The UN and UNDP in Brussels

Democratic Governance : Decentralization, local governance & Urban/Rural Development

Decentralization and local governance have become important areas of support, encompassing the review and reform of legislation and policies; capacity development (especially for local government planning and fiscal management); and inclusive systems of consultation with local communities that involve women and ethnic minorities.
UNDP takes a holistic view to help build national ownership, national capacities and an enabling policy environment for effective decentralization, local governance and urban/rural development. The comparative strength of UNDP builds on a strong donor coordination role in countries where local governance attracts considerable attention from the international community and a strong community of practitioners.

Actions undertaken by UNDP with the European Commission

Reforming public administrations, building capacities at sub-national levels, and establishing robust anti-corruption regimes are all crucial to enhancing accountability and deepening the democratic process. The work undertaken by the EC and UNDP on a global level has been both about influencing policies on a regional and country basis as well as concretely reinforcing the service delivery capacities of local authorities to their constituencies. Some key research and policy work was jointly undertaken in Latin America through PRODAL (the Project on Democratic Development in Latin America (PRODDAL)), which represents an initial input in a longer-term process of analysis and social dialogue. Its purpose is to evaluate democracy in Latin America, viewing it not only as an electoral system, but also as a democracy of citizens. Using this approach, we have identified successes, failures and challenges and proposed an agenda of reforms to promote the deepening of democracy in Latin America. In terms of actually building the capacities of local governments the UN worked with the Commission to strengthen local governance systems through training on local administration reform and local administration management. The partnership also supported new draft framework laws on anti-corruption, as well as a diagnostic studies on corruption in as a first step to action plans against corruption. The partnership also supported the establishment of anti-corruption institutions so that greater confidence from local populations was inspired and a greater amount of public funds going into such areas as infrastructure and provision of health services.

Did you know?

With the assistance of the joint UNDP-EC community infrastructure project, Kukes Regional Development Initiative, the Albanian Parliament approved a law on state control on the export and import of weapons, military goods, technology and dual use goods on 5 April 2007. This further allowed for the implementation of an arms transfer legislation as well as the ratification of UN Documents on SALW Control & International Best Practices.