UNDP | Europe & CIS | Local governance

Local governance

Decentralization is a means of improving the quality and accessibility of public services, and promoting local development. It assumes that local governments are best placed to serve their populations. An increase in local decision-making responsibilities requires a new approach to the management of public affairs: one of dialogue and partnership with the beneficiaries and actors of local development, namely citizens, civil society, and businesses, to ensure that their needs and priorities are addressed, including those of the poorest and the most vulnerable. Due to the centralist heritage of the past, the local authorities of almost all countries in the ECIS region have limited capacity and experience for effective democratic policy making.

Improving the quality of public services and promoting local development requires effective local institutions that can formulate and implement policies, as well as manage public services in line with citizens’ aspirations. In most of the countries of the region, local authorities are characterized by a weak institutional capacity to deliver public services and promote local development.

The Decentralization and Local Governance Sub-practice provides a range of support to local governments across the region to help them perform their tasks in an effective and participatory way. It also aim to establish partnerships among local governments and with the private sector to deliver high-quality public services and integrate local development anchored in the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs).

Specifically, the Decentralization and Local Governance Sub-practice provides services in the areas of:

Capacity development for local governments and stakeholders in the areas of participatory planning, budgeting, monitoring and evaluation;
Capacity development in statistical literacy (gathering, analyzing and reporting statistics) to ensure that prioritization and decision making can be based on reliable, accessible, and recent information;
Capacity development to help leaders engage and inspire people through processes that generate shared ownership of goals and responses, and, when in contexts that constrain participation, identify leaders who can act to change processes, roles, attitudes and norms;
Capacity development for inter-municipal cooperation to address the impact of small municipal size on the capacity to provide quality and cost-effective public services and promote local development;
Capacity development for public-private partnerships as a means to benefit from the financial resources and capacities of the private sector for improved public service delivery; and
Capacity development for municipal performance management to measure and monitor the quality of public service delivery, and take corrective actions when needed.

Focus Areas Human rights and justice Local governance and decentralization Public administration reform and anti-corruption Banners Search go advanced search Contacts Ms. Dafina Gercheva, Capacity Development Advisor	Local governance Decentralization is a means of improving the quality and accessibility of public services, and promoting local development. It assumes that local governments are best placed to serve their populations. An increase in local decision-making responsibilities requires a new approach to the management of public affairs: one of dialogue and partnership with the beneficiaries and actors of local development, namely citizens, civil society, and businesses, to ensure that their needs and priorities are addressed, including those of the poorest and the most vulnerable. Due to the centralist heritage of the past, the local authorities of almost all countries in the ECIS region have limited capacity and experience for effective democratic policy making. Improving the quality of public services and promoting local development requires effective local institutions that can formulate and implement policies, as well as manage public services in line with citizens’ aspirations. In most of the countries of the region, local authorities are characterized by a weak institutional capacity to deliver public services and promote local development. The Decentralization and Local Governance Sub-practice provides a range of support to local governments across the region to help them perform their tasks in an effective and participatory way. It also aim to establish partnerships among local governments and with the private sector to deliver high-quality public services and integrate local development anchored in the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs). Specifically, the Decentralization and Local Governance Sub-practice provides services in the areas of: Capacity development for local governments and stakeholders in the areas of participatory planning, budgeting, monitoring and evaluation; Capacity development in statistical literacy (gathering, analyzing and reporting statistics) to ensure that prioritization and decision making can be based on reliable, accessible, and recent information; Capacity development to help leaders engage and inspire people through processes that generate shared ownership of goals and responses, and, when in contexts that constrain participation, identify leaders who can act to change processes, roles, attitudes and norms; Capacity development for inter-municipal cooperation to address the impact of small municipal size on the capacity to provide quality and cost-effective public services and promote local development; Capacity development for public-private partnerships as a means to benefit from the financial resources and capacities of the private sector for improved public service delivery; and Capacity development for municipal performance management to measure and monitor the quality of public service delivery, and take corrective actions when needed.	What we do Local Governance Decentralization Events Introduction to Capacity Development and Capacity Assessments - A training course for the Western Balkans Service Delivery project Localizing the MDGs: The role for local leaders and using disaggregated data for local development Regional Training: Capacity Development for Sustainable Growth and Human Development Local Governance and Decentralization Training Local Government Associations Training of Trainers [ more events ] Publications Progress Report on the National Strategy "On Improving the Living Conditions of the Roma Community", Albania Youth in Turkey: national human development report 2008 National Millennium Development Goals: A Framework for Action Approach to Quality Assurance in Local Governance Training Central Asia Human Development Report: Bringing Down Barriers [ more publications ] Links & Resources Toolkit on Pro-poor Municipal PPP Joining forces and resources for Sustainable Development - Cooperation among Municipalities. A Guide for Practitioners A Practitioner's Guide to Area-based Development Toolkit for Partnership Based Preparation and Implementation of Local/Regional Development Strategy. Training Program: Towards a Modern Local Government Association [ more resources ]
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