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The twin island state Trinidad and Tobago has multiple levels of government in which local government plays an important role. First of all Tobago is governed through its own House of Assembly and is allocated with further powers through representation in the federal Parliament and via the Minister for Tobago affairs. Trinidad is divided into 14 cooperative municipalities divided into cities (2), boroughs (3) and regions (9) with a local council elected every three years most recently in 2010. Elections for the Tobago House of Assembly were held in 2010 parallel to national elections for a term of 4 years. Elected council members in turn elect a group of aldermen who manage the day to day affairs of the cooperative municipalities.
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Several legislative texts drafted in the 1990s provide for the current institutional divisions and allocation of responsibilities in Trinidad & Tobago. The Municipal Corporations Act of 1990 and the Tobago Assembly Act of 1996 allocated municipalities with several tasks such as finance, planning, public health, infrastructure and the allocation of resources. According to the Acts localities are obliged to set up local committees to execute these functions. In 2004 a White Paper on Local Government Reform was drafted in which the need for further legal and organizational clarification was proposed in order for localities to perform more efficiently.
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The legislative and other changes were proposed in a Local Government Reform Programme developed in the light of a nationwide development plan; Vision 2020. The reform programme’s aims are: ‘promoting meaningful decentralization of significant aspects of the local governance system to improve efficiency, while building sustainable communities within a participative local democratic framework’. A new Green Paper in 2008 reiterated the proposals of the 2004 White Paper with specific focus on economic development at the national and local levels. The Ministry also offers workshops and seminars such as municipal training on disaster management and also advises on infrastructural planning.
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