Development Cooperation and City Diplomacy

Chair: Roger Anderson, Chair Durham Region, Chair of FCM Standing Committee on International Relations
Vice-Chair: Ton Rombouts, Mayor of ’s-Hertogenbosch, Chair of the international committee of the Association of Netherlands Municipalities (VNG)
Vice-Chair: (to be determined)
 

Creation of the Committee on Development Cooperation and City Diplomacy

The Committee on Development Cooperation and City Diplomacy of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) was created in November 2010, being the result of the merger of two previously existing committees: the Decentralized Cooperation Committee and the Committee on City Diplomacy, Peace building and Human Rights. The merger took place as a result of the close relation of the topics and activities of the two Committees and in order to react to the need within UCLG to work towards a more compact governance structure. The members of the Committees agreed to set up a joint work plan, in which also important aspects of the Millennium Development Goals are included.

A committee to advise the World Organization

The Committee on Development Cooperation and City Diplomacy is a Committee which proposes and develops policies and gives advice to the World Organization on issues related to local government international development cooperation and city diplomacy. The Committee on Development Cooperation and City Diplomacy is formally liaised with various Working Groups, such as the Capacity and Institution Building Working Group, the Working Group on Migration and Co-Development and the Working Group on Responsible Tourism and Sustainable Development, the Municipal Alliance for Peace (MAP) and the European Platform for Peace in the Middle East. 

Main objectives of the Committee

1. To inform and support UCLG’s reflection on the importance and added value of local government development cooperation within the debate on the new aid architecture and to achieve the Millennium Development Goals;

2. To support the reflection and the positioning of UCLG in the debate on development effectiveness;

3. To advise UCLG on the role of local governments should play in fostering peace building and stability and in preventing and resolving violent conflicts;

4. To inform UCLG’s lobby for increased multilateral and bilateral support for local government development and city diplomacy programmes;

5. To ensure exchange, information sharing, coordination and collaboration among UCLG members that are active in development cooperation.

News

"First World Conference on City Diplomacy"