Moderated by CIB chairs Dr. Neila Akrimi and Pascal Lavoie, 30 CIB members met on Monday, January 30th to discuss the draft CIB work plan 2023. After opening remarks by Neila and a presentation of Sara Hoeflich, director of learning at the UCLG World Secretariat, on UCLG’s future goals, CIB members were given the opportunity to discuss their views on this year’s work plan.
In the meeting, participants offered their perspective on the CIB’s main objectives and activities for 2023. Members expressed their interest to connect the work of CIB to their own activities ánd to UCLG's Pact for the Future of humanity, the new visionary document of UCLG, adopted at the UCLG world congress in Daejeon in October 2023.
Break-out sessions to discuss the work plan
After the plenary part, members were asked to provide additional feedback in break-out sessions, as well as insights on where they could contribute to the planned activities. Feedback from all four groups can be found below:
Break-out session 1
- Very positive feedback on the CIB work plan - how can we operationalise it? Gender equality, policy paper, 2030 agenda remain high on the priorities list, including also VSRs
- New MOOC on SDGs and decentralised cooperation available now - follow this as CIB
- Networking element is very important, good to meet each other in Marrakech
Break-out session 2
- Link between CIB and LGA Forum is important; making this a bit clearer. Important venue to strengthen the agenda of associations
- How to make all we do more digestable for donors
- Supporting LGAs as part of the strategic review exercise of CIB - how can we build capacities better
- Extending the membership to the Global South is important (check also minutes from CIB meeting in Durban)
Break-out session 3
- Make the CIB annual meeting as practical as possible
- Enhanced policy work
- Degree on City Management by ALGA - CIB expertise for this?
- Tool on anti-racism, equity and inclusion of FCM might be of interest for gender hub toolkit
Break-out session 4
- Half way on the timeline of SDGs - how can we share more knowledge on the results we have made on the SDGs (SDG 11 in particular)
- Mention the different crises the world is in in the work plan of CIB
- Knowledge sharing very important, work together with other networks
These comments will be seriously discussed by the CIB secretariat and leadership and incorporated in the final CIB work plan 2023, which will be shared on the CIB website soonest.
Important groundwork for another active year!
All in all, this year’s consultation meeting on the work plan proved to be an inspirational platform, with vivid discussions, enlightening insights and many good ideas, visions and perspectives to take with us to Marrakech and other activities this year. The CIB secretariat and leadership are very much looking forward to further expand on the groundwork set in this meeting, with all of you.