Update on Coordination activities of the CIB Working Group

Apart from the joint regional workshop organized in Hanoi, CIB Working Group members have identified the following joint initiatives for 2009.

Coordination in Africa:

• The UVCW (Belgium), taking up the lead of the coordination in Burkina Faso, has identified the first steps to enhance the coordination.
• In Ghana, VNG International and FCM will organize a joint mission tentatively scheduled for October this year. Besides, VNG International and FCM are trying to organize a meeting for all partner municipalities in Ghana, and will invite other CIB members active in Ghana to join this initiative.
• In West Africa, VNG and FCM are co-organizing a joint regional Association Capacity Building (ACB) workshop to be held at the end of this year. Other CIB members active in the region are being consulted.
• The LGA (England) has expressed the wish to coordinate future programmes in Zimbabwe. They have been in touch with various CIB members to identify possibilities of joint work. At the upcoming CIB meeting in London, this will be further discussed.

Coordination in Latin America:

• In Latin America, VNG International and FCM recently co-organized a joint regional ACB workshop in Colombia.
• In the same continent, FCM, the UCLG Committee on Decentralization and Local Autonomy, chaired by the Province of Barcelona, and the UCLG World Secretariat, have identified a joint project to set up an Observatory of Decentralization and Local Democracy of FLACMA (the regional section of UCLG).