© 2010 Local Government Alliance for International Development
| Why councils? |
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Local government is at the heart of much of what is essential for the delivery of the MDG commitments. In many countries, it is local councils that manage water supplies, collect and dispose of waste, plan and run local primary health clinics, provide environmental protection and agricultural outreach services, and encourage and support local enterprise. By playing a part in international development, UK councils are also contributing to the strengthening of local government internationally. The UK Government, like all other Commonwealth Governments, has formally committed to the Commonwealth Principles on Good Practice for Local Democracy and Good Governance (the Aberdeen Agenda) as core principles to promote local democracy and good governance. |
>>Find out how
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UK councils are empowered by the Local Government Act 2000 (see Powers & funding factsheet) to play an international role, and a number are already active in the field. As exemplars of good practice in public sector management & service delivery, UK councils are widely respected overseas. In particular, councils can contribute to international development in two core areas – delivering good governance and ensuring sustainable service delivery - through:
As a council, your expertise and experience could be valuable to counterparts in developing countries, find out more about how skills in UK local government are relevant to international development. |
>>Case studies
Initiated as one-off ICT donation by Norwich City Council, the Norwich-Dedza Partnership became a broad based economic / education development link with the Dedza District Assembly in Malawi, financed entirely through in-kind resources and local fundraising. The link made specific inroads into tackling the MDGs – providing tourism and agricultural assistance to improve local income generation. As part of this, Norwich City College set up a promotional tourism website for Dedza, and produced tourism guides and training for local businesses. Within the tourism plan, they exploited the existence of forest reserves to protect environmental resources and reduce biodiversity loss. On the education side, the link provided resources to assist local schools improve capacity and enrolment rates, established a bursary fund for secondary school fees and supported a technical college.
As part of Glasgow City Council’s Commonwealth & International Development programme, Glasgow has undertaken a range of projects with Malawi since 2004. These projects have contributed to many of the MDGs and include: contributing financially towards the cost of the David Livingstone Maternity Clinic in Lilongwe; building a HIV/AIDS clinic and pharmacy and extending office facilities at Chikwawa District Hospital; building a prosthetics and orthotics clinic at Kamuzu Central Hospital, Lilongwe, in partnership with the charity 500 Miles; installing IT equipment in Teacher Development Centres; creating an IT library and training room at Kamuzu Central Hospital; installing IT equipment in schools and government offices and delivering IT training to teachers, medical staff and local government officials; supporting orphan feeding programmes in Blantyre.
Glasgow has sought to ensure that all projects are developed and delivered in partnership with the relevant Government Ministries in Malawi. In September 2010, Glasgow will send a building and IT team to Malawi once again to undertake the following: build a newly extended prosthetics and orthotics clinic at Kamuzu Central Hospital, in partnership with the charity 500 Miles. (The existing Clinic will be converted to a dedicated hospital ward for the Clinic patients); improve IT infrastructure at Daeyang Luke Mission Hospital in Lilongwe; installing IT equipment in schools and government offices in Lilongwe and Dedza; delivering IT training to teachers, medical staff and local government officials.
>>Tips
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+ Get talking. Discuss with your council colleagues the benefits of having a proactive international development strategy, both as a way of contributing to and gaining from the experience of communities in the developing world. + Be open-minded about two-way benefits. Take a close look at some of the issues that you are grappling with and consider the extent to which your work might be aided by developing world links. + Don’t underestimate what you have to give. Much of the insight and experience you have gained is likely to be relevant to the challenges faced by your developing world counterparts. + Remember that your community is not an island. The international development budget is one of the few areas of national government expenditure to be ring-fenced, reflecting this country’s interdependency with the developing world. Local communities, schools and businesses are similarly interdependent. + Talk to others in the local government community. Take time to look at what other councils are doing (register and link to Local Government and International Development online community here). |
>>Resources
Interaction factsheet
Powers & funding - International Development & Councils
Local Government & the MDGs - Interaction factsheet
UK Local Govt Skills in International Development
Useful links
Prospectus for Local Government Engagement - outlines the skills base of the UK local government sector and how this can contribute to the UK's international development priorities. Published by the LG Alliance, March 2010
Aid effectiveness and Local Government – UCLG 2009 - report produced by United Cities and Local Governments (world association for local government), ourlines how local government contirbutes to aid effectiveness
MDG Localisation – UNDP resource
Local Authorities & the MDGs - UN publication, outlines how local authorities in the north and the south can contribute to the MDGs
Aberdeen Agenda March 2005 - Commonwealth Governments have formally committed to these Commonwealth Principles on Good Practice for Local Democracy and Good Governance (the ‘Aberdeen Principles’) as core principles to promote local democracy and good governance.
Local Authorities: Actors for development - European Commission Communication