Who we are?

World organization United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) is a voluntary international alliance of associations, unions and individual municipalities established in 2004 in order to represent rights of citizens at the level of local self-government.

UCLG is the most powerful and influential institution in the field of interaction of local governments, their representation at the international level and implementation of democratic principles.

At the moment UCLG unites more than 1000 cities and world associations and represents over half the world's population. UCLG consists of 9 regional sections.

Eurasian section of UCLG is the youngest and the most dynamically developing, it consists of more than 100 cities and associations of local authorities of the CIS countries and Mongolia.

Members of the Eurasian section have hosted many events of national and international level.

The headquarters of the Eurasian secretariat is located in Kazan.

What do we do?

• we protect the ideas of local self-government at the international scene;
• we make cities more recognizable in the world, improve their image;
• we increase investment and touristic attractiveness of member cities;
• we strengthen institutions of Russian democracy and civil society;
• we develop and promote policy and position on the key and the most important issues for local authorities and the international community;
• we develop initiatives and programmes based on the principles of local self-government ant the international community;
• we collaborate with the United Nations organization and its agencies as well as with other international organizations;
• we organize congresses, seminars and other events in order to exchange the best experience;
• we increase the number of followers/advocates in order to strengthen the political influence of World organization of UCLG and its financial independence;
• we provide information about the position and development of local self-government in the world by means of publications, colloquiums and introduction of new technologies;
• we coordinate the work of municipalities of Eurasia and provide their interaction with the World Organization of UCLG;
• we identify best practices in the field of democratization of local authorities and sustainable urban development, and distribute them among our members.

What have we achieved?

• recognition of UCLG as the general partner of the UN in the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals and Sustainable Development Goals;
• Upon an initiative of UCLG the Autonomous Goal 11 on sustainable urban development was included to the UN Sustainable development Goals 2030;
• UCLG-Eurasia is an authorized partner of the United Nations to nominate cities for the UN-Habitat Scroll of Honour Award. Such members of the Eurasian section as Kazan, Yaroslavl, Stavropol, Bugulma, Grozny, Yakutsk have already received their awards.
• Eurasian section of UCLG organized the celebration of World Habitat Day for the first time in Russia in order to draw the attention of central authorities to the problems of human settlements;
• at the initiative of UCLG representatives of UCLG are included to United Nations Advisory Committee of Local Authorities (UNACLA) and represent more than half of the total number of members. This is a guarantee of decent representation of interests of local authorities at the global arena;
• Three Global reports are published in the frames of UCLG project “Global Observatory of Local Democracy” (GOLD). The project aims to identify best practices in the field of local self-government and to promote them. The First Report GOLD I was published in 2008 and reflects the state of the local authorities of the world, the problems of decentralization and development trends. The Second Report GOLD II was published in 2010 and dedicated to the local finances. The Third Report GOLD III dedicated to basic services was published in 2013. GOLD IV “Co-creation of Urban Future” was presented in 2016.
• Member-cities of Eurasian section of UCLG have strengthened their positive image and have increased their recognition at the international arena.
• in 2010 the Mayor of Kazan Ilsur Metshin was elected as one of the Co-presidents of UCLG. For the first time in the history mayor of a Russian city entered the top presidency of a World organization. The Co-President of UCLG post considerably strengthens the role of local authorities of Russia and Eurasia at the international level and opens up new opportunities for cities to submit themselves and present their projects and attract investment. In 2013 Ilsur Metshin was reelected as UCLG Co-president for the second term.
• Due to the active participation in the UCLG activity Mayor of Yakutsk Aysen Nikolaev was elected Vice-President of UCLG in 2013 and in 2016 elected for the second term.
• Eurasian section of UCLG has received support from the Russian Federal agency for CIS, compatriots living abroad and international humanitarian cooperation “Rossotrudnichestvo”. On XXIII meeting of the heads of subjects of the Russian Federation at the Russian Foreign Ministry, it was decided to "recommend to the subjects of Russian federation and municipalities to intensify work in the international structures that affect the integration processes in the CIS, in particular, the Eurasian regional section of the World Organization "United Cities and Local Governments".
• UCLG President, Mayor of Istanbul KadirTopbash was elected to the UN Secretary-General's High-Level Panel of 27 Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda. In this Panel he represents interests of local governments of the world.
• Eurasian Section of UCLG has initiated and successfully implements the project “Research of Cities’ International Activity” that is aimed at identifying how cities are working towards development of international relations and which cities are doing this better. The research provides analytical and statistical information on the most effective/ineffective and wide-spread methods to increase international recognition. Rating of cities’ international activity is compiled on the basis of the research. As of today such researches have not been compiled and Research of Cities’ International Activity is unprecedented initiative supported at Eurasian and global level.