Newsletter – n°26 – February 2014

News from partners

A two-day training at the head office of VNG International in The Hague signaled the start of the advocacy efforts to be undertaken by the UCLG Champions on Development Cooperation. It proved to be an inspirational couple of days for both trainers and trainees.

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The training was organised on 16 and 17 January by UCLG and the CIB Working Group to prepare the elected local/regional government officials that were selected as Champions for their task of advocating local and regional government development cooperation.

The goal of the Champions is to promote the messages from the UCLG Policy Paper on Development Cooperation and Local Government. This paper stresses the importance of getting local/regional governments more involved in development cooperation, a cause for which the Champions are the best ambassadors, as they are elected local/regional government officials themselves.

The training was focused on helping the Champions get their messages across. Storytelling is a fundamental part of that endeavour. By sharing their experiences with national governments, donors and other stakeholders, the Champions can illustrate and emphasize the importance of local/regional governments as active development cooperation actors.

There are multiple stakeholders in development cooperation that need to be aware of the importance of including local and regional governments more in policy making and execution. An important part of the training was therefore dedicated to sending the right message to the right stakeholder. A lively discussion on strategies emerged, with the Champions providing a lot of input by sharing their views on the matter and the problems they face when trying to make their voices heard.

The final part of the training was reserved for planning: what can the Champions do, when can they do it and what are the tools and methods to their disposal? Ambitious but realistic action plans were formed by the Champions, assisted by the trainers. Important upcoming meetings of international organisations were discussed to make sure the Champions know what's ahead of them. They left The Hague for their homes in high spirits, and accompanied by a toolkit to help them in their endeavours.

Follow the Champions on Twitter to keep up on their work, or look for #UCLGChampions. In addition further information can be found on the Champions website.