UNACLA gathers the views and perspectives of local and regional governments and conveys them to the global discussion in an organized and representative method

UNACLA supports the dissemination of key messages to Member states and other partners through advocacy and advisory work

UNACLA advises the Executive Director of UN-Habitat from the local government perspective, on all issues concerning the implementation of the Habitat Agenda and the SDGs

Foster the dialogue between national and local governments

Objective: improve the necessary enabling environment for all levels of government to successfully implement the New Urban Agenda, including ensuring appropriate fiscal, political and administrative decentralization based on the principle of subsidiarity (New Urban Agenda article 89)

Promote the local dimension of development in the global agendas

Objective: promote the new approach to development that has been established by the SDGs

Bring the UN System closer to local and regional governments

Objective: defend the establishment of wide local partnerships, under the leadership of local governments

UNACLA has contributed to raise awareness among local and regional governments about the importance of global agendas for their daily work in improving the quality of life of their citizens. One of the main focuses of UNACLA is the Localization of the Sustainable Development Goals, as a big part of the Agenda 2030 needs to be achieved at local level. Local and regional governments are essential to implement the SDGs, but this won't be possible in the absence of an adequate legal framework; the necessary capacity, resources and local leadership.

The 'Localizing the SDGs' platform www.localizingthesdgs.org is a common effort by UN-Habitat, UNDP and the Global Taskforce of local and regional governments. UNACLA is ideally positioned to bridge solutions and commitments from local governments to implement the SDGs, as many are already allocated to them by the appropriate national legal framework. Activities have included collecting and systematizing information about how local governments across the world are implementing the SDGs that are public in the online platform. The initiative has also organized dialogues between central and local governments to establish national strategies to include local governments in the implementation of Agenda 2030.

UNACLA also plays a complementary role to UN-Habitat's mission of collaboration with relevant stakeholders and other United Nations entities to support local authorities to respond positively to the opportunities and challenges of urbanization by providing normative or policy advice on transforming the cities into inclusive centres of vibrant economic growth, social progress and environmental safety.

Created in 2004 United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) represents and defends the interests of local governments on the world stage, regardless of the size of the communities they serve. Headquartered in Barcelona, the organization's stated mission is to be the united voice and world advocate of democratic local self-government, promoting its values, objectives and interests, through cooperation between local governments, and within the wider international community.

Increasing the role and influence of local government and its representative organizations in global governance

Becoming the main source of support for democratic, effective, innovative local government close to the citizen

Ensuring an effective and democratic global organization

Partnership between UCLG and UNACLA serves to strengthen local authorities representation in processes of the UN, with UNACLA as convenor on the one hand and UCLG as the most representative global organization of local authorities on the other. UN-Habitat and UCLG signed a formal agreement in 2006 focusing the collaboration on good governance, international dialogue on decentralisation, global observatory of local democracy and decentralisation, localising the MDGs and revitalisation of UNACLA.

The Global Task Force (GTF) brings together global organizations and networks to promote and highlight the role of local governments. GTF is the umbrella network of 20 global organizations (including the UNACLA) with the objective of bringing together the local government efforts to be recognized and empowered by the future UN Development Agendas, and to ensure the complementarity between the Post-2015 Development Agenda and Habitat III processes.

Outside the GTF there are other prominent local organizations working towards the same mandate as well. One such example is CITYNET that was created in response to the needs of growing cities in the Asia Pacific and is focused in technical cooperation amongst its city membership.

UNACLA works in a representative manner, where the members deliver the messages that have been previously endorsed by their respective networks, which have democratic decision-making mechanisms. Each of the 20 seats is now assigned to a local government network, in contrast to the previous modus operandi where individual mayors were represented in their individual capacity - 10 members represent the metropolitan and regional sections of UCLG, other 10 members are appointed within the membership of the Global Taskforce of local and regional governments and the other most representative networks that remain.

This new membership structure was approved by UNACLA in September 2015 to improve representation and decision making. In this capacity, UNACLA today represents approximately 323,000 institutions.

This new structure has been key to ensuring the presence of mayors and political representatives in UNACLA. It is worth mentioning that all UNACLA members must respond to their own governing structures, where decisions and messages are generated by consensus or by vote. In this way, the mayors or governors sitting in UNACLA meetings no longer represent their own city or territory but instead represent all members of their own network.