2020 Report released
ORU Fogar's 2020 Performance Report, which includes all the actions and projects in which the organization has participated, has just been made public. It is a year marked, certainly, by the pandemic of COVID-19 and that, essentially, has turned the organization and all its members to an activity through the network. In addition to the presence at the World Urban Forum in Abu Dhabi in February, participation in the global agenda was virtual, as well as in the ORU Fogar bureaus and assembly.
The report records how, from the very beginning of the pandemic, ORU Fogar disseminated to its members recommendations and reports, both on health and on the food emergency that followed. Thus, regions and networks of regions received a selection of the most useful information from both the World Health Organization and FAO. Various initiatives, such as webinars in the different languages of the organization, were used to disseminate the work of the regions in the fight against the coronavirus and to share experiences and good practices.
The report also takes up the message of President Abdessamad Sekkal, who stressed the key role of the regions in the fight against the pandemic. From the outset, President Sekkal pointed out that, beyond contributing as much as possible to health policy, regional governments had a fundamental role to play in caring for the most disadvantaged people, noting in particular that confinement was a real tragedy for countries with high levels of informal labor.
In different communications, President Sekkal, seeing the impact of the pandemic on the governance of the different countries, in some of which the health emergency led to recentralization processes, while in others multilevel cooperation helped to face the pandemic, launched the idea of a great debate on Post-Covid governance. Without the possibility of having this debate in one of ORU Fogar's face-to-face assemblies, this idea took shape in the "Positive Conversations" initiative. Thus, the experience began with a virtual conversation between President Sekkal himself and the founding president of the AIRF, Thierry Corneillet. In the course of 2020, it continued with another conversation between the President of the Association of Senegalese Departments, Adama Diouf, and the President of the Belier, Côte d'Ivore region, Yéboue-Kouamé Pascal. The initiative has been continued during 2021 with several conversations between European and Latin American regional leaders, with the idea that a report will be presented at ORU Fogar's 2021 Annual Assembly, drawing some conclusions from the "Positive Conversations".
ORU Fogar, as reflected in the report, has continued to channel the participation of its members in the global agenda. This year, it is worth highlighting its participation in the events celebrating the 75th anniversary of the United Nations. Taking advantage of the great debate opened by the Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, on the future of the organization, the document "The role of local and regional governments in the future governance of the international system" was presented, in the drafting of which ORU Fogar had an outstanding participation.
Finally, the 2020 report notes that the organization's Annual Assembly, organized under the auspices of the International Association of French-speaking Regions and the Regional Council of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, launched the seminar "Digitalization at the service of the regions". With this initiative, ORU Fogar initiated an experience that will be followed by others that will point out the opportunities of the regions in different fields. Thus, at the beginning of 2021, initiatives will be promoted to highlight the work that regions can do in the field of energy transition or responsible tourism.
The report has been made public in ORU Fogar's three official languages: French, Spanish and English. In addition to these three versions, a Chinese translation will also be available, which will allow for an approach to the Chinese provinces.
