The Covenant of Mayors needs you – and Energy for Mayors can support you

Author: Maryke VAN STADEN, Communications Officer, Energy for Mayors, Germany - Email

Interested in joining as a Covenant Coordinator or Supporter? Coordinators and Supporters of the Covenant of Mayors (CoM) play a crucial role in the CoM initiative – not only to promote it but also as they offer essential direct support to “their” municipalities – local governments that fall within their area of operation.

Many small and medium size local governments need guidance and support, as they often lack of the necessary resources – both staff and money - to fulfil the Covenant requirements. Most local governments in Europe fall into this category of small to medium sized, with a huge combined greenhouse reduction potential.

The Energy for Mayors (E4M) project fully recognizes the importance of Covenant Coordinators and Supporters. The consortium has started with a basic assessment of needs – what support do the supporters need? Now it is working towards offering effective guidance (support package) and access of available resources (online toolbox of resources) and training (seminars), to help them better perform their role.

Building on these actions, several E4M partners have started a European recruitment campaign, inviting organisations across Europe to join as new Coordinators and Supporters, and helping these with unfolding their support roles. In this framework of action, Coordinamento Agende 21 Locali italiane (CAL21) – the Italian national association of Local Agenda 21 – together with other E4M partners, is exploring the interest of appropriate organisations.

The benefits of becoming a Covenant Supporter or Coordinator are manifold:

• Become part of a growing, strong network of supporters for local energy and climate action.
• Exchange, learn from one another, and grow together – for example making use of E4M offers of workshops and training sessions specifically designed to address needs of Coordinators and Supporters.
• Access a great growing collection of resources (methodologies and tools) available in the Toolbox of Methodologies of Climate and Energy – help to rate the best resources, add your own and profile your organisation’s work

The E4M consortium encourages all supporters of the CoM initiative to share information within their networks. Please get in touch with the recruitment campaign leaders: Maria Elisa Zuppiroli and Antonio Kaulard at: coordinamento.agenda21@provincia.modena.it to connect, share potential contacts and in EU countries and cooperate for an effective enlargement and empowerment of the CoM initiative in support to local governments.

For more information on E4M´s international recruitment initiative visit: www.energyformayors.eu