Background and Objectives:
The “Intergovernmental Actions for Integrated and Innovative Solutions towards Attaining the Millennium Development Goals (Local GAINS for the MDGs)” project was signed in late 2005, to promote inter-Local Government Units cooperation in localizing the Millennium Development Goals.

The project is expected to contribute in improving rights-based and gender responsive approaches and synergies in localizing the Millennium Development Goals, generate inter-local solutions to attain the Millennium Development Goals, effect institutional reforms, involve local leaders, citizens groups and the business sector through creative participatory approaches, and sustain decentralized capacity development by engaging the academe and local resource institutions in the localization process.

Additional funding from Japan through the UN Democratic Governance Trust Fund facilitated the dissemination of the lessons learned to (initially 12, but now) 27 cities and two municipalities nationally, with a further follow-up project (MEET the MDGs) introducing disaster awareness approaches and reviewing implementation risks that the cities could face in implementing their agreed action plans, and thus achieving their 2015 targets.
  
These projects introduce innovative approaches to mainstream rights-based approaches, gender responsiveness and inter-local government cooperation to localize the Millennium Development Goals in Philippine cities, learning and further adapting the Butuan City experiences; whilst providing continuous support to incorporate Millennium Development Goals targets in the action plans and budgets of 27 other cities, and documenting the experiences for further national dissemination as well as policy learning.
 
Activities:
The main activities include:

• Implementing training programmes based on documented good practices of gender sensitive Millennium Development Goals action plans, rights-based approaches and inter-local cooperation.
• Establishing City2City exchanges to share Millennium Development Goals themes such as maternal health, combating HIV-AIDS, and shelter for the urban poor, among others.
• Training to decentralize the Millennium Development Goals through innovative leadership conducted by UNDP-headquarters and the International Institute for Social Artistry.
• Producing toolkits on Millennium Development Goals localization and mainstreaming gender and human rights.

Results:

• City authorities trained and equipped on incorporating human rights approaches, gender mainstreaming and inter-local cooperation on localizing the Millennium Development Goals.
• Millennium Development Goals strategies, action plans, local legislation and policies enacted to sustain Millennium Development Goals activities in 14 cities.
• Good practices documented.
• Governance Reform Summit held in Butuan City, advocating good governance and Millennium Development Goals replication.