Think Globally, Develop Locally

On September 16-24, the Union of Turkish World Municipalities (UTWM) organized a training in Istanbul, Turkey on improving local government management for sustainable local development. More than 25 mayors from Moldova, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Turkey as well as a NALAS representative participated.

In his opening remarks, Mr. Mustafa Baskurt, the Secretary General of the UTWM, stressed the challenges which are facing municipalities in ensuring sustainable local development and the need for cooperation among different relevant stakeholders in building better living conditions for our citizens.

During the training, participants benefited from this unique opportunity to get acquainted with management tools and approaches used by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality as well as by Istanbul district municipalities in different areas of sustainable local development. Participants had chance to conduct several field visits in different Istanbul district municipalities, public institutions and enterprises. Municipalities of Bayrampasa, Eyup, Bahçelievler, Sancaktepe, Başakşehir, Kağıthane, Kartal and Bağcılar were visited. In addition, ISTAC A.S. (The Istanbul Environmental Protection and Waste Processing Corporation), Kayışdağı Nursing Home, Beyoğlu Youth Center, Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality - Department of Parks, Gardens and Green Fields, and Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality - Water supply department, hosted training participants.

Mr. Gezim Haxhi-Ejup representative of Gostivar municipality, Macedonia said "What we saw here it is almost unbelievable, and something other municipalities from region strive to achieve in the near future. It is highly important to learn from these achieved results by Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, result which we all, are aiming to achieve as well”.

An inter-municipal cooperation (IMC) specialist from Think Globally, Develop Locally, Mr. Ilmiasan Dauti, was invited to present the concept of IMC and best practices. In addition, Mr. Dauti presented results achieved so far in the UNDP-NALAS regional programme Think Globally, Develop Locally.

Participants of the training also had opportunity to participate at the 1st International Balkan Conference organized by Suleyman Sah University, which was held on 25th September in Istanbul.