On 08 October 2020 the Founder and Executive Director of ACCORD, Vasu Gounden, was a resource person in a webinar hosted by United Cities and Local Government (UCLG) that focused on Reactions of local and Regional Governments to the UN75 Report: The Future we want; the UN we Need.
The Global Taskforce of Local and Regional Governments facilitated the drafting of a Visioning Report on behalf of the constituency of local and regional governments on the occasion of the UN75 global consultation. Local and regional governments are willing to be a part of the future of the multilateral system and to ensure that the future livelihoods of their communities are drivers of global policies, and that the dreams and expectations of people all over the world truly shape actions and decisions.
The UN75 consultation on ‘the future we want, the UN we need’, is a UN exercise in crowdsourcing priorities and solutions, and harnessing big data analysis tools. The Global Taskforce of Local and Regional Governments, facilitated the drafting of a Visioning Report on behalf of the constituency on the occasion of the global consultation. The purpose of the above webinar, which included the participation of UN Under Secretary General Fabrizio Hochschild Drummond, focused on discussing the findings of UCLG’s report, and the UN75 report, and how best to take them forward at the local, regional and global level.
The discussion was divided into four parts:
- SETTING THE SCENE, where the findings of the global report, which include priorities for ‘recovering better’ from COVID, as well as current priorities for the SDGs, was presented by the UN Under Secretary-General and Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on the Commemoration of the United Nations 75th Anniversary.
- IMMEDIATE PRIORITIES FOR RECOVERY FROM THE PANDEMIC, Amid the current COVID-19 crisis, the immediate priority for most respondents is improved access to basic services – healthcare, safe water, sanitation and education, followed by greater international solidarity and increased support to those hardest hits. This includes tackling inequalities and rebuilding a more inclusive economy.
- LONG-TERM PRIORITIES FOR THE FUTURE WE WANT, Looking to the future, the overwhelming concerns are the climate crisis and the destruction of our natural environment. Other priorities include: ensuring greater respect for human rights, settling conflicts, tackling poverty and reducing corruption.
- INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION AND THE UN WE NEED, A renewed multilateralism, inclusive and networked, and an interurban system that builds on the force of cities and regions will be key to develop the next generation of multilateralism that our communities are calling for.
Vasu Gounden formed part of the panel discussion on International Cooperation and The UN we need.
The link to the UCLG discussion can be found here.
In November 2019 a Global Peace Declaration of Intent was officially handed over to Mr Fabrizio Hochschild Drummond by Mrs Graça Machel, the Chair of Global Peace, along with four Global Peace Ambassadors during the opening ceremony of the UCLG World Congress, which took place in Durban, South Africa. The Global Peace Ambassadors represent four continents, Africa, Asia, South America and Europe. The Declaration of Intent committed Global Peace to hosting 75 IGDs in 2020, tying in with the 75th anniversary of the UN and to feed into the UN Global Conversations.
