A framework for development? The growing role of UK local government in international development

作者：Evans Eleri^*

来源：Habitat International, 2009, 33(2): 141-148.

DOI：10.1016/j.habitatint.2008.10.010

• International development
• Municipal partnerships
• Decentralised development cooperation
• Local governments
• Local authorities
• UK

UK local authorities have no real mandate for international development work, yet there has been an explosion of interest in this work in the UK. This research focuses on municipal partnerships between UK local authorities and local authorities in the developing world. The historic acknowledgement by the United Nations in 2005 that local authorities have an important role to play in international development, including the achievement of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), saw a significant change in the status of local authority work in international development but this has, as yet, made little impact in the UK. There has been a marked increase in support for development work from the UK Government but there is still some way to go before UK local government feels there is substantive support. This research offers a framework against which UK local government development partnerships could be assessed and validated and which could be used as a model for future research. It sets the debate against the growing recognition worldwide of the role of local governments in international development cooperation as a decentralised form of development aid; examines the advantages for both development partners and UK local government, itself, and discusses opposition within UK communities to local government development initiatives.

• 出版日期2009-4