Dear Mayors,

In January 2007 the 7th Forum of Local Authorities (FAL) together with the World Social Forum (WSF) will be held in Nairobi, Kenya. This event will have an innovative format, and will aim to hold joint debates with social organisations within the context of global social movements, through activities organised by us on 21 and 22 January, and to hold a world assembly of local governments on 23 January.

The Forum of Local Authorities for Social Inclusion was created in 2001, at the World Social Forum of Porto Alegre, where the 2002, 2003 and 2005 Forums were held; in 2004, the FAL took place in Barcelona, at which we approved the Agenda 21 for Culture. The FAL has also held three European events: in Florence (2002), Saint-Denis (2003) and London (2004), always together with the European Social Forum. In Quito in 2004, we held a FAL, together with the Social Forum of the Americas. In January of this year, we held the 6th FAL in Caracas, within the context of the Polycentric World Social Forum: America.

The key purpose of the FAL’s existence is to enable cities to become major actors in the globalisation process, and to build and develop, hand in hand with civil society, democratic alternatives for public management. The FAL challenges local government to create its own space in international relations, adopting democratic public policies to combat social exclusion, striving to democratize wealth and power, creating a culture of peace and solidarity, promoting ecologically sustainable development and respect for human rights. The FAL works through a network of cities and takes a flexible, open form, allowing it to work to achieve the common goals identified at the world and continental events.

Since the foundation at the Paris Congress in 2004 of the United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) the FAL network has actively participated in the construction of this organisation of the world’s cities. As evidence of this, at the meeting in Beijing in 2005 of the World Council of the UCLG, following the creation of its working committee, the FAL network established the Commission for Social Inclusion and Participative Democracy, chaired by the Frente Nacional de Alcaldes of Brazil, with Montevideo and Saint-Denis holding the vice-presidencies and Barcelona acting as technical secretary.

We would therefore like to invite the mayors’ offices to participate in the 7th FAL in Nairobi, Kenya, from 21 to 23 January 2007, and urge all mayors to register on the WSF website (http://wsf2007.org/) as part of the FAL. In this way we can ensure our presence on the African continent, so that we can exchange ideas and projects for the creation of new public policies at both the local and global level to help fellow mayors combat the hunger and misery faced in Africa, while striving to ensure that the strengthening of democracy lies at the heart of this process.

Dick Wathika
Mayor of Nairobi

Elói Pietá
President of the Social Inclusion and Participative Democracy Commission - UCLG
Vice-president of International Relations of FNP Brazil, Mayor of Guarulhos

Patrick Braouezec
Vice-president of the Social Inclusion and Participative Democracy Commission - UCLG
President of Plaine Commune, Deputy

Ricard Gomà
Councillor of the Council of Barcelona

BRAZIL
FNP do BRAZIL, PREFEITURA DO GARULHOS

ESPAÑA
AJUNTAMENT DE BARCELONA, AYUNTAMIENTO DE CORDOBA, DIPUTACION DE BARCELONA, DIPUTACION DE CORDOBA, DIPUTACION DE MALAGA, FONDO ANDALUZ DE MUNICIPIOS POR LA SOLIDARIDAD INTERNACIONAL (FAMSI), FONS CATALÀ DE COOPERACIÓ AL DESENVOLUPAMENT

FRANCE
DÉPARTEMENT SEINE-SAINT-DENIS, VILLE DE NANTERRE, VILLE DE SAINT-DENIS, VILLE DE BONDY, VILLE D'AUBAGNE

ITALIA
PROVINCIA DI MILANO

VENEZUELA
ALCALDIA MAYOR DE CARACAS

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