World Assembly of Local and Regional Governments

The World Assembly of Local and Regional Governments (WALRG) seeks to build political momentum for the achievement of global development agendas in a renewed multilateral system that prioritizes care for people and the planet. This system’s building blocks will be multi-level governance, public service provision and a new generation of human rights.

The WALRG is the official representative mechanism through which local and regional governments deliberate and provide input to global agendas. It enables the constituency and its partners, including member states, international organizations and civil society, to come together and reflect on future challenges and consider the role of local and regional governments. The World Assembly also acts as the review and follow-up mechanism for the New Urban Agenda.

The World Assembly will discuss the outcomes of and follow-up on the Summit of the Future and the localization of the United Nations Pact for the Future. These events aim to  reinvigorate multilateralism, making it more inclusive, networked and efficient, built around governing in partnership and with a renewed finance architecture. The discussions at the World Assembly will include avenues for further reform, building on the discussions of the Advisory Group to the Secretary General on Local and Regional Governments.

Central to these discussions will be the connections between implementing the New Urban Agenda and a local Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Rescue Plan, grounded in high-impact coalitions for global-local action that can accelerate the six SDG transitions.

The World Social Summit will be  a crucial moment for global deliberation to bring about a new social contract. In the wake of the Summit, the World Assembly will serve to galvanize a multi-stakeholder, multi-level coalition, bringing about a global social agenda driven by local public service provision that puts equality, climate action, and peace and democracy at the centre.

Linkage with WUF12 theme

The World Assembly of Local and Regional Governments will be structured around three high-level panels, linked to WUF12 themes. The first panel -- “The local SDG rescue plan: Reviewing progress towards the New Urban Agenda as an accelerator of the 2030 Agenda” -- focuses on assessing the progress made in implementing the New Urban Agenda, linking it to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. The discussion will centre on how local and regional actions can contribute to achieving the global goals for sustainable urban development.  

The second panel – “Beyond the Summit of the Future: Towards an inclusive multilateral system built around governing in partnership” -- will facilitate discussion among LRGs and their partners to explore the outcomes of the Summit of the Future emphasizing the importance of inclusivity and partnerships in multilateral systems. The discussion will also address linkages to the World Urban Forum and the upcoming World Social Summit for strengthened cooperation.

The third panel – “Towards the World Social Summit: A global care agenda driven by local public service provision for equality, climate action and peace” -- will discuss  the development of the global care agenda, emphasizing the critical role of local public services in promoting social equality, advancing climate action and fostering peace. The panel will seek to galvanize support for a comprehensive and inclusive social agenda as we head towards the World Social Summit.

The panels are designed to connect most of the topics contained in the six dialogues of WUF12. Chiefly, the topics of adequate housing (“Housing our future”), partnerships (“Stronger together”), “Financing localization and localizing finance,” “Putting people first in a digital era,” and “The loss of home and urban crises,” will be key components of the three segments of the WALRG.

Objectives

• Build political momentum around the achievement of global development agendas in a renewed multilateral system that puts care for people and the planet at the centre.
• Bring together multiple stakeholders through a series of engaging panels to reflect on the challenges ahead, taking into account the role of local and regional governments.
• Explore and analyse the connections between the New Urban Agenda and SDGs in order to accelerate the achievement of global agendas.

Expected outcomes and impact

• Strengthened partnerships through sessions that will facilitate dialogue and collaboration among diverse stakeholders. Review of the New Urban Agenda implementation status and how this links with the SDG implementation process (Panel 1).
• Political deliberation by the LRG self-organized constituency and their partners around the outcomes of the Summit and Pact for the Future, the World Social Summit, and their links with the WUF12 priorities (Panel 2).
• Build political momentum for multilateral reform and towards the World Social Summit for a global social agenda (Panel 3).

Guiding questions

• What role do local and regional governments play in the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals?
• What are some concrete examples of successful multilevel partnerships between local and regional governments and international stakeholders? What were the elements that made them successful?
• How does deliberation among local and regional governmental actors make a difference for their constituencies back home? What sort of learning occurs in international deliberation among local actors?