Source: UCLG
With the launch of the 2016 annual report, United Cities and Local Governments, the world organization of cities, metropolises and regions summarizes the events that have shaped the past year to recall that now is time to make the global goals a reality from the bottom-up. In our annual report, you will find that the year 2016 was a historic year for UCLG and the constituency of local and regional governments as a whole. As recognized by the Strategic Partnership with the European Union, UCLG continued in its quest to serve as a key partner of the international community, facilitating the amplified voice of local and regional governments.
A renewed leadership committed to sustainability, equality and justice
The organization of our 5th World Congress in Bogotá, back-to-back with the Habitat III Conference in Quito, amplified the historic relevance of this year and, at the same time, expressed the clear commitment of local and regional governments to contribute to the achievement of the New Urban Agenda.
The World Congress in Bogotá also saw us engage in the processes of internal democracy that make our organization what it is, with the election of our Presidency and Governing Bodies. With a new Presidential team led by Mpho Parks Tau, President of the South African Local Government Association, UCLG will build on our legacy and seek to reach the next level of recognition and achievement.
2016 saw the launch of the Fourth GOLD Report “Co-creating the urban future”. The report, based on an extensive research and consultation process, presented the agendas of metropolises, cities and territories and a set of policy recommendations – the Global Agenda of Local and Regional Governments. This work, together with recommendations of the Global Taskforce, fed the Bogotá Commitment and Action Agenda, the main political output of the UCLG World Congress in Bogotá, which outlines the local, national and global actions that will be necessary in order to achieve the major global sustainable development agendas.
Local and Regional Governments reinforced in the New Urban Agenda
2016 also saw the culmination of the renewal of the major global agendas with the celebration of the once-every-20-years Habitat Conference and the adoption of the New Urban Agenda.
Through our facilitation of the Global Taskforce, UCLG ensured an unprecedented mobilization of local and regional leaders in the Habitat III process and advocated for the inclusion of our constituency’s recommendations in the New Urban Agenda.
The visibility of the World Assembly of Local and Regional Governments, the political mechanism facilitated by the Global Taskforce, in Quito and its official recognition in the outcome document of Habitat III are testimony to our joint achievement as well as to the representativeness and convening power of UCLG.