UCLG Champions in the Sixth Steering Committee of the GPEDC in New York
The Sixth Steering Committee of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation (GPEDC) met on 9th July in New York. It was the first time that UCLG and ORU FOGAR participated in the Steering Committee as full members since the Busan High Level Forum on Development Effectiveness in 2011. During the meeting, the need to recognize the importance of local solutions was voiced by various participants.
In their opening statements, the Co-Chairs and their representatives stated that the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation should be used as a platform for sharing good practices and to learn from each other in terms of how some countries have advanced more than others, as well as which approaches have helped to achieve this.
The role of local and regional governments in development was highlighted by various participants. The OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) Chair, Erik Solheim, stated that it was important to bring practical solutions at local level to national level; while the private sector representatives mentioned that the partnership should place more attention on governance issues, rule of law and anti-corruption, to create an enabling environment for the sector of small and medium-sized enterprises to grow.
The meeting focused on the need of the Global Partnership to place more attention on local resource mobilization, transparency and accountability. In addition, many of the participants stressed the need to focus on the in-country implementation of the Busan principles on development effectiveness, to embed the monitoring of the principles within national accountability mechanisms.
UCLG and ORU FOGAR will implement a voluntary initiative in 10 pilot countries, in which dialogues will be established between donors, national governments and local governments and their associations.
