UN-HABITAT to train newly-elected Palestinian mayors – UN news item

UN trains newly elected Palestinian mayors 

19 May 2005 – The United Nations agency for sustainable housing and urban development is training nearly two dozen newly elected Palestinian mayors in a pioneering workshop that starts on Saturday to improve their leadership and management skills, the agency said today.

A previous six-day phase, training Palestinian trainers, ended today in Ismailia, Egypt, the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) said.

That phase gave the 13 participants the chance to develop capacity-building programmes and new methods, based on UN-HABITAT training manuals, to teach leadership and management skills to mayors, local authority councillors and other local leaders in interactive, participatory, client-centred sessions, it said.

After a formal opening ceremony on Friday, the graduates of the first phase will train 21 mayors from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in a pilot workshop from 21 to 26 May.