章》进行了批判性分析，着眼于其优缺点。《宪章》生效后对改变非洲大陆地方政府的贫穷状况的实际影响尚不清楚。由于《宪章》相对较新，目前尚无学术评论，这一事实加剧了这一问题。本文在关于权力下放的国际文献和地方政府的“最佳”做法的背景下，对《宪章》进行了批判性分析，着眼于其优缺点。