United Cities and Local Governments is an umbrella international organisation for cities, local and regional governments, and municipal associations throughout the world that is concerned with representing and defending the interests of local governments on the world stage. The organization achieved inclusion of into Agenda 2030, aggregates best local practices into action plans, provides regular updates on the progress and proposals to High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development. Its day-to-day activities include hosting meetings of mayors and other local and regional leaders, running joint projects with partners, organizing international peer-to-peer training on local policies and practices, and advocacy for the interests of local and regional governments at the UN. Since founding in 2004, UCLG is headquartered in Barcelona, with its regional offices in Brasilia, Brussels, Istanbul, Jakarta, Kazan, La Paz, Ottawa & Rabat. It is the largest organization of sub-national governments in the world, with over 240,000 members in over 140 UN Member States and understands itself as the united voice and world advocate of democratic local self-government, de facto representing over half the world's population across seven world regions: Africa, Asia-Pacific, Euroasia, Europe, Middle East & West Asia, Latin America and North America. The organisation's work programme focuses on:
Increasing the role and influence of local government and its representative organisations in global governance;
Becoming the main source of support for democratic, effective, innovative local government close to the citizen;
Ensuring an effective and democratic global organisation
History
UCLG's origins go back to 1913, when the Union Internationale des Villes was set up at the International Congress of the Art of Building Cities and Organising Community Life in Ghent, Belgium. The establishment of the UIV, a permanent office for communication and documentation on municipal issues, marked the birth of the international municipal movement. The association had a Provisional Council of 30 members and its first seat was in Brussels. In 1928, the UIV changed its name to the International Union of Local Authorities. In 1948, IULA's secretariat moved from Ghent to The Hague in the Netherlands, where it remained until 2004. The United Towns Organisation was set up in 1957 in Aix-les-Bains, France. It was initially known as the World Federation of Twin Cities. In 1984, then President of the Regional Council of Ile-de-France, Michel Giraud, convened the first Metropolis Congress. The constituent Congress of Metropolis was held in Montreal in April 1985, and was attended by 14 founding member cities: meeting with UN Secretary-GeneralBan Ki-moon at UN, 23 April 2012. Abidjan, Addis Ababa, Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Cairo, Colombo, Ile-de-France, London, Los Angeles, Mexico, Montreal, New York, Tokyo and Turin. The Metropolis secretariat was initially established in Montreal, moving to Barcelona under the presidency of then Mayor of Barcelona, Joan Clos, in 2000. In 2004, three international associations of local and regional governments – the International Union of Local Authorities, United Towns Organisation, and Metropolis – agreed to come together to form a single organization at UCLG's founding congress. The united organization started under the leadership of its founding President Bertrand Delanoë, mayor of Paris, serving two three-year terms and continued under Kadir Topbaş of Istanbul.
Organization and membership
UCLG is a membership organization with a democratic, federal structure. Its members include individual local and regional governments and their national associations. UCLG's governing bodies are made up of locally elected leaders, chosen by their peers in elections by UCLG members.
UCLG's main policy-making body is the World Council. It has over 300 members from all world regions and meets no less than once every three years. Previous meetings were in Madrid & Hangzhou.
[|Executive Bureau]
The UCLG Executive Bureau is made up of 115 members. It meets twice a year and makes proposals and carries out the decisions of the World Council.
[|Presidency]
The presidency of the UCLG world network is made up of the President, six Co-Presidents and the Treasurer, accompanied by two Special Envoys. The presidency for the 2016-2019 period is: President:, Mayor of Al Hoceima, President of the Moroccan Association of mayors. Co-Presidents:
Opportunities for All, Culture and City Diplomacy: Keys to Sustainable Development and Peace
Territorial Multilevel Governance and Sustainable Financing
Safer, Resilient and Sustainable Cities, Capable of Facing Crises
Each Policy Council can have up to 15 representatives with a political mandate, with at least one member of the Presidency. These report at each Executive Bureau session.
UCLG meets for World Summits, regular Congresses, Executive Bureau meetings & Reunions, organized by the World Secretariat & [|UCLG Sections]. It also organizes various seminars and trainings. The upcoming event is World Summit in Durban on 11–15 November 2019.
Projects
Global Taskforce of Local and Regional Governments (GTF)
UCLG facilitates the Global Taskforce of Local and Regional Governments, a coordination and consultation mechanism that brings together the major international networks of local governments to undertake joint advocacy work relating to global policy processes. The Global Taskforce was set up in 2013 to bring the perspectives of local and regional governments to the SDGs, climate change agenda and New Urban Agenda, in particular. As well as UCLG, Global Taskforce participants include ICLEI and C40 Cities.
The United Nations Advisory Committee of Local Authorities was established by the UN Habitat Governing Council Resolution 17/18 of 1999 as an advisory body to strengthen the dialogue of the UN System with local authorities in relation to the implementation of the Habitat Agenda. UCLG chairs UNACLA and holds 10 of its 20 seats. UCLG co-hosts the UNACLA secretariat with UN-Habitat.
