Too often, government leaders fail to adopt and implement policies that they know are necessary for sustained economic development. Political constraints can prevent leaders from following sound technical advice, even when leaders have the best of intentions. Making Politics Work for Development: Harnessing Transparency and Citizen Engagement focuses on two forces—citizen engagement and transparency—that hold the key to solving government failures by shaping how political markets function.

This paper provides an overview of key trends and developments impacting on local democracy and is intended to be a broad-ranging background paper to assist in discussions at a workshop organised by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA), in partnership with the Commonwealth Local Government Forum (CLGF), to be held in Stockholm in early November 2014, which will bring together academics and practitioners to explore current trends and developments in local democracy.

Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries have the highest rates of HIV prevalence in the world accounting for an estimated 71% of all new infections (UNAIDS 2010). HIV prevalence is greatest in urban informal areas, caused largely by the proliferation of a variety of risk environments that facilitate the rapid spread of HIV/AIDS. As a strategic response to the complex nature of the HIV/AIDs epidemic in urban areas, decentralised multisectoral HIV/AIDs responses at the local government level have been adopted. These are seen as a sustainable way of dealing with the spread of HIV/AIDs in a number of African cities, in line with internationally accepted recommendations. Now that a number of local governments in African cities have adopted HIV/AIDS multisectoral responses, the question can be asked to what degree is this is this response being implemented in these countries, and what challenges are faced by cities as they adopt this approach? This article reviews HIV/AIDS multisectoral responses in African cities, and discusses the challenges that face urban local governments as they implement these responses.

The purpose of the study was to carry out an assessment of local democracy and local governance through benchmarking Aberdeen principles on the local government system in Rwanda to appreciate the achievements and establish gaps and suggest appropriate recommendations for future improvement. As laid in the terms of reference, the study was guided by research questions for each of the 12 principles, which include, Constitutional and legal recognition for local democracy, political freedom to elect local representatives, partnership and cooperation between spheres of government, defined legislative framework, citizens participation in local decision making, open local government – accountability, open local government – transparency, scrutiny of the executive, inclusiveness, adequate and equitable resource allocation, equitable services viii and capacity building for effective leadership. The said Aberdeen principles were used to analyse and assess Rwanda’s local government system vis a vis the Aberdeen principles. In terms of methodology, the study employed extensive desk research, analysing local democracy and local governance structures, systems policies and processes in Rwanda. Evidence was collected and collated through wide-ranging literature review with limited field research.

This report was prepared by the International Labour Office as the basis for discussions at the Joint Meeting on the Impact of Decentralization and Privatization on Municipal Services to be held from 15 to 19 October 2001 in Geneva.