With only little over a month to go the preparations for the fourth High Level Forum on Aid-Effectiveness in Busan are in full swing. The CIB Working Group would like to update you on some important recent developments regarding the role of local governments at the Forum. The Busan High Level Forum is promoted as an inclusive forum for aid effectiveness. This implies that also local governments and their perspective on aid should be included. Together, local governments, civil society and central governments need to work together as to create a suitable environment for democratic governance and thereby work towards realization of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015.
1. Over the past months different actors have lobbied for the inclusion of local government in the draft outcome document.
While the second draft outcome document, published on September 16, does mention the importance of local governments and stresses their role as development partners, it does not highlight the necessity of promoting decentralization for aid effectiveness. Hence, there is still need for lobbying for an improved recognition of the role of local governments and decentralization processes.
To read the second draft outcome document please click here.
UCLG has called on all members to lobby their national governments for an improved recognition of the role of local governments. Various associations have contacted their governments with this message.
2. A place has been reserved during the plenary session for the role of local governments.
This is a unique opportunity to present to a wide audience the strengths of programmes aiming for strengthened capacity of local governments and the ways in which these programmes contribute to more effective aid delivery. Most likely, the programmes in Haiti of Cités Unies France (CUF), Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM), l’Union des municipalities du Quebec (UMQ), the City of Montreal, and VNG International will be presented, given that the implementation of and the cooperation between the programmes represent excellent examples of harmonization and ownership.
3. During the High Level Forum a side event is being organized on aid effectiveness at the sub-national Level.
This side event will look at the role and contribution of sub-national governments and other stakeholders to aid and development effectiveness in the context of multi-stakeholder governance. This event is being organized by United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), United Regions (ORU-FOGAR), Development Partners Working Group on Decentralisation and Local Governance (DeLoG) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
For more information about this side event, or one of many others being held, please click here.