Commonwealth Local Government Forum

Women in local government

Gender equity is a priority for CLGF members and the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth is working towards gender equity and has set a target of a minimum of 30 per cent of women in public life – both in elected leadership positions and administration – including at the local level. A key focus is developing strategies to increase women's participation in decision making.

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Monitoring women’s representation in local government SDG indicator 5.5.1b

Presentation for workshop on women representation in local government. Section 1. Why women’s representation in local government matters Section 2. Background of SDG indicator 5.5.1b Section 3. What is local government and how is it organized Section 4. Sources of data for SDG indicator 5.5.1b Section 5. Reporting data for SDG indicator 5.5.1b

Author: Ionica Berevoescu Publisher: UN Women Publication year: 2019


Indicator 5.5.1(b): Proportion of seats held by women in local governments

Author: UN Stats Publisher: UN Stats Publication year: 2019


Reflections on the Local Government (Community Well-Being) Amendment Bill

Measuring Local Well-being: reflections on the Local Government (Community Well-Being) Amendment Bill. The Local Government (Community Well-being) Amendment Bill is designed to provide local authorities with greater legal freedom to make investments that will raise the well-being of their local community. The legislation is predicated on the assumption that people’s well-being is influenced by their local context. In order to identify the influence of changes in context generated by local investments, it is necessary to recognise that individuals differ in many ways and that the impact of any given investment can vary substantially from one person to the next. Indicators based on collections of individuals miss much of that variation. It is also necessary to recognise the variety of ways well-being can be measured. This short article raises both these issues by exploring three measures of well-being currently available on the 2018 Quality of Life survey.

Author: Philip S. Morrison Publisher: Policy Quarterly Publication year: 2019


Gender and Political Recruitment in Malawian Local Councils

Why are women underrepresented in elected office? We propose a pilot study that will allow us to design plausibly effective and contextually appropriate interventions aimed at increasing women’s descriptive representation in the 2019 Malawian local council elections. Through the collection of open-ended, qualitative candidate surveys and a conjoint survey experiment to detect and disaggregate voter gender bias, we will ascertain whether and where female candidates face particular barriers in the political recruitment process. The results of this pilot will allow us to design future randomized intervention(s) targeted toward potential and / or existing female candidates to increase candidate entry and electoral success in the 2019 local elections. Here we present four documents pertaining to this project: (1) a general description of the project goals, (2) a pre-analysis plan for the conjoint analysis component of the research, (3) a survey designed for local candidates, and (4) a preliminary survey for citizens containing the conjoint analysis.

Author: Amanda Clayton Martha Johnson Ragnhild Muriaas Amanda Robinson Publisher: Evidence in Governance and Politics Publication year: 2017


Decentralisation as a post-conflict state-building strategy in Northern Ireland, Sri Lanka, Sierra Leone and Rwanda

This paper explores decentralisation’s contribution to post-conflict state building in four Commonwealth countries: UK (Northern Ireland), Sri Lanka, Sierra Leone and Rwanda. Drawing on insights from senior local government officials, it explores post-conflict institutional arrangements and finds that decentralisation policy has made a significant, if varied, contribution to community cohesion, reconciliation and state legitimacy in each country. In Northern Ireland and to a lesser extent Sri Lanka, quasi-federal structures have enabled peace negotiations through greater autonomy and state legitimacy in the eyes of former separatists. This has however limited further devolution to sub-provincial local councils. In Sierra Leone and Rwanda, decentralisation has had a more developmental rationale. Greater equity in basic local service provision and more inclusive local governance has supported community cohesion and reconciliation in all four countries, though there are capacity gaps and coordination issues with central government agencies. There is evidence decentralisation has contributed to peace in all four countries although in Rwanda the restriction on pluralism has limited local government flexibility to address community needs. The case studies offer key lessons and signpost continuing challenges, which may help other governments to consider what features of decentralisation may work best for their post-conflict political settlement and the sociocultural dynamics of the communities they serve.

Author: Gareth Wall Publisher: Third World Quarterly Publication year: 2016


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