A/HRC/38/22 Sustainable Development was that development could only be sustainable if it included everyone and left no one behind. Success would depend, to a large extent, on local action, community participation and local leadership. Participation was very important and local government should engage with all stakeholders, including civil society, traditional leaders, religious organizations, academics, the private sector, human rights defenders and the local offices of national human rights institutions, where they existed. Efforts should be made to reach women and youth as well as the poorest and most marginalized groups. 20. Ms. Sekkenes explained that there should be interaction and exchange of knowledge between local authorities, as well as with partners at the local level and at different levels of government. She advocated for a model of decentralized cooperation that would build on the mutual exchange of expertise between local authorities and local development actors. Local governments had a role to play in harmonizing local interests and creating a common development perspective, with a view to prioritizing expenditure at the local level. Human rights, such as access to information and the right to be heard, and rule of law principles, such as legality and accountability, needed to be integral in the delivery of public services. 21. Ms. Sekkenes said that UNDP was collaborating with the Global Taskforce of Local and Regional Governments and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UNHabitat) on an online repository of tools and guidance for cross-learning between local and regional governments (localizingthesdgs.org). UNDP was providing support to over 35 countries in that context. Stressing that there was no one-size-fits-all approach, she mentioned several examples of cooperation. In Ecuador, UNDP was working with national and subnational governments and with the Association of Ecuadorian Municipalities to integrate the Sustainable Development Goals into national and subnational plans and ensure the monitoring and review of their implementation. In Brazil, UNDP had partnered with the National Confederation of Municipalities to strengthen the role of local governments in the localization of the Sustainable Development Goals. The joint initiative sought to raise awareness, integrate the Sustainable Development Goals into local plans and build up monitoring and accountability systems. In Morocco, UNDP had worked with local governments to establish maisons de développement, which focused on promoting exchanges and developing partnerships between all development actors, and providing them with a physical space to coordinate and harmonize development efforts. In fragile contexts such as the Syrian Arab Republic and Yemen, UNDP supported cooperation with others to strengthen service capacity at the local level to maintain access to public goods and services. 22. Ms. Gikonyo stated that the African Charter for Popular Participation in Development and Transformation (1990) was the first concerted commitment by African States to promote public participation. The Charter affirmed that nations could not be built without the popular and full participation of the people and that participation empowered people to involve themselves effectively in governance. Obstacles to effective public participation included a lack of political will due to non-democratic systems and, in some cases, in incipient democracies, a lack of institutional capacity, of effective cooperation between national and subnational levels of government, and of information about human rights obligations; a failure to recognize the role of civil society organizations; and the absence of explicit human rights obligations in national governance frameworks. She indicated that Kenya had adopted a progressive constitution in 2010, which contained an extensive bill of rights. Devolution was embedded in the Constitution and public participation was enshrined as a national value and constitutionally required in policy development. The Constitution entrenched gender equality, economic inclusivity and equity. The National Gender and Equality Commission, the Kenya Human Rights Commission and the Office of the Ombudsman were also constitutionally protected. She added that Kenya had mainstreamed the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda in its national planning framework. 23. Ms. Gikonyo noted that local governments offered the opportunity for bottom-up transformation, although acknowledging that central Governments could be intransigent at times. She stressed that national politics still played into local government action through national policy decisions. Nevertheless, the hegemony of national political parties was checked by the creation of local government centres of power. 5