World Summit of Local and Regional Governments – 5th UCLG Congress. Bogotà - 12/15 Ottobre 2016

Dear partners and colleagues,

Next week, local and regional leaders, together with civil society, the business world, academia and international organizations, will meet in Bogota, Colombia on the occasion of the World Summit of Local and Regional Governments – 5^th UCLG Congress.

A place for public debates, the Summit will include several types of events, as well as plenaries, policy fora and networking activities open to the over 3,000 locally elected leaders and practitioners in attendance who will debate the most pressing issues in the field of local governance and urban sustainability.

In this context, the United Nations Development Programme is co-organizing and participating in a few sessions together with long-standing partners. We are very pleased to invite you to participate and join the discussions!

Workshop – Localizing the SDGs

Thursday 13 October 2016, 18.00 to 19.30, Venue: S6

This workshop will be an opportunity to discuss some of these issues as well as existing initiatives and challenges encountered in the localization of the SDGs in different contexts. One of the objectives will be to find ways in which national, local and regional governments, civil society, practitioners and academics can best collaborate to achieve the SDGs. The new virtual platform on Localizing the SDGs will also be presented!

Organizers: United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), UN-Habitat, Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM), Association of Netherlands Municipalities (VNG)

Workshop - Local Economic Development as a Way for Social Cohesion: Presentation of the Policy Paper on Local Economic Development

Thursday 13 October, 11.00 to 12.30, Venue: S4

The main objective of the workshop is to share strategic visions from the different working groups, commissions and sections and the own partners from UCLG around the economic development as cross element in the local policies within the context of the new urban agenda and the SDGs.

Besides, UCLG is part of the IV World Forum on LED scheduled to take place in Cabo Verde in 2017. The reflection process has a relevant space, first during the Congress in Bogota, and then, in Habitat III, allowing to aligning the positioning of UCLG in the Forum and ensuring that the message of local governments adequately rises during this event.

Organizer: UCLG Working Group on Local Economic Development, Andalusian Fund of Municipalities for International Solidarity (FAMSI)

Co-organizer: Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM)

Partners: United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), International Labour Organisation (ILO), Latin American Alliance of Local Authorities (AL-LAS) 

Policy Dialogue – Building the spirit of solidarity

Friday 14 October, 9.00 to 10.30, Venue: S1

Our broad family of local and regional governments has a proud historical tradition of decentralized cooperation and international solidarity. This session explores how local and regional governments can share expertise with one another to improve their ability to tackle common challenges from urban planning to migration.

Organizer: UCLG

Learning Forum Practical Sessions - City to City Exchange and South-South & Triangular Cooperation on Decent Work

Friday 14 October, 11.00 to 12.30, Venue: S3

The thematic session will explore the value of City-to-City cooperation linked to the challenges of the SDG 8. City to city cooperation has been increasingly linked to, and has benefited from the practice of South-South and triangular cooperation as an innovative means to develop local solutions to often global issues. SSTC constitutes an exchange among equals, the identification of innovative practices, and promotes collaborative initiatives at the national, regional, and interregional levels.

Participants will work on topics related to local economic development and decent work on which they have already engaged or wish to engage in the future. They will be asked to identify synergies and possible linkages in order to reinforce City to city cooperation on decent work.

A final debate, building on the discussions, will help examine potential topics and partners.

Organizer: UCLG, Co-Organizers: International Labour Organization

In addition, visit the Network Hub for the session on:

Inclusive and Transparent City Development: To Share Seoul’s Policies and Best Practices

Wednesday 12 October, 10:30 to 12:00

Led by the Sustainable Development Goals and the New Urban Agenda, global society has turned its focus to promoting inclusive cities. In this worldwide trend, Seoul will present its “Inclusive City Policy”, focusing on housing and urban regeneration, as well as its innovative e-government system for transparent public construction management. More concretely, the session will debate the following best practices as examples of inclusive and transparent urban development policies: Seoul's public rental housing expansion; Seoul's urban restoration and vitalization strategy; Transparency through the "Clean Construction System" (CCS) for public construction management; Creating a network supporting policy exchanges to promote shared prosperity for world cities.

Organizers: Seoul Metropolitan Government, UNDP Seoul Policy Centre and Seoul Housing Corporation.

For more information, please visit: https://www.bogota2016.uclg.org/