United Cities and Local Governments

COVID-19 : Live Learning Experience | COVID-19: What Local Governments Need to Know Website : https://www.uclg.org/en

Initiatives

The United Cities and Local Government (UCLG) has launched an online #BeyondTheOutbreak series “Live Learning Experience: Beyond the Immediate Response to the Outbreak” aimed at creating a virtual and living community, making available online resources for local governments and developing briefings or guides together with UN-Habitat and other partners in response to the needs of local governments on subjects such as local finance, the peace agenda during and after COVID, or local democracy in the aftermath of the pandemic.

It also has developed a “Cities for Global Health” initiative for collective responses to global health emergencies.

The organisation has launched a joint initiative entitled: "Emergency Governance for Cities and Regions" which aims to analyse the impact of the ongoing global health crisis and the recovery process on the governance of our cities and territories.

In partnership with Metropolis and UN-Habitat, UCLG is launching a new experience #CitiesAreListening which will pave the way towards the implementation of the UCLG Decalogue for the COVID-19 aftermath, inspired by the lessons learned from its membership during the outbreak and by how local and regional leaders envision the future. It has also launched, jointly with LSE Cities and Metropolis, the Emergency Governance Initiative for Cities and Regions (EGI), with the aim of providing city and regional governments with actionable information, suitable frameworks, knowledge and resources to navigate the new demands of leading emergency responses.

UCLG's Committee on Local Economic and Social Development will offer an online mentored training addressing the issue of economic recovery after the crisis caused by COVID-19, especially from the perspective of innovation.

UCLG, jointly with Metropolis and LSE Cities, launch a series of Policy Briefs that intend to foster discussion and critical review on how to govern complex emergencies from the local and regional level.

 

Online resources

UCLG produced brief guides based on lessons learned from local governments, “COVID-19: What Local Governments Need to Know”, and a Decalogue which makes ten recommendations for transforming the world after the epidemic. In addition, UCLG has published Women's Leadership for the Post COVID-19 Era.

During the UCLG World Council, mayors and partners addressed some of the key policy issues for the future of humanity in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic as we enter the Decade of Action in three High-Level debates: the Ecological Transition, Addressing Inequalities, and Leading the way to the Recovery.

 

 

Online Events

UCLG contributed to webinars on crisis management and the implementation of SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals), as well as on the impact of COVID-19 on migration and development.

UCLG organised a webinar on " Dialogue on a smart recovery in the post COVID-19 era" as part of its #CitiesAreListening initiative.

 

 

Statements

UCLG issued an urgent call for G20 to support cities as the frontline in addressing the COVID 19 outbreak, a call for cultural mobilisation of cities and local governments in the COVID-19 crisis, as well as adopted - with its partners - a joint global declaration on the importance of ensuring the continuity of public transport during and beyond the crisis. In addition, UCLG made a joint statement with Public Services International on the robustness of local public services for a safer world in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic.

UCLG wrote a letter highlighting the essential role of the World Health Organization in this pandemic.

UCLG participated in the High Level Political Forum in New York on the implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda, where it addressed the importance of universal medical coverage and called for the maintenance of SDGs as a reference framework for post-COVID-19 recovery.

The UCLG President and Deputy Head of the Moroccan delegation to the Congress, Mayor of Al Hoceima Mohamed Boudra, has addressed a message of solidarity and support in the context the COVID-19 emergency.

Metropolis, UCLG, and Cities Alliance launched a call to end violence against women and girls in urban spaces, a scourge aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic.