Newsletter May 2014
Top Story
On the 5th of May 2004, leaders and representatives of cities and regions from across the world came together in Paris to create a united world organization of local authorities. The result of the unification of IULA, UTO and Metropolis, this gave local and regional authorities from all corners of the globe a shared voice for the first time.
Main Stories
In May 2004, mayors and political leaders from all over the world came together in Paris for the Founding Congress of the World Organization of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG). Ten years later, UCLG continues to represent and defend all types of local and regional governments.
The report, Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability, is the contribution of Working Group II to the Fifth Assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC). It highlights the role of local governments in “scaling up adaptation of communities, households, civil society and in managing risk information and financing”.
The third International Forum of Medinas, organized by the Network of Mediterranean Medinas, which is chaired and coordinated by 8 Moroccan cities, was held in Tanger between the 24th and 26 of April 2014 in partnership with UCLG.
The consensus draft of the Communiqué of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation (GPEDC) hosted in Mexico on 15-16 of April emphasized the role of local and regional governments in development.
The Secretary General of UCLG would like to congratulate the members of UCLG Presidency who have been re-elected for a new mandate in their cities. The municipal elections which were held in Turkey and in France on 30 March resulted in the victory of various members of the Presidency of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG).
UCLG is pleased to announce the publication of “Basic principles of Community-Based Monitoring” officially launched on 8 April 2014 during the WUF jointly with the “Centro do Studios Sociais” (University of Coimbra, Portugal) and the The International Observatory on Participatory Democracy (IOPD).
UN Women, UN-Habitat, the Huairou Commission and United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) are coming together in a new global partnership to foster gender-responsive local governance. This partnership and the related programme will be presented during the WUF Gender Equality Action Assembly.
Cities and their suburbs are continuously growing, pollution is increasing, and the impact of climate change is being felt. All these factors are putting pressure on water resources, threatening human, economic and environmental security, and of course upon cities, which play a vital role in ensuring clean water and adequate sanitation for their citizens.
UCLG Sections & members
The deadline for Metropolis members and partners to apply for the new Metropolis Initiatives has just been extended. So, if your city or organization runs projects and/or provides services in matters concerning Governance, Urban economy, Urban Innovation, Sustainability or Social Inclusion, do not miss the last opportunity.
The year 2015 has been designated as the European Year for Development under the motto “Our world, our dignity, our future”. Many campaigns and conferences will be organised to raise citizens’ awareness of this topic and national, regional and local authorities are invited to participate.
UCLG-MEWA Culture Working Group held its second meeting in Gaziantep on 14th of March, 2014, hosted by Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality, with the participation of its members. This meeting was held under the theme of “Culture for Peace, Peace for Culture”. The management structure of UCLG-MEWA Culture Working Group was established.
COMMITTEES, WORKING GROUPS, COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE & FORA
The Committee on Culture of UCLG has partnered with other key international networks to launch a Declaration on the Inclusion of Culture in the Sustainable Development Goals and is calling on the international community to support the campaign: The future we want includes culture.
The Inclusive Cities Observatory is a space for analysis and reflection on local social inclusion policies managed by the Committee on Social Inclusion of UCLG. Among this case studies, the Committee presents a study based on the experience of the "Suffiency Economy Philosophy” (SEP) approach.
“In an increasingly urban context, local and regional governments will need to provide basic services to hundreds of millions of new urban dwellers in the next 20 years and will need to facilitate local economic development initiatives. Priority should be given to empowering local governments to fulfil their potential as development actors.”
The 58th Session Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) gathered in New York from 10 – 21 March 2014 to discuss and review the progress of the Millennium Development Goals as we approach the fifteen year deadline, coming in 2015.
Blog
By Raphael Obonyo. Kenya, like countries across the globe, must contend with the challenges of rapid urbanization. The dramatic spike in youth unemployment, slum populations, and poverty rates in recent years is cause for alarm, but the government has yet to tackle the issue. If Kenya’s rapid urbanization is left unmitigated.
Medellín’s turnaround could not have happened without crackdowns on drug violence. But Gerard Martin thinks a series of reforms culminating in a new constitution for Colombia in 1991 were just as important.
Gerard Martin is one of the leading scholars of Colombia’s cities, particularly Medellín and Bogota. He’s the former director of the Colombia Program at Georgetown University’s Center for Latin American Studies. He’s also the author of Medellín. Tragedia y Resurreccion. Mafia, Ciudad, Estado. 1975-2012, which comes out in a second Spanish edition this month.
More than 300 city leaders and senior members of local government from around the world are to meet in Liverpool’s St George’s Hall to discuss how they are ‘Delivering growth in times of austerity.’
Semana Sostenible habló con la alcaldesa de Chile sobre los retos de los gobiernos locales en el mundo. Carolina Tohá, alcaldesa de Santiago de Chile, ha dedicado su vida a luchar por la democracia. En 1984 participó en la refundación de la Federación de Estudiantes de Chile y en 1987 formó parte del equipo fundador del partido por la Democracia.
La ministra de Desarrollo Social, Mónica Bifarello, participó en Medellín de una serie de reuniones sobre planificación urbana. Las mismas se enmarcaron en el 7mo. Foro Urbano Mundial organizado por la Organización de Naciones Unidas en esa ciudad colombiana del 8 al 11 de abril.
