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Newsletter – n°20 – March 2013

Headlines

Noteworthy announcements at the Assises of decentralised cooperation

It was certainly all sewn up that local and regional governments and their organisations would be honoured at the Committee of the Regions. However, it must be noted that the third edition of the Assises of decentralised cooperation ended on a high note...

Assises of decentralised cooperation: conclusions of the roundtable on the post-2015 agenda

The roundtable on the post-2015 development framework, moderated by James Mackie, European Centre for Development Policy Management, brought some answers to the following questions: the lessons to be learned from the Millennium Development Goals (MDG)...

News from partners

46 projects soon implemented by Swedish municipalities

Environmental and climate work will be the focus of 46 projects managed by the Swedish International Centre for Local Democracy (ICLD) in the context of the Municipal Partnership Programme, and financed by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA)...

The Observatory of Decentralised Cooperation and Mercociudades discuss South/South cooperation

‘The current international agenda and the rise of new countries bring in new dynamics related to development cooperation processes and have a clear impact on the way decentralised cooperation is carried out’ Octavi de la Varga, head of Development...

The world at a glance

Local and regional elected representatives from the Mediterranean met in Marseille

Marseille hosted three important events during the first week of April: the Forum of local and regional authorities from the Mediterranean, organised by the Mediterranean Committee of UCLG, the city of Marseille and the Region Provence...

Syrian refugee crisis: Municipalities on the frontline

An international delegation of elected and local government practitioners, under auspices of UCLG and its Middle East Working Group, visited Syrian border municipalities in Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon on 18-26 March...

Initiative worth following

13-14 May, Brussels : Migration, development and integration : role of local and regional authorities

Social integration and citizenship of migrants are crucial elements in the implementation of the migration and development nexus...

In other news

Local authorities, pillars of peace and development in Mali

Almost 500 participants, high state representatives, representatives of local authorities and civil society from Mali and France gathered on 19 March 2013 at the Rhône Alpes Regional Council in Lyon, in order to discuss the future of Mali and especially of the role that local authorities...

Calendar

Coming soon

13-14 May 2013 (Brussels, Belgium) : Migration, development, integration: role of LRAs and civil society

13-14 May 2013 (Kampala, Uganda) : PLATFORMA Africa regional seminar

14-17 May 2013 (Kampala, Uganda) : Commonwealth local governments conference

[Archive]

Drop in development aid amounts in 2012 !

According to the Development Aid Committee (DAC) of the OECD, official development aid, in real value, dropped by 4% in 2012, following a 2% decrease in 2011. As far as EU countries are concerned, Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands and Luxembourg are the model students, as this year they have again reached the objective of 0.7% of the gross national revenue fixed by the United Nations. The United Kingdom, Germany and France are still the biggest donors, but Germany and France cut their budgets, while the UK should reach the 0.7% in 2013. The most drastic cuts were noted in Italy and Spain. The amounts allocated to development countries by the EU institutions increased by 8% over a year, but this raise is mainly due to loans. Two years before the important 2015 deadline, it seems urgent that other resources should be mobilised; the financing of development beyond aid will be a central theme in the post-2015 debates. The European Commission should contribute to the subject with a Communication to be published in July 2013. In the meantime, we can already take a look at the European Report for Development 2012-2013, which indicates some means that could be used, beyond the official development aid, in order to reach the poverty eradication goal, in view of the future post-2015 development framework !