CLGF is delighted to announce the publication of Issue 25 of the Commonwealth Journal of Local Governance.

Download in full by cutting, pasting and clicking on this link https://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/.../ind.../cjlg/issue/view/500

The Commonwealth Journal of Local Governance is an international peer reviewed journal that aims to strengthen the research voice of local government in the Commonwealth by providing a forum for researchers and practitioners interested in local government ideas and practices.

With so many monumental issues facing local government across the Commonwealth, CLGF believes unequivocally in the importance of using fact-based research, derived from local government and communities to produce solutions.

Advancing effective local democracy

We are very grateful to the eminent Graham Sansom, Associate Editor and Adjunct Professor at the Institute for Public Policy and Governance University of Technology, Sydney, Australia, for the editorial. He explains that the articles in this issue explore various ways in which local governments can – or should – advance effective local democracy, and the challenges involved; and they explore five key elements.

1. Electoral systems
2. Accountability to communities
3. The distribution and adequacy of resources
4. The quality of management
5. Relationships with traditional governance and the rights of Indigenous peoples.

Range of artcies

This edition includes:

• A challenging assessment of the outcomes of mandating reserved seats for women in Indian local governments (panchayats);
• local government’s accountability downwards to its communities and upwards to central government, explored through a case study of the delivery of agricultural extension services in Tanzania;
• accountability through the lens of applying participatory monitoring and evaluation (PM&E) to local government projects in Ghana;
• the resourcing of public health programmes across rural areas of the Indian state of Karnataka;
• lack of resources in relation to the potential of volunteering to strengthen local delivery of essential community services in Ghana;
• the quality of management and the growing protests about inadequate provision of basic municipal services (housing, water and sanitation, land, electricity and infrastructure) to South African communities: and
• many more articles.

Whether you are an academic yourself, involved in research, or have an interest in the development of local government and the varying forms across the Commonwealth, this thought-provoking journal is a must-read for anyone.