Next stop on the visit to the Pacific for Deputy Secretary-General Lucy Slack is CLGF's Regional Office in Suva, Fiji.

A key activity of CLGF is to promote and strengthen effective democratic local government throughout the Commonwealth; and facilitate the exchange of good practice in local government structures and services. Today, Head of Political and Communications at the British High Commission, Vineeta Nand met up with CLGF regional directors Karibaiti Taoaba and Terry Parker, together with Lucy Slack to hear about past, present and future activities.

Raising awareness of the SDGs

This meeting comes ahead of a workshop for local government representatives in Suva to explain the role of local government in localising the Sustainable Devleopment Goals. Preparations are underway to look at practical actions that local governments can take, as well as using the two day event to explain the importance of raising awareness of the 17 UN Goals to explain why they are important and how they impact communities and lives.

Regional Director Karibaiti Taoaba explained: "It's been really useful to have Lucy in the Pacific Office. She has been able to catch up, first hand, on the work our office is doing and we have been able to look at potential new projects."

Australia bound

The visit to CLGF's office in Suva follows on from Lucy Slack's attendance at the annual conference of Local Government New Zealand in Christchurch where she got to meet a number of representatives from local government, including LGNZ President Dave Cull. The next leg of the visit is to Australia, where CLGF's DSG is meeting with the President of the Australian Local Govenrment Association, David O'Loughlin.