Category: Project News
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Two-Year Review
As we start the pivotal year of 2015, we celebrate the completion of the pioneering investment by the UN Democracy Fund (UNDEF) in building our global community of practice. I invite all of us to reflect on these past two years – what has been achieved by this project – and how we can build…
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IDEA Local Democracy Workshop
I’ve just returned from having been invited to speak at a workshop “Local democracy today and tomorrow – Learning from global knowledge and practices” that the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) held at its premises in Stockholm, Sweden, on 5-6 November 2014. The purpose of the trip was to share our approach to participatory local democracy…
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2014 Survey Results from Around the World
The data for the 2014 Participatory Local Democracy Index (PLDI) is being developed primarily in multi-stakeholder Focus Group Meetings around the world. Here are reports from those meetings.
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Introducing the RDLG Bibliographic Database
We are pleased to announce that the Rural Decentralization and Local Government (RDLG) Database, with its 1600 bibliographic entries – is now part of this website. The Royal Tropical Institute in the Netherlands has, for many years, supported its development and operation within its KIT Information and Library Services. When the services closed in August 2013 due…
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Report Launch in Washington, DC
Forty-five experts and activists from the fields of governance and development met on November 7, 2013 for the Washington Launch of the 2013 State of Participatory Democracy Report. The event was held in the large conference room of InterAction, the Washington-based alliance of 180 international NGOs. I led the meeting, and was delighted to receive…
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Our report cited on Huffington Post
On the occasion of the 68th session of the UN General Assembly, I have published this article on The Huffington Post – “All Politics are Local” (click here.) The articles were organized by InterAction, the alliance of 190 international relief and development organizations headquartered in the US. The article emphasizes the key role participatory local democracy…
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2013 Report Launch during UNGA
NEW YORK – September 24, 2013: The first-ever State of Participatory Democracy Report was launched this evening, at a reception that included statements by Mexico’s Under-Secretary for Social and Human Development Ernesto Nemer Alvarez, the executive head of the UN Democracy Fund Roland Rich, Hunger Project president Mary Ellen McNish and Hunger Project executive vice…
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Rome Consultation
On April 11, 2013 practitioners, researchers, officials and advocates met in the offices of the European Commission in the fourth consultation in our process of building a global community of practice on participatory local democracy. The meeting was organized by the KIP International School (http://www.kip-un.org). KIP is headquartered within UNOPS at FAO Headquarters. The president…
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Defining Participatory Local Democracy
We understand the need to have working definitions of the key features of our agenda, particularly as the Community of practice grows more diverse. We would like to open the discussion to other members of our community and invite your input, beginning with a basic definition of “participatory democracy.” In order to facilitate this discussion, we…
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Consultation in New Delhi
India is a geographically and socially diverse country, operating under a decentralized federal governance system since the implementation of the Panchayati Raj local government system in 1992. However, these constitutional provisions often confront persistent structural challenges and limited mobilization of resources that impede effective participation, local planning and action. Against this background and with the…