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.

Background discussion paper for the 2013 Commonwealth Local Government Conference, Kampala Research reports. The paper sets the context for developmental local government and reflects on what the term means in respect of the different systems of local government and approaches to local government across the Commonwealth. Chapter 1 looks at the global environment and how global challenges are impacting on governance, service delivery and development at the local level. Chapter 2 looks at how we define developmental local government in the different regions of the Commonwealth. It also sets out a case study on South Africa’s experience of defining developmental local government within a system of cooperative governance, and how it has impacted on development at the local level to date. Chapter 3 focuses on the fundamental enablers for developmental local government: The political framework, Financing local government, Human resource management and capacity, Enabling citizen participation Chapter 4 looks at key priorities for the post 2015 global development agenda and considers the role for local government in a post 2015 context as a key partner in development, providing a voice for local communities and implementing many of the key services essential to reducing poverty. Chapter 5 reflects on practical approaches to developmental local government and looks at different ways in which local government is playing a central role in local development. Chapter 6 reflects on the future and some of the key issues for discussion and debate at the conference