Thematic Round Tables and Parallel Sessions
speakers Ibone Bengoetxea,
Deputy Mayor for Education and Culture, Bilbao, Spain
Yves Cabannes,
Member of the Congress Panel of Experts, Professor and Responsible of the Unit for Development Planning Bartlett (DPU), University College London
Pat Horn,
Director, International Streetnet
Gilbert Houngo,
Deputy Director General, International Labour Organization (ILO)
Fatimetou Mint Abdel Malick,
Mayor of Tevragh-Zeina, Mauritania, President of Network of Local Elected Women of Africa
Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman,
Mayor of Singapore (Southeast District), Minister of State, Ministry of National Development, Ministry of Defence, Singapore
Aysen Nikolaev,
Mayor of Yakutsk, Russia, President of UCLG-Eurasia
Ratna Omidvar,
President of Maytree Foundation
Adilson Pires,
Deputy Mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (TBC)
Jürgen Roters,
Mayor of Cologne, Germany
Local governments are dealing and giving responses to the formal and informal economy, and promoting decent job creation, particularly for the urban youth. Participation and institutional responses are basic in creating an atmosphere of trust. Clear communication of interests is important for negotiations and more so when dealing with high diversity of stakeholders. Leadership, as expressed by Bilbao, requires “valentia”, or courage, to accept and overcome the fears of prejudices to create political and physical spaces for groups to meet. By providing examples, policies on culture and education need to aim for inclusion instead of tolerance. Cities are key actors in making multi-level governance a reality and in involving NGOs and grassroots organizations. UCLG will continue to provide a platform for mayors and all development actors and should give clear and coherent recommendations to guide cities and local governments on their local policies for all the components of diversity: economic, social, and spatial environmental and cultural. Evidence through learning between cities should also be provided, and leaders can inspire each other to build on diversity. 39