Morocco’s voice on cities, from the United Nations to Africa

As Minister of National Territory Planning, Urban Planning, Housing and City Policy from 2021 to 2026, Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri carried Morocco’s experience into the main international forums on cities. From New York to Nairobi, by way of Kisumu in Kenya, she championed a shared vision of the city of tomorrow, with Africa as its horizon.

New York, April 2022: the New Urban Agenda at the UN

On 28 April 2022, Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri led Morocco’s delegation to the UN General Assembly High-Level Meeting on the implementation of the New Urban Agenda, the United Nations’ reference framework for sustainable urban development. She highlighted the structural reforms Morocco had pursued over the previous two decades to achieve its economic, social and ecological transition. For the Kingdom, the meeting was an opportunity to share this experience with the wider international community.

She also underlined the Kingdom’s place within UN-Habitat and its commitment to working with the rest of Africa:

“As a member of UN-Habitat’s Executive Board, the Kingdom will further strengthen its cooperation with all Member States and stakeholders of the New Urban Agenda, particularly in our African region”

Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri, UN General Assembly High-Level Meeting, New York, 28 April 2022 (translated from French)

Kisumu, May 2022: affordable housing on the agenda

A few weeks later, in May 2022, she spoke at the Africities 9 summit, the major gathering of African local governments, held in Kisumu, Kenya. She took part in a session on financing affordable housing in intermediary cities, a theme directly linked to the work she was then leading in Morocco, from access to housing to urban planning. At home, this concern would notably take the form of direct housing aid, which came into force on 2 January 2024 and had more than 108,000 beneficiaries by June 2026.

Nairobi, June 2023: a shared vision of the city of tomorrow

In June 2023, in Nairobi, Morocco addressed the second session of the UN-Habitat Assembly. Read on her behalf, Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri’s address called for a collective approach to the urban future:

“Our challenge today is to contribute to shaping a common, collective vision of the city of tomorrow and to ensure social inclusion, economic growth, resilience and sustainable development”

Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri, address read on her behalf at the UN-Habitat Assembly, Nairobi, 5 June 2023 (translated from French)

This ambition echoes the process launched at home with the National Dialogue on Urban Planning and Housing, which opened on 16 September 2022 and was held in all 12 regions with more than 4,000 participants. Morocco also sits on UN-Habitat’s Executive Board.

Resilience took on a very concrete meaning a few months later, after the Al Haouz earthquake of 8 September 2023: her ministry drew up reconstruction specifications that meet seismic standards while respecting the region’s architectural identity.

Francophone mayors and city diplomacy

As Mayor of Marrakech, Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri is also active in city networks. The International Association of Francophone Mayors (AIMF) brings together mayors of French-speaking cities. At its 44th General Assembly, held in Lausanne from 22 to 24 May 2024, she was elected to the association’s Bureau; Marrakech has been a member city since 1980. At national level, she is also vice-president of the Moroccan Association of Presidents of Communal Councils (AMPCC).

The Ochre City also cultivates decentralised cooperation: on 26 March 2026, City Hall welcomed a delegation from the Scottsdale-Marrakech sister-cities association, from the United States. During her second term as mayor, Marrakech also hosted the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, from 9 to 15 October 2023.

International recognition since 2014

This international presence builds on long-standing recognition. In 2014, during her first term as Mayor of Marrakech, she was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, in a class of 214 honourees from 66 countries announced on 11 March 2014. On 4 December that year, Forbes listed her first in “The 20 Youngest Power Women in Africa 2014”, which featured women aged 45 and under.

Since 29 September 2026, when His Majesty King Mohammed VI appointed her, she has been the first woman to head a government in Morocco’s history.