Local governments are the sphere of government closest to its people. They are ideally placed to understand the local needs and experience the realities in localizing national commitments and various Global Agendas. Furthermore, with cities and local governments being an intermediary between communities and higher levels of governance, it is possible for national commitments and global agendas to leverage on the local government for enhanced results.  As a result, UCLG ASPAC, representing the united voice of local self-governments within the Asia Pacific region, supports Asia Pacific cities and local governments through not only advocacy, but also capacity building activities.  

First, to promote effective democratic self-government and good governance, UCLG ASPAC will support in building awareness and capacity of local governments and its associations towards establishing enabling environments for effective decentralization and negotiating reallocation of authority and resources.  

Last but not least, UCLG ASPAC also strives to empower, and enable COVID-19 recovery and resilience for local governments and cities, which coincides with various relevant issues such as climate mitigation, adaptation and resilience. This is because local governments are at the forefront of the fight against COVID-19 through providing essential support, coordination to pandemic related healthcare and emergency services, and many more. Paired with the growing concern of the impacts of climate change, there is a need for cross-cutting collaboration to handle the multi-faceted challenges. Leveraging on this, UCLG ASPAC furthered the local narratives, advocacy and capacity building activities through a series of webinars that centered local response and recovery efforts by local governments.

Here are some of the core areas that UCLG ASPAC focuses on in terms of capacity building: 

• Sustainable Mobility 
• SDGs Localisation  
• Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction  
• Tourism and Culture  
• Local Economic Development