| During the last ten years, UN-HABITAT has developed extensive relations with local authorities and their associations.
 The 1996 City Summit in Istanbul included the first World Assembly of Cities and Local Authorities. It gave a strong impetus to the collaboration of UN-HABITAT with local authorities, both at the normative policy level and at the operational level. Governments recognised local authorities as their closest partners in the implementation of the Habitat Agenda and committed themselves to decentralising responsibilities and resources to the local level. The role and influence of international associations of local authorities vis-à-vis the United Nations system has increased eversince, particularly with the establishment of the UN Advisory Committee of Local Authorities (UNACLA) in 2000, and the Istanbul +5 Special Session of the UN General Assembly in June 2001.
At the same time, several global programmes and initiatives of UN-HABITAT, as well as country projects, have deliberately targeted local authorities and their needs for capacity-building. Hundreds of local authorities have benefited concretely from this collaboration on issues such as urban management, environmental sustainability, city planning, infrastructure management and slum upgrading.
UN-HABITAT has worked intensively with all founding members of the new World Organization “United Cities and Local Governments” and has supported every step in their unification process since 1994.
Partnerships at global level
As the United Nations system’s focal point for local authorities, UN-HABITAT has been cooperating with local authorities at the policy and programme levels for many years.
At the global policy level, the Commission on Human Settlements decided in 1999 to create UNACLA which held its inaugural meeting in Venice in January 2000. Under the chairmanship of the Mayor of Barcelona, Mr. Joan Clos, UNACLA has provided a number of substantive inputs to the work-programme of UN-HABITAT and has been able to advise the Executive Director on several strategic issues.
Its composition, combining Mayors of large cities – from Johannesburg and Rio de Janeiro to Chengdu and Moscow – and leaders of international associations, guarantees stimulating exchanges and geographically-balanced insights.
Recently, UNACLA has communicated the views of local authorities on the relationship between the UN system, civil society and local governments to the High-level Panel on Civil Society, established by the Secretary-General under the chairmanship of former Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso.
UNACLA has also played a crucial role in promoting the international dialogue on decentralisation.
A number of global programmes of UN-HABITAT have involved local authorities associations in their governance structure. The Urban Management Programme, for example, has worked closely with most regional and sub-regional associations in Latin America. The Cities Alliance has benefited from the presence of representatives of the International Union of Local Authorities (IULA), the United Towns Organisation (UTO) and Metropolis in its Consultative Group. IULA has been active in the Steering Committee of the Urban Governance Campaign for the last three years. In each case, the perspectives and expectations of local authorities have proven very useful to guide UN-HABITAT and its international partners, such as the World Bank and UNDP, in their programming and evaluation activities at the global and regional levels. UN-HABITAT expects that the new World Organization would be even more involved in the definition of UN policies and programmes and that it could benefit from UN-HABITAT’s contribution to its own initiatives.
Operational partnerships at city level
The greater part of UN-HABITAT-managed resources is spent in developing countries to support operational activities in urban areas. These resources are mobilised from a variety of funding agencies, both multilateral and bilateral, and from the countries themselves. A majority of UN-HABITAT projects address the needs of local authorities, in terms of capacity-building, urban policy reform, environmental planning and monitoring, as well as concrete housing and slum upgrading programmes.
Since its creation in 1978, UN-HABITAT has supported hundreds of cities in improving their living environment. These range from the poorest towns in Least Developed Countries to the wealthy cities of the Middle East. UN-HABITAT has, for instance, cooperated for many years with the small towns in Burkina Faso and with Dubai Municipality, bringing about crucial changes in municipal management and planning. This work has contributed to a complete renewal of urban planning approaches, with a move from top-down spatial planning to multi-stakeholders action planning based on city consultations and debates.
UN-HABITAT has also played a major role in post-conflict urban rehabilitation, including through the re-establishment and training of local authorities in countries such as Somalia, Kosovo or Afghanistan.
This intimate knowledge of the capacities and needs of local authorities around the world constitutes a solid reference basis and also a testing ground for UN-HABITAT’s normative work and policy guidelines.
Indeed, this cooperation with local authorities works both ways as many cities support UN-HABITAT activities, either through city-to-city cooperation or through direct contributions. In this latter category, mention should be made of Fukuoka and Rio de Janeiro which host and support financially the regional offices of UN-HABITAT for Asia and Latin America respectively, and of Dubai which co-finances the Best Practice Programme through a biennial competition. Several Chinese cities have also hosted and financed international UN-HABITAT conferences in recent years. The operational cooperation between local authorities and UN-HABITAT benefits from the political (and often financial) support from many national governments which are increasingly aware that democratic local authorities are essential for the improvement of housing conditions and the sustainable development of cities and other human settlements.
From a world charter to guidelines on decentralisation
In June 1996, at the Partner Committee of Habitat II, local authorities made the case for the preparation of a worldwide charter on local autonomy. The Chairperson’s summary of the hearings refers to the matter as follows: “It was suggested that the experience gained in the implementation of the European Charter of Local Self-Government could be used as a basis for developing a global charter that would set out the key principles underlying a sound constitutional or legal framework for a democratic local government system.”
UN-HABITAT followed up on this request from local authorities in a Memorandum signed with the World Associations of Cities and Local Authorities Coordination in July 1997. An expert group meeting was held in April 1998 to prepare a first draft of the charter, which was thereafter submitted to consultations in all regions of the world in 1999-2000. These consultations, held in Agadir, Strasbourg, Santiago de Chile, Mumbai, Chonju and Accra, involved hundreds of local authorities representatives as well as ministers and government officials.
The draft charter was then revised and submitted to the UN Commission on Human Settlements in February 2001. However, the Commission could not reach a consensus on the proposed charter because some governments felt that it could contradict their constitutions and that therefore they would prefer a less binding declaration of principles. As a result, the Commission adopted a resolution (18/11) calling on the Executive Director “to intensify dialogue among governments at all levels on all issues related to effective decentralisation and the strengthening of local authorities, including principles and legal frameworks in support of the implementation of the Habitat Agenda”.
The Special Session of the General Assembly (Istanbul +5) of June 2001 welcomed “the efforts made by many developing countries in effecting decentralisation in the management of cities”. But the General Assembly did not issue specific guidelines.
The international dialogue started in earnest on 30 April 2002 during the first session of the World Urban Forum which recommended the development of constructive guidelines on effective decentralisation as a tool for development. UN-HABITAT then commissioned a set of case studies on the current legislative frameworks on decentralisation which formed the basis for a dialogue session at UN-HABITAT’s Governing Council of May 2003. This resulted in a new resolution (19/12) calling on the Executive Director “to take further steps and measures to intensify dialogue with the aim of developing recommendations to be presented to the next session of the Governing Council” in April 2005. The establishment of an Advisory Group of Experts on Decentralisation to support the dialogue process was also endorsed by the Governing Council. This group met for the first time in March 2004 in Gatineau, Canada.
Yet eight years after the Istanbul Summit, international guidelines on decentralisation are not officially available. This is a cause for concern in many developing countries. However, a real dialogue has started at the inter-governmental level and one could consider that the process has been quite useful and stimulating. So far, the process has been more important than the product, but the product (guidelines or recommendations) seems to be within reach. The new World Organization may have to lobby to speed up its finalisation.
The growing voice of local authorities
UN-HABITAT has always tried to ensure that the voice of local authorities is heard loudly and clearly in international forums, including in the UN inter-governmental machinery. This was the case with the Istanbul Partner Committee where governments were briefed by Local Authorities and other partners in an official segment of the Habitat II Conference.
High-level dialogues were thereafter formally included in the proceedings of UN-HABITAT’s Governing Council from its 16th session onwards. The format established by UN-HABITAT was later adopted by other UN bodies because it showed it could provide important inputs to inter-governmental deliberations.
UN-HABITAT also tried to promote the direct participation of local authorities in the work of its Governing Council. In 1997, a proposal was made to include representatives of international associations of local authorities in the Commission, based on the tripartite ILO model involving governments, employers and trade unions.
Although this proposal was certainly premature, it opened a new area of discussion among national governments which agreed to systematically include mayors and other local authority officials in their national delegations. The discussion also demonstrated that local authorities and their associations could not be considered NGOs because local authorities have governmental functions. Their associations are therefore more inter-governmental than non-governmental.
Another step in the same discussion came after the elevation of UN-HABITAT to programme status in the UN system, resulting in the need for drafting new rules of procedure for the Governing Council. These rules, adopted by the UN General Assembly in December 2003, include a specific section on the participation of non-members to the Governing Council. Rule 64 reads as follows:
“Duly accredited representatives of local authorities, invited by the Executive Director, in consultation with their respective governments, where requested, or representing national or
international associations or organizations recognised by the United Nations, may participate, as observers at public meetings, in the deliberations of the Governing Council and its subsidiary organs.”
Two comments can be made on this rule. Firstly, governments could have a say on the accreditation of individual local authorities. Secondly, representatives of individual local authorities and of their national and international associations can participate fully in the deliberations of the Governing Council, without their presence and statements being subject to approval by the Council. They cannot vote or discuss administrative issues, but they can contribute to consensus-building in all substantive areas.
Provided it is well structured, the voice of local authorities will be taken very seriously into account at future sessions of the Governing Council. The new World Organization could and should play a central role in organising its members to ensure an optimal inter-action with the UN system, and particularly with its focal point for local authorities — UN-HABITAT.
Daniel Biau, Director of the Regional and Technical Cooperation Division, is the Acting Deputy Executive Director of UN-HABITAT.
Other agencies working at the local level
UN-HABITAT is the focal point for local authorities in the United Nations System. But several other UN agencies also cooperate with local authorities within their respective mandates and areas of expertise.
UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, has launched a global initiative with UNITAR, the United Nations Institute for Training and Research, called the City Aids Project. Its aim is to establish a private-public partnership to fight HIV/AIDS in cities world-wide.
The Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD), under DESA, the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, has worked closely with local authorities since the Rio Summit. Many of the problems and solutions addressed in Agenda 21 have their roots in local activities, and participation and cooperation of local authorities are thus a determining factor in fulfilling sustainable development objectives.
UNDCP, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, the institutes of the United Nations Crime Prevention and the Criminal Justice Programme network and other relevant United Nations bodies work with cities on proven and promising practices in urban crime prevention. Urban crime and the role of local authorities will be examined at the Eleventh United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice in Bangkok 18-25 April 2005.
UNDP, the UN Development Programme, provides financial support for a number of country projects aimed at building capacity in municipalities. It is also involved in the Urban Millennium Partnership (UMP) and the World Alliance of Cities against Poverty (WACAP).
UNEP, the UN Environment Programme, works with cities largely through partnerships with UN-HABITAT in areas such as localising the UNEP Global Environment Outlook (GEO), urban environmental planning and management, water-for-cities initiatives, cleaner production, environmental management tools, and awareness and preparedness for emergencies at local level.
UNESCO’s work with cities covers the three main pillars of the agency, namely Education, Science and Culture. It includes activities such as the Cities for Peace Prize, the Management of Social Transformations Programme (MOST), the Growing Up in Cities Programme, and the Small Historic Coastal Cities Programme. UNESCO also carries out extensive work in the areas of urban heritage conservation, urban biosphere reserves and urban water conflicts.
FAO, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, helps member countries develop national policies and strategies for improved agricultural productivity and food security. Its activities at the local level involve the promotion of agricultural extension services in rural municipalities.
UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund, has been working with IULA, the International Union of Local authorities, to benefit children throughout the world. Every child has the right to grow up in an environment that cares for, protects and guides that child to adulthood, and local governments have responsibilities in many areas which affect the life of children such as health, education, housing, environmental protection, sports and recreation.
ILO, the International Labour Organization, emphasizes labour intensive approaches to infrastructure investment by working with local authorities and community based groups. ILO assists local authorities through its various programmes, such as the Local Economic Development (LED), Employment Intensive Investment Programme (EIIP), Advisory Support, Information Services and Training (ASIST), Small Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Development (SEED), Public-Private Partnership Programme (PPP), and Crisis and Reconstruction (IFP/CRISIS).
UNITAR has recently developed a programme on decentralised cooperation which supports a number of collaborative training centres (CIFAL). These include Bilbao, Curitiba, Kuala Lumpur and Ouagadougou. The programme involves regional associations of local authorities and the private sector.
The five UN Regional Commissions have developed research and advocacy activities on human settlements which are often relevant to the work of local authorities.
The World Bank has invested US $6 billion in assistance for urban development over the last 10 years. More than 100 projects have benefited from the Bank’s loans. These projects have improved urban living environments and local governance, with a focus on urban poverty and the strengthening of municipal management. A recent study (July 2003) assesses the challenges of implementing the Bank’s urban strategy paper published in 2000. It is entitled, Improving the lives of the poor through investment in cities. An update on the performance of the World Bank’s urban portfolio (see www.worldbank.org).
WHO, the World Health Organization, works with local authorities mainly under the auspices of its Healthy Cities Programme. This global programme is most active in Europe. Through participatory processes spearheaded by local authorities, it promotes improved public health. It concentrates on the social determinants of health within the sphere of influence of local authorities. It also works with local authorities to raise the awareness of citizens of their ability to influence health outcomes, especially in the area of non-communicable diseases.
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