Jean Pierre Elong Mbassi is the Secretary General of United Cities and Local Governments of Africa (UCLG Africa) since 2007. He has been the Chairperson of the Cities Alliance Interim Management Board till April 2016. He is also Co-Chair of World Cities Scientific Development Alliance-WCSDA, and Deputy Secretary General of the China-Africa forum of local governments. Mr. Elong Mbassi is the man behind the Africities Summit, the largest event of cities, regions and local communities in Africa, where he oversees the organization since the first edition in 1998.

Mr. Elong Mbassi has a rich experience of nearly 40 years in the field of urban development and planning, urban services, local economic development, local governance, housing and of slum upgrading. From 1996 to 1999 he was the first Secretary General of the World Association of Cities and Local Authorities Coordination-WACLAC at the same time he held the position of Secretary General of the Municipal Development Partnership, MDP from 1992 to 2006. Previously, from 1981 to 1991, Mr. Elong Mbassi was the director of the first urban project financed by the World Bank in Cameroon and which focused on the restructuring and development of a slums area of 300,000 inhabitants in the city Douala. Mr. Elong Mbassi began his career in Paris, France where he was responsible for research and project manager at the Agency of Cooperation and Planning ('Agence Coopération et Aménagement ) from 1973 to 1980.