For most of the world’s population, sub-national governance bodies – particular at the city / village level – are the most immediate and most impactful on daily lives and livelihoods. Whether in Dallas, Kinshasa, Lagos or Cape Town, the criticality is never clearer of delivering services to the population now while taking steps in collaboration with the private sector to anticipate and prepare for a growing population. Given the forecasted growth in African cities – the world’s ten fastest growing urban areas are all in Africa – and the U.S. Sub-Saharan Africa Strategy unveiled in 2022 calling for to “Rebalance Toward Urban Hubs,” partnering U.S. and African sub-national governance leaders and private sector experts is an imperative. This panel will bring together U.S. and African city managers, mayors, and governors with NGOs and private sector corporations to discuss the challenges and opportunities for democracy-driven governance that addresses the range of challenges from basic infrastructure, employment, eGovernment service delivery, medical care, education, food – the range of challenges is limitless; the resources to address them far more so. Shifting perspectives to view cities as an emerging investment asset class by supporting pro-business legal and regulatory environments, privatization, when possible, of services delivery, and long-term public-private partnerships will be explored