UNITED CITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS OF AFRICA (UCLGA)

Capacity Building (CB) and Development 

Ref: CB6 - Millenium Development Goals

Purpose and Description

In September 2000, the Millennium Summit held in New York saw world leaders from the north and the south committing their nations to a new global, concerted effort to alleviate extreme poverty and improve living conditions for all in the world by the target of 2015.  Eight (8) time-bound targets, commonly known as the Millennium Development Goals, were adopted by 189 Heads of State and Government as part of the United Nations Millennium Declaration which was signed at the same occasion.  The MDGs are intended to guide all governments and leading development institutions of the world in their efforts to meet the needs of the poorest. These goals are:

• Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
• Goal2: Achieve universal primary education
• Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women
• Goal 4: Reduce child mortality
• Goal 5: Improve maternal health
• Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
• Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
• Goal 8: Develop a Global Partnership for Development

In September, 2001, at its 56th session, the UN General Assembly adopted a “Road map towards the implementation of the United Nations Millennium Declaration” that more specifically defined strategies and indicators to guide the global effort to meet the MDGs.

An update report released in 2007 by the UN on “Africa and the Millennium Development Goals” indicates that    “At the midway point between their adoption in 2000 and the 2015 target date for achieving the Millennium Development Goals, sub-Saharan Africa is not on track to achieve any of the Goals. Although there have been major gains in several areas and the Goals remain achievable in most African nations, even the best governed countries on the continent have not been able to make sufficient progress in reducing extreme poverty in its many forms.”

The Africa MDGs Report 2008 indicates that some progress has been achieved towards meeting the targets of the MDGs in areas such as primary education enrolment, gender parity, in primary education, malaria deaths, and representation of women in parliaments. If this momentum is maintained, adds the report, the continent will be on course to meet a significant number of the MDGs by 2015.  The report notes improvements in the political and economic environments in Africa as well as persistent commitment at the highest levels of decision-making to MDGs in Africa. However, the report notes that much remains to be done. One of the areas with the slowest progress as identified in the report is the health-related MDGs.  There is a need for the scaling-up of resources to accelerate the rate of progress.  The report calls for the intensification of the implementation of MDG-consistent national development strategies and poverty reduction strategies.

 As the sphere of government closest to the people, local governments must play a vital role in educating, mobilizing and responding to the public to promote sustainable development. The role of local government as the “frontline agent”, delivering services associated with poverty reduction must be recognized.  At a meeting of organized local governments leaders held in Brazil in August 2004, the UN Secretary General acknowledged that up to 70% of the MDGs and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation targets (adopted at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002) would primarily be achieved through local governments working in consultation with national governments and other stakeholders. National governments must therefore make, through decentralization, a legislative environment possible for local governments to be effective and play their rightful role in the attainment of MDGs. 

It is against this background that the United Nations Millennium Campaign (UNMC) as a key United Nations agency established by UN Secretary General, Koffi Annan, in 2002 to encourage and supports citizens' efforts to hold their governments accountable for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), recognized the importance of establishing a partnership with the United Cities and Local Governments of Africa (UCLGA).

Both UNMC and UCLGA share a commitment to the acceleration of the attainment of MDGs on the African continent.  This common vision led to the signing of an agreement between the UCLGA and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in October 2008. The agreement provides that the UCLGA collaborates with the UNMC to inform, inspire and encourage people’s involvement and action, with specific emphasis on local governments, for the realization of the MDGs.

The joint UCLGA-UNMC MDGs project envisages the following initiatives:

1. Promote the active engagement of municipalities in the development of local plans based on national indicative guidelines for the realisation Millennium Development Gaols (MDGs), and including clear schedules, targets and budgetary allocations, for their implementation.
2. Promote participatory practices and structured grassroots’ involvement, in member municipalities, in local development plans to realise the Millennium Development Goals (MDG).
3. Develop, in collaboration with national associations of local governments, an MDGs monitoring and evaluation system for the realisation of MDGs in order to facilitate the taking of corrective measures to achieve set goals.
4. Establish national water and sanitation focal points under national associations of local government.
5. Set up a UCLGA water and sanitation Hub to coordinate national focal points programmes and activities.
6. To facilitate the testing, validation and replication of appropriate electronic innovative systems in the management of water services.
7. Establish a Water and Sanitation MDGs Task Team, consisting of Focal Point Network Members, to focus on programmes and partners to accelerate the attainment of the MDGs.
8. Engage appropriate partners, including the ICLEI (Africa), the IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre, and the African Partnerships Programme (APP) in symbiotic relationships to enhance the UCLGA’s capacity to engage meaningfully in the water and sanitation sector.
9. Negotiate the establishment of a local government desk at the African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW).

 http://www.un-ngls.org/UNreform/Local%20Government%20International%20Bureau.doc  

 http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/reports.shtml

http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/bkgd.shtml

 http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2001/pi1380.doc.htm