A small delegation from CLGF, made up of Board Chair Lawrence Yule, Regional Director Karibaiti Taoaba and Governance Manager Feue Tipu travelled to Samoa for the Third UN Conference on Small Island Developing States (SIDS) meeting. Read More

The Botswana Minister of Local Government, Hon Peter Siele has announced the start of the process to develop a decentralisation policy at the Botswana Association of Local Authorities (BALA) National Members Assembly which took place in Maun on 13 May. Read More

Local governments are engines of growth and have a leading role in local economic development, according to a CLGF regional symposium in Colombo this week. Delegates at the symposium described how local government is responsible for many of the key services - such as infrastructure, licensing, market development and basic services - necessary for effective local economic development (LED). Read More

Local government association representatives from Pakistans four provinces met in London from 5-9 May to learn about aspects of leadership, public affairs, and supporting members from their peers at the Local Government Association of England and Wales. CLGF has been following developments in Pakistan since responsibility for local government transferred to the four provinces and has been encouraging the states to hold local elections to ensure that local representatives are democratically elected. Read More

Three Swaziland local authorities will benefit from the 184,000 CLGF project focusing on local economic development (LED). CLGF has signed the local government pilot project agreement focussing on LED with local authorities in Swaziland on 28 March at Manzini City Council. The three local authorities to benefit from the project include Mbabane City Council, Matsapha municipality and Manzini City Council. Read More

Local democracy should focus on broader issues of local governance, including democratic local elections, participation, transparency and a bottom-up approach, according to CLGF Secretary-General Carl Wright. Giving evidence to the Scottish Commission for Local Democracy, Mr Wright said that although models of local democracy were not always replicable, the broad principles of local governance can be applied everywhere. Read More