Inclusive leadership and governance
Securing the Right to Housing and Services in eThekwini’s Informal Settlements
Key Concepts: Spatial Inequality, Right to Housing Like other major cities in South Africa, Durban’s eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality faces a growing population fuelled by migration from both rural areas and neighbouring countries. Many new residents find shelter in informal settlements which are, although real communities, often overcrowded and unsafe, lacking critical infrastructure. The municipality’s Human…
Sexual Orientation and Human Rights in Botswana – The City of Gaborone’s role
Botswana stands out in the African context for its unique approach to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) issues. In addition to societal stigma, their sexual behaviour was criminalized by the penal code. Gaborone City Council did not have jurisdiction over the legalization of same-sex sexual activity or identity, but it did have an important voice…
Innovating with urban governance: municipal committees for inclusive, nature-based solutions
This policy brief explores the challenges and innovative opportunities for institutionalising participatory processes within municipal contexts. Specifically, we report on the creation of municipal committees, a proposal framed within the EU-funded project URBiNAT aimed at co-creating healthy corridors made up of a combination of nature-based solutions (NBS). The proposed committees aim to consolidate citizens’ engagement…
ICLD Annual report 2021
Welcome to find out what the we did in 2021 through our Annual Report!
Beka – our Georgian Champion of Local Democracy
Beka Asanidze, a lawyer from Gori in Georgia, is a participant in our ICLD Human Rights Based Approach Programme. For all the ambitious work within his community, to increase youth participation, Beka is here presented in our series on Champions of Local Democracy. Here is Beka’s own story: “Living in Gori municipality, bordering the Russian…
Borås and Vracar – Serbia
Accessibility – organisation policy, structure and practice Both municipalities want to improve their capacity to reach out to and get input from people with disabilities, since they feel they are stuck in the “old way” of getting and giving out information. This causes a risk to fail to include the perspectives of people with disabilities…
Reporting on the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals in Sweden: VLRs and their implications for local democracy
In 2021, four Swedish municipalities – Helsingborg, Malmö, Stockholm, and Uppsala – published their first Voluntary Local Reviews (VLRs), a report on the status of local implementation of the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). VLRs have become a common instrument for subnational governments to show progress in the achievement…
Toolbox for VLR, Voluntary Local Reviews
This toolbox provides support to local governments that are interested in monitoring and reporting on the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) using the Voluntary Local Reviews (VLRs), while contributing to local democracy. The stories and practical tips presented allow the reader to gain first-hand knowledge of the VLRs that local governments are developing…
