CLGF held its annual Board Meeting in Colombo Sri Lanka, alongside its regional Women in Local Government Meeting, co-hosted with the Federation of Sri Lankan Local Government Authorities.  

The Board Meeting brought together members of the Board from across the Commonwealth to guide the organisation’s strategic direction and to build on the positive recommendations of the recent Commonwealth Local Government Conference, held in Kigali, Rwanda, in November 2023. In line with the principles of good governance, the Board looked in depth at:

• progress and achievements since the last meeting;
• membership and membership fee collection;
• the health of the organisation’s finances and
• the new strategic plan which will guide CLGF’s work going forward.

Changes and challenges

They welcomed the way in which the Secretariat had contextualised the significant changes to the sector in which CLGF is operating, and the pressures on international organisations like CLGF in terms of engagement but also resourcing. The new strategic plan aims to build on CLGF’s unique membership and identifies strategic areas where local government must play a key role in delivery: including localising the SDGs, addressing the climate emergency and local economic development - with capacity building, local development financing and strengthening the enabling policy environment central to this work.

Underlining local government’s role

The Board also appreciated the advocacy work that CLGF is working on to underline local government’s role as an actor in development, and the role of the networks (Commonwealth Sustainable Cities Network – CSCN, and Commonwealth Women in Local Government Network - ComWLG); they also encouraged CLGF to increase its work on supporting youth engagement in local government, including through the Commonwealth Youth for Sustainable Urbanisation - CYSU.

Finance taskforce

On a more operational level, Head of Programmes Claire Frost shared an update on CLGF’s programme and projects portfolio and pipeline, highlighting the importance of CLGF’s regional teams to the success of this work. The Board also confirmed the ToR for CLGF’s new Finance Taskforce to guide the organisation’s increased focus on supporting members on local financing and to ensure that CLGF’s advocacy in the run up to next year’s Financing for Development Conference draws on the practical experiences of members.

Board portfolios

Finally, Board Members agreed to introduce a system of Board portfolio holders, initially advising and supporting the secretariat on:

• local government and climate change;
• revenue mobilisation: and
• research and learning.

We hope that this will further strengthen the Board’s decision-making and also the work that the Secretarial is able to deliver with its members and partners.

Endorsement by Sri Lankan Prime Minister

The Board was honoured that the Hon Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, and Minister of Provincial and Local Government, Hon Dinesh Gunawardena made the time to address the opening of the Women in Local Government Meeting, also attended by the Board. It was positive to hear about the way in which the 25% gender quota implemented in 2018 had significantly increased the number of women in local leadership in Sri Lanka, but also the Government’s commitment to building on this in the next elections, which are due to take place later this year. The Women in Local Government Meeting brought together women leaders, prospective councillors and other practitioners from Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, Maldives, Pakistan, St Lucia and Nepal. The first day was an opportunity for members of the CLGF Board from India, St Lucia, Rwanda and South Africa to exchange in a lively debate on strategies to increase the number of women in local leadership and to ensure that they have the capacity to have an impact on decision making once elected. A full summary of the meeting will be shared separately.

Host the prestigious local government conference 2025

The final issue on the agenda of Board Members was the bidding process for the next Commonwealth Local Government Conference. The deadline of 31 July is approaching fast, and Members were reminded to publicise this opportunity widely through their networks. One of the strengths of CLGF is the opportunity to bring together members to exchange good practice, learn from each other and to collectively develop policy priorities for action in the Commonwealth, and the Conference is a critical platform for this aspect of the organisations work.