ICLD

Over the course of five days, between December 14-18, the Swedish International Centre for Local Democracy (ICLD) organised the Local Democracy Academy 2020, a place where representatives of local governments and researchers from all over the world met to share and exchange ideas. This year’s theme – Global Disruptions and Local Democracy for a Post-Covid World – generated a lot of interest, and the lessons learnt seem more pertinent than ever.

ICLD has developed a digital education training to give you an “Introduction to Agenda 2030.”This training aims to give you an introduction to Agenda 2030, a global agenda for addressing the world’s most pressing challenges and driving change towards a sustainable society. The Global Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda offer an unprecedented opportunity for individuals and local and regional governments (LRGs) to contribute to global sustainability.

Partnerships are key to the realisation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). ICLD works with several partners in promoting local democracy and sustainable development in line with the Agenda 2030. For example, in Zimbabwe, ICLD partners with Gender Links to strengthen local governments reach several goals, through ICLD’s Zimbabwe Leadership Training Programme.

ICLD interviewed Gender Links Zimbabwe, Country Manager Priscilla Maposa, and this is what she shared about the partnership with ICLD.

How do ICLD and Gender Links complement each other?  

On April 2nd, the CIB Working Group organized a webinar on Women Leadership, which was attended by almost 90 participants.

This year, Gothenburg city and Nelson Mandela Bay municipality celebrates 20 years of partnership. It is one of the longest partnerships within ICLD and together the partners have carried out more than 10 different projects, mainly linked to sustainable urban planning and urban development.

Are we making urban planning decisions for everyone? Making our cities inclusive for all, not just persons with full functional ability, is a challenge that all countries are facing. Some countries have come far in making cities accessible - but are facing challenges of catering for all, maintaining the implemented structures and solving the conflicting needs of groups with different kinds of functional variation.

How can we measure our progress on the SDGs in a coherent manner? What are the do’s and don’ts when evaluating local government development cooperation programmes? How can we raise further awareness for Agenda 2030 and the New Urban Agenda among local and regional governments?

In a couple of weeks only, the next CIB annual meeting will take place in Stockholm. We have already received 40 registrations from all around the world for this event, taking place on 19-20 June 2018. If you have not yet registered but plan to come, please notify the CIB secretariat by filling this form.

Draft programme

The Swedish International Centre for Local Democracy (ICLD) has launched 24 new international partnerships to boost local democracy, in various countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and Eastern Europe and Asia. The red thread in all these partnership, financed by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, is the focus on local democracy.