The new development goals and targets should be flexible enough to be localised says the Commonwealth Local Government Forum (CLGF) in a statement in which it is calling on Commonwealth Heads of Government to endorse at their meeting in Sri Lanka this week.

At a meeting of the CLGF Executive Committee in London last week local government representatives from across the Commonwealth agreed that it is vital for the Commonwealth to take a leading role in advocating and realising the New Development Agenda and it should work to support a successful conclusion to the current UN discussions on post-2015, including ensuring that the global goals reflect the fundamental Commonwealth principles as set out in the Commonwealth Charter.

Members of the Executive Committee – from the Bahamas, Belize, Botswana, Jamaica, New Zealand, India, Uganda, and the United Kingdom – agreed that the new development goals and targets must be localised so that planning and delivery can be aligned at all levels. They called for local government to have a role in defining, implementing and monitoring local targets.

CLGF Chairperson Mayor Lawrence Yule, President of Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) , who will be attending CHOGM with CLGF Secretary-General Carl Wright, and CLGF Board member Mayor Mohamed Hilmy, said:
“We will be drawing the attention of Heads of Government to the outcomes of the recent CLGF conference on Developmental Local Government, held in Kampala in May, which we hope they will endorse, including CLGF’s designation of 2014 as the Year of Developmental Local Government #Y2014DevLG, and our messages to the UN on local government having a role in setting and implementing any new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). “We would also like to see specific recognition of the impact of urbanisation and the role of cities as engines of growth,” he said.

Read the full text of the statement is here.