International Organization of Local Government – Encouraging Local Citizens to Implement Sustainable Development Goals

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a set of global goals that address a variety of issues, including climate change, peace, the economy, justice, poverty, and other global concerns. The United Nations (UN) and its 193 member countries agreed in 2015 to adopt the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The historic agenda establishes 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and targets the planet’s and humanity’s dignity, peace, and prosperity by 2030. The agenda focuses on a variety of issues, including poverty and sanitation, and aims to strengthen local economies while meeting people’s social needs.

The environment is at the heart of all these goals, from ending world hunger to reducing inequalities and creating sustainable communities around the world. Several organizations around the world are stepping up to meet these goals. Similarly, the International Organization of Local Government (IOLG) is also investing efforts to achieve these SDGs.

The IOLG is the result of Ahlem Arfaoui Tartir’s tiring efforts. IOLG encourages local citizens to implement sustainable development goals in their community and their region. The organization is a true advocate of spreading the positive impact of local government across the world. IOLG supports and expands the role and influence of local government around the world by highlighting the example of US leadership in local government to other countries and giving democratic local government a voice.

The IOLG was established in 2018 to promote and significantly improve the role and impact of local governments around the world by using US leadership in local government as an example. Its mission is to provide the democratic local government with the resources and opportunity to raise their concerns by fostering effective collaboration between the public and private sectors, as well as civil society, at the local, regional, and global levels.

Since its inception in 2018, IOLG has led programs and hosted community events that have contributed to the advancement of gender equality, local leadership in the COVID-19 response, community strengthening, and economic development.

The organization believes in supporting and enhancing the role and influence of local government around the world. It also mobilizes its resources to benefit women and youth by promoting their role in local government and increasing their capacity in local government decision-making through training and providing a forum for them to share their political views and ideas.

IOLG firmly believes that effective collaboration between the public and private sectors, as well as civil society, is required at the local, regional, and global levels because if local people take responsibility for implementing the SDGs in their community and region, only then the society will have a realistic chance of completing Agenda 2030’s audacious task. To inspire such a commitment, people must understand the numerous benefits that will result from the successful implementation of all SDGs for their own lives, families and communities, nations, and humanity as a whole.

In order to effectively achieve the SDGs, Tunisia was chosen as the venue for the training of local governance, leadership, and sustainable development experts in 2020 by the IOLG in collaboration with the Arab League Educational, Cultural, and Scientific Organization (ALECSO) and the International Human Rights Commission (IHRC).

Later in 2020, the news agency Tunis-Afrique Presse (TAP) and IOLG agreed to collaborate on a training program and media initiatives to promote Tunisia’s experience in local governance. The agreement was supposed to go into effect the following year. According to the terms of this agreement, which is valid for three years and can be extended for another two, the areas of collaboration included the following: organizing training sessions for trainers; hosting brainstorming workshops and forums on the role of media and communication in developing governance, and establishing a network of trainers on various aspects of media and local governance.

During the first wave of COVID-19, IOLG played a critical role in providing guidance, test kits, protective gear, technical assistance, and more to countries suffering from the pandemic. IOLG was in charge of procuring medical supplies and protective equipment through the international strategic stockpile to respond to the pandemic and provide social assistance in the form of food and cleaning supplies in Nigeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Nepal, and Algeria.

It also looked after citizens from the five countries who were stranded in America, particularly in the state of New York, during the first wave of COVID-19 by providing them with lodging until they could safely return to their home countries.

In 2021, IOLG announced the signing of a strategic partnership agreement with the Libya Committee of Civil Society (CSS). This agreement formalized the already strong relationship between IOLG and CCS and shifted the electrical process and electrical staff skills in Libya to a more strategic focus. For all the efforts that the IOLG has put into action in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, IOLG was granted special accreditation for the UNGASS, a high-level special session of the United Nations General Assembly in 2020.