Post-pandemic LG Strengthening Program

Post-pandemic LG Strengthening Program

Partner: International Republican Institute

Project Duration: From Sep 2021 – To March 2022

Team members: Dr. Vaqar Ahmad, Dr. Fatemeh Kamali, Amna Zaidi, Hassan Murtaza, Shujaat Ahmed

Project Introduction: Three tiers of Pakistani government are national, provincial and local. Local government is protected by the constitution in Articles 32 and 140-A. The local government is to provide an organized system where councils practice their power, responsibilities and accountability together with the municipal districts. Since the partition of Pakistan, there have been different waves of decentralization, trying to give more independence to local governments in terms of political, administrative, and financial responsibility and authority. A decade after the devolution plan introduced by President Musharraf’s government in 2000, there are still attempts to reform local governments’ authority in terms of election and management. 

SDPI, in this project, will focus on the local tiers of government. The project being undertaken will offer discussions, roundtable and workshops geared towards local government reforms, processes, and local resource and management systems. The overall aim of LG activities is to strengthen the autonomy of administrators at the local level, making them more accountable for the outcome indicators of service delivery.

Project Objectives: 
Objective 1: To formulate a curriculum and framework that supports overall LG reforms and to disseminate said curriculum through workshops

Objective 2: To realize the current challenges of the LG system of Pakistan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa [KPK], Punjab, Sindh)

Objective 3: To present recommendations to solve those problems

Objective 4: To increase expertise and knowledge in the LG actors to deal with part of the problems

Project Outcomes: On-going