Launched during the European Development Days of Strasbourg on 16 November 2008, the European Charter on Development cooperation in support of local governance is a document acknowledging both the importance and specificity of local governance in Development issues.

The Charter proposes a framework for more coherence and complementarity in the actions of the different actors supporting local governance. It also gives guildelines on applying the Paris Declaration at local level.

For PLATFORMA, the European platform of local and regional authorities for Development, this Charter is a document of reference, and its principles should be promoted at EU level. To this end PLATFORMA has accepted to ensure the technical secretariat of the Charter since February 2010, with the financial support of the French Ministry for Foreign and European Affairs.