On the 9th of April, the CIB Working Group, UCLG, Metropolis, and UN-Habitat co-hosted the Live Learning Experience on the role of Local Government Associations (LGAs) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Various local and regional government associations shared their experiences regarding service delivery towards members, liaising on behalf of members with other levels of governments, and the provision of learning and exchange possibilities.
The session was opened by the Mayor of Utrecht, President of the Association of Netherlands Municipalities (VNG) and Co-President of UCLG, Jan van Zanen, the CEO of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM), Brock Carlton and the Director of the Global Solutions Division of UN-Habitat, Raf Tuts, framing the conversation around the work that LGAs all over the world were doing in an often-difficult national context. Jan Van Zanen highlighted the importance of keeping democratic processes alive, and the role of the Association of Dutch Municipalities (VNG) in linking the local and national level during the pandemic.
“It is important to stand together, to share information and communication. We, as VNG, are providing research and expertise, and we work on guiding on the right direction, even if we don’t have all the answers, ” he said.
Challenges and actions of LGAs
During the roundtable discussion the CEOs of Frente Nacional de Prefeitos and the National Confederation of Municipalities from Brazil, the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces, the South African Local Governments’ Association, and the League of Cities of the Philippines gathered to showcase what Local Governments Associations from all over the world were bringing to the table during the outbreak and beyond. This included questions such as:
What new services are being developed? Are new products available? What are the political challenges related to the intergovernmental coordination of the emergency? How can local approaches and methodologies be replicated? Have the associations been able to adapt to a new context?
The various LGAs stressed the importance of information provision and coordination between different levels of government to guarantee that the needs of the citizens are efficiently met. Furthermore, they all mentioned the development of online platforms for the exchange of knowledge and the provision of answers to frequently asked questions to municipalities. As for the future, the LGA’s agreed that we are facing difficult challenges right now, but that this is also an opportunity for capacity building to better support their members.
The CIB Working Group
This roundtable discussion was moderated by Sebastian Hamel, co-chair of the CIB Working Group. He explained that CIB is a technical platform for professionals from LGAs and individual local governments who are working in the field of capacity development and local government development cooperation. Many colleagues from the network are already involved in various crisis management efforts all around the world. COVID-19 has a huge impact on all the work that local governments and their associations do, both domestically and internationally. Therefore, CIB facilitates exchange between peers from the local government sector, to enable duplication of good practices, innovation in the sector, and coordination in the field. This exchange between CEOs from various LGAs is important as it captures the main challenges and priority actions that have to be shared with the broader community.
Interactive dialogue
During the second round participants from the Consortium of Provincial Autonomous Governments of Ecuador CONGOPE, United Cities of France, the Association of Indonesian Municipalities, the Italian Association of Cities and Regions of Europe and the Turkish Association of Municipalities, shared their challenges and priorities that the associations were facing. A recurring theme was how the crises creates new opportunities for societies. They emphasized the need for solidarity between states and local and regional governments in the fight against the current pandemic. Furthermore, the financial feasibility of local governments was also considered an important issue by the LGAs. They are key players in the public service provision but do not have their usual income. This has to be addressed by national and regional governments.
Wrap-up
Elkin Velasquez, UN-Habitat's Regional Representative for Latin America and the Caribbean, ended the session by highlighting the importance to consolidate the role of local governments in the decision-making process and to enhance their capacity to support their members.
Emilia Saiz, the Secretary General of UCLG, closed the session, concluded that LGAs have to be creative in their response to the needs of their members. “Articulating a joint response with concrete proposals will be critical and a responsibility that UCLG is willing to undertake together with its partners, member cities and associations”.
The CIB Working Group wants to thank everybody for their contributions and will continue to facilitate this insightful discussion through our Google Drive, where CIB members can share their approaches and methods on how to deal with the COVID-19 virus, our bi-weekly circular, and our newsletter. Register for the mailing list through the following link: http://www.cib-uclg.org/about/become-a-member
For more information, please contact us through: uclg.cib@vng.nl. We are looking forward to seeing you at the next Live Learning Experience!