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Strengthening Decentralisation in Pakistan and the Commonwealth

20 July 2006

Strengthening decentralisation in Pakistan and the Commonwealth will be the focus of a symposium on local government to begin on 24 July 2006 in Islamabad.

Senior local government practitioners, academics and ministers from across the Commonwealth are set to attend the two-day event, which is organised by the Commonwealth Secretariat in collaboration with the Commonwealth Local Government Forum and Pakistan’s National Reconstruction Bureau (NRB).

“In many developing countries, problems have aggravated as a result of heavy concentration of powers by the central and provincial governments in the matter of public services and infrastructure development,” said Richard Gold, Director of the Secretariat’s Governance and Institutional Development Division (GIDD).

“Delivering quality services to citizens is a matter of prime importance for Commonwealth member governments and requires striking a balance between national and local priorities.”

The symposium will examine the management of change at local level in the context of the implementation of Pakistan’s Devolution Programme. President Pervez Musharraf initiated the programme, known as the ‘Silent Revolution’, in 2000, and at that time tasked the NRB with introducing reforms in the public sector.

Local governments formed in 2001 completed their first term successfully in 2005. Elections for a second term were then held and were observed by the Commonwealth.

“In this symposium, the recent Pakistani experience of decentralisation and local governance will be reviewed,” said John Wilkins, Head of the Special Programmes Section in GIDD. “Participants will also discuss issues that arise within the context of wider Commonwealth and international experiences.”

Dr Munawwar Alam, GIDD’s Adviser for Sub-national Administration, stated that the event will feature speakers from countries such as Australia, Canada, India, Jamaica, Malaysia, Nigeria, South Africa and the UK. “We invited speakers from countries that are similar in size to Pakistan since their experiences would be more relevant to each other,” he said.

The symposium is supported by the Government of Pakistan and the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Co-operation, the development arm of the Secretariat.