THESE are excellent news for the DELGOSEA network: During the UCLG ASPAC congress, the establishment of a ‘DELGOSEA Standing Committee’ was recommended by the Executive Bureau Meeting and subsequently endorsed by the Council of UCLG ASPAC. This committee will be charged with continuing the advocacy work for democratic local governance throughout ASEAN.
The 4th bi-annual congress of the United Cities and Local Governments Asia Pacific (UCLG ASPAC) that took place in Jakarta, Indonesia, from 2nd – 5th October 2012 gathered almost 500 participants from Asia Pacific, Europe and other regions. Responding to the theme of: ‘Resilient Cities: Rethink, Rebuild, Revitalize’ the delegates shared their ideas, knowledge and experiences on how to create resilient cities and how to be innovative in building infrastructure, financing schemes for urban infrastructure investments, empowering community and integrating culture in city planning processes.
Such topics makes UCLG ASPAC, one of the original DELGOSEA project partners, the perfect organization for stepping into the breach, now that the funding period of the EU co-financed DELGOSEA project is coming to an end. The network of local government associations (LGAs), municipalities and civil society organizations is keen to continue its advocacy work for local governance and decentralization across the ASEAN region.
The ‘DELGOSEA Standing Committee’ will therefore be charged with promoting good governance as a crosscutting issue within ASEAN and plans to support the efforts of the partner countries to continue cooperation on this issue and extend it to other ASEAN countries. Each ASEAN country’s LGA will be nominating a representative and alternate to that Committee, which will be supported by a small secretariat to deal with the day-to-day operations.
This Standing Committee is designed to be a permanent monitoring body on ASEAN policies and will become the tool for regular dialogue between ASEAN and various stakeholders on democratic local governance.
Dr Rudolf Hauter, Acting Secretary General of UCLG ASPAC, declared himself delighted with this decision: ‘Having a DELGOSEA Standing Committee integrated into our organization is a very good approach, since the thematic areas fit very well with our priorities and synergies can be created through using existing facilities.’
source: www.delgosea.eu
