Commonwealth Local Government Forum

Southern Africa \ Local democracy

This section contains information relating to all aspects of lcoal democracy and good governance at the local level. The Commonwealth principles on good practice for local democracy and good governance - known as the Aberdeen Agenda - which have been adopted by all CLGF members and are incorporated in the Commonwealth Charter, set the framework for the promotion of local democracy in the Commonwealth. The materials in this section relate to the constitutional and legal provisions for local government and include a range of studies, policy and training materials on local elections, leadership, community participation, representative local government, local government management and partnerships between local government and other key stakeholders such as traditional authorities.

Sub-topics:

Featured

Developmental Local Government in South Africa: Institutional fault lines

This paper provides a brief introduction to the recent history of, as well as the legal and policy framework for, local government in South Africa. It discusses the transformation of local government from a racially configured, illegitimate arm of the apartheid government into a system designed to produce developmentally oriented municipalities. The progress made by South African municipalities towards realising the vision of developmental local government is remarkable and unprecedented. Over the last 13 years, municipalities have embarked on the extension of infrastructure and development, whilst absorbing fundamental changes to their internal governance and management arrangements, financial management systems and intergovernmental responsibilities. The new local government system offers great potential for the realisation of a better life for all citizens, facilitated by a new generation of municipalities. However, the challenges remain huge and some of these can be attributed to institutional fault lines. These include challenges that come with large, inclusive municipalities, new executive systems and the political appointment of senior officials. The paper also identifies the downside of overzealous institutionalisation of community participation. With regard to intergovernmental relations, the paper highlights the need for a clearer definition of local government mandates and a greater recognition of the role of big cities. The current insistence on comprehensive intergovernmental alignment of policies and budgets is questioned, and suggestions are made to substitute this with an approach of selective alignment around key national priorities.

Author: Jaap de Visser Publisher: University of Technology, Sydney Publication year: January 2009


Regional organizations, gender equality and the political empowerment of women

Global and regional organizations play an important role in the development of legal and policy frameworks, as well as in the design of effective action plans to better support the advancement of the gender equality agenda at the global, regional and national levels. This report presents key instruments for promoting gender equality and political empowerment of women that are currently in place at the global and regional levels, highlighting the challenges, opportunities and successes that each organization has encounter in the implementation within their respective regions.

Author: Stephanie Chaban, Luis J. Consuegra, Hannah Elten, Karin Gardes, Olivia Greymond, Olga Martin Gonzalez, Mona Lena Krook, Liri Kopaci-Di Michele, Hien Thi Nguyen, Nika Saeedi, Safi Trabelsi, Catherine Woolard Publisher: International IDEA, Community of Democracies and UNDP Publication year: 2019


Mainstreaming indigenous and local communities’ connections with nature for policy decision-making

Exclusion of Indigenous and local communities' connections to the rest-of-nature is a typical problem in policy-decision making. This paper highlights the key attributes of these connections and suggests evaluation pathways to mainstream them into policy development. For this, we integrate and apply the ecosystem services (ES) and human capability concepts. Five socio-cultural and economic values relating to peoples' well-being are identified as the core attributes for developing policy tools: (1) livelihoods; (2) social values; (3) cultural values; (4) spiritual values; and (5) capabilities. For policy tools, common ES frameworks and the relevant ES evaluation techniques that can be applied along with community participatory approaches, are considered. We recommend that developing a pluralistic policy platform is essential to appropriately comprehend Indigenous and local communities' connections with nature for enhancing well-being, not just sustaining livelihoods. A three-step process: (1) identifying attributes of natural systems that are vital for peoples' well-being (beyond their livelihoods); (2) developing locally-specific integrated frameworks; and (3) evaluating identified attributes (monetary and non-monetary), is clearly described in this paper to inform the policy-makers. Recognition and understanding of Indigenous and local communities’ values for nature beyond livelihood opportunities is essential for informing inclusive sustainable development processes and policies.

Author: Kamaljit K.Sanghaa Jeremy Russell-Smitha Robert Costanzab Publisher: Global Ecology and Conservation Publication year: 2019


African Charter on the Values and Principles of Decentralisation, Local Governance and Local Development

The African Union's 'African Charter on the Values and Principles of Decentralisation, Local Governance and Local Development' 

Author: African Union Publisher: African Union Publication year: 2018


Malawi Tripartite Elections, 20 May 2014

The 2014 elections were the fifth since the re-introduction of multiparty elections in Malawi in 1994 and were the first ever tripartite elections in the country’s political history. Malawians simultaneously voted to elect their president, members of parliament and local government councillors. Local government elections were last held in 2000 and had thereafter been repeatedly postponed.

Author: Commonwealth Secretariat Publisher: Commonwealth Secretariat Publication year: 2014


1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22

© CLGF 2024 : Privacy Policy