CLGF news

CLGF has recently developed a new strategic vision for the organisation and its members through a collaborative approach, which builds upon a legacy of strong delivery and tangible results. CLGF’s new direction of travel focusses on a much more innovative operating model by offering ‘local solutions to local problems’ around strengthening local democracy across the Commonwealth, localising the SDGs and building sustainable cities through strong and focussed partnerships. Did you know? The Commonwealth Local Government Forum has 200 members in 47 Commonwealth countries. Find out more

Pakistan’s Association for Development and Local Governance (ADLG), the four provincial local government associations and eight district councils are set to benefit from a new CLGF project to strengthen the associations and enhance the contribution of local government to governance and development in Pakistan. The programme, worth €1.67 million with the major part of funding from the European Union, will build the capacity of the associations at provincial and national level to support local governments in Pakistan through advocacy, capacity building and training, exchange of good practice, peer support and a series of local pilot projects.Read more

CLGF has partnered with the Government of Maharashtra and the Indian Resource and Support Centre for Development to boost the role of elected women leaders in local panchayats (Panchayat Mahila Shakti Abhiyan) to strengthen local governance in Maharashtra.The project will help support elected women leaders from a range of villages in Maharashtra to take a lead role in water conservation programmes launched by the state government in a bid to make Maharashtra a drought free state by 2019. Find out more about CLGF's work in Asia.

CLGF has once again partnered with the University of Birmingham, Institute of Local Government Studies (INLOGOV) to offer women working in local government in a Commonwealth country the chance of a scholarship for their distance learning master’s course in public administration. The winner of the 2016 Scholarship programme, Ms Ana-Regina Soochit, LED Officer, Chaguanas Borough Corporation, Trinidad and Tobago highly recommends the programme. She said, “This scholarship is an excellent opportunity to develop a better understanding of project implementation and delivery as well as building expertise on governance, policy making and service delivery”. The deadline to apply for the 2017 Scholarship is 30 March. Find out more 

The 2017 Commonwealth Local Government Conference will be held in Valletta, Malta on 21-24 November 2017 and will look at strategies for strengthening the resource base and capacity of local governments to improve performance and delivery and ensure it is fit for purpose and can take its role as part of a smart and competitive economy. Registration for the conference will open in March 2017, check out the conference website www.clgc2017.org, email us at clgc2017@clgf.org.uk, and follow on Twitter @CLGF_News #clgc2017 for more information.

CLGF is inviting bids to host the 2019 Commonwealth Local Government Conference. The Commonwealth Local Government Conference is a unique opportunity for those in leadership positions in local government - senior mayors and local government leaders, ministers, permanent secretaries, senior officials and other stakeholders from across the Commonwealth - to meet and look at innovations around key policy issues and practical solutions. Find out more about the benefits of hosting the conference

Local government news

Citizen participation and engagement in central and local government policy formulation and implementation has improved by 5% between 2013 and 2015, according to the Rwanda Governance Board (RGB). Read more

CLGF Board member Mayor Darrell Bradley of Belize City Council inaugurated a monument dedicated to entrepreneurs in Belize City to celebrate the competition of the Caribbean Local Economic Development (CARILED) project. CARILED is a six year (2012-17) project which helped develop and test models of Local Economic Development (LED) across the Caribbean, implemented by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, in partnership with CALGA, CFLGM and CLGF. The project has supported over 50 local governments and more than 500 small and medium-sized enterprises throughout the Caribbean. Read more

Commonwealth news

The Commonwealth Chair-in Office, Malta, has concurrently assumed the Presidency of the Council of the EU. CLGF is pleased to offer warm congratulations to the Prime Minister Dr Joseph Muscat, who will also open the 2017 Commonwealth Local Government Conference to be held in Valletta, Malta on 21-14 November. Read statement by Commonwealth Secretary-General the Rt Hon Patricia Scotland.

The Vanuatu Electoral Office, which has a permanent staff of just seven, is preparing for provincial polls in March. What makes this year's election different is that the commission has been aided by an electoral expert deployed by the Commonwealth Secretariat. Find out more

The theme for the 2017 Commonwealth Day (13 March, Monday) is a peace-building Commonwealth. The theme will inform events to mark the day and help guide activities by Commonwealth organisations throughout the year. Read more

Follow on Twitter #CommonwealthDay

Knowledge hub

CLGF's new Knowledge Hub contains summaries of and links to resources from CLGF, its members and partners on a range of local government topics including local democracy, finance, service delivery, women, cities and urbanisation, LED, small states and global development agenda. CLGF invites its members and partners to share any knowledge materials or resources that would be of interest to others involved in local government. Please get in touch on knowledgehub@clgf.org.uk

Get in touch: Do you have a news story that would be of interest to others involved in local government? Email us at enews@clgf.org.uk