Research Reports
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Co-production of Services in Informal Settlements
In many informal settlements, a large number of informal sector waste pickers collect and separate household waste, providing an important service. However, waste pickers represent one of the most excluded, impoverished and disempowered segments of society. This study explores the challenges and potential solutions for the co-production of participatory waste management services in informal settlements,…
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Financing Small and Medium Towns
This research project studied the emerging challenges of small and medium towns in India to improve their finances and provide good services to their inhabitants. The study assesses the ability of various local actors, institutions and processes for decentralised planning and governance. Moreover, the researchers used action research to build the capacities of these local…
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Impacting Local Democracy: Capacity Building of Local Governments in Zimbabwe
Local governments are key democratic institutions. In Zimbabwe, they have received considerable capacity development since independence through programmes using different approaches. One of the actors providing capacity building for local governments in Zimbabwe is Sweden, through the Swedish International Centre for Local Democracy (ICLD). Since the turn of the century, capacity building for local governments has proceeded within a context of: Having…
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The 2016 local government elections: The point where South Africa changed course?
In August 2016, local government elections were held in South Africa, something that is of direct relevance to many of ICLD’s partners. Dr Andrew Siddle has analyzed the elections on behalf of the ICLD. The elections have been described as “the point at which South Africa changed course,” but it remains to be seen just…
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Local government in South Africa: Can the objectives of the developmental state be achieved through the current model of decentralized governance?
Under the new constitutional dispensation, South African Local government was given a critical developmental role to play in rebuilding local communities and environments, as the basis for a democratic, integrated, prosperous and non-racial society. This study examines the notions of decentralization and developmentalism, and shows how they have become two of the most significant defining…
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The Politics of Pseudoactions – Local Governance and Gender Policy Implementation in the Western Balkans
Successful implementation is often pointed out as a missing prerequisite in the attainment of gender equality goals. Only rarely, however, are gender policy implementation processes subjected to systematic study. This paper analyses the local-level implementation of national gender equality policies in three countries of the Western Balkans region (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Serbia), examining the…
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Devolution, Democracy and Development in Kenya
In this study, Cornell and D’Arcy explore to what extent devolution has changed Kenyan politics – what progress has been made and what challenges still remain? Although the devolution is in many ways successful and much progress has been made already, the authors highlight a number of critical areas in need of further attention. First,…
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Gendering Decentralization in Cambodia
Cambodia’s democratic decentralization reform is commonly regarded as the most deep-cutting public sector reform and the politically most significant democratic development in Cambodia since 1993. The reform rearranges power structures, creates space for a more pluralistic political representation, addresses gender equality in local politics, and triggers articulation of new political views. However, the reforms continue…
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Mapping Spaces for democratic participation in South Aceh, Indonesia
This report by Leena Avonius, Olle Törnquist and Fadhli Ali is the third report to be published in ICLD’s Research Report series. Avonius et al examines to what extent democratic local governance reforms have become effective and visible in the South Aceh district in Indonesia. The study seeks to answer if, and to what extent,…
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When Local Government Strikes it Rich
Elected local councils all across the developing world have long suffered from insufficient funding which deeply undermines their capacity to take constructive action. Local councils in most of India’s 28 states have long faced this problem. This is a study, based on extensive field research, of a major new anti-poverty program in India – the…