Talent for Governance Network

As Abraham Lincoln once said “the best way to predict the future is to create it”. We are curious how you are creating your future!  With an eye on our upcoming Talents for Governance event,  How to get ahead as a young civil servant , we would like to know how you plan to further build your career.

During the last decade we saw a boost of networking behaviour and use of social media. In his book The Rise of the Network Society (click here for the online version), Manuel Castells stipulates the fact that our societies are increasingly structured around a bipolar opposition between the Net and the self. Subsequently, a fast search through the internet leads us to a huge amount of advise how to use social media to boost your career (example).

Have these new ways to put yourself in the picture officially replaced the oldfashioned strategies of hard working and being the smartest? Is a mix the key to succes?  Or can you reveal us one of your secret keys which we do not know yet? Let us know your opinion!

As said before this question is related to our upcoming Talents for Governance event,  How to get ahead as a young civil servant. Since we know it is not possible for everyone to join this event, this is your way to give your opinion about the theme and we look forward to hear your story!

This month we have taken the subject for our question of the month from the website of the United Cities and Local Governance website ( http://www.cities-localgovernments.org/index.asp )

This is what it says:

Local governments mobilized in July: proposed amendments to the Outcome Document of the MDGs Summit

The Summit of the Millennium Development Goals shall take place from 20-22 September 2010, at the United Nations General Assembly, at United Nations Headquarters in New York.

In the framework of the preparation of the event, a MDG Summit Outcome Document is being negotiated daily until the end of July by national government representatives in New York.

Whilst the MDG Summit Outcome document recommends a number of actions in areas where it can be argued that local governments should hold greater responsibility, the references to local governments are disappointingly few. To see the report, please click here.

United Cities and Local Governments calls upon their members to write to national governments requesting that they give serious attention to the role of local and regional governments in writing their national MDG report, and asking them to consider our proposed amendments which focus on the areas of local ownership, the importance of governance and the cultural dimension of the MDGs.

In the links below you can download the proposed amendments:

to download the proposed amendments

With a view to the September Summit, UCLG will also call upon local and regional authorities to engage in a global mobilization for the achievement of the MDGs.

What is your opinion of these proposed amendments, what would you like to add or extract from them?

This years’ World Cup has brought the eyes of the world to South- Africa and the whole African continent. The former president of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki saw the World Cup as a moment when the African continent “turned the tide on centuries of poverty and conflict’.

After years of preparation, and the first round of matches played, what is your opinion on this prediction?

To give you some more information on the subject we have selected three articles/documents for you to read:

1. Will the World Cup change South Africa? (Blogg by David Bond, BBC,11 May 2010 )
2. Results of the International Symposium on the Impact of Mega Sports Events on
Developmental Goals. (5-7 March 2008)
3. Africa doesn’t need the World Cup to change its fortunes (Peter Guest, Guardian.co.uk,14 June)

When you start commenting, also feel free to also add links to other interesting articles/documents on the topic!

And don’t forget to fill in our POLL of June! Vote now for your favorite team in the World Cup tournament 2010!

With the summer holidays rapidly approaching, once again ten thousands of Europeans are planning to pack their suitcases for a safari in Africa, a beach retreat in Thailand, or fast-paced sightseeing in places of cultural heritage across the world. Tour operators from many developed countries take their wealthy clients, driven by a sense for adventure, on all-included explorations of local cultures and traditional lifestyles in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Simultaneously, an ever growing number of students and youngsters take part in local voluntary work projects, teaching missions and individual backpacking.

The global tourism industry offers ample potential for local economic development in destination countries. Nevertheless, this also requires that popular tourist destinations are flexible enough to meet the demands of an increasingly diverse tourist population. Popular destinations engage in, or get trapped in, a fierce competition for tourists.  Nevertheless, catering for the taste of western tourists may well come at a price. Spatial redevelopment plans entail the relocation of native populations. Traditional lifestyles become an object of European curiosity. Local traditions and economic activities may be endangered by the more profitable tourism industry.

Our statement for this month is therefore: The Global Tourism Industry Threatens Traditional Local Lifestyles.

We would love to hear from your own experience. Does your municipality have a strategy to stimulate tourism? How do you try to cope with the potential negative effects? Has tourism increased or decreased in the wake of the global financial crisis? What strategies do you propose for a sustainable local tourism industry? How can traditional lifestyles and global tourism reinforce each other?

Please submit your response before June 13 and engage in a lively debate with other network members. After June 13, Talent for Governance will pick one respondent and offer him/her a € 200 discount voucher to use on any of The Hague Academy for Local Governance training courses in 2010.

The international economic slowdown has had a deep impact on local governance. It challenges local governments to improve their economic policies and increase their efforts to promote local economic development. However, local governments are also an important part of the solution to the crisis, by offering an effective lever for economic development. These are some of the main conclusions of the recent report ‘the Impact of the Global Crisis on Local Governments’ of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG).

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A new month, a new discussion topic. In February, we would like to discuss city twinning and other forms of municipal cooperation with you! Share your opinions, experiences and expectations and let your voice be heard.
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