Decentralization reforms, in which central government agencies transfer rights and responsibilities to local institutions, are high on the agenda in many countries in the Europe and CIS region. Decentralized, streamlined and empowered local governments are better equipped to meet citizen’s expectations for public services and better livelihoods, and to ensure transparent, effective and accountable government actions.To exchange experiences, review lessons learned and discuss challenges faced while effecting governance reforms at the subnational and local levels, the International Conference “Making Decentralization Reform Work: Opportunities and Innovations for Local Governance and Service Delivery” took place on 2-3 December 2015 in Kyiv, Ukraine. 

Kent County Council (KCC) UK is responsible for providing public services in education, transport, strategic planning, emergency services, social services, public safety and waste disposal to 1.4M residents across 12 district councils and 300 town and parish councils. KCC wanted to rethink Citizen Services for a digital world that would improve health and social care, regenerate towns and cities, and grow its gross domestic product (GDP) by using technology as an enabler to help make people’s lives better.

This profile of the local government system in Cyprus is structured to enable easy comparison across the countries of the Commonwealth. The profile includes an overview of the government system, the legal basis for and structure of local government, elections and women’s representation, intergovernmental relations, systems for community involvement, organised local government, intergovernmental relations, monitoring systems, finance, staffing and resources, and distribution of service delivery responsibility. 

This paper examines cases of low-level non-compliance in a municipal waste collection services and a state owned railway to identify some of the factors that could be contributing to reoccurring workplace corruption. The analysis suggests that a major factor in repeated workplace corruption is the failure to monitor and implement reforms recommended by investigations and existing organisational integrity systems.