United Cities against Poverty

Promoting co-operation between cities of the North and South

United Cities against Poverty - International Solidarity Fund of Cities against Poverty was set up in Lyon on 5th March 2001 on the initiative of the cities of Bamako (Mali), Geneva (Switzerland) and Lyon (France). Its objective is to facilitate co-operation between cities to tackle poverty, inequality and social exclusion.

United Cities against Poverty is the result of a commitment by a number of cities of the North and South, and follows three international meetings held in Lyon in 1998, Algiers in 1999 and Geneva in 2000 under the aegis of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

With United Cities against Poverty the cities of the world have a new international instrument in the field of solidarity, an instrument that enables them to give rise to shared co-operation, where financial commitments will go hand in hand with technical support and skills transfers.

A network of co-operation, an "instrument" to help cities

Indeed, this is the first time that cities and local authorities are working together worldwide to take advantage of their experience in tackling poverty and inequality and to set up a "network of exchanges and projects" bearing co-operations that imply mutual assistance, "decentralized co-operations".

The City of Geneva, represented by Manuel Tornare, Administrative councillor (member of the executive body of the city), is the first president of United Cities against Poverty, and the mayors of Bamako and Lyon, Moussa Badoulaye Traore and Gérard Collomb, are the vice-presidents. The City of Lyon is the association's treasurer.

Raymond Barre, the former French prime minister and former mayor of Lyon, is the honorary president of United Cities against Poverty.

The association's secretariat is based in Geneva, from where it is easier to contact the United Nations agencies and the international community.

Poverty, inequality, exclusion... Cities acting to make a difference

Poverty is without doubt the biggest scourge of our times. It endangers the functioning of a great number of cities, and it is in these cities that its most visible effects can be seen: famine, unemployment, lack of public safety. To tackle the problems of exclusion and inequality, over time cities have developed a practice of international co-operation based on the exchange of know-how and making use of local expertise. The idea behind this is of course to promote solidarity, but also to strengthen municipal policy, especially in the field of basic public services.

Targeted action

United Cities against Poverty targets as a priority all fields connected with the provision of local public services so as to help people access the local public services more easily.

It has two action priorities:

Mobilising local expertise

The objective is to provide cities member of United Cities against Poverty with technical expertise from other cities cooperating in a same project to help them define their development strategy more effectively, organise their municipal services and train their employees.

Organisation and management of the basic municipal services

The objective is to study and set up pilot schemes for co-operation and "good practice", taken from the most significant local experience – and to facilitate the co-operation and setting up of a network between cities in the same region or in the same country, which are interested in this kind of co-operation projects.

Mutually rewarding co-operation

The cities of the world, both rich and poor, are also breeding grounds for exclusion, poverty and in some cases violence. These problems are everywhere, and cities must join together in finding solutions to them. The fight against poverty is the raison d'être of the Solidarity Fund. It is our solemn moral duty to show international solidarity and a respect for human dignity.

Manuel Tornare, President of United Cities against Poverty, City of Geneva

"We now recognise that knowledge, talent, empowerment and competence are not the privilege of industrialised societies, that each of us must learn from others and that aid must and can become mutual assistance. Because the political powers in cities are in touch with their population, mayors are in a position to understand and be aware of the needs and claims of their citizens. The primary objective of United Cities against Poverty is to promote a relationship of understanding and solidarity between the various cities and local authorities of the world, in order to achieve mutually rewarding co-operation."

Gérard Collomb, Vice-President of United Cities against Poverty, Mayor of Lyon

"United Cities against Poverty is part of an extremely positive process of providing properly understood assistance between cities, helping populations to have access to the basic public services."

When one speaks about "decentralized co-operation" one means the opposite of a mere transfer of competence: nowadays "decentralized co-operation" is based upon reciprocity. It is the relationship that two (foreign) cities intend to build by means of a mutually rewarding co-operation, based upon the learning of citizenship and actions aiming at the establishment of solidarities.

What is at stake, most of the time, is the establishment of long-term projects, developed as a partnership and meant for the achievement of social development, the setting up of basic public services and the tackling of poverty, inequality and social exclusion.