Agenda 21

During the UN Earth Summit held in 1992 in Rio, “sustainable development” was endorsed as the common goal of humanity, along with the global action plan entitled “Agenda 21” delineating the principles and areas of action to cope with environmental and development problems and to move towards attaining the goal of sustainable development in the twenty-first century.

Local Agenda 21

Chapter 28 of Agenda 21 calls upon local authorities in every country “to undertake a consultative process with their populations and achieve a consensus on Local Agenda 21 for their communities”. Local Agenda 21, as a participatory action planning process targeting “sustainable development” at local level, has manifested during its implementation to date in the world and in Turkey its crucial role in promoting the democratic “local governance” paradigm of the 21st century.

The outcome of LA-21 implementations since the Rio Summit finds its paramount expression in the following evaluation of the UN Secretary-General: “At the local level, the most successful umbrella for participation has been the local Agenda 21 initiatives”.

Turkey Local Agenda 21 Program

The LA-21 processes in Turkey were launched in late 1997 via the project entitled “Promotion and Development of Local Agenda 21s in Turkey”, with the support of UNDP and under the coordination of IULA-EMME. Building upon the achievements of this project, the second phase project entitled “Implementing Local Agenda 21s in Turkey” has started in January 2000. By virtue of the incorporation of a number of sub-projects, coupled with the inclusion of new local authorities to attain over 50 partners, the project framework was converted into the “Turkey Local Agenda 21 Program”.

The third phase project entitled “Localizing the UN Millennium Development Goals and WSSD Plan of Implementation through the Turkey LA-21 Governance Network” has commenced in May 2004 and completed in November 2006.

New phase project of Turkey Local Agenda 21 Program

The project entitled “Localizing the UN Millennium Development Goals in Turkey through the Local Agenda 21 Governance Network” has been designed as the new phase of the Turkey Local Agenda 21 Program. Building on the experience of the previous phases, this Project aims at localizing the Government’s MDG commitments by advocating the prioritization of the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in local action.

The Project Document has been endorsed by the Council of Ministers and subsequently published in the Official Gazette of Turkey as an “International Agreement” on 24 April 2007, thereby granting a firm legal basis and stronghold for its implementation at national and local levels.
 

What is being done?

The participatory processes that constitute the backbone of local action planning are conducted via structures and methods exhibiting the peculiar characteristics, values and priorities of each city. On the other hand, it can be seen that the apparently different implementations in LA-21 cities have numerous common aspects.

In general, the primary mechanisms of local governance established within the context of the Local Agenda-21 Program encompass the City Councils, working groups, women’s and youth councils, neighborhood-level participatory mechanisms and platforms for special interest groups including children, the elderly and the disabled, as summarized below:

The City Councils constitute a basic mechanism of governance that brings together the central government, local authorities and civil society within a collaborative framework of partnerships. The City Councils, seeking to establish a “collective wisdom” which embraces the whole city, constitute democratic platforms where development priorities and pressing problems of the city are identified and discussed.

The Working Groups, focusing on priority issues of the respective cities, function as another significant participatory mechanism encompassing a wide range of volunteers from different sectors and backgrounds. The number of Working Groups and the constituents of each group differ in line with the size and priority areas of each city. The dynamism of the Local Agenda 21 processes in Program partner cities could be assessed in the light of comprehensive activities conducted by the Working Groups.

Within the context of activities at the Neighborhood level constituting one of the significant strongholds of the LA-21 process, structures such as Neighborhood Centers and Neighborhood Committees serve as effective means of facilitating the materialization of participatory processes in the everyday life of local communities.

The Women’s Councils facilitate the raising of awareness on priority issues concerning women, particularly with regard to promoting the active involvement of women in decision-making processes, and the reflection of the gender perspective to all policies and strategies. In order to strengthen the exchange of information and experience between them, the Women’s Councils have established their own national network. The Women’s Activities Festivals, organized each year by the Women’s Councils, have been transformed into LA-21 Women’s Summits in the new phase.

The Youth Councils function with a view towards the development of the capacities of the youth and their “enablement”, and the participation of the youth in all aspects of local decision-making mechanisms. As a significant step towards institutionalization at the national level, the “LA-21 National Youth Parliament” has been established by the Youth Councils. The Youth Parliament organizes Youth Summits in conjunction with the 19 May Youth & Sports Day each year.

The LA-21 processes lay a particular emphasis on the disabled, the elderly (“senior citizens) and children. In this context, the participatory mechanisms in partner cities have been strengthened and complemented by such platforms as the LA-21 Children’s Council, the Council for the Elderly and the Council for the Disabled.

The coordination and facilitation of LA-21 processes in each city is undertaken by the respective Local Agenda 21 Secretary-General, who also serves as the counterpart in the respective city to the coordinating agencies of the LA-21 Program. The Secretary-Generals, playing a key role in respective Local Agenda 21 processes, have been the architects and facilitators of the success behind the Local Agenda 21 Program.

The LA-21 Program enabled the development of a new “local governance” model in Turkey whereby public institutions, local authorities and civil society organizations form the triangle of the local decision-making processes. In this context, Local Agenda 21 demonstrated its potential to trigger social transformation that accelerates the decentralization and democratization process in the country, as well as the process of integration with the European Union.

City Council incorporated into the Municipal Law

The “City Council”, as the main city-wide participatory platform of the Local Agenda 21 processes conducted under the LA-21 Program, has been incorporated in Article 76 of the new Law on Municipalities (No. 5393) enacted in July 2005, thereby attaining a significant legal stronghold.

Article 76 stipulates the establishment of the City Council for developing a common vision for the city and a sense of citizenship, and realizing sustainable development, as well as the principles of transparency, accountability, participation and subsidiarity. The Municipality is called upon to support the establishment and effective functioning of the Council, which is envisaged to encompass the representatives of civil society organizations, professional chambers, trade unions, universities, political parties, public institutions, etc. In order to pave the way for implementing the outputs of the City Council, it is laid down that the recommendations of the City Council will be included and discussed in the subsequent meeting of the Municipal Assembly.

Article 76 is concluded by asserting that the framework for the operation and functioning of the City Council would be determined by the By-laws to be prepared by the Ministry of Interior. The By-laws of the City Council, whose draft was prepared with the contributions of project partners, came into effect via being published in the Official Gazette of Turkey on 8 October 2006.

Partnership to the Local Agenda 21 Program

Pursuant to Section III.B entitled “Local Level Partnership to the LA-21 Program” of the Project Document published as the Decision of the Council of Ministers, in line with the recommendation of the Ministry of Interior, the procedure for application and endorsement of formal partnership to the LA-21 Program has been revised in line with Article 74 of the new Law on Municipalities (No. 5393) to provide a firm legal base for the participation and partnership of local authorities, and to facilitate the allocation and channeling of local contributions. In this context, local authorities that are interested in joining the LA-21 Program as partners are required to take a decision in their Councils to launch the campaign on MDGs in their contexts, and to apply for membership to UCLG World Organization (and thereby automatically to UCLG-MEWA), coupled with the request of becoming a formal partner of the LA-21 Program.

Subsequent to obtaining the consent of the Ministry of Interior, the applications for membership by local authorities are being forwarded to UCLG World Organization to be endorsed, and their formal partnership to the LA-21 Program are being finalized upon the completion of membership procedures.

Detailed information on the Turkey Local Agenda 21 Program may be obtained via the following web site: