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Newsletter – n°41 – May 2016

Headlines

The first European Days of Local Solidarity in autumn

Promoting decentralised cooperation and educating to global citizenship are the objectives that PLATFORMA and its members have set within the frame of the Strategic Partnership Agreement signed with the European Commission. Therefore, a focus group – to expend with willing members – was settled within PLATFORMA network to prepare the launch of the "European Days of Local Solidarity” initiative, which pilot edition will take place in autumn 2016.

News from the Secretariat

Local governments are at the forefront of humanitarian crises

Participants to the first ever World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul on 23-24 May took several initiatives under the idea of “sharing humanity”, especially by setting the Global Alliance for Urban Crises, supported by PLATFORMA. Its aim is to strengthen prevention, preparedness and response in increasingly precarious urban settings, particularly with local municipal actors.

"Local governments need a seat at the negotiation table!"

Local governments want a seat at the Habitat III negotiation table. That is the message PLATFORMA and CEMR put across at the Habitat III Hearings for Local Authorities, on 16 and 17 May at UN headquarters in New York.

News from partners

“Global Goals, Local Focus” for the 2030 Agenda

The Association of Flemish Municipalities and Towns (VVSG) hosted their international partners for a conference in Antwerp on 27 May. With a focus on the localization of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Agenda 2030, partners from around the world shared their experiences and new approaches.

Immediate response combined with long-term capacity building to localise global challenges

Building on the momentum of the ISKEP Social inclusion summit and the World Humanitarian Summit (WHS), the Union of Municipalities of Turkey hosted the UCLG Capacity and Institution building Working Group (CIB) in Istanbul on 19 and 20 May. The core activities of the working group focus on increasing quality and coordination of local governments’ initiatives to build capacities and better institutions, among others, through international action.

Dr Greg Munro is new CLGF Secretary-General

Dr Greg Munro has been named as the new CLGF Secretary-General by the Board of the Commonwealth Local Government Forum (CLGF) which brings together city leaders, mayors, local government ministers and other key stakeholders. Dr Munro, a South African national, will take up his post with effect from August 2016, based at CLGF headquarters in London.

The world at a glance

Strengthening links between the French authorities and South Korean

South Korea is in the spotlight in bilateral relations on the occasion of the France-Korea Year 2015-2016. Cités Unies France (CUF), in conjunction with the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development, lists currently around ten Franco-Korean partnerships, but several local and regional authorities are seeking partners and are interested in building closer links with their South Korean counterparts. The 7th Forum of the international action of local authorities organized on 4 and 5 July at the Paris Palais des Congrès will be an additional opportunity to establish future collaborations.

Initiative worth following

Comparative analysis of Monitoring & Evaluation systems

How to measure concrete impact of development cooperation programmes? Which tools for monitoring and evaluation (M&E) are best suitable for the context of local and regional governments? The Capacity and Institution Building (CIB) Working Group of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) has developed an analysis and policy recommendations on M&E tools.

The University of the Basque Country and Euskal Fondoa launched the project GAZTeNPATIA

GAZTeNPATIA is a project that promotes intercultural empathy and solidarity among young people. Thanks to their creativity, the students of the University of the Basque Country have developed various actions to be undertaken by the youth in countries where Euskal Fondoa is working: Western Sahara, Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua.

Calendar

Upcoming

13 June (Brussels, Belgium): meeting of PLATFORMA thematic groups

13 June (online): The World Bank Group – start of free online courses on Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) (in French)

14 June (Brussels, Belgium): Seminar “How decentralised cooperation can contribute to the SDGs’ implementation at the local level?” co-organised by The Basque Government, PLATFORMA, the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions of Europe (CPMR) and the UNDP ART Initiative

15-16 June (Brussels, Belgium): European Development Days 2016

21 June (Brussels, Belgium): Seminar “Which role for local and regional governments in Habitat III process?” co-organised by CEMR, PLATFORMA and the European Parliament URBAN Intergroup

20-25 June (Tbilisi, Georgia): ALDA – course on decentralized cooperation

4-5 July (Paris, France) : Cités Unies France – 7th forum of international action of local authorities 2016 (PLATFORMA is organising a session on eastern neighbourhood)

12-13 July (London, UK): CLGF – Commonwealth Sustainable Cities Network meeting

21-24 November 2017 (Valletta, Malta): CLGF – 2017 Commonwealth Local Government Conference on the theme “Fit for the future: resources and capacity for effective local government”

[Archive]

PLATFORMA & co…

If you are serious about wanting to promote decentralised cooperation, you have to interact with the broadest range of stakeholders as possible. This is what PLATFORMA secretariat does. In the previous weeks, PLATFORMA took the floor at events such as the Global Taskforce (GTF) of local and regional governments (HABITAT III, New York), the UNDP meeting with French regions, the UCLG executive bureau in Kazan (Russia) as well as UCLG workshop on disaster prevention (Geneva), CMI’s Amman workshop for communities hosting refugees and the first World Humanitarian Summit (WHS) in Istanbul. We were also present at ALDA general assembly in Paris and took the floor at AFCCRE preparatory meeting for their event and study on funding decentralised cooperation.

Besides, PLATFORMA committed itself to signing the Global Charter on urban crises, joined the European Parliament URBAN Intergroup, as well as the “Nicosia Platform” (that brings together Libyan mayors and their European counterparts), was asked to play a bigger role in the “Assises de la coopération décentralisée”, all this while supporting its partners’ activities in the framework of the Strategic Partnership Agreement with the European Commission.

As for purely PLATFORMA news, we have taken the first steps towards the internal reflection process (What is our “raison d’être”? What should we do? How should we do it?), likewise it started thinking about the organisation of the future Decentralised Cooperation Awards. Watch this space: PLATFORMA’s partners will soon be invited to play a role in both initiatives!

Patrizio Fiorilli
PLATFORMA Director