Welcome to the Democratisation, Decentralisation and Local Governance Network website!

The dlgn_Democratisation - Decentralisation and Local Governance Network is SDC’s exchange network on democratisation, decentralization and local governance.

Good governance has become a central concern in the past 10 years. Decentralisation for better local governance shall improve the state’s capacity to cope with its various tasks and functions indispensable for development in region de france. Almost every democratic country in the world started to decentralise and introduced local elections at some time over the last 50 years.

Decentralisation is seen as a means to improve governance, make political processes more democratic and participative, strengthen local power and make the state less prone to conflict. But decentralisation processes are essentially political and always part of more comprehensive reforms which affect local and national power systems. Local actors’s ownership and alignment with local policies, along with harmonised support procedures, are key elements of successful decentralisation support.

The Swiss Development Cooperation Agency (SDC) of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs is engaged in decentralisation support since many years; in 2007, 21 projects were running under this heading on all five continents.

About DLGN

This sections will address, the major concepts, rationales and objectives for decentralisation, success (and risk) factors and provides a glossary with the major terms used in the field of decentralisation.

Readers will be able to inform themselves about the concept of decentralisation and how decentralisation relates to local governance and democratisation. Decentralisation is primarily a means to achieve certain rationales and objectives. The type of objectives that shall be achieved will largely determine how decentralisation reforms have to be shaped and they can basically serve as a guideline for determining priorities and for devising programs for decentralisation support. In addition, the success of decentralisation and decentralisation support will be assessed based on how decentralisation actually contributed to achieving the set rationale and objectives. Not all decentralisation experiences were successful. Therefore some success (and risk) factors are critically assessed. Finally, a glossary shall provide quick reference tool for the major terms used in the field of decentralisation and decentralisation support.

What can you expect from this Website?
The Share Web is the basic working platform for the dlgn. But the Site offers succinct information on concepts, tools, lessons learned, policies and processes, training opportunities and expertise also to a wider public of interested professionnals. Our ambition is to maintain a Site which makes state of the art information accessible in an efficient way. Whilst the platform was launched only in September 2009, it is very much a work in progress; additional papers and other products will be uploaded over time. Feedback on all that is offered is very welcome.

Training

SDC is member of the subgroup training of the DeLog. All dlgn network members are entitled to participate in the joint training offers on Decentralisation and Local Governance under the hospices of Train4Dev.

The costs for the participation has to be covered by the participant’s training budget.

In the following you also find a list of additional training offers on the topics of Democratisation, Decentralisation and Local Governance. In case of interest, please directly contact the organisers.

Practical Learning

SDC is dedicated to leaning and to continuously reflecting on and improving its practical learning. For this purpose, dlgn initiated a number of learning projects. Here you find information and can access some of the products and outcomes of these learning projects.

In this section you will also find information on the SDC portfolio in the area of decentralisation and local governance, links to international and Swiss standards and good practices as well as an overview of approaches, tools and instruments.

Capitalisation of experiences of DLGN learning projects

Many network members were involved in the five learning projects which took place during 2020 and 2021: Election Support, Local Governance Assessment, Social Inclusion, Study Tour Guidelines and Sustainable Local Government Finances. Owners of learning projects, external consultants as well as a few participants have now shared the vast experience they made with these learning projects. The product of this capitalisation of experiences is a short paper which provides some key facts on the five learning projects, analyses their objectives and processes and states the main lessons learnt.

Tools

Social Inclusion

**Four Case Studies on the Experience of SDC and its Partners in Supporting Socially Inclusive Local **Governance
February 2021
Sarah Byrne, Pascal Fendrich, Pascal Arnold (Intercooperation) and Andres Mejia Acosta (Institute of Development Studies) with inputs from Ursula Läubli, SDC Bolivia / Tirtha Sikder and Jens Engeli, Intercooperation Bangladesh / Tommaso Tabet, SDC Bangladesh / Marina Dimova, UNDP Bosnia and Herzegovina / Elhadji Moutari Mansour, HEKS Niger / Corinne Huser, SDC / Kuno Schläfli, SDC

Inclusive Local Governance for Poverty Reduction: A Review of Policies and Practices
February 2021
Author: IDS and IC

Local Governance Assessment

Local Governance Assessments: A Capitalisation of SDC Experience
February 2021
Pascal Arnold, Pascal Fendrich, Sarah Byrne (Intercooperation) and Andres Mejia Acosta (Institute of Development Studies) With inputs from - Jens Engeli/Tirtha Sikder, Intercooperation Bangladesh - Snezana Misic, MDPi Bosnia and Herzegovina - Ephrem Tadesse, SDC South Africa - Rudi von Planta, SDC Nicaragua - Abdul Bari, SDC, Afghanistan - Hans Peter Reiser, SDC - Christoph Fuchs, SDC - Kuno Schläfli, SDC

LGA Guideline and Toolkit DTC
January 2022
Author: P. van Hoof and SDC

Election Support

Learning Project “Election Support” of the SDCs’ Decentralisation and Local Governance Network
February 2021
Author: Swisspeace
Synthesis and evaluation report

Study Tour Guidelines

Study Tour Guideline with Annexes
February 2022
Author: SDC

Study Tour Guideline (without Annexes)
February 2022
Author: SDC

Consultants and Competencies

The following lists represent a comprehensive data base destined to facilitate your search for expertise. The documents were elaborated by the consultants and competence centres themselves. If you need more precise information, you are invited to contact the listed reference persons who have concrete experience in collaborating with the consultants and offices.

dlgnews

dlgnews - issue no 9 - October 2022

This issue includes information about: • The Train4Dev/DeLog training course on “Harmonisation, Decentralisation and Local Governance” that took place this year in Thun, Switzerland • Details of the future training in-country training that will be held in Benin • A view of preparing the network for the third F2F, which will take place in May, 2023 in Egypt • Work done by network members during 2020 – 2021: “Lessons from five learning projects implemented by the Democratization, Decentralization and Local Governance Network” and a summary of the Concept notes for applied research and innovative approaches • SDC COOF in BiH presents a publication on “Citizen participation in South Eastern European countries” • dldp shares a report on: “Supporting Experiences in Inter – LGU Cooperation in Albania: Report on the Outcomes of dldp and Partner’s Contributions” • LoGIn’s con-tribution on the “Appreciation Courses for development professionals” and the portal launch: “Practice in Participation” • DESPRO Ukraine, shares the video “Life in the new coordinates” • the IDS Governance Team shares its 2022 Annual Report.

DOCUMENTS RELATED TO dlgnews - Issue no 9

Report DeLog Thun
September 2022
Author: Emmely Benschop, Melissa Dalleau, Elena Fanetti
Training course Harmonisation, Decentralisation and Local Governance Hotel Freienhof, 27-30 August, 2022 Thun, Switzerland

Programme DeLog Benin
September 2022
Séminaire DeLoG au Bénin : Efficacité de l’aide, décentralisation et gouvernance locale. Programme de déroulement – Première proposition

Capitalisation of Experiences Learning Projects
July 2022
Author: Katharina Walker and Matthias Boss - KEK - CDC Consultants
Lessons from five learning projects implemented by the Democratization, Decentralization and Local Governance Network

Summary of Concept Notes
September 2022
Concept notes for applied research and innovative approaches

dldp Report
July 2022
Supporting Experiences in Inter-LGU Cooperation: Report on the Outcomes of dldp and Partners’ Contributions

dlgnews - Issue no 8 - May 2022

This issue is dedicated to informing about: Two learning projects of the dlgn “Civil society participation and accountability on local governance processes” and “Outcome Measurement in local governance programmes”. • A short article on the effect that cuts to state and local governments can have on women from the Economic Policy Institute Blog • A report from ALDA on the best practices of cooperation between Local Authorities and Civil Society Organisations in development cooperation. • News from DeLoG about the presentation of the evaluation of the European Commission’s (EC) support to decentralisation • A summary of the SDC Policy Paper on decentralisation processes in developing and transition countries • A presentation of International IDEA’s new Political Finance database. • Two competence centers for dlg present themselves: KEK-CDC Consultants and fast4meter, Switzerland. • Network news include the Evaluation of Land Reform in Madagascar and a paper on inter municipal cooperation in Albania. Training Opportunities for 2022 on topics related to dlg.

DOCUMENTS RELATED TO dlgnews - Issue no 8

Factsheet LP 1
May 2022
Civil society participation and accountability in local governance processes

Factsheet LP 2
May 2022
Outcome Measurement in Local Governance Programmes
**
Presentation of the evaluation of the EC support to decentralisation**
May 2022

EvalBrief
December 2021
Author: SDC - Corporate Controlling Section
Decentralisation Processes in Development and Transition Countries: Evidence-Based Lessons Learnt

Rapport-Evaluation-Reforme-Fonciere
May 2022

paper in inter LGU cooperation
May 2022
Inter LGU cooperation in local strategic planning and LGU funding instruments in Albania

dlgnews - Issue no 7 - February 2022

Editor’s notes / Dlgn engagement in Cooperation Strategies / Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness / Network News / Training Opportunities / Publications

DOCUMENTS RELATED TO dlgnews - Issue no 7

Etat de la gouvernance locale en province de Ngozi en 2020 : Avancées et Défis
November 2021

India and Switzerland Sign MOU for Mutual Cooperation on Local Governance
December 2021
Author: FDFA

Document of Conclusions
November 2021
Side event “Aid effectiveness at the sub-national level”. 4th High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness

Training programme 2022 The Hague Aacdemy
2022

Busan and Beyond
November 2021
Author: DeLoG
Localising Paris Principles for More Effective Support to Decentralisation and Local Governance Reforms

Evaluation de la Réforme foncière à Madagascar
November 2021

Rapport final synthétique

dlgnews - Issue no 6 - December 2021

Highlights of the Annual Report from the Focal Point / “Beyond Aid” a speech of the World Bank addressing transformed global realities / Workshop Governing the State with James Putzel / Will EU deliver smarter support to governance? / Competence Centers on dlg in Switzerland / Network News / Training Opportunities

DOCUMENTS RELATED TO dlgnews - Issue no 6

International Training Course on Social Enterprise Development
November 2021
Author: IIRR

Application Form
November 2021
Author: IIRR
for the International Training Course on Social Enterprise Development

Central points of the discussion with Prof. James Putzel
August 2021
Author: Swisspeace
Central points of the discussion with Prof. James Putzel LSE “Why Donors Need a Better Definition of State Fragility” 2nd Meeting of the Experts Group on governing the state in fragile contexts

Presentation of Prof. James Putzel
August 2021
Author: Swisspeace
Why Donors Need a Better Definition of State Fragility

dlgnews - Issue no 5 - September 2021

The Joint Training Programme on DLG organised by DeLoG / Article written by Erika Schläppi on “Decentralization / “Member Review”, with the reflections of Norbert Pijls on the DVD Learning Tool / Three Competence Centres working on dlg in Switzerland share their experience and expertise

DOCUMENTS RELATED TO dlgnews - Issue no 5

DeLoG Concept Note - Train4Dev Course: Harmonisation, Decentralisation and Local Governance
September 2021
Author: DeLoG

DeLoG Subgroup Meeting - train4dev Course: Harmonisation, Decentralisation and Local Governance
September 2021
Author: DeLoG

DeLoG – Train4Dev Expert Group - Defining structure, roles and responsibilities
September 2021
Author: DeLoG

dlgnews - Issue no 4 - July 2021

Plans of the dlgn for the coming months including staff rotation at SDC HQ / publication of the LearnBuch on Municipal Finances / 2021 Status Report on Network Development from the SDC Board of Directors / synthesis of Guidance and Key Policy Messages on Aid, Accountability and Democratic Governance of the OECD-DAC-GOVNET Programme on Improving Support to Domestic Accountability / presentation on 30 years of Decentralisation in Madagascar made by the Bernese social anthropologist Gion Cabalzar / News sent by dlgn members about activities in Kosovo, Albania, Serbia, Bangladesh and South Asia (LogIn) / Training opportunities

DOCUMENTS RELATED TO dlgnews - Issue no 4

Briefing note on 2021 Status Report Network Development
July 2021
Author: SDC - Adrian Gnägi

DRAFT - Synthesis of Guidance and Key Policy Messages on Aid, Accountability and Democratic Governan
June 2021
Author: OECD-DAC-GOVNET
OECD-DAC-GOVNET Programme on Improving Support to Domestic Accountability

OECD-DAC-Govnet Programme on Improving Support to Domestic Accountability
June 2021
Author: SDC - Alexander Widmer
Presentation and Discussion in SDC‘s DLG and PED Networks

Gender, Power and Politics in Bangladesh: a baseline study for the Upazila Support Project
April 2021
Author: IDS - Naomi Hossain and Salma Akhter
FINAL DRAFT Report prepared on behalf of the UNDP Bangladesh Local Governance Cluster

dlgnews - Issue no 3 - April 2021

Looking back at the dlgn F2F / looking into the future of dlgn - Reflecting on the link between Decentralization and Fragility - Sharing news from our colleagues from LoGIn, the South Asian Hub - Providing with links to interesting training opportunities on Decentralization and Local Governance in the Netherlands, Switzerland and in South Asia

dlgnews - Issue no 2 - February 2021

Editor’s notes / Network of Associations of Local Authorities of South-East Europe (NALAS)/ On our way to Sarajevo – update on the learning projects / Network News

dlgnews - Issue no 1 - January 2021

Inside this Issue: - Editor’s notes - Does decentralization impact development? - Network News - The experience of dlgn members – LoGIn

DOCUMENTS RELATED TO dlgnews - Issue no 1

First draft of an input paper situating position of DPWG-DLG
December 2020

Evaluating Democracy Support
August 2007
Author: IDEA / Sida
Methods and Experiences

Mapping members of the dlgn
April 2021
Author: Skat - Bertha Camacho

Crossroads of Knowledge on decentralization
December 2020
Benoît Girardin and Philippe de Rham reflect on the contributions of development cooperation to the adaptation of political systems and in particular to decentralization.

DOCUMENTS RELATED TO dlgnews

**MARKET PLACE (please give your comments to tommaso.tabet@sdc.net) **

Public provider Partnerships (PpP)_discussion note
February 2022

Public provider Partnerships (PpP)_lift out
February 2022
Institutional Principles to Ensure Water Supply & Sanitation Rights for All