Empower Local Governments as Development Actors: Subsidiarity and Decentralisation Reforms to Foster National – Local Partnerships

The New Urban Agenda (NUA) puts an emphasis on the importance of national frameworks. Decentralisation reforms in all their dimensions are necessary to enable cities and local governments to play their role as development actors as acknowledged in Art. 89 (NUA). The side event will highlight the role of decentralisation reforms for a renewed local - national partnership. Based on the principle of subsidiarity, decentralised political and administrative systems constitute a necessary precondition to sustain the developmental role of local governments necessary to achieve the transformative commitments. Decentralisation reforms are highly political processes that need to be aligned to the overall public sector reform process, especially regarding national urban policies. It is a multidimensional, and multi-actor-process. The reforms are multidimensional embracing political, administrative and fiscal decentralisation. These three dimensions are mutually interdependent and all need to be addressed in order to make the reform successful. To be effective, reforms require strong partnerships for coordination and cooperation, including vertical accountability between national and subnational levels as well as multi actor partnerships at the local or city level, involving citizens, the organised civil society and the private sector, completed by horizontal networking of subnational levels. DeLoG, the Development Partners Network on Decentralisation and Local Governance, has been created in 2006 and comprises 29 bi- and multilateral development partners. It aims at improving development effectiveness in the field of decentralisation and local governance (DLG) through the promotion of more harmonised and aligned interventions. DeLoG acts as a platform for the exchange of experiences and knowledge amongst development practitioners, thereby creating synergy effects for harmonised and coordinated DLG activities. The network’s main activities are to share and disseminate knowledge; conduct studies on issues of crucial importance for the improvement of development effectiveness in the area of DLG; generate evidence-based advocacy for DLG in the international development debate; contribute to the design of joint development partner support strategies and conduct and facilitate joint learning events for more effective support to DLG. Please visit the website www.delog.org for more information.