In 2017, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) conducted a series of video interviews with Canadian and international partners to discuss local change initiatives they have implemented in their community. Nine local elected officials and municipal employees shared how their municipality or municipal association is contributing to building democratic institutions that contribute to community and national development. Two of the videos are now available!
Local governments are essential partners for national governments and donors if countries hope to meet the Sustainable Development Goals. And to be effective development actors, local governments need capacity, resources and legitimacy. CIB members are very aware of this challenge, but it can be difficult to explain what this means to people who are not close to the reality of local governments.
The recurrence of communication and engagement as the topics they most emphasized reflects the reality of building public institutions in the 21st century. In the words of Yolaine Kirlew, local councillor in Sioux Lookouk (Ontario) and FCM third Vice-President: "What brought me to politics is, first and foremost, the fundamental belief that I have that in order to have change you must willing to be a part of it."
Taken together, the nine stories illustrate the principles and the full spectrum of FCM Programs’ Theory of Change framework. Check FCM's first two videos, which speak to the issues of social inclusion and of mobilizing resources for community development:
-
Yolaine Kirlew: https://youtu.be/h5n2fesu77E (English, with French subtitles)
-
Karim Charef: https://youtu.be/YOKj6Abj3Lg (French, with English subtitles)
Stay tuned. We’ll share the rest of the videos in the next issue of this newsletter.