On Friday 29th April Mayor Aki-Sawyerr was at the UN Headquarters in New York where she participated in the inaugural meeting of the UN Local2030 Coalition Steering Committee.
The UN launched the Local2030 Coalition as a platform and network designed to support and accelerate local-level delivery of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The Coalition is built on the premise that the people closest to the challenges for sustainable development are best positioned to solve them, and that multi-level and multi-stakeholder partnerships are essential to ensuring results.
The Coalition is governed by the Steering Committee comprising:
- UN-Habitat Executive Director – Maimunah Mohd Sharif
- UNDP Administrator – Achim Steiner
- National government representative – Marina Sereni, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Italy
- Local government representative – Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, Mayor of Freetown, Sierra Leone
- Emilia Siaz, Secretary General of United Cities and Local Governments
- Clara Arpa Azofra, Chair of the Innovation Centre for Sustainable Development
- Esther Muiruri, Founder of NGO Gold Ribbon Initiative
Opening remarks were delivered by Madame Amina Mohammed, Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations. It was an engaging and productive meeting during which we reviewed and approved the Coalition secretariat’s work plan for the next two years.
In the Mayor’s submissions she emphasized the need to recognize the different legislative and economic realities of cities and local authorities, particularly in respect of those on the African content, she highlighted the link between sustainable development and effective decentralization and devolution and asked that the risks associated with inadequate access to financing for local authorities, climate change and biodiversity loss be more clearly articulated in our work.
