Abstract
The origins of the Commonwealth Local Government Forum’s Pacific Project date to a 1997 roundtable in Papua New Guinea. Substantial activity, however, commenced more recently in 2005 with the launch of a 5-year project to enhance the quality of local government in the small states of the Pacific Islands. The project was well-conceived and managed to establish strong ‘buy-in’ by major stakeholders and partners. A mid-term review was undertaken in 2008 and was generally positive. The project is now in the final stages of implementation of what it hoped will be only its first phase. In 2009-2010 its central task is to ensure that the ‘key results’ envisaged at the outset are achieved: donors are looking for evidence of real impact in participating countries; project administrators are refining management practices on the basis of the mid-term review (as well as the regular feedback they receive from participating countries); participating countries are being asked to realistically plan, and to better integrate project activities into their ongoing work-plans as evidence of both genuine development outcomes and future sustainability of lessons learned.
Highlights
Local government is not strong in the Pacific Islands
Having decided to explore options for a project to assist the development of local government in the Pacific Islands, CLGF and the Commonwealth Secretariat convened a Regional Symposium on Local Governance in the Pacific in Suva in 2004
An external monitoring and evaluation (M&E) specialist was engaged to support the development of the M&E framework, and later to be a member of the team to carry out a mid-term review
Summary
Local government is not strong in the Pacific Islands. Having decided to explore options for a project to assist the development of local government in the Pacific Islands, CLGF and the Commonwealth Secretariat convened a Regional Symposium on Local Governance in the Pacific in Suva in 2004. Proceedings of this event were published, (Commonwealth Secretariat and Commonwealth Local Government Forum 2004). 4. Build capacity of local government institutions and structures to respond to rapid urbanisation, deliver better services and provide an enabling environment for economic and social development
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