Glocal forum
Encyclopedia
Glocal Forum
Founder Uri Savir
Uri Savir
Uri Savir is an Israeli diplomat and politician. He served as a member of the Knesset between 1999 and 2001.-Biography:...

 and Jan Stenbeck
Jan Stenbeck
Jan Stenbeck was a Swedish media owner. He was brother of the former Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs, Margaretha af Ugglas...

Founded 2001, Zurich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...

, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

Headquarters Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

Focus Empowering local communities in the global sphere
Method City-to-city networking
Website www.glocalforum.org


The Glocal Forum is an international organization in the field of city-to-city cooperation; encouraging peace building and international development in the non-governmental sector. It emphasizes the central role of cities in international relations and subscribes to a glocalization vision.

Purpose

The Glocal Forum was created in 2001 to emphasize the role of local authorities in the world governance system. The Glocal Forum focuses on empowering local communities by linking them to one another and to global resources, in order to achieve social improvement, democratic growth, peace and a balance between global opportunities and local realities.

Strategic objectives


Seven strategic objectives guide the activities of the Glocal Forum:
  1. To emphasize the central role of cites in international relations;
  2. To empower local communities, link them to one another and to global resources;
  3. To provide opportunities for local communities, to achieve social improvement and democratic growth;
  4. To facilitate peace
    Peace
    Peace is a state of harmony characterized by the lack of violent conflict. Commonly understood as the absence of hostility, peace also suggests the existence of healthy or newly healed interpersonal or international relationships, prosperity in matters of social or economic welfare, the...

     and development initiatives that partner local communities and young people with international companies and institutions;
  5. To provide opportunities for young citizens to increase their role in local or global communities and institutions;
  6. To bring together local youth representatives in a worldwide network, to draw up sustainable policies for local and global issues;
  7. To develop strategic activities to promote Corporate social responsibility
    Corporate social responsibility
    Corporate social responsibility is a form of corporate self-regulation integrated into a business model...

    , by creating unique partnerships between public and private institutions.

Projects

We Are the Future (WAF)

We Are the Future (WAF) is program for children and youth in conflict-ridden areas. Launched in 2004, the program is the result of a strategic partnership between the Glocal Forum, the Quincy Jones
Quincy Jones
Quincy Delightt Jones, Jr. is an American record producer and musician. A conductor, musical arranger, film composer, television producer, and trumpeter. His career spans five decades in the entertainment industry and a record 79 Grammy Award nominations, 27 Grammys, including a Grammy Legend...

 Listen Up Foundation and Mr. Hani Masri, with the support of the World Bank
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...

, UN agencies and major companies. The program is implemented and managed by the participating WAF municipalities, under the direction of the mayor’s office, and the Glocal Forum serves as the fundraiser and program planner and coordinator for the WAF child center in each city. Each WAF city is linked to several peer cities and public and private partners to create a unique international coalition.

The WAF program is active in six pilot cities: Addis Ababa
Addis Ababa
Addis Ababa is the capital city of Ethiopia...

, Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...

; Asmara
Asmara
Asmara is the capital city and largest settlement in Eritrea, home to a population of around 579,000 people...

, Eritrea
Eritrea
Eritrea , officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa. Eritrea derives it's name from the Greek word Erethria, meaning 'red land'. The capital is Asmara. It is bordered by Sudan in the west, Ethiopia in the south, and Djibouti in the southeast...

; Freetown
Freetown
Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone, a country in West Africa. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean located in the Western Area of the country, and had a city proper population of 772,873 at the 2004 census. The city is the economic, financial, and cultural center of...

, Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone , officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea to the north and east, Liberia to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west and southwest. Sierra Leone covers a total area of and has an estimated population between 5.4 and 6.4...

; Kabul
Kabul
Kabul , spelt Caubul in some classic literatures, is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. It is also the capital of the Kabul Province, located in the eastern section of Afghanistan...

, Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...

; Kigali
Kigali
Kigali, population 965,398 , is the capital and largest city of Rwanda. It is situated near the geographic centre of the nation, and has been the economic, cultural, and transport hub of Rwanda since it became capital at independence in 1962. The main residence and offices of the President of...

, Rwanda
Rwanda
Rwanda or , officially the Republic of Rwanda , is a country in central and eastern Africa with a population of approximately 11.4 million . Rwanda is located a few degrees south of the Equator, and is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo...

; and Nablus
Nablus
Nablus is a Palestinian city in the northern West Bank, approximately north of Jerusalem, with a population of 126,132. Located in a strategic position between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, it is the capital of the Nablus Governorate and a Palestinian commercial and cultural center.Founded by the...

, Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....

 and additional cities are expected to join in the coming years. The program focuses on five areas essential for rehabilitation: Health
Health
Health is the level of functional or metabolic efficiency of a living being. In humans, it is the general condition of a person's mind, body and spirit, usually meaning to be free from illness, injury or pain...

, Nutrition
Nutrition
Nutrition is the provision, to cells and organisms, of the materials necessary to support life. Many common health problems can be prevented or alleviated with a healthy diet....

, Arts
ARts
aRts, which stands for analog Real time synthesizer, is an audio framework that is no longer under development. It is best known for previously being used in KDE to simulate an analog synthesizer....

, Sports, and Information and Communications Technology (ICT). The program aims to help youth and children improve their lives and post-conflict communities to progressively re-establish peace
Peace
Peace is a state of harmony characterized by the lack of violent conflict. Commonly understood as the absence of hostility, peace also suggests the existence of healthy or newly healed interpersonal or international relationships, prosperity in matters of social or economic welfare, the...

. Partner cities supporting the program include (among others): Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...

, Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...

, Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...

, Reggio Emilia
Reggio Emilia
Reggio Emilia is an affluent city in northern Italy, in the Emilia-Romagna region. It has about 170,000 inhabitants and is the main comune of the Province of Reggio Emilia....

, Rishon LeZion, Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

, San Francisco, Washington DC.

Glocal Youth Parliament (GYP)

Young people play an essential role in the well-being and continuing growth of cities, and the Glocal Forum’s Glocal Youth Parliament (GYP) aims to ensure that they are involved in the decisions that affect them. Established by the Glocal Forum and the World Bank Institute
World Bank Institute
The World Bank Institute is the capacity development branch of the World Bank. It provides learning programs, policy advice and technical assistance to policy makers, government and non-government agencies and development practitioners of developing countries...

 in 2002, the GYP empowers youth to use their energy, vision and creativity to improve the quality of life in urban areas worldwide. It encourages young people to put forward innovative solutions for local communities and governments, and to act as catalysts for development and peace building.

The GYP is a growing network of 140 young people from 70 cities across the world. It has a core
membership of two delegates from each city, one female and one male. It partners them with local governments and organizations, international institutions, and private sector companies. Delegates, partners and other young citizens gather annually to develop action plans and promote thematic campaigns.

BRIDGES: building real intercultural dialogue through glocal encounter

In light of escalation
Escalation
Escalation is the phenomenon of something getting more intense step by step, for example a quarrel, or, notably, a war between states possessing weapons of mass destruction. Compare to escalator, a device that lifts something to a higher level...

 of tension between cultures and civilizations, the Glocal Forum is developing a package of actions to promote intercultural understanding and harmony, following the ‘Ankara
Ankara
Ankara is the capital of Turkey and the country's second largest city after Istanbul. The city has a mean elevation of , and as of 2010 the metropolitan area in the entire Ankara Province had a population of 4.4 million....

 Declaration’ agreed by delegates at the 2006 Annual Glocalization Conference and based on its city-to-city approach. The BRIDGES program aims to engage a variety of tools to promote creative and effective opportunities for intercultural and interfaith
Interfaith
The term interfaith dialogue refers to cooperative, constructive and positive interaction between people of different religious traditions and/or spiritual or humanistic beliefs, at both the individual and institutional levels...

 dialogue within and between cities with a focus on promoting dialogue and cooperation among civilizations of the Western
Western culture
Western culture, sometimes equated with Western civilization or European civilization, refers to cultures of European origin and is used very broadly to refer to a heritage of social norms, ethical values, traditional customs, religious beliefs, political systems, and specific artifacts and...

 and Islamic worlds.

Activities

City Diplomacy and Peacebuilding

The Glocal Forum promotes city-to-city relationships to realize peacebuilding
Peacebuilding
Peacebuilding is a term used within the international development community to describe the processes and activities involved in resolving violent conflict and establishing a sustainable peace....

, capacity-building and development projects. This approach, which network cities first agreed in the 2002 Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

 Understanding, aims to foster effective and lean projects which really reflect citizens’ needs.

International Partnerships

The Glocal Forum builds partnerships with public and private international institutions, to leverage assets, replicate projects and increase the impact of activities. Its network includes over 140 cities across the world. In addition, the Glocal Forum works with major international organizations including the World Bank
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...

, the United Nations Human Settlements Programme
United Nations Human Settlements Programme
The United Nations Human Settlements Programme is the United Nations agency for human settlements. It was established in 1978 and has its headquarters at the United Nations Office at Nairobi, Kenya...

 (UN-Habitat) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO
Fão
Fão is a town in Esposende Municipality in Portugal....

), and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

Annual Glocalization Conferences

Annual Glocalization Conferences bring together city mayors and leaders of international institutions and multinational companies to discuss global issues, exchange experiences and practices, lobby and establish lasting partnerships. During past conferences mayors from across conflict divides have come together during a session on city-to-city peacebuilding
Peacebuilding
Peacebuilding is a term used within the international development community to describe the processes and activities involved in resolving violent conflict and establishing a sustainable peace....

; the We Are the Future program was launched by a concert produced by Quincy Jones
Quincy Jones
Quincy Delightt Jones, Jr. is an American record producer and musician. A conductor, musical arranger, film composer, television producer, and trumpeter. His career spans five decades in the entertainment industry and a record 79 Grammy Award nominations, 27 Grammys, including a Grammy Legend...

 and resolutions to fight poverty
Poverty
Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...

 and social exclusion have been adopted. The 2006 Conference in Ankara
Ankara
Ankara is the capital of Turkey and the country's second largest city after Istanbul. The city has a mean elevation of , and as of 2010 the metropolitan area in the entire Ankara Province had a population of 4.4 million....

, Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

 provided an opportunity for the Western and Islamic worlds to build interfaith
Interfaith
The term interfaith dialogue refers to cooperative, constructive and positive interaction between people of different religious traditions and/or spiritual or humanistic beliefs, at both the individual and institutional levels...

 and intercultural dialogue and to adopt a resolution to continue the exchanges.

Assets

The Glocal Forum’s assets, finance and internal procedures are submitted to independent audit
Audit
The general definition of an audit is an evaluation of a person, organization, system, process, enterprise, project or product. The term most commonly refers to audits in accounting, but similar concepts also exist in project management, quality management, and energy conservation.- Accounting...

 to ensure full compliance with the high standards established for the non-profit sector by the Swiss legislature. The legal office is in Zurich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...

, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

, while the main operating office is in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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