Brasília hosts III Meeting of Municipalities to Sustainable Development

Brasilia, April 9, 2015 - Between 07 and 09 of April, Brasilia hosted the Third Meeting of the Municipalities to Sustainable Development. The event took place at the Ulysses Guimarães Convention Center and gathered about five thousand participants, including 500 mayors. The meeting, which was organized by The National Front of Mayors ( Frente Nacional de Prefeitos - FNP), in partnership with the Brazilian Service of Support to Micro and Small Enterprises (SEBRAE), aims to reinforce the importance of sustainability for the development of municipalities and encourage the opening of dialogue within the government.

The subject of this third meeting was "New federal governance and the role of local authorities in Brazil and worldwide". Attracted by an agenda built from the municipal demands, the participants of this edition had the opportunity to exchange experiences, have access to successful good practices of municipalities with common realities, and attend discussions and lectures on sustainable development.

The lectures and discussions of the meeting were divided into six main areas: Public policies to encourage entrepreneurship and sustainable local development; Management, universalization and water quality; The role of local governments in the Sustainable Development Goals (UN) and the Habitat III; Urban mobility: the impasse of the current model and the urgency for inclusive, sustainable and quality alternatives; Quality, financing and governance of local and metropolitan public policies; Cities, political reform and social participation.

On April 9, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) took part in the session "Drug Policy: prevention, education, care and repression." Moreover, the National Secretariat of Drugs Policy (SENAD) of the Ministry of Justice, the Municipal Bureau of Human Rights and Citizenship of São Paulo, and the psychoanalyst and expert on drugs policies and human rights, Aldo Zaiden also participated in the session.

To Nivio Nascimento, Programme Officer of UNODC Rule of Law Unity, the drug problem cannot be treated only from a criminal perspective. In order to have an effective response to the issue of drugs, dialogue and joint work between the different actors involved and different levels of government are necessary. In this context, Nivio presented three tools that can be used as a reference in the implementation of drug policies in the cities: Public Policy in violence contexts related to the consumption of alcohol and other drugs; From Coercion to Cohesion; and International Standards on Drug Use Prevention.

"The vulnerability associated with drug abuse is the major problem faced in the country regarding the drug context. So we need jointly to continue investing in social protection services", adds Vitore Maximiano, National Secretary of Drug Policy (SENAD). The Secretary also provided an overview of the current Brazilian scenario, focusing on prevention programs and treatment of users offered by the federal government.

 Sources: website of the III Meeting of Municipalities to Sustainable Development

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