| Programme contracted by the ACP Secretariat |
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Programme funded by the European Union |
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Emerging Local Government Associations are Drafting Strategic Plans24/04/2012 |
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New Local Government Associations start with great ambition, many ideas and expectations. These can only be successful when strategically thought through, discussed, planned and adequately budgeted for. The five selected Local Government Associations (LGA) that work with financial and technical support of the Emerging Local Government Association Facility (ELGAF) started working on strategic plans, and work or action plans. Local Government Associations mainly represent local governments and lobby for their interests towards national governments and international organisations. New Local Government Associations start with great ambition, many ideas and expectations. These can only be successful when strategically thought through, discussed, planned and adequately budgeted for. The five selected Local Government Associations (LGA) that work with financial and technical support of the Emerging Local Government Association Facility (ELGAF) started working on strategic plans, and work or action plans. Local Government Associations mainly represent local governments and lobby for their interests towards national governments and international organisations. Also LGAs provide for many services to local governments, like training, model regulations, manuals, financial support etc. Furthermore LGAs bring together local governments in platforms and commissions to exchange ideas and learn from each other. These three tasks are further elaborated and tailored to the local situation in work plans of the LGA. Â The Kiribati Local Government Association (KiLGA), for example, had its strategic plan 2012-2014 approved during the General Assembly in March 2012, in which the organisation foresees to provide training for newly elected Mayors and Councillors afterelections, advisory support in the development of Local Development Plans, and to organise regular meetings between KiLGA and the ministry of Social and Internal Affairs to defend the interests of the local governments.
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 Although the ARIAL programme’s main aim is to support and strengthen Local Government Associations (LGAs) in ACP countries, not in every ACP country is a LGA available. Therefore a section of the ARIAL programme focuses on the establishment of new or capacity building of emerging LGAs. This is ELGAF: Emerging Local Government Association Facility. Within ELGAF the LGAs receive support in their start-up period. The support consists out of financial support for LGA staff members, the supply of office equipment and the organization of an event where local government members can meet. ELGAF also provides technical support that consists of advise of international and national experts with expertise on local government policy and politics and local government association performance. The ARIAL programme further invites the new LGA staff members to international trainings where they meet their colleagues from abroad and where they can exchange experiences.  After the application deadline of June 1st 2011 nine applications were received. Of these applications five groups of local government representatives were accepted into the programme, namely from the countries of Kiribati, Vanuatu, Swaziland, Chad and Gabon. On the short term these associations will receive an expert who will support in the writing of a work plan, statutes and internal regulations where they do not exist. Also there will be a special focus on sustainable budgeting. This phase is aimed at establishing the organizational core of the associations.  On the medium term, the associations will receive trainings on the functions and workings of LGAs. A key focus here are the needs of their members, which is of the utmost importance as they own the association. These trainings will be organized by the Regional Local Government Associations (RLGAs) and the ARIAL consortium partners in the region. After these trainings the LGAs should be able to represent the basic interests of their members and play a key role in local government development.  By the end of the program in July 2013, a development should be set in motion which leads to a LGA which is capable of fulfilling the basic LGA tasks (lobby and advocacy, basic service delivery and being a platform for knowledge exchange and learning) and the specific needs of its members. This provides the local governments in Kiribati, Vanuatu, Swaziland, Chad and Gabon a golden opportunity to strengthen their collective position both on a domestic and on an international level. Â
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Emerging Associations Facility
20/04/2013ELGAF update |
Support to Regional Associations
17/04/2013Regional Umbrella Associations plan for life after ARIAL |
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