Last month’s inaugural meeting of the Cities Alliance Assembly completed the governance and membership reforms initiated by our move to Brussels. Displaying real foresight, members ensured that the Cities Alliance was well-positioned to respond to the universal Agenda 2030 and the Paris Accord with a positive and open approach to membership, reaching out to the private sector, foundations and knowledge networks for the first time.
We are therefore delighted to welcome the Government of Ghana, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) as new members of the Cities Alliance. The membership, which is now organised into six constituencies, appointed a new Management Board that will guide the Cities Alliance to 2019. I am also delighted to welcome the appoint of Khalifa Sall, Mayor of Dakar, as the President of the Assembly, and Clare Short, previously Senior Policy Advisor, as Chair of the Management Board.
This completes the make-up of the governance structures, and positions the Cities Alliance very well to make a decisive contribution over the next few years. The immediate challenge is to operationalise and strengthen the partnership at city, country and regional levels, and demonstrate how much more can be achieved through members collaborating and not competing. Building on the success of these new arrangements, the next priority will be to work closely with Clare and the whole Board to stabilise and expand the core and non-core resources available to the Cities Alliance.
William Cobbett, Director
