In a positive start to the year, it was a pleasure for our Secretary-General and Regional Programme Manager to travel to Delhi to meet with our members and partners to discuss our work and potential new collaborations.

Supporting local government nationally

CLGF met with its newest member – The All-India Institute of Local Self Government (AIILSG) – to learn more about the work they are doing across the country to support and build the capacity of local government. One of the issues on our agenda was how we can work together to progress CLGF and the Commonwealth Sustainable Cities Initiative’s (CSCI) work on sustainable urbanisation and implementing the Commonwealth Declaration on Sustainable Urbanisation.

Rolling out charter for gender equality

Meetings were also held with both of CLGF’s central government member organisations: The Ministry of Panchayati Raj and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development. Discussions focused on rolling out CLGF’s Women as Local Legislators’ (WALL) module to other States; and sharing and rolling out the Local and Regional Governments’ Charter for Gender Equality in South Asia, which was developed and adopted by CLGF members at the last Commonwealth Women in Local Government South Asia Regional Meeting, held in partnership with the Federation of Sri Lankan Local Government Authorities (FSLGA), in Colombo, from 25 to 27 June 2024. It was also a valuable opportunity to brief members on the Commonwealth Declaration on Sustainable Urbanisation and discuss the next Commonwealth Local Government Conference.

Sustainable development in India

The Charter was also at the heart of discussions with the National Women’s Commission and the Resource and Support Centre for Development (RSCD). RSCD will be piloting ways in which rural local governments and local leaders can use the Charter to support their work and their efforts to mainstream gender. We are also planning to work together to support more women leaders using the WALL module. 

It was a pleasure to also engage with Sameer Unhale, Joint Commissioner, Municipal Administration, Maharashtra to discuss their engagement in the Commonwealth Sustainable Cities Network; and to brief CLGF Board Member, Dr Bhaskar Chakrabarti, Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, India.

Strengthening partnership working

As we start CLGF’s 30^th year, it is an excellent opportunity to shine the spotlight on CLGF’s members, the critical work that they do nationally, and how, by bringing members together to exchange and learn from each other, we can go forward stronger together to meet new and persistent challenges.