APPENDIX 5
Memorandum from the Commonwealth Local
Government Forum
The Commonwealth Local Government Forum (CLGF)
was established in 1995 and brings together over 150 local government
bodies, ministries and other stakeholders in around 35 Commonwealth
countries. Its establishment was welcomed by Commonwealth Heads
of Government at their meeting in Auckland in 1995 and its activities
were endorsed by Heads of Government at their meeting in Edinburgh
in 1997 (Annex A).
The aims of the CLGF are:
— Encouraging local democracy.
— Exchange of experience and good practice
policy.
— Strengthening local government capacity.
In this connection, the CLGF has, since its
establishment, worked in collaboration with a range of aid agencies
including ODA/DFID and the EU. CLGF programmes supported by EU
development funds since 1995 include:
— Training of Local Government Staff
in Tanzania (Local Councillors) (B7-522/TA/EX/73/95).
— Malawi Decentralised Co-operation
Project (B95 7-5077/18/Local Government International Bureau).
— Local Community (Overseas Linkages
and Partnerships) Development Education Project (ONG/ED/1996/17/UK/War
on Want).
— Building Local Democracy and Participatory
Municipal Administration (Caribbean) (CDC/1997/14).
— Good Governance at Local Level: Participatory
Municipal Administration Capacity Building Programme (Southern
Africa) (CDC 1997/13).
These projects have drawn on EU budget lines
for Democracy and Human Rights, Decentralised Co-operation and
Development Education operated by DG VIII in consultation with
EU Delegations in Lomé countries. Support under these programmes
has been extremely valuable, notably in developing new initiatives
and innovative approaches, e.g., the Malawi project, which supported
local government technical partnerships between five Malawi and
five UK local authorities, was instrumental in piloting the new
Commonwealth Local Government Good Practice Scheme (approved by
Commonwealth Heads of Government in 1997 and started operations
with DFID support in 1998).
The CLGF accordingly hopes that the EU Development
budget will provide for adequate resources to continue funding
support for Democracy and Human Rights, Decentralised Co-operation
and Development Education. It notes that many developmental NGOs
and development education associations derive significant benefit
from these budget lines and attract co-funding from their own
and other sources in enhancement of individual projects. If the
EU commitment to working with decentralised partners, NGOs and
civic society is to be continued, there is moreover a strong case
for increasing the funding available to these and similar budget
lines.
While emphasising the importance of the above
budget lines, the CLGF recognises that by far the largest proportion
of the EU development budget is allocated through regional and
national indicative programmes. Article 251 a-e of the Lomé
IV Convention provides for financial resources for decentralised
co-operation operations. The Joint Declaration on the consultation
and information of agents of development (Annex LXXX) is also
relevant in this context. Article 251a defines agents of decentralised
co-operation as "decentralised public authorities, rural
and village groups, co-operatives, trade unions, teaching and
research institutions, non-governmental development organisations,
other associations, groups and agents which are able and wish
to contribute to the development of the ACP States on their own
initiative, provided that the agents and/or the operations are
non-profit making (Annex B)."
These provisions mark an important innovation
under Lomé IV and reflect the growing recognition by aid
agencies of working with agents of decentralised co-operation.
In the case of local government, there has been a world-wide trend
towards greater local democracy and decentralisation of public
services to local government level. Such decentralisation has
been particularly pronounced in a number of key countries such
as Ghana and Uganda where it has also entailed fiscal decentralisation.
CLGF symposia and roundtables held in Africa,
Asia, and Caribbean and the Pacific regions between 1995-97 and
attended by Ministers and senior local government decision-makers
have documented these trends, which were reported to the 1997
Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. In this context Heads
of Government formally recognised "that effective, elected
local government is an important foundation for democracy and
expressed encouragement and support for local government's role
in ensuring sustainable development, including the promotion of
trade and investment".
Local government in ACP States is therefore
well placed to act as a partner to the EU in its developmental
activities and this needs to be adequately reflected in the EU's
decision-making procedures. It may also be noted that increasingly
local government collaborates with the private sector and developmental
NGOs in the provision of goods and services to the community,
either by contracting out its service functions or entering into
private/public sector partnerships. There is therefore a strong
case for local government, both at national level (through national
associations of local government) and at local community level,
playing a key role in assisting the process of decentralised co-operation.
International organisations like the CLGF, which bring together
partners from both developed and developing countries, and can
draw on considerable technical expertise and know-how, are moreover
well placed to facilitate this process.
Some progress has been made in implementing
the intentions under Article 251, for example through the new
regional programme being established in the Caribbean by CARIFORUM
(budget ECU 7.2 million). Overall, particularly at the level of
national indicative programmes, the extent of involvement of agents
of decentralised co-operation, including decentralised public
authorities appears to be still quite limited. This is accordingly
an issue which the EU should actively address, with a view ensuring
that the allocation of EU development funds is undertaken making
full use of the agents defined under Article 251.
| 
