Knowledge

 
IDPs in Secondary Cities: The Case of Adama, Ethiopia

The case study of Adama, Ethiopia, highlights how local government can successfully respond to urban IDPs. Adama’s city government showed regional cooperation by receiving over 1,300 IDP families at very short notice and facilitating the building of houses, a school and crucial infrastructure for them. The location and administration of IDP and refugee settlements has strong impacts on development efforts and long-term integration. The need to support IDPs and integrate them in order to overcome social challenges such as religious difference and competition for employment, is just one of the many insights and recommendations the study provides. Best practices and lessons learned on mechanisms to support the social integration with local hosts can also be found in this paper.


Author: Evan Easton-Calabria, Delina Abadi and Gezahegn Gebremedhin
Publisher: Cities Alliance, SDC, University of Oxford
Publication Date: 2021
Copyright: Cities Alliance, SDC, University of Oxford

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Gender and Local Governments

With this publication the International Centre for the Advancement of Human Rights (CIPDH-UNESCO) provides an insightful digital guide on Gender and Local Governments. It will serve as a resource to inform local governments in Latin America and the Caribbean. The information and policy implications addressed in this paper range from discriminatory issues faced by women in Latin America and the Caribbean, along with actions and policies aimed at achieving gender equity and inclusion. There are also case studies documenting initiatives that have been already implemented by local governments to address these issues including results and lessons learned.
Only available in Spanish!

Authors: María del Carmen Feijoó, María Eugenia Sozzani y Carolina Tellería
Publisher: CIPDH – UNESCO
Publication Date: 2021
Copyright: 
CIPDH – UNESCO

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SDG Localisation Baseline: How Local-Level Actors are Driving Change and Advancing the Achievement of the 2030 Agenda

This paper by the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) wants to inform decisions regarding the response to the pandemic around the world. Thereby aiming at an inclusive and resilient plan to help actors reconstruct and improve their communities. This baseline report uncoveres the important challenges and opportunities for the local implementation of the SDGs that relate to the broader themes of advocacy, action, and monitoring. In addition, this effort builds on the New Urban Agenda, which functions as an accelerator of the SDGs, being emphatic about making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable. The report raises awareness of the need for and importance of generating localised actions at the local level. 

Authors: Orozco, E. H., Cárdenas, M., Lobos Alva, I., Guerra, A., Gerger Swartling, Å., Betancur, J., Joshi, S., Melati, K., Otieno Opiyo, R., Kim, D., Pearson, L., Esquivel, N. N., Kabue Njoroge, G. and Ek, F.
Publisher: Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI)
Publication Date: 2021
Copyright: Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI)

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Guidelines for Voluntary Local Reviews Volume 2 - Exploring the Local-National Link

UCLG and UN-Habitat have designed tools, methods and institutional opportunities to support local and regional governments in engaging with the global agendas and the localisation of these common goals. Volume 2 of the VLR Series, the Guidelines for Voluntary Local Reviews, provides an overview and analysis of how the linkage between national and local levels is playing out. VNRs and VLRs are inherently complimentary, but these Guidelines guide a way to merge them constructively. This Volume explores to what degree the local level, the localisation of the SDGs and the untapped potential of local action are acknowledged in national reviews.

Publisher: UCLG and UN-Habitat
Publication Date: 2021
Copyright: UCLG and UN-Habitat

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A “Decade for Action” on SDG Localisation

This paper echoes the UN-General Secretary's call for a ''Decade of Action''. With local governments at the forefront of fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, the adequate assumption of responsibilities concerning service delivery by local and regional authorities has become more important than ever. This study highlights that the expansion of human well-being, in terms of capabilities, and the pursuit of sustainable human development and transformative resilience is inherently linked to multilevel governance mechanisms. All levels and sectors must engage with and commit to the aim of fostering sustainable development and social empowerment.

Author: Mario Biggeri
Publisher: Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, Routledge 
Publication Date: 2021
Copyright: Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, Routledge 

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NALAS Fiscal Decentralisation Indicators Report

NALAS eight edition of the Fiscal Decentralisation report focuses in particular on the regulation, management and financing of decentralised social sector services in South-East Europe. The report provides a comparative overview followed by a detailed analysis of the local government responsibilities in education, social care and protection and public health in South-East Europe, how they are regulated, managed and financed for all South-East European economies. As the world continues to face the aftermath of COVID-19 and local governments lead recovery efforts, a special chapter is dedicated to the municipal response to COVID-19 in the social sector in South-East Europe. It shows what South-East European local governments have been doing to weather the crisis impact in education, social protection and care and public health. The report also gives an outlook on fiscal decentralisation tendencies in South-East Europe.

Editors: Tony Levitas, Brown University and Elton Stafa, NALAS
Publisher: NALAS
Publication Date: 2021
Copyright: NALAS

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Mobilizing Capital for Local Development Funds: A Longitudinal Case Study in Leveraging Millions to Billions

This longitude case study by UNCDF shows how the local development fund (LDF) generated billions of dollars for local social and economic development in the world’s underserved and underinvested regions. The publication consists of a synthesis overview and 10 country cases (Bangladesh, Benin, Bhutan, Guinea, Lesotho, Mali, Nepal, Solomon Islands, Tanzania and Uganda). These Funds significantly contributed to fiscal decentralisation and the expansion of local fiscal space and local fixed capital formation – two prerequisites for economic transformation. The paper gives insights into enabling enviroment for intergovernmental fiscal transfers to local governments and analyses the contributing factors in the model’s success.

Authors: David Jackson and Christel Alvergne
Publisher: UNCDF
Publication Date: 2021
Copyright: UNCDF

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An Intergovernmental Perspective on Managing Public Finances for Service Delivery

This paper by the NYU and ODI provides insights on how sector finances are managed in diverse multilevel systems of government, and how these arrangements may affect service delivery. By looking across the relevant literature and applying an intergovernmental lens to health sector financing arrangements in four African countries with different intergovernmental systems - Ethiopia, Kenya, South Africa, and Uganda - this study demonstrates the value of more purposefully incorporating intergovernmental structures and dynamics into the analysis of sector financing and service delivery. It delivers important contributions and insights into inclusive and effective service delivery, especially in times of a global pandemic, climate change, and worsening global inequalities.

Author: Paul Smoke, NYU, ODI
Publisher: NYU and ODI
Publication Date: 2021
Copyright: 
NYU-Wagner, ODI, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

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International Migration Outlook 2021

The 2021 edition of International Migration Outlook analyses recent developments in migration movements and the labour market inclusion of immigrants in OECD countries. It also monitors recent policy changes in migration governance and integration in OECD countries. This edition includes two special chapters, one providing an in-depth analysis of the fiscal impact of migration in OECD countries since the mid 2000s and another on the causes and consequences of the residential segregation of immigrants. The Outlook also includes country notes and a detailed statistical annex.


Author: OECD
Publisher: OECD
Publication Date: 2021
Copyright: OECD

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Multilevel Emergency Governance: Enabling Adaptive and Agile Responses

The provision of equal and secure access to public services is a core responsibility of Local and Regional Governments (LRGs). Clearly defined functions and mandates as well as access to finance for LRGs are necessary to enable them to fulfil that responsibility especially in times of crisis. These objectives are at the centre of this report on Multilevel Emergency Governance and a prerequisite for sustainable solutions and reaching the SDGs. This policy brief by UCLG, Metropolis and LSE Cities demonstrates the institutional dimensions of rapid and radical action in response to complex global emergencies. It provides a widerange of concepts and frameworks as a preliminary resource to guide and foster further debates on multilevel governance and emergency coordination. Throughout the chapters you will find guiding emergency principles as well as remmondations for a coordinated, adaptive and agile emergency response. 

Author: Philipp Rode and Rebecca Flynn
Publisher: UCLG, Metropolis, LSE Cities
Publication Date: 2021
Copyright: UCLG, Metropolis, LSE Cities

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