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As we approach the 6th World Water Forum co-organized by the French Government, the City of Marseilles and the World Water Council, we would like to inform you that the 14th and 15th of March will be dedicated to local and regional authorities.
As ...
As we approach the 6th World Water Forum co-organized by the French Government, the City of Marseilles and the World Water Council, we would like to inform you that the 14th and 15th of March will be dedicated to local and regional authorities.
As you know, at the 5th World Water Forum (Istanbul 2009), UCLG, ICLEI and the World Water Council worked together to mobilize over 250 elected officials from around the world to adopt the Istanbul Water Consensus, which a large number of you signed and some have already implemented. To date, more than 800 cities and regions have joined the Istanbul Water Consensus and we hope to obtain 1000 signatories for the 6th World Water Forum.
Being well aware of the future potential of the Istanbul Water Consensus and eager to increase its political significance, UCLG and the World Water Council would like to propose a policy preamble to the Consensus during the 6th World Water Forum.
To this end and to facilitate wider ownership of the Istanbul Water Consensus, we invite you to send us your proposals for amendments to the Consensus itself and also to share the strong political messages for Local and Regional Authorities that you want to convey at the 6th World Water Forum.
All your proposals for amendments and political messages should be sent to Ms. Celine Dubreuil (c.dubreuil@worldwatercouncil.org) and Mr. Mohamed Boussraoui (m.boussraoui@uclg.org) by no later than 6 February 2012.
Please click here to access Istanbul Water Consensus and other documents of the Forum: http://www.worldwaterforum6.org/en/commissions/political/local-and-regional-authorities-political-process/?id=220sitemap
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The International Observatory for Participatory Democracy (IOPD) encourages you to present a candidacy application for the 6th Edition of the "Best Practice in Citizens´ Participation" Distinction given for initiatives developed at the local level. The IOPD Distinction for Best Practice ...
The International Observatory for Participatory Democracy (IOPD) encourages you to present a candidacy application for the 6th Edition of the "Best Practice in Citizens´ Participation" Distinction given for initiatives developed at the local level. The IOPD Distinction for Best Practice in Citizen Participation has been created to recognize those innovative experiences and ideas in the area of participative democracy that promote participation and involvement of citizens in processes of elaborating and implementing public policies.
The invitation is open to all local governments, municipal entities and extra-municipal entities that are members of the IOPD and have promoted a citizen participation initiative within the last four years that is still in effect at the time of the candidacy application.
The award will be presented next 11th June 2012 in Porto Alegre (Brasil) within the framework of the XII IOPD Conference.
The presentation period for applications will began on January 15th and ends on February 15th, 2012.
The award basis and the submit form are already available in the OIDP website.
+ info: www.oidp.net
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UCLG World Council held last 11 December 2011 in Florence (Italy) decided to adopt the Global Charter-Agenda for Human Rights in the City at the ...
UCLG World Council held last 11 December 2011 in Florence (Italy) decided to adopt the Global Charter-Agenda for Human Rights in the City at the proposal of the Committee on Social Inclusion, Participatory Democracy and Human Rights.
The Charter-Agenda was adopted the day after the International Day on Human Rights, which the Committee celebrated organizing a round table on "Local Governments and Right to the City" on 9 December. More than 40 local government representatives participated in the debate to discuss about how to foster local policies aiming to take forward the recognition, respect and fulfillment of human rights in cities.
The Global Charter-Agenda for Human Rights in the City is an initiative that emerged from the Local Authorities Forum (FAL) for Social Inclusion and Participatory Democracy that took place in Caracas in 2006. Based on the discussions between local governments from around the world that took place in this Forum, a group of experts from various countries wrote a first draft (2007-2008), which was then discussed and amended by elected representatives, experts and civil society representatives from all over the world (2009-2010).
Under the leadership initially of Barcelona Provincial Council and subsequently of the city of Nantes and the Pays de la Loire Region, the initiative has been collectively discussed at several international events, including the last three FALs and World Social Forums (Nairobi, 2007; Belém do Pará, 2009; and Dakar, 2011), the 5th World Urban Forum of UN HABITAT (Rio de Janeiro, 2010), the 4th World Forum on Human Rights in Nantes (2010) and the 3rd UCLG World Congress (Mexico City, 2010).
All this advocacy work and the collective drawing up of the Charter-Agenda has made possible building strategic links with social movements, with United Nations agencies (particularly HABITAT and UNESCO) and within our organization, UCLG.
In the current situation of economic crisis and of possible reduction in rights, the Charter-Agenda is a tool for local governments to build more inclusive, democratic and solidarity-based societies in dialogue with urban dwellers. Please, click on the following link to read the last version of the Charter-Agenda:
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At the invitation of Matteo Renzi, Mayor of Florence, the city of Florence hosted the UCLG World Council from 9 to 11 December, gathering 500 local and regional representatives from over 40 different countries.
The main decisions of the UCLG ...
At the invitation of Matteo Renzi, Mayor of Florence, the city of Florence hosted the UCLG World Council from 9 to 11 December, gathering 500 local and regional representatives from over 40 different countries.
The main decisions of the UCLG World Council focused on the definition of the UCLG Strategy for the coming six years and paid particular attention to the contribution of local and regional authorities to the international debate on sustainability on Rio +20 Summit.
In his opening address, Kadir Topbas, the President of UCLG and Mayor of Istanbul, stressed that building governance from the bottom up will be crucial for the future of our planet. Citizens are taking the streets demanding solutions and local and regional leaders need to be engaged in the global solution that is being sought.
In preparation of the World Water Forum to take place in Marseille in 2012, a memorandum of understanding was signed between the World Water Council and UCLG. UCLG members also agreed to produce the 3rd Report of the Global Observatory on Decentralization and Local Democracy on the "Governance of Local Basic Services".
The organization further committed to advocate for specific recognition of local and regional authorities before the international community, particularly towards the 3rd United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III). UCLG members have expressed their solidarity and support to the democratic processes taking place in the Mediterranean region.
The gathering counted with the presence of mayors from cities around the world such as Dakar, Harare, Paris, Rabat, Seville and Stuttgart, and with the participation of numerous mayors of Italian cities. It further brought together private partners and key international partners, representatives of Cities Alliance, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and OECD.
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The UCLG Committee on Social Inclusion, Participatory Democracy and Human Rights is pleased to invite you to the round table "Local Governments and the Right to the City" taking place next 9 December 2011 from 5pm to 6:30pm in Florence (Italy) on the occasion of UCLG World Council.
The UCLG Committee on Social Inclusion, Participatory Democracy and Human Rights is pleased to invite you to the round table "Local Governments and the Right to the City" taking place next 9 December 2011 from 5pm to 6:30pm in Florence (Italy) on the occasion of UCLG World Council.
The session will be organized to celebrate the International Human Rights Day, taking place the next day, and as a previous debate to the presentation of the Global Charter-Agenda on Human Rights in the City before the members of the UCLG World Council for adoption.
For these reasons, on this occasion the Committee will not hold a plenary meeting, but a working session on human rights aiming at exchanging experiences among cities from the various regions of the world before the adoption of the Global Charter-Agenda on Human Rights in the City on 11 December from 11:30h to 13h by the UCLG World Council.
You will find in the following links the draft program of the round table and other relevant documents related to the World Council.
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This issue features a special report on Climate change, sustainable cities and aid effectiveness. The fourth edition of United Cities adresses questions such as: What can cities expect from Durban COP17 meetings? Why local governments can be vital development partners? How can we get citizens to think green?
This edition features an interview with the Secretary General of UCLG, Josep Roig and with the President of Metropolis, Jean-Paul Huchon.
Read the fourth edition in e-readable format here.
United Cities and Local Governments welcomes the decision of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to appoint Ms. Aisa Kirabo Kacyira, of the Republic of Rwanda, as new Deputy Executive Director and Assistant Secretary-General for UN-Habitat.
Ms. Kirabo has been involved within UCLG as Vice-President of UCLGA Eastern Africa and President of the Rwandese Association of Local Government Authorities (RALGA). She has been serving as Mayor of Kigali, one of the fastest urbanizing cities in the world, from 2006 to 2011.
Ms. Kirabo is currently the Governor of Eastern Province, the largest province in Rwanda with a population of 2.5 million. In recognition of the high level of cleanliness, greenness, safety and the sustainable, affordable housing initiatives combined with pro-poor urban employment opportunities, under Ms. Kirabo´s leadership, Kigali won the UN-HABITAT Scroll of Honour Award in 2008. Prior to her position as Mayor, Ms. Kirabo was an Elected Member of Parliament (and member of Parliamentary Standing Committee in charge of land use and management, settlement and environment), she actively participated in the legislative and over-sight functions of parliament in addition to community mobilization.
Ms. Kirabo brings to this position a broad knowledge and experience of over 15 years in senior management and strategic leadership in local and regional governments institutions.
In her new role, Ms. Kirabo will assist the Executive Director, Dr. Joan Clos, in the overall management of UN-HABITAT to achieve its mandate and will support the new UN-HABITAT agenda to face the urban challenges by strengthening urban policies to generate more equitable, wealthy and sustainable cities. Among her many important responsibilities, Ms. Kirabo will support Dr. Clos in advancing the key reviews currently underway at UN-HABITAT, including the review of UN-Habitat´s strategic priorities for the coming years leading to Habitat III in 2016.
UCLG trusts this will allow the agenda of local governments to move forward in preparation of Habitat III.
The European Local Democracy Week (ELDW) is an annual event in which local authorities from the 47 Member States of the Council of Europe (CoE) organize public events to meet and engage with the public on issues relating to the promotion of local citizen participation. This year edition of the ELDW focused on "Human rights at local level", aiming to encourage local governments to promote the protection of human rights by means of their local policies.
The ELDW takes place every year around the 15th of October in order to pay tribute to the European Charter of Local Self-Government adopted in 1985. This year´s event took place from 10 to 15 October in cities in Armenia, Belgium, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Holland, Italy, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Sweden, Turkey, Ukraine and the United Kingdom. Among them, the cities of Brussels and Namur (Belgium), Utrecht (Holland), Strasbourg (France), Mugla and Lüleburgaz (Turkey) and Faistos (Greece) achieved "12-Star City" status in recognition of their efforts to raise public awareness of local democracy, the involvement of their councillors in the ELDW and their work to promote citizens´ participation.
The UCLG Committee on Social Inclusion, Participatory Democracy and Human Rights welcomes the focus of this year´s ELDW on safeguarding human rights at the local level, and invites the European cities members of UCLG to sign the European Charter for the Safeguarding of Human Rights in the City and the Global Charter-Agenda for Human Rights in the City
The "First World Forum on Local Economic Development Agencies" (ADEL Forum) took place in Seville (Spain) from 5 to 7 October 2011 on the initiative of the Andalucía Autonomous Regional Government, ART-UNDP and the Andalusian Fund of Municipalities for International Solidarity (FAMSI).
More than 1,300 delegates from 47 countries attended the meeting, representing local, regional and national governments, economic development agencies, universities, international cooperation organizations, as well as many networks, social organizations and experts.
The ADEL Forum was a unique opportunity to learn about the many aspects of local human development, as well as its complex links with decentralization and decentralization policies, and its sustainability in the context of the current global crisis.
The ADEL Forum is based on an approach that aims to overcome the approaches exclusively focused on micro-initiatives and disjointed projects. As an example of this approach, the Forum placed particular emphasis on the role played by Local Development Agencies as a public-private instrument for the coordination policies of territorial actors using a wide and varied range of tools, such as value chains, employment generation services, the social and solidarity economy, technical and financial services for small and medium enterprises, instruments for a green economy and the socio-economic empowerment of women based on a human rights perspective. All of these are examples of the many options offered by the territorial approach in the economic and employment sphere.
Mondissimo, the Local World Forum in Aubagne (France) which was held from 8 to 15 October 2011, opened up the debate on democratic renewal. The forum aimed to bring together civil society, social movements and political representatives in one place to discuss the need for a transformation of political culture to achieve greater involvement of citizens in local governance.
Aubagne, a municipality of 50,000 inhabitants near Marseille, has been working with this approach for years. Since 2008, the municipality has involved its citizens in the choice of municipal projects in order to better serve their needs. Several initiatives have been launched as a result of this dialogue, such as the creation of a cultural space for young people, the construction of emergency housing for women who are victims of domestic violence, and free public transport. This latter policy has been analyzed in detail in the Committee´s Inclusive Cities Observatory (see here).
As well as Aubagne, many other cities in Latin America, Africa and Asia are involving their citizens in the design of their policies policies and the prioritization of resources, which has contributed to a gradual transformation of the usual mechanisms for municipal management. As a result, since the first participatory budget in Porto Alegre, implemented in 1989, 15,300 local governments around the world today use this new democratic paradigm which is designed to improve the way the needs of the population are met, and especially those of the most vulnerable sectors.
These projects clearly show that the local level is an exceptional arena for the consolidation of democracy. City networks like the Local Authorities Forum for Social Inclusion and Participatory Democracy (FAL), the International Participatory Budgeting Platform and UCLG Committee on Social Inclusion, Participatory Democracy and Human Rights provide an international forum for exchanging experiences among cities from all around the world working to build a more inclusive and democratic world.
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SECRETARIADO TÉCNICO EJECUTIVO
COMISIÓN DE INCLUSIÓN SOCIAL Y DEMOCRACIA PARTICIPATIVA
Ciudades y Gobiernos Locales Unidos
Avinyó, 15 - 08002 Barcelona (España)
Tel. +34 93 342 87 70 - Fax +34 93 342 87 60
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09.27.15.png "<a href=http://issuu.com/cisdpdh/docs/libro_cglu_ciudades_inclusivas target=_blank class=enlacemenu style=line-height:20px>For a World of Inclusive Cities</a>"){kind=small}
