July 25, 2012     cib    

 
That is the most important conclusion of a research led by the University of Utrecht and the University of Amsterdam on the Local Government South (LOGO South) programme. VNG International implements this programme with funding from the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Within LOGO South, 50 Dutch municipalities and water boards share their knowledge with partners in 13 developing countries. The research was concluded in January 2010.

LOGO South principally works trough a colleague-to-colleague approach: peers within the local governments assist each other to strengthen local governance. The results of the LOGO South projects are disseminated at national level through national coordinators and national local government associations, which ensures sustainability of the action. By making use of the existing local government associations, the costs are specifically low in comparison to other development cooperation programmes and the involvement of all participants is very high. For these reasons, the evaluation considers the programme to be unique with regard to its efficiency and sustainability.

VNG International will use the conclusions of the evaluation for the development of the new grant application for the LOGO South programme for the period of 2011 – 2015. This application will be submitted at latest by 1 April to the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.