About Us
United Cities and Local Governments Middle East and West Asia Section (UCLG-MEWA) is a regional local government association operating in geography covering 16 countries with over 250 direct members. The Secretariat General of UCLG-MEWA, one of the nine regional sections of the UCLG World Organization, the world’s largest local government association, is located in Istanbul, Türkiye.
The International Union of Local Authorities Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East Regional Organization (IULA-EMME) was established in 1987 in Istanbul, Türkiye, as the regional unit of IULA, the world organization. IULA-EMME was transformed into UCLG-MEWA in 2004, parallel with the restructuring of the world organization.
What do we do?
UCLG-MEWA carries out the activities with the mission of reflecting the perspective of the Middle East and West Asia Region in urban planning discussions, creating synergies between cities with projects and sister city programs, bringing important global agendas to the local, and ensuring the representation of local governments on international platforms.
In parallel to these goals, UCLG-MEWA continues its activities for strong and democratic local governments.
- We carry out capacity-building activities for municipalities through trainings, workshops, panels, and webinars and deliver global agendas to local governments.
- We encourage cities to come together, learn and exchange good practices through projects, programs and meetings.
- We ensure the representation and visibility of our members in the UCLG World Organization's governing bodies and on the United Nations' platforms.
- We become a source of information for local governments and researchers with our periodicals and non-periodicals.
- We allow our members to focus on their priorities with our committees on different themes.
