In early 2012, the Association of Local Government Authorities of Somaliland (ALGASL) expanded its technical support to local authorities, including the contribution of basic equipment such as computers. The association advocates and lobbies for autonomous, sustainable, and democratic local government systems in Somaliland that have quality and equitable service delivery.
ALGASL is now providing support for decentralization with a growing number of development partners in Somaliland. Several missions were made to member districts to increase the understanding of newly introduced municipal finance issues, as agreed in the road map for the municipal finance policy. ALGASL also carried out an evaluation with UNICEF on the progress made by Community Protection Committees in six target districts of the UN Joint Programme on Local Governance and Decentralized Service Delivery, and was contracted by UNDP (under the joint programme) for capacity-building activities among district council departments.
In the coming months, ALGASL plans to support both districts and citizens in Somaliland’s local government elections process. To this end, the Association of Local Government Authorities of Kenya will provide guidance as part of a capacity-building contract between the sister associations.
In October 2011, ALGASL organized a mayors’ forum that brought key members of the central government together to discuss the effects of climate change in Somaliland and commit to reducing its impact. This resulted in an agreement to organize peer learning sessions among local governments to support the self-sustaining capacity building of district authorities. ALGASL is currently preparing visibility materials (e.g. posters) for member districts to showcase best practices in areas such as financial management and service delivery. |
