Commonwealth Local Government Forum

Americas \ Local government finance

Resourcing local government remains a central challenge to effective decentralisation. This section has content relating to different models of fiscal decentralisation, options for identifying new sources of local revenue, such as local property tax; and strategies for improving collection and deployment of own-source revenue. It also offers information about improving the borrowing potential of local government, innovative financing models such as municipal bonds, shared services, and public private partnerships.

Sub-topics:

  • Fiscal decentralisation
  • Financial management
  • Innovative financing models
  • Local/own-source revenue generation
  • Financing infrastructure
  • Public private partnership
  • Green finance
  • Property tax

Featured

New century local government commonwealth perspectives

Democratic decentralisation through ‘conventional’ institutions of local government is facing increasing challenges, whether from financial pressures, questions of representativeness, difficult central-local relations and from a perhaps growing belief that local government has failed to realise its potential and there may be better ways of achieving societal goals. It is clear there is need to contemplate quite radical change to ensure local government becomes or remains ‘fit for purpose’. This collection of papers illustrates the way in which the role of local government is evolving in different parts of the Commonwealth and provides practical examples of new local government at work. It showcases emerging practice, and highlights success stories from new ways of working and challenges confronting local government in both developed and developing countries.

Author: Edited by Graham Sansom, Peter McKinlay Publisher: Commonwealth Secretariat Publication year: 2013


Review of the commonwealth local government good practice scheme

The final (third) phase of the Commonwealth Local Government three year capacity building programme, the Good Practice Scheme, funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) came to an end in late 2011. The programme partnered councils and local government associations from six targeted Commonwealth countries - Jamaica, India, South Africa, Sierra Leone, Pakistan and Ghana - with their counterparts in South Africa, India and the UK with the objective to exchange good practice and generate innovative solutions to challenges faced by local governments. A total of 34 projects were active during the Scheme’s lifetime and contributed successfully to having a positive impact on the ground for local communities. The dissemination of the project activities through national workshops in partnership with national local government associations meant that the successes and lessons were shared with local governments throughout the countries concerned. A new focus of the third phase of the GPS was to promote south-south partnerships: six of these partnerships were set up, three of them being tripartite, two having a northern hemisphere partner, with the remainder, both dual and tripartite, being south-south. Despite partners’ diverse cultural, socio-economic circumstances and administrative practices, this methodology of technical support and exchange of ideas allows partners to share and compare their challenges and reflect on own approaches. The south-south partners, with varying cultural beliefs, learnt that cultural practices should not be ignored in advancing new initiatives: traditional norms and practices are a way of life for the majority of communities especially those in the agricultural, small scale farming sector.

Author: Rachael Duchnowski Publisher: University of Technology Sydney Press Publication year: 2012


Municipal Infrastructure Financing: Innovative Practices from Developing Countries

Municipal Infrastructure Financing provides an overview of the municipal finances and the extent of private sector involvement in the delivery of municipal services in selected Commonwealth developing countries. Four cities are examined in detail: Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, Kampala in Uganda, Dhaka in Bangladesh, and Karachi in Pakistan. The book presents some innovative options for alternative sources of municipal infrastructure financing, including attracting private sector participation, based on the successful experience of other developing countries. It also identifies the key challenges in municipal financing, and any broad institutional and financial strengthening measures that are required to tap alternative sources of financing for growth-oriented municipal investments.

Author: Munawwar Alam Publisher: Commonwealth Secretariat Publication year: 2010


Local government in a global world: Australia and Canada in comparative perspective - Book Review

Review of the book: "Local Government in a Global World: Australia and Canada in Comparative Perspective" edited by Emmanuel Brunet-Jailly and John F. Martin

Author: Claudia Scott Publisher: University of Technology Sydney Press Publication year: 2010


Local government in a global world: Australia and Canada in comparative perspective

This book compares reform trends in Australia and Canada’s local government systems over the past two decades, with attention to the impact of globalization on local governments, their bureaucracies, and local democratic accountability.1 Local governments in Australia and Canada show striking resemblances in relation to history, development, and contemporary issues. This reflects that in both countries, local governments remain an instrument of the states and provinces.

Author: Edited by Emmanuel Brunet-Jailly and John F. Martin Publisher: University of Toronto Press Publication year: 2010


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