Since our founding, one of our core areas of work has been building the capacity of national associations of local governments. Effective decentralization requires good cooperation between central and local governments. National associations of local governments can play a key role in that respect, if well-organised.
VNG International offers a wide range of support modules to help strengthen these associations. The topics vary from enhancing the advocacy role, improving service provision to members, internal organisation, financial sustainability, and more.
Giving local governments a unified voice
Local Government Associations (LGAs) are traditionally established to enable local governments to come together and develop a unified voice, for example in policymaking discussions with national governments. As membership-based organisations, they offer a variety of services to their members and promote collaboration among municipalities.
In order to play their role as a representative organization, LGAs are run on a non-party political basis. In many cases they develop ways of representing the diverse needs of different types of councils within their governance structures so that they can be as inclusive as possible. It is also important that LGAs look to maintain a level of independence from central government so that they can discharge their lobbying and advocacy role effectively.