United Cities and Local Governments

United Cities and Local Governments
President	Parks Tau
Secretary-General	Emilia Saiz
Headquarters	Barcelona, Spain
Website
www.uclg.org

United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG); French: Cités et Gouvernements Locaux Unis (CGLU); Spanish: Ciudades y Gobiernos Locales Unidos (CGLU); is an umbrella organisation for cities, local and regional governments, and municipal associations throughout the world. United Cities and Local Governments was founded in 2004, when the existing local government organisations - the International Union of Local Authorities (IULA) and the United Towns Organisations (UTO) – united their respective global networks of cities and national associations of local governments in a single organisation. United Cities and Local Governments' headquarters, the World Secretariat, is based in Barcelona, Spain. UCLG is the largest organization of sub-national governments in the world, with over 240,000 members in over 140 UN Member States^[1] and understands itself as the united voice and world advocate of democratic local self-government, de facto representing over half the world's population, the cities and association members of UCLG are present in over 120 UN Member States across seven world regions: The organization’s activities include hosting meetings of mayors and other local and regional leaders,^[2] advocacy for the interests of local and regional governments at the UN,^[3] and international peer-to-peer training on local policies and practices.^[4]

The organisation’s stated mission and your work programme is:^[5]

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.

His 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

.

History

Pan Am welcomes a delegation of 10 mayors from the Netherlands
(June 1961)

UCLG’s origins go back to 1913, when the Union Internationale des Villes (UIV) was set up at the International Congress of the Art of Building Cities and Organising Community Life in Ghent, Belgium.^[6] The establishment of the UIV, a permanent office for communication and documentation on municipal issues, marked the birth of the international municipal movement. The association had a Provisional Council of 30 members and its first seat was in Brussels.^[7] In 1928, the UIV changed its name to the International Union of Local Authorities (IULA).^[8] In 1948, IULA’s secretariat moved from Ghent to The Hague in the Netherlands,^[8] where it remained until 2004. The United Towns Organisation (UTO) (French: Fédération mondiale des cités unies (FMCU)) was set up in 1957 in Aix-les-Bains, France.^[9] It was initially known as the World Federation of Twin Cities (French: Fédération mondiale des villes jumelées).

In 1984, then President of the Regional Council of Ile-de-France, Michel Giraud, convened the first Metropolis Congress.^[10] The constituent Congress of Metropolis was held in Montreal in April 1985, and was attended by 14 founding member cities: Abidjan, Addis Ababa, Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Cairo, Colombo, Ile-de-France, London, Los Angeles, Mexico, Montreal, New York, Tokyo and Turin. The Metropolis secretariat was initially established in Montreal, moving to Barcelona under the presidency of then Mayor of Barcelona, Joan Clos, in 2000. In 2004, three international associations of local and regional governments – the International Union of Local Authorities (IULA), United Towns Organisation (UTO), and Metropolis – agreed to come together to form a single organization at UCLG’s founding congress.^[11]

Organization and membership

UCLG is a membership organization with a democratic, federal structure. Its members include individual local and regional governments and their national associations. UCLG’s governing bodies are made up of locally elected leaders, chosen by their peers in elections by UCLG members. UCLG’s President for the 2016-2019 mandate is Parks Tau, President of the South African Local Government Association (SALGA).^[12]

Global Taskforce of Local and Regional Governments (GTF)

UCLG facilitates the Global Taskforce of Local and Regional Governments (GTF),^[21] a coordination and consultation mechanism that brings together the major international networks of local governments to undertake joint advocacy work relating to global policy processes. The Global Taskforce was set up in 2013 to bring the perspectives of local and regional governments to the SDGs, climate change agenda and New Urban Agenda, in particular. As well as UCLG, Global Taskforce participants include ICLEI and C40 Cities.

United Nations Advisory Committee of Local Authorities (UNACLA)

The United Nations Advisory Committee of Local Authorities (UNACLA) was established by the UN Habitat Governing Council Resolution 17/18 of 1999 as an advisory body to strengthen the dialogue of the UN System with local authorities in relation to the implementation of the Habitat Agenda. UCLG chairs UNACLA and holds 10 of its 20 seats. UCLG co-hosts the UNACLA secretariat with UN-Habitat.^[22]

See also

• Agenda 21 for culture

References

External links

• Official website
• Metropolis
• UNACLA