Un Advisory Committee Of Local Authorities - Unacla Project 2016 - 2019

Given the ongoing political processes relating to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Habitat III, the role of UNACLA will be to ensure how best can it support and strengthen the voices of local governments in these efforts within the UN system. This project intends to ensure that local governments are able to contribute towards the ongoing debate relating to national and international processes on sustainable urban development.

This project intends to directly contribute to the goal of the UN-Habitat Strategic Plan for 2014-19, which is ‘well-planned, well governed and efficient cities and other human settlements with adequate infrastructure and universal access to employment, land and basic services, including housing, water, sanitation, energy and transport.' UNACLA also plays a complementary role to UN-Habitat's mission of collaboration with   relevant stakeholders and other United Nations entities to support local authorities to respond positively to the opportunities and challenges of urbanization by providing normative or policy advice on transforming the cities into inclusive centres of vibrant economic growth, social progress and environmental safety.

Sustainable urbanization offers a number of avenues for overall sustainable development.  Increasingly, cities are identified as the locus for change and the venue where policies and actions are mobilized. Cities have been able to forge new linkages among actors and offer innovative solutions that have been included in national agendas with greater possibilities of influencing regional and global development. Local governments have emerged as key institutional drivers of city/regional growth. Their work, vision and solutions transcend local political confines and exert regional and global influence.  Urbanization offers many opportunities. It is these opportunities that the New Urban Agenda seeks to build on by recognizing the central role of local authorities in establishing and enforcing rules and regulations, promoting sound urban design, fostering urban economic growth through spatial planning and infrastructure investments  - all critical components for the achievement of Goal 11, and that the New Urban Agenda seeks to build adequate conditions at local level to achieve Goal 11. 

Local government has and continues to make a strong case for its role as an implementing partner of the SDGs to be fully recognized-to ensure that global and national targets can be set, delivered, and monitored locally. Not only are many of the key services essential to meeting Goal 11 at the local level, but local governments are in the best position to ensure that the needs of local people are understood and met, and that the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Goals and indicators are locally owned, inclusive and “leave no one behind”. Simultaneously, the challenges to ensure that countries, in particular the LDCs are also able to harness the potential of urbanization for implementing the 2030 agenda for sustainable development are also known.

Furthermore, at the second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements - Habitat II - held in Istanbul in June 1996, national governments committed themselves to the objective of decentralising authority and resources (Habitat Agenda, para 45(c)). They also recognised local authorities as the closest partners of central governments, and as essential in the implementation of Agenda 21 and the Habitat Agenda (Istanbul Declaration, para 12).

Since Habitat II, UN-Habitat has developed its working relationship with the international associations of cities and local authorities in the framework of a Memorandum of Understanding with the World Associations of Cities and Local Authorities (WACLAC) setting out mutual commitments to collaboration in a number of key policy areas related to the implementation of the Habitat Agenda. The preparation of the World Charter of Local Self-Government is one of these joint undertakings.  Its aim is to draw up an internationally agreed, adaptable framework for the practice of local democracy, as a vital contribution to the improvement of people's living conditions in all continents and regions.The Charter has been signed by 120 countries including Turkey. The implication of the signing of the Charter is that the countries have agreed to have a local independent administration.

United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) was created in 2004. It was established to represent and defend the interests of local governments on the world stage, regardless of the size of the communities they serve. Headquartered in Barcelona, the organisation's stated mission is:

 “To be the united voice and world advocate of democratic local self-government, promoting its values, objectives and interests, through cooperation between local governments, and within the wider international community”.

 UCLG's work programme focuses on:

·         Increasing the role and influence of local government and its representative organisations in global governance.

·         Becoming the main source of support for democratic, effective, innovative local government close to the citizen.

·         Ensuring an effective and democratic global organisation.

 

The formal partnership between UCLG and UNACLA has served to strengthen local authorities representation in processes of the UN, with UNACLA as convenor on the one hand and UCLG as the most representative global organisation of local authorities on the other. UN-Habitat and UCLG signed a formal agreement in 2006 focusing the collaboration on (a) good governance, (b) international dialogue on decentralisation, (c) global observatory of local democracy and decentralisation, (d) localising the MDGs and (e) revitalisation of UNACLA.

Furthermore, The Global Task Force (GTF) brings together global organisations and networks to promote and highlight the role of local governments. GTF is the umbrella network  of 20 global organisations (including the UNACLA) with the objective of ‘bringing together the local government efforts to be recognized and empowered by the future UN Development Agendas, and to ensure the complementarity between the Post- 2015 Development Agenda and Habitat III processes.'

Diagrammatic Representation of the Global Task Force Membership

 

Outside the GTF there are other prominent local organizations working towards the same mandate as well. One such example is CITYNET that was created in response to the needs of growing cities in the Asia Pacific and is focused in technical cooperation amongst its city membership.

Given the active involvement and engagement of the local government associations towards these sustainable urban development processes, by a letter dated 3 April, 2015, the UNACLA Chair communicated to Dr. Clos a proposal to redefine the role and work of UNACLA by review of its membership and focus of its work.  During the UNACLA members meeting held at the 25th UN-Habitat Governing Council Session in Nairobi, Kenya on 15 April, 2015, the members discussed and supported the proposal of the Chair to restructure UNACLA.  Three main decisions were taken at the meeting- 1. UNACLA membership would consist of 20 members from the UCLG and Global Task Force- that is, the membership would become institutional. 2. The operations of UNACLA should be kept to the political and advisory. 3. UNACLA Reporting should be formalized. The Committee members will make a report every year to the Executive Director of UN-Habitat, who will take it into account in his reporting to the UN Secretary-General and to the UN-Habitat Governing Council every 2 years.

The new focus, membership and reporting requirements of the Committee would allow for institutional representation, which would enable the Committee to be able to better perform its political, policy and advisory role, and allow for the members to strategically engage with the Habitat III process, the new urban agenda and implementation of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda.

 

Diagrammatic Representation of UNACLA Reporting

  

The Executive Director of UN-Habitat, Dr. Clos, approved the new membership of UNACLA and invited the members for the Committee's meeting that was held in New York during the post-2015 summit on 27 September, 2015.  During the meeting, the members observed that the Committee should be used for building an institutional partnership and to further engage with the UN by having a Work Plan on the lines recommended by Dr. Clos which included the establishment of a Habitat III Working Group to engage in the ongoing processes including contribution to the zero draft outcome document. The members were in agreement on strengthening the role of local authorities and their associations for the implementation of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda and to make UNACLA an important ally for local governments within the UN system, including the implementation of Habitat agenda that would strengthen the representation of local authorities in the UN system.

 Based on the new membership and policy focus of UNACLA, the overall objective is for UNACLA is to serve as a complimentary mechanism to substantive and programmatic processes to enrich the voice of local governments towards 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, Habitat III, and other relevant milestones of the UN system in sustainable urban development, including the new urban agenda.  It is also to strengthen the capacity of the local authorities –– in addressing urban challenges and taking advantage of the opportunities.  It is also to be an inclusive participatory mechanism to ensure that the voices of the local authorities are also well represented in these important global processes.

 

 

Based on the new UNACLA structure, the Committee's objectives are as follows- 

 

o   To ensure representation of local authorities and their associations in policy making processes related to sustainable urban development processes; 

o   To serve as a complimentary political, policy and advisory mechanism to enrich the voice of local authorities and the local government associations in the implementation of Goal 11 of the 2030 Development Agenda, participation and engagement in Habitat III, and the New Urban Agenda;

o   To give opportunity to local authorities and their associations to influence-Habitat's  work program; and,

o   To serve as the forum for inter-agency dialogue, consultations and sharing of best practices on sustainable urban development processes.

 

It is expected that through the new UNACLA restructure, local governments including those from LDCs, through their Local Government Associations will be given the opportunity to speak with a unified voice within the UN system to influence the work program of UN-Habitat, communicate key messages on priority themes, and be strategically represented, particularly in global development forums and national and international processes on sustainable urban development, and better enable local governments to broaden their dialogue with UN Habitat and other UN agencies. The UNACLA members will also be able to lobby for the signature of the Charter so as to increase the number of countries that would support it as the Charter is an international treaty, and when signed, it is at the same level as the Constitution.

 

Proposed UNACLA Contribution to Habitat III, New Urban Agenda and Goal 11 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

The trend of urbanization is at the city level to which the UNACLA members belong.  As of 2014, 54% of the world's population lives in urban areas. This percentage is expected to increase to 66% by 2050 – involving an addition of 2.5 billion people to the global urban population.[2] Local authorities from LDCs face the most prominent challenge to address rapid urbanization and progress towards transformative urbanization.Goal 11 of the 2030 Sustainable Development agenda, on ‘Making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable', and its targets signify prominent attention to urbanization in the development arena. Several other Goals including that on climate change and migration also carry focus that is relevant from an urban perspective. Habitat III will be an opportunity to?discuss and chart new pathways in response to the?challenges of urbanization and the opportunities it offers?for the implementation of the sustainable development?goals,[3] with a?view to generate a 'New Urban Agenda'. [4]

The New Urban Agenda seeks to build on the opportunities offered by urbanization by recognizing the role of central and local authorities in establishing and enforcing rules and regulations, promoting sound urban design, fostering urban economic growth through spatial planning and infrastructure investments - all critical components for the achievement of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda Goals.

The Committee is uniquely positioned to make the following substantial contributions to these sustainable urban development processes-

 ·         Positioning local authorities as frontiers of the implementation of the New Urban Agenda, including monitoring and measurement of Goal 11 by building adequate conditions at the local level, including providing support to the local authorities of the LDCs.

·         Enabling the LGAs and local authorities to form partnerships and strengthen their network for implementation of the 2030 Development Agenda, and developing a consolidated and unified position on engagement in Habitat III and contribution to the New Urban Agenda at a global level.

·         Complementing the constituency driven mechanisms before the United Nations, such as the Global Task Force of Local and Regional Governments for 2030 Agenda on SustainableDevelopment and Habitat III.

·         An opportunity for local authorities to address the UN system to communicate key messages on priority themes, and be strategically represented in global development forums and national and international sustainable urban development processes.

·         Strengthen the relationship of the local authorities with national governments and international organizations.

 ·         Support the World Charter of Local Self-Government which is a vital instrument towards the international recognition of the important role played by the local authorities in the cities, and to encourage and promote local democracy and decentralization.

 ·         To gather the LGAs perspectives to inform the outcomes of the High-level ongoing Regional Preparatory Meetings on sustainable urban development issues.

 

Diagrammatic Representation of Possible UNACLA Contribution to Sustainable Urban Development Related Political Processes

http://citynet-ap.org/category/about/history/

Supra Fn. 2

UN-Habitat Urban Visions No. 3, Vision for Habitat III, available at- http://unhabitat.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/UN-Habitat-Urban-Vision…

Ibid.

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