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About Us
UCLG-MEWA About Us
As one of the nine sections of UCLG World Organization, representing more than 100 years of experience in building cooperation among local governments and gathering the local governments of the world under one roof; United Cities and Local Governments Middle East and West Asia Section (UCLG-MEWA) is continuing its efforts to ensure the effective representation our local governments at international platforms, to establish strong governance structures and to follow up the localization of international agendas in the MEWA region.
Our aim as UCLG-MEWA is to establish multi-tier partnerships and to be the international voice and advocate of local governments in our region, transcending the national borders, by protecting the values, goals and interests of local governments.
With its intense global agenda, this era has put a historic responsibility on us, to make the best of “the era of local.” And this responsibility, in its most general terms, is the localization efforts to ensure the applicability of international agendas in our cities, without delay.
Containing action plans for achieving the goals set on the basis of the 1992 Rio Earth Summit where "sustainable development" was identified as the common goal of humanity; the document titled "Agenda 21" has been embraced by all UN member states. Following this step, in the year 2000, the UN Millennium Development Goals were adopted, bringing together basic issues on development such as a fair world order, equality of access to opportunities and protection of the environment, under 8 main titles. Within this framework,
UCLG-MEWA assumed the coordination of the Localization Program of the Millennium Development Goals in Turkey, through the Local Agenda 21 Network.
Following the expiration of Millennium Development Goals, more inclusive and universal Sustainable Development Goals were adopted in 2015, with an aim to create decent living conditions for all by 2030. This new process provided an important opportunity to localize the Sustainable Development Goals within our region, based on our experience from the Local Agenda 21 Program.
New Urban Agenda, which was adopted during the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urbanization held in Quito, Ecuador in 2016; is also an important reference document for us, providing a framework for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals in urban settings. Based on our experience and abovementioned reference works, we, as UCLG-MEWA, will continue to reflect the synergy that we create with our members, to our works for creating sustainable and innovative cities in our region.
