November 13, 2017 cib
During the annual meeting of the CIB working group 26-28 September 2017 in Durban, CIB members – local governments and their associations active in international development cooperation – shared the latest developments in their programmes. Some general trends among the network emerged:
- Many CIB members are integrating the Sustainable Development Goals in their organization and/or programmes: this includes awareness raising activities among members of LGAs, training of (new) councillors and some first experiences with integrating the SDGs in municipal plans and budgets. CIB memebrs are convinced of the added value to use the SDGs as a common language and framework to work towards a sustainable future at the local level. It varies from country to country how national governments are using the SDGs both nationally and in their international programmes and how they involve the CIB members in that endeavour.
- Attention for gender is increasing in various countries. In Canada for example, SDG 5 will be placed at the centre of the international assistance of the national government.
- In some countries national governments have increase their funding to CIB member organizations (i.e. Sweden, Canada). In other countries, budget cuts have led to less attention for international development cooperation programmes and/or more geographic focus (i.e. Ukraine). Different members are joining forces with civil society organizations and universities in negotiations with their governments.
A mind map of the latest developments, trends and programmes can be found here (as well as an overview of emerging content issues and a mind map with key words on how we work).