Despite some progress in tackling poverty and meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), citizens are increasingly frustrated by the high levels of hunger, poverty, unemployment and poor economic, social and environmental infrastructure. At the same time, governments are having difficulties in meeting these demands because they lack the resources, and are removed from local needs. Addressing this calls for a new way of doing things, a new approach to development that puts localism to the fore, one that focuses on democratic local governance, local resources and social capital.

This approach puts local government at the heart of development and, as we heard at the 2013 Commonwealth Local Government Conference, is being championed as the most effective approach to development. It was therefore timely that the 2013 Commonwealth Local Government Conference addressed this very issue. The high level discussions that took place, and the innovations and case studies we heard about have not only given our members and other partners some tools to take back to use in their own countries, but has helped to shape CLGF policy and to position local government even more firmly in discussions on how sustainable development is delivered and the global agenda on what is to replace the MDGs post-2015.

Indeed, in terms of the level of debate, the high level representation at the event, the practical and political outcomes and the general organisation and the running of the conference, this was one of our most successful ever, and I am very grateful to our Uganda hosts and all our partners who helped to deliver the event and input into the discussions.

CLGF will be taking forward the recommendations from the main conference and the special consultation on the post-2015 development agenda to the forthcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting (CHOGM) in Sri Lanka in November and will work with the appropriate agencies such as the Commonwealth Secretariat, UNDP and the Global Task Force of Local and Regional Governments to ensure that local government has a strong voice in the Commonwealth and the UN general Assembly.