United Cities and Local Governments Middle East and West Asia Section (UCLG-MEWA)

What is UCLG? United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) is a world organization dedicated to promoting the values, objectives and interests of cities and local governments. UCLG operates from its headquarters in Barcelona (Spain), and from its 9 regional sections located in different parts of the world. UCLG’s members include individual cities and national associations of local governments, which represent all the cities and local governments in a single country.

UCLG World Organization Citizens Towns Cities Metropolises National Local Government Associations Asia- Pasific Euro- Asia Africa Metropolitan Section Europe Middle East and West Asia Latin America North America United Cities and Local Governments Local National Regional World

How is UCLG governed? UCLG World Organization is governed by the General Assembly, the World Council, the Executive Bureau, the Co-Presidents, the Treasurer & the Secretary General. 4th UCLG World Congress Rabat (Morocco) 1-4 October 2013

What is UCLG-MEWA? Being one of the 9 regional sections of the UCLG World Organization, United Cities and Local Governments, Middle East and West Asia (UCLG- MEWA) operates from its headquarters in Istanbul, Turkey. UCLG-MEWA covers the following 20 countries: Afghanistan, Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Northern Republic of Cyprus, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, United Arab Emirates & Yemen as full members and Azerbaijan, Egypt, Pakistan and Turkmenistan as associate members.

UCLG-MEWA Members Currently around 140 members local authorities : National unions of local authorities (Union of Municipalities of Turkey, Association of Palestinian Local Authorities…) Major metropolises in the region: Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Diyarbakir, Sakarya… (Turkey), Kabul (Afghanistan), Tehran, Mashhad and Tabriz (Iran), Damascus and Aleppo (Syria)… Individual cities and local authorities International organization members: Organization of Islamic Capitals and Cities (OICC), Arab Towns Organization (ATO)…

How is UCLG-MEWA governed? UCLG-MEWA is governed by the General Assembly, UCLG-MEWA Council, the Executive Bureau, the Presidency, the Treasurer & the Secretary General. UCLG-MEWA Congress, Tehran (Iran), April 2013

Advocacy Within the framework of UCLG World Organization activities, UCLG-MEWA participates in the consultation process on the post-2015 Development Agenda and the preparation of Habitat-III Conference. These two events give UCLG-MEWA members great opportunities to voice its views in international debates and to put local governments as key actors of development in the MEWA region. In this regard UCLG-MEWA is the privileged relay between UCLG World Organization and local authorities of the region.

Committees and Working Groups Through UCLG Committees and Working Groups UCLG-MEWA carries out activities in various spheres such as “Decentralization, Local Finance, Development Cooperation and City Diplomacy, Gender Equality, Culture, Sustainable Development”. These issues are among the most discussed ones at local, regional, national and international levels. UCLG-MEWA Secretariat General coordinates the relations between the different Committees and Working Groups allowing UCLG-MEWA members to access solutions developed within the whole membership of UCLG World Organization.

Decentralized Cooperation Decentralized cooperation designates cooperation between sub-national authorities. It represents an innovative way of supplementing development assistance and to develop international relations of municipalities. More specific than traditional twinning agreements of decentralized cooperation can also be a first step to long term relationships. Delimited in time, objectives of decentralized cooperation focused on community development such as meeting basics needs, municipal capacity development, urban planning, water supplying, garbage collection, sustainable development etc.

Active involvement in the activities of the UCLG World Organization

UCLG World Council Meetings (Istanbul & Guangzhou))

Active involvement in United Nations & other global initiatives

MDGs Campaign A campaign entitled “Our City Supports the MDGs” has been launched (in 2005) towards localizing the MDGs, and promoting “local governance” as the primary and essential means for attaining the MDGs.

Forum of the Alliance of Civilizations, 31 May-1 June 2012, Istanbul

3W Congress May 2013 Istanbul

UCLG-MEWA has coordinated the fiscal decentralization studies in the region conducted under the 2nd phase of the Global Observatory for Local Democracy and Decentralization (GOLD).

UCLG-MEWA has become one of the Founding Partners of the “Global Fund for Cities Development” FMDV GLOBAL FUND FOR CITIES DEVELOPMENT

UCLG-MEWA: Coordinating Turkey’s Local Agenda 21 Program (world-wide “best practice”)

Turkey LA-21 Program… Pursues a local action planning process towards “sustainable development”. Seeks the improvement of the environment and the quality of life. Based upon participation and local “partnerships”. It is essentially a “democratic governance” program.

Coordinating Agency: LA-21 Program is conducted under the Framework Agreement between UNDP & the Government of Turkey (Published in the Official Gazette as an “International Agreement”) The Ministry of Interior - General Directorate of Local Authorities: Oversees implementation & provides Government cost-sharing United Cities and Local Governments, Middle East & West Asia Section

City (Citizen’s) Councils The Turkey LA-21 Program is credited for the development of a new “local governance” model in Turkey whereby public institutions, local authorities and civil society organizations are forming the triangle of the local decision-making processes. The City (Citizen’s) Councils, situated in the forefront of this model as the main participatory platform developed under the LA-21 Program, has been incorporated in Article 76 of the Law on Municipalities enacted in 2005, thereby attaining a significant legal stronghold.

ADANA BURSA KOCAELİ ÇANKAYA MADINA MAYOR VISIT IRAN CONSUL GENERAL VISIT MANAMA MUNICIPAL COUNCILORS IRAQI DELEGATES VISIT

Publications

MEWA Research