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Commonwealth Focuses on Decentralisation and Devolution

9 June 2000

Key issues concerning decentralisation and devolution will be considered in depth when senior figures from over eighteen Commonwealth states meet at a workshop in Edinburgh on 12-14 June 2000. This is the fifth meeting in a series of Commonwealth activities on the theme of Deepening Democracy, whose purpose is to help member countries in their efforts to strengthen their democratic processes and institutions. 

This workshop is organised by the Commonwealth Secretariat in collaboration with Commonwealth Local Government Forum (CLGF). It will be opened by the Speaker of the devolved Northern Ireland Assembly.

The workshop will focus on the key issues involved in the decentralisation and devolution of democratic governments, including the functions and powers of different tiers of government, accountability, strengthening regional and local government and enhancing representation across levels of government. 

The participants will include Commonwealth government ministers, parliamentarians, senior civil servants, academics and figures from civil society. There will be a number of observers from the Commonwealth and non-government organisations. 

Note to Editors:

The workshop takes place at the Caledonian Hilton, Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom. It has been organised in collaboration with the Commonwealth Local Government Forum (CLGF). The previous meetings in the Commonwealth Secretariat's Deepening Democracy series were The Role of the Opposition (United Kingdom in 1998), Workshop of Commonwealth Domestic Election Observers (Jamaica in 1999), Gender and Democracy (Namibia in 2000) and Democracy and Small States (Malta 2000).