Local councillors from across Pakistan came together for a first two-day workshop at the beginning of April. Top of the agenda was setting the priority activities for a new programme to support local councils associations in more effectively representing their members and helping them to deliver better services for their communities.
In January 2017, in partnership with the Local Councils Association of the Punjab (LCAP), the Commonwealth Local Government Forum (CLGF) signed a grant agreement with the EU Delegation of Pakistan for a three-year project running from 2017 to 2020. Worth €1.7 million and largely funded by the EU, the programme seeks to strengthen Pakistan’s national local councils association - the Association for Development and Local Governance (ADLG) – as well as the four provincial associations in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and Sindh. In the second and third year of the project 10 pilot councils from across the four provinces will work to implement the EU’s territorial approach to development, with the results being disseminated through the associations to promote peer learning and replication.
Defining needs and priorities
Delegates attending the workshop, called “Strengthening the associations of local governments and their members for enhanced governance and effective development outcomes in Pakistan”, discussed their needs and priorities and created a plan of how they will take the project forward to meet the objectives and priorities of their members.
As well as helping to build the institutional and delivery capacity of Pakistan’s local government associations at provincial and national level, the programme will support advocacy, capacity building and training, exchange of good practice, and peer to peer support. By the end of the project, the Local Council Associations aim to be more active member organisations, which deliver against an action plan, agreed with their members, and to raise the profile and voice of local government in all four provinces.