United Cities and Local Governments is the voice of local government before the international community, and champions its key values of development, local democracy and decentralisation. It provides a forum for local governments to come together and develop shared polices, positions and declarations on issues at the heart of their cities and communities.
United Cities and Local Governments has close links with international development agencies and United Nations organisations in its priority policy areas. It works to enhance the role and status of local government at the United Nations, and towards formal acknowledgement of the role, scope and principles of local government as set out in the Worldwide Declaration on Local Self-Government.
United Cities and Local Governments builds on the policy and advocacy work of its founding organisations, the International Union of Local Authorities (IULA) and the United Towns Organisation (UTO), and the World Associations of Cities and Local Authorities Coordination (WACLAC), which ensured coordinated local government representation at the United Nations in recent years.
