Local Government and Development
Partnerships involving public and private actors are becoming key institutional pathways for enabling international development and the delivery of public goods. Companies, government, civil society and donors, are piloting ways to further community development without circumventing local government and traditional leaders. This involves capacity building for local government in areas such as: revenue management, participatory planning and monitoring, transparency and communications. Providing evidence not only of the viability of partnerships but also that partnership approaches can provide substantially better outcomes for all parties than can more traditional approaches to development or corporate social responsibility.
FEATURED RESOURCES
September 2000
This study was therefore commissioned to examine the interaction between social funds and decentralization in seven countries at different stages of decentralization: Bolivia and Honduras (advanced decentralization), and Peru and Zimbabwe (some decentralization) and Cambodia, Malawi and Zambia (little or no decentralization). It explores the relationships between social funds, decentralization and local governance. Specifically, it seeks: (i) to identify a range of issues for improving local development that are relevant for social funds and decentralization; (ii) to discuss and analyze research findings based on field work in the seven country cases; and (iii) to present conclusions that inform the debate on social funds and decentralization, and provide some guidance to policymakers and program managers on important issues and different policy options.
2006
The Partnership Governance and Accountability Framework has been developed and tested over two years across diverse partnerships and experts, and offers a sound foundation for advancing a more systematized approach to the effective governance and accountability of multi-stakeholder, or public-private partnerships in the future.
June 2012
The extraction and processing of minerals and metals to provide goods and services essential to human society is as old as human development itself. Minerals and metals have brought huge benefits to society – they are vital commodities that serve as a foundation to society’s material quality of life. In today’s world, population growth, urbanization, social and economic development and even demands for a green (or low carbon) economy are all contributing to an increase in the demand for minerals and metals. However meeting that demand and achieving the benefits comes at a cost.
March 2004
This Toolkit argues that the quality of urban governance can mean the difference between cities characterized by prosperity and inclusiveness and cities characterized by decline and social exclusion. It describes how increased transparency at the local level can help in combating urban poverty and enhancing civic engagement. Promoting transparency, through the application of a range of public education, public participation, e-governance, ethics and institutional reform instruments, can (1) reduce citizen apathy; (2) make service delivery contribute to poverty reduction; (3) increase city revenues; and, (4)raise ethical standards.
6 March 2006
The mining industry faces significant challenges in being able to access resources in developing countries and this will only be possible when there is sufficient political and community support. It is not surprising that this is often missing because political support has its origins in demonstrable socio-economic development and too often this does not occur – ICMM’s research showed poor outcomes in slightly less than 33 of the mineral dependent countries examined.
2004 August
As part of its commitment to build the capacity of Albanian local government to engage in sustainable and participatory development, the Albanian Development Fund (ADF) has commissioned the Urban Institute and its local partners, in collaboration with ADF staff, to devise a comprehensive structure and methodology for Local Development Planning (LDP) and Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation (PME). The key precepts of the LDP and PME framework are that it is participatory in design and implementation, and meaningful, that is, feasible, to all beneficiaries concerned.
2004
Providing evidence not only of the viability of partnerships but also that partnership approaches can provide substantially better outcomes for all parties than can more traditional approaches to development or corporate social responsibility.