CIFAL Common Ground

CIFAL Common Ground
Divonne-les-Bains, France, February 3, 2004 As we witness the ever growing socio-economic disparities between the rich and the poor, the ongoing depletion of our planet’s resources and the consequent threats to the quality of human life, we acknowledge that local governments have new responsibilities in facing up to global challenges.

In this context, we, the members of the CIFAL Network and our partners, through networking and multilateral cooperation, recognise the need to unite by joining vision and efforts, exchange our knowledge and sharing resources for implementing locally the Millennium Development Goals and the principles of the Global Compact, and agree on:

Common Vision and shared Values of the CIFAL Network

The CIFAL Network acquires the status of a training system of excellence for capacity building of local authorities on integrated sustainable development, Information Society and other global goals of the United Nations and international and multilateral organizations.

Working together to realise our common vision, we share the following values:

 Decentralised cooperation

 Equitable access to basic services

 Knowledge sharing & transfer

 Good local governance

 Sustainable urbanisation

 Respect for social and cultural diversity

Mission Statement

The CIFAL Network is:

 A network of capacity building centres for achieving sustainable urbanisation in the context of increased responsibilities of local authorities to provide equitable access to services for citizens;

 A hub for knowledge sharing and exchange of good practices and experiences between and amongst local authorities, national governments, international and multilateral organizations, the private sector and civil society.

Objectives Taking into account cultural and social disparities:

 To formulate and implement appropriate training and capacity building programmes in order to address local and global challenges;

 To build demand driven and multi-stakeholder capacity building programmes;

 To identify and engage new partners on a short and long term basis that will enhance the overall mission of the CIFAL Network;

 To pave the way for local authorities to access public and private international funding in order to implement efficient basic services.

Expected outcomes

Short-term:

 Enable provision of information on sustainable cities and regions and demonstration accessible to members, cities and local governments;

 Document and share experiences within the CIFAL Network;

 Adopt and adapt the knowledge management methodology as a training tool;

 Train more than 100 local authorities per year per region;

 Design a clear selection process of participants and monitoring of committed city action plans;

 Develop a common database of local authorities & networks region by region;

 Agree upon and abide by the CIFAL quality designation;

 Coordinate publication and dissemination of information (brochures, letterheads, website, etc.) from the different CIFAL Centres.

Long-term:

 Collaborate with local universities for accreditation of the training programmes for local authorities and obtain appropriate recognition of its qualification;

 Develop urban sustainability indicators in the framework of the knowledge management approach, together with other partners;

 Facilitate training workshops for local authorities to international organizations and implementation of international conventions.