This paper provides an overview of the efforts of successive Zambian governments to transform and institutionalise democratic local governance, and to come to grips with the socio-economic development challenges facing the country. It assesses the progress and challenges that governments are facing in their efforts to transform local government into democratic, developmental local governance.

The primary reasons for creating the Nigerian local government system was grassroots mobilization and development. The Council has however, consistently failed to provide critical services to the rural poor ostensibly because of poor funding. The work examined the structure, functions and accountability mechanisms of the Council vis-à-vis its revenue generation capacity. The problem identified is that the Council contracts out services and its statutory revenue sources at ridiculous prices to patrons even in the face of fiscal cutback and burgeoning demand from the critical populace. Using the Local Government Discretion and Accountability Diagnostic Framework of Analysis and Financial Agency Theory, the paper found that lack of political, administrative and financial accountability mechanisms provides the leeway for unscrupulous Council officials to grossly enrich themselves and their patrons. The paper recommends that the Public Procurement Act which emphasizes Due Process in tendering should be institutionalized by the local government. The anti-graft agencies should be repositioned to deal with treasury looters while the electoral process should be reformed to make it more transparent and inclusive.

Cities are assets, solutions and drivers of economic and social development. Cities possess huge untapped economic potential that can and should be leveraged to create wealth and economic opportunities for all. This requires good urban planning that supports urban compactness, integration, and connectivity. However, even the best urban plans risk ending up unused if they are not accompanied by financial and regulatory strategies for implementation. Strategic public investments must go hand in hand with strategic funding mechanisms and supporting governance systems. The report also identifies successful governance mechanisms for efficient and equitable provision of public services in metropolitan areas of developing countries, and shares experiences and methods to making public service provision more viable in peri-urban areas of large cities and in smaller urban centres of these countries.

The Association of Local Authorities of Tanzania (ALAT) is 30 years old. it is the association that represents officials of local authorities in Tanzania at both the elected and appointed levels with its mandate being to promote the system of local government decentralization in Tanzania, lobby for the rights of its members, provide a platform for the exchange of information and skills, and provide capacity bulding opportunities for its members. aLaT has established a relationship with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, Municipal Partners for Economic development Program (MPEd), and the Local Government Management association of British Columbia. (LGMa). Within the framework of MPEd the partners have embarked on a capacity building program to strengthen the capabilities of aLaT to support its members through improved knowledge management, the exchange of best practices, a well as engagement in program monitoring and evaluation. if aLaT is able to develop and deliver affordable and practical skill based training for its members this will lead to the achievement of the following objectives:

This article sets out to describe recent approaches to strengthening local government within the framework of the World Bank's Municipal Management Programme (1985–95) in Sri Lanka. The article examines a number of innovations adopted within the programme that are of general relevance to the task of strengthening local government throughout the developing world. The article briefly outlines the background to the present system of local government showing that, whilst existing structures and functions remain relatively weak, a number of important innovations have been introduced to assist with the process of strengthening local resource mobilization and improving performance in service delivery, and enhancing certain aspects of accountability, particularly those areas concerned with the allocation and use of public funds. Since a number of these innovations have wide applicability to the process of local government strengthening and reform it is hoped that this article will demonstrate the practical relevance of certain key innovations for practitioners and policy makers elsewhere.