UCLG

At the UCLG World Congress, VVSG participated in various SDG sessions, presenting concrete examples of Flemish municipalities, showcasing the supporting tools materials of VVSG on awareness raising, policy planning, and SDG monitoring and reporting and sharing its vision on how to move forward on SDG localization.

UCLG and its CIB Working Group are proud to present our new Guidelines for Subnational Reviews: SDG reporting by local and regional government associations. Read more on what VSRs are and how you start using the guidelines, as a Local Government Association!

Following the session on Voluntary Subnational Reviews at the UCLG Retreat on 18 February, which served as a valuable first encounter, UCLG and CIB are organizing the first-ever VSR workshop on 12 March, from 13:30-16:30 CET. The workshop will count on the participation of both local government associations’ representatives and field experts of countries that are engaged in the preparation of VSRs or local government reports to contribute to the Voluntary National Reviews in 2021 in 8 pilot countries, as well as other partners.

As a step to deliver the Pact for the Future that UCLG agreed to develop in its latest World Council in Guangzhou, the #CitiesAreListening Experience that took place on December 8th took the form of a high-level conversation on Development Cooperation and the COVID-19 pandemic involving representatives from all spheres of government as well as members from the donor community.

The Capacity and Institution Building Working Group of United Cities and Local Governments has worked on a joint position on COVID-19 and (the continued need for) local government development cooperation (also available in

The first UCLG Massive and Open Online Course (MOOC), based on the 17 Live Learning Experiences (LLE) #BeyondTheOutbreak is now available on the new online platform #LearningWithUclg through this link

Last week (9-13 November), more than 300 representatives from local and regional governments gathered in the online UCLG World Council meeting. The digital meetings were hosted by the city of Guangzhou, which had planned to accommodate us all in their city originally. Please find some elements of the meetings with relevance for the CIB network below.

Interactive policy dialogues

The Local4Action HUBs are a new initiative by UCLG aimed at localizing the Sustainable Development Goals, in practices and initiatives. The Local4Action HUBs should provide a platform for showcasing, recognizing and scaling-up local policies and processes and for fostering synchronization between activities and parts of the broad network while accelerating the constituency’s impact on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. It’s an opportunity to bring local approaches to sustainability to the forefront of the international conversation.

On the 17^th of June, the CIB secretariat facilitated a first online CIB annual meeting, with more than 150 participants from all around the world. Practitioners working on international programmes at local government associations and individual cities gathered to discuss the impact of COVID-19 on local government development cooperation. outputs from the meeting will be assembled in a joint position, aligned to the UCLG Decalogue.

(For Spanish and French information, please see below)

In 2020, 47 countries will be reporting to the UN on their progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). UCLG and the CIB Working Group are organizing a series of webinars in April on the role of local and regional governments and their associations in this reporting process, to ensure that the important work of local and regional governments on this agenda receives enough visibility and attention.