Hereby the CIB Working Group launches the new website! To ease the use of the website, the lay-out of the new website was designed to be well-ordered and clear. Besides the changes in the design, the new website also aims to serve its visitors better content wise. We have improved several of its functions, such as the compendium and the members area, and have rearranged the menu to increase the accessibility of the information.

The 6th edition of the Africities Summit is scheduled to take place at the King Fahd Palace Hotel Dakar, the capital city of Senegal, from 04 to 08 December 2012. Its theme will be:“BUILDING AFRICA FROM ITS TERRITORIES: WHAT CHALLENGES FOR THE LOCAL GOVERNMENTS ?”

Capacity4development has created a new blog post in their Public Sector Reform & Decentralisation group. This post discusses the summary of the ´Grand Panel´ discussion of the advanced seminar on Decentralisation that was held in Brussels in the first week of July, 2012. The main topics under discussion were: Why should donor agencies care more about decentralisation? How can decentralisation be “instrumental” to development? How can donor agencies like the EU provide smart support to decentralisation?

This paper provides a midterm report on a multi-country research effort to shed light on the institutional sources of variation in public goods’ provision at the sub-national level, with a particular focus on key bottlenecks to improvement in maternal mortality, water and sanitation, facilitation of markets and enterprise, and public order and security.

The World Bank decentralisation thematic group has revised its website, including an updated dataset on fiscal decentralisation indicators.

This paper is intended to provide an assessment of the impact of the silent revolution of the last three decades on moving governments closer to people to establish fair, accountable, incorruptible and responsive governance.

The EAC (East African Community) Deputy Secretary General in charge of Productive and Social Sectors Hon Jesica Eriyo on 4 July 2012, hailed the role of the local governments in information dissemination, mobilisation and rallying support of the ordinary citizens in East Africa on the regional integration and development process.

On October 1 PLATFORMA organized a meeting on the work of local and regional associations in relation to the aid effectiveness agenda. This meeting took place in Barcelona and was hosted by the UCLG World Secretariat. The main element of this meeting was the presentation of the PLATFORMA publication “Local and Regional Government Development Effectiveness”.

The Autonomous University of Barcelona has published a study on aid effectiveness of European development cooperation at the local level in Latin America and Peru.

The deadline for the achievement of the 2000 Millennium Development Goals is coming up in 2015. The United Nations and the international community are getting ready to define a new agenda that will follow the MDGs and started the so-called 2015 agenda. The post-2015 process needs to be an open and inclusive consultation process. Therefore the CIB Secretariat recommends its members to participate in the discussion.

La FCM aide les municipalités partout dans le monde depuis 25 ans et nous sommes fiers de présenter aujourd’hui une nouvelle vidéo qui relate leurs réalisations. Des collectivités qui s´entraident est le premier volet d´une série de sept vidéos célébrant 25 ans de collaboration avec des gouvernements locaux à l´étranger.

By participating in the ‘Peace under construction´-programme of CARE International, The Hague Academy will embark on a new four year programme to support peace and stability in Burundi and South Sudan. Since 2012, as part of the Youth Engagement Programme together with SPARK, we have also been developing training sources on leadership and (youth) participation in these two countries.

This report provides a snapshot of resilience building activities at the local level and identifies trends in the perceptions and approaches of local governments toward disaster risk reduction. It examines factors that enable urban disaster risk reduction activities, including how the global campaign Making Cities Resilient – “My City is Getting Ready!” founded by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR).

Makati City, located in the Philippines has won an award for an innovative city-to-city learning partnership between Quito, the capital of Ecuador, and the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu. Kathmandu and Quito benchmarked Makati City on emergency management systems and community-based disaster management.

The ARIAL programme is organising two regional training sessions on (1) improving the dialogue between local government associations and national/international institutions in development programmes, and on (2) improving the communication and lobby strategies of local government associations towards national decision-makers and their members.

In 2016 the Third United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III) will take place. The content and outcomes of this conference will be highly influential in shaping the work of local governments internationally. Consequently, UCLG is closely involved in this process and has been invited to provide initial inputs to the consultation process. UCLG has taken advantage of their special working relation with David Satterthwaite, Senior Fellow Human Settlements Group of IIED, to request some thoughts on key issues to be addressed at Habitat III.

The ARIAL programme has opened a second call for Expressions of Interests for the Emerging Local Government Associations Fund (ELGAF). Emerging associations are invited to submit their letter to the ARIAL team. The selected associations will receive extra support until August 1, 2013.

On 31st of July 2012, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced the members of a High-Level Panel to advise on the global development agenda beyond 2015, the target date for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Among the 20 personalities of this High-Level Panel, Mr. Kadir Topbas, Mayor of Istanbul and President of UCLG, has been nominated.

The Centre of Expertise of the Council of Europe proudly presents its cartoon for raising awareness of the importance of local democracy. The cartoon has been produced as part of the programme to strengthen local government in Ukraine, funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency - SIDA

Under the responsibility of the Consejo Nacional de Competencias (National Council of Competences) and the technical support of the National Secretariat for Planning and Development, the government of the Republic of Ecuador has published, the new Plan Nacional de Descentralización 2012-2015.

From 1-7 September 2012, the sixth session of the World Urban Forum will be held in Naples, Italy. The forum is organised jointly by UN-Habitat, the Italian government, the region of Campania and the city of Naples. The theme of this year´s Forum is "The urban future".

The Local Government Handbook: South Africa 2012 provides a complete, yet concise overview of all 278 municipalities and aims to provide a clear understanding of each municipality and its place in South Africa, as well as a directory of the relevant mayors and contact details in each municipality.

The European Commission has commissioned a study on Decentralized Cooperation, which is due to be finalized by October 2012. The study aims to give an overview of the policy trends of European Member States and the European Commission regarding decentralized cooperation, their main strategies, with recommendations on how to improve the added value of the EC programmes and instruments supporting decentralized cooperation in the next EU multi-annual framework period (2014-2020), and how to ensure complementarity with strategies of Member States. The study is carried out by Mr. Agustí Fernandez de Losada, who CIB members may know from his former position as director of the international department of the Provincial Council of Barcelona.

CIB is on Twitter now! 
Follow the CIB Working Group and stay informed on news, meetings, reports and the latest developments.
@uclg_cib

On the 11th and 12th of June, the CIB Working Group meeting took place in Bergen, Norway, on the invitation of KS Norway and the city of Bergen. Active participation and valuable input of CIB members made the meeting a successful event. 

Further to the discussions in the CIB meeting that took place in June, the CIB Working Group Secretariat participated in the last meeting of the OECD Working Party on Aid Effectiveness on 28-29 June in Paris. 

The State of Arab Cities Report 2012 is the first report in the UN-Habitat series on the state of cities to focus on the Arab world. It presents a collective picture of urban conditions and trends in each of four Arab regions (Maghreb, Mashreq, Gulf Cooperative Council (GCC) and Southern Tier), and provides a discussion of the similarities, differences and linkages between these countries in the context of a larger Arab region.

Source: Cities Alliance

The European Centre for Development and Policy Management (ECDPM) published a Discussion Paper with the title ´Common or Conflicting Interests? Reflections on the Private Sector (for) Development Agenda´.

This course is about strengthening the economic capacity of a regional community in such a way that it makes optimal use of the potential and characteristics of the area.

This recent OECD studyexamines the ability of sub-national governments to “better spend”, by identifying relevant paths for territorial competitiveness and effective delivery of public services, is mostly enshrined in their institutional background.

The  Swiss Development Cooperation has published a policy paper based on evaluations from development partners such as UNDP, the World Bank, GTZ (GIZ), NORAD and OECD.  The study recommends adopting a more strategic orientation...

A broad consensus has emerged among practitioners and researchers that failure to build accountable and legitimate institutions is a critical risk factor associated with vicious circles of repeated violence. Despite this consensus, very few studies have tested the extent to which local government performance and decentralized service provision shape citizens´ beliefs toward political authorities. This paper contributes to fill this gap by examining the antecedents of trustworthy local government authorities in a post-conflict and fragile setting, Sierra Leone.

After several years of centralized State, Mozambique has from the late 1980s initiated profound reforms that led to the democratisation of the State and the decentralisation of government and markets. The decentralisation process thus initiated aimed primarily at boosting the economy and promoting public sector efficiency and effectiveness.

In February 2012 the Africa Research Institute published Whatever Happened to Africa´s Rapid Urbanisation? This publication analyses the last 20 years of African urbanisation.

The new Kenyan constitution, adopted in 2010 and fully functional after the 2013 elections, is playing a pivotal role in the devolution of power to the regional and local governments and ensures the future governance of Kenya.

Oxfam has published a new series of papers, drawing together lessons from its programme work on local governance and community action. It includes case studies from Nepal, Kenya, Vietnam and Tanzania.

The EC announced that a Communication on local and regional authorities (LRA) will be published at the beginning of 2013. The Commission is very much looking forward to receiving LRA’s contribution and therefore seeks a strong partnership with PLATFORMA.

The UCLG Committee on Urban Strategic Planning has received a grant from CityFuture which enables them to follow up activities in Mozambique for mentoring. Furthermore, the Committee is exploring opportunities for possible joint activities with the Sustainable Cities network in Canada.

The annual CIB meeting for 2012 is scheduled 11- 12  June 2012  in Bergen (Norway). We kindly remind you to send the completed registration form before May 10.

More and more African countries are moving out of aid dependency as the private sector boosts economic growth on the continent. The domestic private sector becomes the engine of growth across much of Africa.

The Norwegian Institute of International Affairs has published a paper on local and national ownership in post-conflict Liberia. Difficulties in implementing policies aimed at fostering local and national ownership in peacekeeping activities have been the starting point of the paper, in which extra attention is paid to training programmes for those working in peacekeeping operations.

On 12 March, the EC published its Final Report on Thematic global evaluation of the Commission support to decentralisation processes. An evaluation was made to identify key relevant lessons and to provide recommendations to help ensure opportune and timely support to decentralisation processes. The evaluation looked at 77 countries that benefited from aid delivery in support of decentralization processes between 2000 and 2009.

On July 2-3 2012, the third edition of the Forum of international action of local governments will be held in the Palais des Congrès in Paris.

The City to City Barcelona FAD Award applications has officially opened for the year 2012.

An online submission form, which is to facilitate the submission of potential projects for the DIA Best Practices Award, has been recently made available at www.bestpractices.at/submission. The deadline for submissions is Saturday, March 31, 2012.

The LGA of England and Wales has been commissioned by United Cities & Local Governments Africa (UCLGA) to pilot peer review across the African continent during 2012. The funding for this peer review has been provided by the government of Luxembourg. In 2010, the LGA already carried out a peer review with its South African counterpart (SALGA) under the CLGF Good Practise Scheme.

UN-Habitat and the Government of Sweden signed a new collaboration agreement on the first of February whereby Stockholm will provide USD 14 million over the next four years to support the agency´s work programme.

The European Urban Knowledge Network published a Handbook for multilevel Urban Governance in Europe which focuses both on theoretical and practical aspects of multilevel governance. In addition, the Eurocites network has released a report, which responds to the need to strengthen cooperation and exchange ideas on governance of metropolitan areas between European local governments.

From the 2nd till the 6th of July 2012, the Hague Academy for Local Governance offers a summercourse especially developed for professionals working at donor and development organisations who are dealing with support to good governance, democracy, decentralisation, local governance and public service delivery.

VNG International has received approval of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to implement the Local Government Capacity Programme. Nine developing countries (Benin, Burundi, Ghana, Nicaragua, Palestine Territories, Rwanda, South Africa, South Sudan and Uganda),  will benefit and can count on support in the capacity building and strengthening of local government. 

VNG International develops benchmarks to improve performance of local government. In the benchmarks of VNG International achievements of municipalities and other organisations are compared to identify the practices of the ones that perform best. By implementing the practices of the best performers, organisations can improve their own performance. 

The Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs awarded a one-year project in Tunisia to VNG International. It will help 11 municipalities with reforms, and share the lessons learned with many more. Reestablishing social cohesion and enhancing local governance and development are one of the main challenges of the new Tunisia. With this regard, ...

Le Fond Mondial pour le Développement des Villes (FMDV) a publié un nouveau document sur le financement urbain en Amérique Latine, qui a été présenté au mois de Novembre en Porto Alegre, pensant un atelier sur l´avenir des inversions urbaines en Amérique Latine, organisé avec la collaboration de CGLU. 

With the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (HLF-4, 29 November-1 December 2011, Busan, Korea) just behind us, commentaries and opinions abound as to its significance for the future of development. There is, however, agreement on one point: this summit has resulted in the most inclusive agreement on global co-operation for development to date. At the same time, ...

Depuis Janvier 2012, commence la diffusion du livre Descentralización y Gobierno Municipal en América Central (Análisis del marco jurídico, institucional, financiero y tributario de los gobiernos locales en América Central), le résultat d´une analyse approfondie des gouvernements locaux à la région d´Amérique Centrale, qui a mené l´Institut Centraméricain de Gouvernance (ICG), en collaboration avec l´association DAR de Madrid et la Diputació de Barcelone ....

Le président du Bangladesh, Zillur Rahman, a inauguré le premier Forum Urbain du pays, qui s´est tenue durant le mois de Décembre. Le Bangladesh est l´un des pays de la région avec la croissance urbaine la plus forte et il est prévu que d´ici à 2030 la population urbaine atteint 80 millions de personnes. Par conséquent, ...

Twenty years after the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio, the UN is again bringing together governments, international institutions and major groups, among whom local authorities, to agree on a range of smart measures that can reduce poverty while promoting decent jobs, clean energy and a more sustainable and fair use of resources. Rio+20 is a chance to move away from business-as-usual and to act to end poverty, address environmental destruction and build a bridge to the future.

On December 9, on the first day of the UCLG World Council in Florence, the CIB Working Group meeting was held. Key issues under discussion were: the draft policy paper on Decentralized Cooperation and Local Government; and CIB priorities for 2012.

Le Secrétariat du Groupe de Travail CIB vous souhaite un joyeux Noël et une très bonne année 2012.

Depuis deux décennies, les expériences de décentralisation et de fédéralisation se sont développées dans de nombreux pays, notamment d’Afrique subsaharienne. Comment les appréhender et les améliorer ? Cet ouvrage, focalisé sur quatre pays sub-sahariens (Burkina Faso, Ghana, Kenya et Sénégal) adopte pour ce faire une approche originale. Il ne cherche pas à transposer un modèle idéal occidental – modèle qui n’existe pas. Bien au contraire, la décentralisation est appréhendée ici comme une démarche séquentielle, qui suppose des choix relevant de la seule responsabilité du pays concerné.

Decentralisation has advanced considerably in Africa in the last two decades. Since 1990, many African central governments have initiated or deepened processes to transfer authority, power, responsibilities, and resources to sub-national levels. To examine the results of these processes, USAID has commissioned a comparative study to draw lessons from 10 country experiences with decentralisation: Botswana, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda.

DeLoG (The informal Development Partners Group on Decentralisation and Local Governance) investigations summarised in this paper show that over the past twenty years progress in decentralisation and local governance has been uneven and mixed.

The Netherlands organisation for international cooperation in higher education (NUFFIC) offers the opportunity to apply for a fellowship for this training course, as part of the Netherlands Fellowship Programme (NFP) for short courses. This two-week training course will be held in The Hague, The Netherlands from 10 to 21 September 2012.

UCLG - Hubert Julien-Laferriere, Vice Mayor of Lyon France and Co-president of UCLG’s committee on Decentralised Cooperation and City Diplomacy makes a first evaluation of the 4th High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness that just ended in Busan.

Recognition of local governments in the Outcome Document: Thanks to the lobbying efforts of UCLG, supported by the Committee and Working Group, the Outcome Document of Busan, entitled “Busan Partnership for effective development cooperation”, recognizes the role of local governments.

The European Commission issued the communication ‘An agenda for change’ on its renewed development policy. The European local and regional government platform for development cooperation PLATFORMA worked closely with EU Commissioner Piebalgs’ cabinet and DG DEVCO to ensure that decentralised cooperation would be fully acknowledged, and that local and regional authorities would be identified as key partners in development. 

UCLG recently called upon its members to contact their national governments regarding the participation at the 4th High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Busan. Members were requested to ensure that the national governments would advocate for the importance of the inclusion of local governments’ voice in the debates on aid effectiveness.

With only little over a month to go the preparations for the fourth High Level Forum on Aid-Effectiveness in Busan are in full swing. The CIB Working Group would like to update you on some important recent developments regarding the role of local governments at the Forum.

La réunion annuelle du Groupe de Travail CIB aura sera le 21 Juin à Rabat (Maroc).

Nous vous remercions de bien vouloir envoyer le formulaire d´inscription complété avant le 27 mai.

Du 13 au 15 Juin 2011, le Comité stratégique à la planification urbaine du CLGLU et la municipalité de Durban organisent une conférence «Strategic Planning Learning Exchange fostering learning of the global south’» à Durban.

Il ya de l´espoir pour le programme LOGO South de VNG International. Le ministre de la Coopération au Développement réserve € 1,96 millions pour le programme LOGO South en 2011

Du 17 au 19 Octobre, VVSG organise une conférence internationale sur les partenaires municipaux à Gand.

Un calendrier de publication des appels à propositions ANE AL pour 2011 et 2012 a été rendu public par la Commission Européenne.

Du 7 au 8 juillet 2011 à Paris se tiendra le 2ème Forum pour la coopération internationale des collectivités.

Du 4 au 6 Octobre 2010, le premier Forum Mondial sur le Développement Local a été organisé à Kampala en Ouganda. L´objectif du Forum était de présenter, échanger, apprendre et adopter des développements très intéressants dans la façon dont les gouvernements locaux atteignent les Objectifs du Millénaire pour le développement (OMD).

Le commissaire Piebalgs exhorte l’UE à maintenir son leadership en matière d’aide publique au développement, qui a atteint en 2010 le nouveau chiffre record de 53,8 milliards €.

La réunion annuelle du CIB pour 2011 est prévue pour le 21 Juin à Rabat (Maroc).

La conférence de PLATFORMA a été un grand succes. Le 28 Mars, Platforma a présentée sa nouvelle publication: « Coopération Décentralisée pour le Développement - Perspectives Europeéennes  ».

Le 11 Janvier, l’UE a publié l’ édition révisée du « Cadre Opérationnel de l’Efficacité de l’aide » visant à l´accélération du progrès et la démonstration de résultats concrets pour le Quatrième Forum de haut niveau sur l’efficacité de l’aide qui aura lieu à Busan (Corée du Sud) en Novembre 2011.

En automne 2010, VNG International et ces partenaires ont lancés le programme ARIAL « Soutenir et renforcer les Associations d’Autorités Locales aux niveau national (AGL) et régional (AGR) dans les pays ACP » à Bruxelles. L’objective spécifique du projet est de permettre les Associations de Gouvernements Locaux de participer à la création et la mise en œuvre des politiques de développement.

S´il vous plaît remplissez le sondage du CGLU pour redéfinir les priorités de l´organisation.

Le magazine « Observa », du observatoire de coopération décentralisée Union-Européenne – Amérique-Latin, nous informe sur la réunion annuelle du Groupe de Travail qui se a effectué le 28 et 29 Juin 2010 en Espagne

VNG International vient de publier sa nouvelle publication « Gender equality and local government – Changing the face of local leadership ».

L´Association Finlandaise d’Autorités Locaux et Régionaux (AFLRA) a publié un rapport concernant les possibilités pour la coopération entre les Association de Gouvernement Local dans six pays en Afrique.

The next CIB Working Group meeting, hosted by the City Council and the Province of Barcelona, will be held in Barcelona on 28 and 29 June 2010. Deadline for registration and reservation of the hotel is 11 June.

Sur invitation de LGA, le Groupe CIB organisera sa réunion annuelle les 25 et 26 juin à Londres. Pour les reservations d’hôtels, nous vous remercions de bien vouloir envoyer le formulaire d´inscription complété avant le 22 mai à :
ioana.serghiuta@lga.gov.uk

14 associations de gouvernements locaux d’Asie Pacifique ont participé à cet événement, y compris toutes les AGL partenaires qui bénéficient à l’heure actuelle des programmes ACB mis en place par la FCM et VNG International dans la région. Les ateliers se sont centrés sur les thèmes des ...

Outre l’atelier régional collectif organisé à Hanoi, les membres du Groupe de Travail CIB ont identifié les initiatives communes suivantes pour 2009 :

Coordination en Afrique :  

• L’UVCW (Belgique), qui a pris l’initiative de la coordination au Burkina Faso, a identifié les premières étapes à réaliser pour améliorer la  coordination.
•  Au Ghana, VNG International et la FCM organiseront une mission commune provisoirement prévue pour octobre 2009. Par ailleurs, VNG International et la FCM tentent d’organiser une réunion pour toutes les municipalités partenaires au Ghana et inviteront d’autres membres du CIB actifs au Ghana à y prendre part. 
• En Afrique de l’Ouest,..

Le Note d´orientation politique de CGLU sur l’efficacité de l’aide, préparé par le Groupe de Travail CIB, a été diffusé parmi les membres de tous les Groupes de Travail et Commissions de CGLU pour consultation. Le document final sera présenté pour adoption au Conseil Mondial de CGLU en novembre, à Canton (Chine).