The constituency of local and regional governments has contributed its position paper to the High-Level Political Forum, providing the perspectives and the needs of local and regional governments in view of the upcoming 2020 High-Level Political Forum (HLPF).

The conversation around the 2020 HLPF is, undoubtedly, shaped by the global emergency that the world is facing, which is why the reaction of local and regional governments is to underscore the role of orderly service provision within the outbreak and beyond, as well as how local and regional governments are ensuring that public services, and servants, are protected and of service to local communities.

The constituency highlights the role that public service provision has played to address the crisis that the world is going through, and highlights peer-learning and decentralized cooperation among local and regional governments as a key mechanism to face the a window of opportunity that the implementation decade poses.

The pandemic is demonstrating that the universal development agendas need to be addressed as one, with localization being essential for this to happen. Incorporating the 2030 Agenda into local and regional plans and policies, and rooting the implementation of the universal agendas into local and regional plans, and policies, is key to develop a new framework of governance that communities can adopt as their own.

Throughout the paper, our constituency calls for enhanced involvement of their communities in the reporting processes of the HLPF, in particular in the Voluntary National Review (VNR) processes, and call for local, and gender disaggregated data as a means to create ownership of the goals from the bottom-up, with communities at the centre.

Local and regional governments call for the international system and national governments to promote the necessary reforms to strengthen local and regional resources, to create spaces to discuss governance mechanisms for local and regional governments in order to align local, regional, and national plans and allow local and regional governance to lead the way for the transformation that the world needs.

Finally, our constituency of local and regional governments and their associations acknowledges the steps being taken to empower and support cities and regions, and the inclusion of themes -such as climate adaptation, sustainable urban development, culture, and urban-rural linkages within the HLPF, and reiterates the commitment of local and regional governments to the universal development agendas, and to the promotion of Voluntary Local and Regional Reviews.

Further information

• Read the LAMG Statement to the HLPF here