The President of the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP), Pedro Castro, and the UN Millennium Campaign Coordinator in Spain, Marina Navarro, signed today a collaboration agreement to reinforce the role of the Spanish Local Governments on the promotion of the MDGs.
This agreement contributes to the consolidation of the strategic alliance between the UN Millennium Campaign and the FEMP, and opens a new phase of joint work and closer collaboration.
With this signature, Spanish Local Governments, on behalf of its Federation, will further reinforce their commitment to the MDGs by promoting and implementing several initiatives to raise public awareness and mobilize citizens against poverty. In this regard, FEMP has committed to ensuring the engagement of Local Governments in Spain in the 17th of October mobilizations.
The agreement also invites Local Governments to call on the Spanish National Government to redouble its efforts and deliver on its commitments in order to contribute to the achievement of the MDG by 2015.
This new collaboration phase will start with the upcoming launch of the ‘8 Ways to change the World’ brochure for Local Governments This publication aims to become an action and participation platform for the promotion of the MDGs among all FEMP members.
From local to global
After signing the agreement, Spanish Millennium Campaign Coordinator, Marina Navarro, remarked that Local Governments are ‘key actors’ for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. “Local Governments are in a privileged position to raise awareness about poverty-related issues among citizens; as well as to hold National Governments accountable to their commitments.”
Navarro also declared: “we should not forget that we are the first generation that can put and end to poverty. It is our responsibility to turn this capacity into concrete actions towards the achievement of the MDGs. We have the resources and the knowledge to achieve these Goals. It is a matter of political will.”
The FEMP President, Pedro Castro, restated the relevance of Local Governments in the development debate, “since political participation and institutional strengthening of Local Bodies are key in the human and social development of cities and it undoubtedly contributes to improve the life and conditions of our citizens.”
The FEMP president also reminded that we have already passed the midway point for the achievement of the Goals and that “we are still far away from our targets”. Hence, Castro urged all cooperation actors to “work together as a common strategy, supporting all those actions headed to achieve a more equal and supported world without hunger.”
