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Assessing the Institutional Environment of Local Governments in Africa
Africa’s cities are growing at an unprecedented rate, over 3% per year on average, and local governments are expected to play a crucial role in the urbanization process. United Cities and Local Governments of Africa (UCLGA) and Cities Alliance proposed an assessment of the institutional environment of local governments in Africa. The report analyzes…
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UNDP – Measuring Local Governance
UNDP’s Oslo Governance Center produced this useful guide to measuring local governance, published in 2009. The purpose of the Guide is “to compile existing knowledge and decentralization and local governance measurement and provide a platform for understanding and navigating the array of assessment tools that exist…” This report is a treasure chest of references to frameworks,…
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Governance and Public Service Delivery
Asian Development Bank ‘s “Asian Development Outlook 2013 Update” published in October 2013 highlights the need of government reform to sustain development momentum in Asia and the Pacific. Strengthening governance is a key among reform priorities and the report identifies public service delivery as an entry point for the reform. The annual Asian Development Outlook,…
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Rockefeller Foundation – 100 Resilient Cities
The Rockefeller Foundation launched the 100 Resilient Cities Centennial Challenge on its centennial, May 14, 2013. The $100 million grant program will help cities build greater resilience from the increasing shocks and stresses of the 21st century. One hundred of the world’s cities will be selected to receive technical support and resources for developing and…
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Waiting for Local Elections in Pakistan
Local government is a critical feature of the current political landscape in Pakistan. The upcoming and just held local elections in the country’s four provinces place Pakistan in an important phase of decentralization. On December 9th, the new schedule for local body election in Punjab was released from the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). Local…
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Engendering Local Governance
Tools for Engendering Local Governance (TELG) were produced as part of the continuing efforts of the Caucus for Women’s Leadership (formerly the Kenya Women’s Political Caucus) to build local capacities in matters pertaining to good governance and gender mainstreaming. The tools are intended for use by the leaders of gender groups in conducting a series…
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The Knowledge Portal: Practice in Participation
A web-based knowledge portal called “Practice in Participation” is both a digital resource and a forum for practitioners to share and learn from others’ field-based knowledge on participatory practices. The portal has crossed the 900 member mark and presently more than 100 knowledge resources are available. The portal was opened by Society for Participatory Research…
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The Impact of Decentralization on Corruption
In the paper Decentralization and Corruption: New Cross-Country Evidence, Maksym Ivanya and Anwar Shah present empirical evidence of the impact of decentralization reforms on corruption for a sample of 158 countries. In the paper, decentralization is defined as the empowerment of local governments, (not as decision making at sub-national levels as other literature on the…
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The role of sub-national authorities in the SDGs governance framework
The Co-Chairs of the Open Working Group and Major Groups and other stakeholders had interactive dialogue on cross-cutting issues for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Process during the Intersessional Meeting in NY on the 22th November. The one day session helped conceptualize: Practical approaches to rights-based SDGs that include the 3 dimensions of sustainable development…
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Local Leaders Transforming Chinese Provinces and Indian States
In an essay published by the Brookings Institution, William J. Antholis highlights the role of local leadership in China and India in transforming the economic development of the two countries. Antholis and his family traveled through China and India for five months, interviewing local and national political leaders and ordinary citizens, from corporate executives to slum dwellers, asking them…
Participatory Local Democracy
Supported by UNDEF 2012-2014