capacity building

For the period under review and taking into account the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Academy focused its efforts on digitalization and online activities to enable UCLG-Africa to remain connected with its Members, Networks and Partners.

The main activities carried out focused on :

1.  Enlargement of the UCLG-Africa Partner Network through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with The African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD) established in South Africa.

Members of UCLG’s Capacity and Institution Building (CIB) Working Group gathered in eThekwini, South Africa, from 26 to 28 September, to discuss the latest news and developments in the field of international cooperation.

Cities and regions throughout the world are raising their stakes in humanitarian support, realising that foreign action is a responsibility of all levels of government. The City of Barcelona’s activities in Lebanon and Jordan are a good example of the power that resides in cities to reach out and support foreign cities and regions by sharing both resources and local expertise.

December 2016 saw the official opening ceremony of the African Local Governments Academy (ALGA), an institute that aims to become a "genuine strategic lever and a UCLG-Africa spearhead for the professionalisation and the performance of human capital within the African territories". Key activities include monitoring of HR management at the local level, trainings and support to networks at the local level.

2016 kept the momentum going after the signing of several international agreements that emphasize the important role of local governments – the Sustainable Development Goals, Paris Agreement on Climate Change, Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, and the New Urban Agenda.

From 17-20 October, the city of Quito, Ecuador, was the stage for one of the most important international events for local governments for the next two decades, HABITAT III, where representatives of national, subnational and local governments adopted the New Urban Agenda.

The Dutch Institute for Quality of Dutch Municipalities (KING) launched their renewed Waarstaatjegemeente.nl. This website offers a lot of data and information on all of the Dutch municipalities and offers possibilities to take a look at statistics on 15 themes. It provides municipalities the possibility to gain insight in multiple indicators on several societal areas such as livelihood, saftely, youth and health issues. Even though all the information is in Dutch only, it is an example worth sharing.