“A revolutionary approach from local government is needed to ensure the attainment of the development goals” This is what David Morrison from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) said to the CIB Working Group members that gathered in Ottawa (Canada) on 13 and 14 June.
Post 2015 development goals
The Capacity and Institution Building (CIB) Working Group discussed the importance of informing our partners about the process of the post 2015 process and the role that they can play towards their national governments. The UCLG family should ensure that each mayor is able to speak credibly about the local aspects of issues such as climate change, education, peace and poverty.
Trade and Aid
Another important topic was the increasing role of Trade: 70% of poverty reduction can be accomplished by increasing the incomes of households, whereas only 30% of poverty reduction can be achieved by redistribution and equity policies. Therefore, there is an increasing focus of various donors towards Trade.
Local governments can play an important role as intermediary at both sides of a partnership to promote business perspectives. Also, the creation of an enabling environment, reducing red tape and arranging permits can ensure that businesses have a better ground to start from. There can also be a role for local governments in trade missions and trade boards. The CIB Working Group will be further exploring this issue.
Developments for CIB members
Themes that have been getting more attention in the past years are the extractive sector (including mining), (post)conflict situations and disaster management (natural and manmade).
The CIB Working Group furthermore noted an increase in the South South cooperation; the Brazilian government launched a call for proposals to support municipal international cooperation. The South African Local Government Association supports neighboring local government associations, whereas the Association of Local Authorities of Tanzania is supporting the set up of a local government association in Zanzibar, both with support of the ARIAL programme (www.arial-programme.eu).
Coordination
The CIB Working Group exchanges information on “who does what and where” to ensure that better coordination can take place. In addition, the CIB Working Group will be developing recommendations towards donors to ensure that reporting requirements are better aligned and coordinated, to ensure that the burden on partners can diminish.
What is the CIB Working Group?
The CIB Working Group is a working group within the world organization of United Cities and Local Governments in which practitioners in local government development cooperation get together to exchange experiences and learn from each other in a transparent way.
In the past year, the CIB website has been renewed (www.cib-uclg.org), the UCLG Policy Paper on Development Cooperation and Local Government has been published and an action plan to train partners to disseminate and implement the key messages has been adopted.