Building capacity for local government to perform

Main Article Content

Ron McGill

Abstract

This paper looks at the practitioner’s challenge of building capacity for local government to perform. It does so by ways of responding to some of the policy recommendations put forward at the Commonwealth Local Government Conference (CLGC) held in the Bahamas in May 2009.

It is suggested that capacity building in local government, particularly in the least developed countries (LDCs), is riddled with rhetoric. There is no common reference point for the concept. The following text is therefore drawn from practice: that of a local government practitioner – the author – with experience in diverse countries (Scotland, England, Malawi and Tanzania), and of an organization wedded to the fundamental importance of local government to local development, and with sound understanding of capacity building interventions – the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF).

Article Details

How to Cite
McGill, R. (2010). Building capacity for local government to perform. Commonwealth Journal of Local Governance, (6), 90-106. https://doi.org/10.5130/cjlg.v0i6.1624
Section
Policy and Practice
Author Biography

Ron McGill, Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, Addis Ababa

Ron McGill was formally a senior technical adviser with the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) in New York from 2001 to 2009. He is now the program budget adviser to Ethiopia’s finance ministry. He has written extensively local level capacity building.