Newsletter – n°16 – November 2012

News from partners

The URB-AL III community discussed the future of Euro-Latin American decentralised cooperation and the future EU support to local governments in the EU partner countries, and issued its recommendations, in view of the 2013 Communication.

Recalling that, as of 2014, grant based bilateral aid will be cut for 19 upper middle income countries (eleven from central and Latin America), the participants agreed that such call should be made taking into account distribution of income, wealth and poverty between social groups and between the various regions of a particular country.

Underlying the lack of sustainable public policies stemming from frequent change in central governments, they called for improving local governance and strengthening institutions at the local level and stressed the need for a more reciprocal model of cooperation, based on horizontal and territorial partnerships.

Finally, showcasing URB-AL III projects which show that local governments play a fundamental role in improving social cohesion and that pro-social-cohesion policies produce more conclusive results when implemented by local authorities, participants called for greater multi-level dialogue and for a territorial approach that includes the citizens and the private sector.

Download the report of the event.

The workshop, organised by the Orientation and Coordination Office (OCO) of the URB-AL III Programme, gathered 60 people, elected representatives and technical staff, representing sub-national governments from 25 countries (18 Latin American countries and 6 Europeans). More information on the OCO and URB-AL III programme on this website.