Learning from the f2f

Participants (in alphabetical order):

Marcelina Biro
Aurelia Ciornei
Swati Dogra
Jens Engeli
Christoph Fuchs
Adrian Gnägi
Corinne Huser
Valbona Karakaci
Preeta Lall
Annonciata Ndikumasabo
Norbert Pijls
Vesna Roch
Marcelo Rojas
Irina Skaliy
Tirtha Skarathi Sikder
Romana Tedeschi
Petar Vasilev
Rudi von Planta

Marcelina Biro

My personal main learning from the f2f is:

I got an overview of the learning projects, but the application of the tools (which were presented during the meeting) will depend much on our context. I.e., most of the case studies were focusing on the supply side approach while we are focusing on the demand side. A majority of the participants were advocating for municipal financing and decentralization projects through LGs, but our partnership with Civil Society organizations in Tanzania towards achieving equity and quality access to public services will bring a unique experience to the DLGN and complement the work of other DLGN members.
It is important to strengthen our link with other DPs who are supporting LG/ municipalities in order to have a better understanding of the power sharing and LG structure (analysis, LG assessment, etc). It was clear from the conference that we are part of the power game and without a clear understanding of the power sharing we can not achieve our goals.
Social reporting is very useful and cost effective. It serves time of preparing and time for reading reports. Also it communicates more than the text.
Social accountability is a means towards achieving social inclusion. Therefore by mainstreaming Social accountability throughout our projects we are achieving social inclusion – as a core value of our work.
From NALAS: I learnt that it is important to build the capacity of LGs before advocating for decentralization. Also the idea of Mayors’ covenant is very fruitful as it creates synergies among mayors. i.e. a Mayors of different municipalities put forward commitments on how they want to achieve certain objectives towards quality services to their citizens. i.e.a commitment of many mayors is bigger than a commitment of one mayor.

Aurelia Ciornei

My personal main learning from the f2f is:

The diversity of experiences and backgrounds brought together and shared in the f2f meeting helps the participants in two ways: to learn where and how you can improve your own work to have a better impact and map where you stand as compared to others in certain topics/ areas. For example, it was in the f2f meeting that I first heard about power analyses and “power map” as a tool to prevent negative developments and I thought that’s a worthwhile tool. In another order of ideas I realized that in Moldova we are in a much better situation when it comes to considering social inclusion issues while implementing infrastructural projects. That is possible because in local governments of Moldova there are positions of social assistants, who hold well-structured information about the socially vulnerable groups of citizens. Thus ApaSan project does not have to invest time in analyses and finding out whom we should be careful not to exclude when nit comes to providing water supply.
During the NALAS Fair I realized (again) that in governance (regardless of its level) gender equality still remains to be much more spoken about, rather than implemented in fact. All panel discussions were male dominated, no women could be found among key speakers. This is not an issue only at the local governance level.
Networking is a good means through which thematic competences can be enhanced. DLG Network is indeed able to provide, in my opinion, support to SDC in developing/selecting its working lines and principles through its lessons learned. Therefore I am fully supportive of the idea that collaboration with networks should be taken higher on the agendas in the organizations where it is not yet.

Swati Dogra

My personal main learning from the f2f is:

Performance based grants system is a system that talks about inclusive and accountable governance and originates from a Capitalist Model. In India, post liberalization there has been a lot of criticism about the fact that capitalism induces a culture that is exploitative, non-accountable and tends to alienate people. For me Performance Based grants system is a point of redemption for Capitalism and it shows that this economic model can offer techniques to the government and civil society to ensure efficiency and effectively.
2.Countries where local governments are well established and capacitated, it is possible to talk about institutionalization and universalization of Local governance Assessment Tools. But LGA needs to be wary of some inherent challenges: A.It does not become a tool to confront local governments
B.The carrier of the tool are not the civil society or donor rather should be the associations of local governments or ministry of local government
The NALAS conference was an opportunity to learn: A.how local governments take pride in what they represent
B.how a platform to exchange knowledge, skills, products, resources works
C.how constant discussions around budget negotiations establish the fact that financial autonomy is a pre-condition for local governments to perform.

Jens Engeli

My personal main learning from the f2f is:

The rich and diverse experiences of different SDC LG initiatives face often similar challenges and obstacles in myriad contexts – feeling of understood, concealed and embedded in a like minded group. One of the major challenges – power relations and analysis – was so far strongly neglected (to my big surprise) and luckily turned out to be one of the common recommendations of the three major learning projects.
SDC and its partners have relevant experiences in local governance and related issues that are tested, validated and thus turned into best practices that now can be institutionalised and replicated in other contexts. However, there are still many highly potential good practices that are not properly documented that ‘popped up’ in the different discussions.
E-governance is not just a fancy new word and approach but can be a powerful and highly effective tool even in low developed contexts as Bangladesh. This we will try to integrate in some of our future project interventions.
DLGN managed to ‘clue together’ a group of people from SDC and partners around a thematic aspect. This group is a strong conveyer for the relevance and importance of LG as well as shares a common vision and interest. I was struck by the high level of commitment and professionalism of the DLGN members as individuals and about their cohesion as a network and thus if future potential.

Christoph Fuchs

My personal main learning from the f2f is:

There are functioning interlinkages between the operational experiences in the area of decentralization & local governance in East- and Southern Africa (OSA) and the thematic focus of the DLGN. After a first period in which Coofs were primarily asked to contribute to the network a better balance has been achieved between “give and take”. Products are under way which can be of good and practical use for the Coofs, e.g. recommendations/best practices regarding municipal financing, governance assessments, study tours or election support.
The hypothesis of a SDC-wide relevance of “Local Governance Assessments” (LGA) has been confirmed. There is concrete and capitalized SDC experience in this field on which can be built when developing concrete LGA tools which are to meet the SDC requirements. The topic is highly interdependent with other topics discussed at the F2F like social inclusion or political / power analysis. This calls for a combined approach when tackling these issues in the future.
I learn most effectively and best through concrete peer learning. A F2F meeting creates space and the atmosphere for exactly that. The applied methodology of social reporting boosted mutual learning by creating a lot of dynamics amongst all participants. It helped me to profit from experiences presented in other groups in parallel.

Adrian Gnägi

My personal main learning from the f2f is:

Fusion of IC and SDC dlg competence pools: SDC staff and IC staff were the two largest groups at the face-to-face event. IC had worked as backstopper on 2 out of 5 learning projects. Much of the technical expertise and practical experience brought into the discussions came from IC. Since the network had grown rapidly in the past months, many participants did not know each other. At the end of the f2f I and many colleagues were surprised to realize that we knew quite well who was expert on what in which country, but that we ignored whether those people were SDC or IC employees. I think Kuno Schläfli and Pascal Arnold merit special recognition for having carefully facilitated this fusion of the competence pools of the two organizations.
Social reporting nearly ready for mainstreaming: Training and coaching for video reporting was organized as part of the f2f. Roughly 10 new colleagues became familiar with video reporting through the dlgn f2f. 4 consultants helped dlgn members with social reporting on the event (coaching video making, photo editing, blog writing, and technical maintenance blog). The result is an inviting, informative and quite comprehensive coverage of the event that went live right during the event (see links below). I will write an sdclan blog post showing that social reporting was at least as cost-effective as traditional reporting would have been. Two main challenges remain before we can advocate for social reporting to be mainstreamed: the viewing quality of the youtube uploaded videos is not satisfactory yet (the product coming out of cutting is ok, it is mainly a conversion/upload issue); content density improved overall, but there still is potential for sharper and clearer messages.
Working on- or off-system to be further discussed: The main recommendation of the learning project on SDC support to Sustainable Municipal Finances was that SDC in the future should, whenever possible, work on-system. During the f2f I realized how deeply entrenched quality orientation is with our staff. Quality orientation is both pride and identity – and to my surprise for quite many colleagues more important than impact. While I frequently heard that staff is waiting for clear directives from the hierarchy on this, Kuno thinks we need more exposure and discussion. We might need both.
dlgn starting to have impact on operations: The “value for money” discussion on networks is shifting. When preparing 16 months ago for the Delhi f2f, the question was who was to pay for SDC field staff participation. This time there only were questions on who was to pay for national partner participation. In Delhi we discussed what our main learning needs were; in Sarajevo we discussed how our distilled good technical practice should be institutionalized. In Delhi we discussed what the network can offer to operations; in Sarajevo we discussed how we can change operational practice. Impact measurement will be high on the dlgn agenda in the coming year. I am sure that during the next f2f we will talk about impact oriented steering and reporting on impact.

Corinne Huser

My personal main learning from the f2f is:

Shared vision and clarity on future direction: During all LP discussions it was reconfirmed very clearly that we need to apply a systemic approach if we aim for durable social change, scale and sustainability of our interventions. Consequently we have to work with government and political institutions, policy and legal frameworks in a given country. And, we also have to consciously consider the political dimension of our work. In the LP “sustainable municipal finance” it was clearly articulated that at a certain moment local governments need to increase their own revenue base, either by state budget transfers, increased tax authority or other means, and that we have to strengthen our efforts in this regard; In the LP “local governance assessment” it is evident that the LGA tool is only effective if key actors in a given country become active in systematically assessing and reviewing processes of local public management, decision taking and local government performance, and that we have to strengthen their respective capacities and involvement (national/local governments, parliaments, citizens, CSOs); in the LP “social inclusion” it became very clear that establishing vertical linkages between local level SI action and national SI policies, legal obligations is critical for the success of interventions, coupled with the availability of sustainable financial means and capacities. “Election support”, another LP, is no longer perceived as a one shot event but as a logical consequence of our DLG work; it is closely linked to core governance principles like social accountability, transparency, participation, and should be considered as an integral part of our systemic DLG approach. The same is true for “study tours” which are perceived as part of a comprehensive process closely linked to in country DLG processes and reform perspectives.
It became very clear, that the DLGN ‘learning project approach’ was essential to create a sound network dynamic with broad based participation, contribution to and ownership with results, and to develop a common understanding and shared vision which is setting the agenda for future direction, action. It prepared the ground for integrating or reinforcing elaborated standards and tools into future practice and to continue joint learning.
Building on this shared vision inter-linkages and future collaboration between different learning projects became evident. Social inclusion was confirmed as a basic working principle. Reducing exclusion of minorities, poor, and women is fundamental in all countries and should be systematically mainstreamed in our DLG work. The LPs will jointly: i) integrate the dimension of social inclusion more systematically into LGA tools and support institutionalization in the operations; ii) prepare a combined or comprehensive set of analytical tools which can be used for political context analysis, local governance assessments, power analysis and actor mapping at different government tiers; iii) explore examples that enable local governments to finance social inclusive measures in a sustainable way and support application in operations.
Social Inclusion: while discussing on local governance principles and in particular on social inclusion the importance and usefulness of human rights as key reference for our work was again confirmed. International human rights standards and national HR frameworks (e.g. the rights of different marginalized groups) provide a generally binding reference frame which can serve as an entry point for SDC policy dialogue, support to policy reforms and implementation at central level and locally, with local governments and citizens. Further, I learned about concrete examples of SI local development planning and monitoring, key success factors and challenges for strategic SI interventions.
NALAS fair: This was for me an interesting example of peer learning among municipalities. Particularly interesting was the concept to couple their presentation via booths with a series of workshops where they introduced interesting innovations and referred back to their particular booth. I also learned about do’s and don’ts in local government benchmarking and about potentials of e-governance, e.g. access for marginalized groups to vital information.
I experienced social reporting as a great tool for stimulating reflection on the workshops by a broad range of participants, giving ‘a voice and face’ to many of them and contributing to the network dynamic and cohesion (it is a report of and by almost all participants). A challenge is certainly to make sure that most relevant discussions, conclusions and lessons are captured and to provide a synthesized overview and analysis.

Valbona Karakaci

My personal main learning from the f2f is:

There is a lot of experience in the field and not always decision and visions are reflecting these great capitals…
Being involved on the political affair not necessary means to be exposed to a risk, but I am still wondering if SDC would like that for its programmes.
Better guidelines make life easier in the field if they are developed and shared jointly on the vertical (hierarchical level) and horizontal level (exchanged and contextualized).

Preeta Lall

My personal main learning from the f2f is:

The motivation of local governments to take social inclusion concerns on board (beyond the fact that is usually their stated mandate). The reasons were very different in the Bosnia Herzegovina case and the Bangladesh case. This in turn, made a good case for a political economy analysis to be taken up to understand the drivers that contribute to the enabling environment.
The case for political economy analysis and the methods shared for undertaking power analysis particularly the Power Cube and the Power Map.
The methods deployed by the F2F for reporting proceedings, impressions and feedback for preparing a comprehensive report and provide good institutional memory.
The steps in Municipal Benchmarking that were shared in the NEXPO were useful and complemented the learning on local government assessments,
The range of activities that Associations of Municipalities in the region are taking up and their diverse methods for revenue generation.

Annonciata Ndikumasabo

My personal main learning from the f2f is:

Relevant insights on core subjects to decentralizations programs as municipal finances (municipal own revenues are likely to improve the autonomy and fiscal base of municipalities), governance assessment tools( not tailor-made but context specific, the tool used in Burundi is on track as far as the general principles are concerned), benchmarking, social inclusion (engaging with actors in the PCM stages, giving voice to the disadvantaged and including their needs in planning is very determining) and power relations analysis (good analysis of different forms, spaces and level of power allows a better understanding of how power influences inequalities, exclusion and injustices.
Confirmation that decentralization programs are not finally to be banned from SDC interventions.
The importance of associations of municipalities in dealing with common challenges for which it is sometimes difficult to find solutions locally (at the municipal level) and their capacity to act as catalysts of stabilization.

Norbert Pijls

My personal main learning from the f2f is:

That the DLGN network offers a lot of very good, relevant and applicable expertise for strengthening local governments and decentralization processes. I should not hesitate contact people I have met at the F2F meeting.
That assistance to performance based grants systems could be an interesting topic for the next phase of the LOGOS project in Kosovo.
That I should follow up on our activities that are implemented to up date the property registers with a meeting with mayors in which I should explain them that it is now already time to come up with a spending plan for those extra collected taxes in 2011. With a good spending plan we will be better able to convince citizens why they should pay and/or inform them what happens with their taxes.

Vesna Roch

My personal main learning from the f2f is:

Local Governance Assessment (LGA): it is important to ensure a participatory definition of the improvement measures as part of the LGA process. This helps create ownership by the different stakeholders involved in the process.
Social inclusion: a strategy of ‘positive discrimination’ is often required for social inclusion. Nevertheless, it is not easy for the elected councilors to follow this strategy since they say that to them, all voters are equally important, regardless of their social identities and positions.
Election Support: Long term commitment in electoral support processes is crucial, since it allows building in-house capacity and developing mutual trust with national and local NGOs. It also permits the building of institutional memory and in-depth knowledge of the local context.
Benchmarking (NALAS conference): Local government associations can get multiple benefits when applying the tool of benchmarking: (1) building a common understanding on what are the criteria for good service delivery, (2) comparing among local municipalities and assess their own performance, (3) identifying best performing local governments who can serve as example for others and (4) using the collected data as a baseline to measure the effectiveness of capacity building.

Marcelo Rojas

My personal main learning from the f2f is:

La importancia que tiene la incidencia en políticas públicas para promover un desarrollo local que se visibilice en mejores bienes y servicios para la población. Esto implica también incidir en los niveles de gobierno para promover un trabajo coordinado entre ellos.
La gobernabilidad es un elemento principal para que un proceso de descentralización funcione de manera efectiva. Solamente con gobiernos municipales capaces se podrá responder de manera efectiva a las demandas ciudadanas por más y mejores servicios y sólo así una propuesta de desarrollo estratégico puede llevarse adelante.
El municipio es el nivel en el que realmente pueden plasmarse mejores condiciones de vida para la población. Esto es un impulso para seguir lidiando en favor de lo municipal en Bolivia, ya que desde el nivel nacional se intenta cada vez más debilitar lo local, a través de una recentralización de los recursos que los municipios reciben por transferencias y de las decisiones ciudadanas.
El uso de los recursos multimedia para la presentación periódica de resultados y contribuciones a efectos se hace cada vez más importante, y los proyectos deben aprovecharlos siendo muy cuidadosos en los productos que generen.

Irina Skaliy

My personal main learning from the f2f is:

Presenting the results of the project to the donors not by text is very crucial and should be very well elaborated;
There is a global trend of providing general development grants for municipalities instead of direct project funding. However, the scheme is not applicable in all countries and highly depends upon the political readiness of central and local authorities, as well as the budget system of the country. In Ukraine, for example, UNDP promotes participatory approach by providing direct seed grants to the community based organizations, including the funds received from local authorities, for the implementation of the local initiatives to ensure their optimized utilization and transparent decision-making process;
International development agencies use a performance based grants system as an incentive to catalyze a spirit of local governance performance. They should carefully engage in piloting of the system and under a condition there is a mandate of the government and it is within existing policy framework;
By providing any kind of the financial support to the national/local government, international development agencies interfere into the domestic policies. However, it is also a method to implement democratic principles into the political system.

Tirtha Sarathi Sikder

My personal main learning from the f2f is:

Learnt the areas of improvement Sharique’s practices (‘benchmarking’ in local governance self-assessment and ‘tracking the improvement of livelihood of individual citizens’ with regard to monitoring of social inclusion in local governance).
Learnt the ‘diversity and unity’ of SDC’s local governance programming. Different perspectives of HQ, COOFs and partners were well understood in particular.
Learnt the potential advocacy roles of ‘the association of municipalities at regional level (ref: Nalas) with regard to strengthening the local governance in the member country and also the regional integration process. South Asia can have that kind of association which might influence the policy making process in the member countries with regard to good local governance, and also contribute to revitalizing the SAARC.

Romana Tedeschi

My personal main learning from the f2f is:

As a member of the steering group that planned the event, I am pleased to see that the alignment of the SDC F2F event with the NALAS conference has proven to be right. Many colleagues confirmed that the participation at the NEXPO fair and the different conferences and presentations provided valuable insights that inspired for further use and consideration in their individual strategic and operational work.
As one of the thematic responsible persons of the Western Balkan division for DLG, I was encouraged to see that the topics of the learning projects were discussed with a lot of interest and engagement, confirming also their importance. The (intermediate) results of the learning projects will very much facilitate our process on division level in further developing innovative approaches in supporting municipal developments. The participation of our colleagues from the Cooperation Offices of the region was thus very important in order to be able to follow-up on these issues / discussions.
As a co-owner of the learning project ‘Sustainable Municipal Finances’, I was, inter alia, very interested to hear about the experience made by the team Bangladesh regarding the application of the different learning project methodologies. This short feedback by Jens Engeli, who was involved in all types of case study developments, was very illustrative. It reflected the pros and cons of each method depending on the aim. If the occasion of a case study elaboration is used also as a learning moment it might be useful to elaborate the cases in a more consultative reflection process with different steps of peer reviews, including finalization of the case by the programme manager themselves, which is obviously more time consuming. If only little time is available for a case study elaboration less extensive methodologies might be more appropriate.
As a new member of the dlgn, having participated the first time in a F2F event, I see a great added value of such a F2F event. After having worked virtually on different learning projects for some time, a face-to face meeting is important to discuss issues also in a broader plenum. Such an event marks an important milestone in a thematic development process, where common understanding can be built. I believe that such F2F exchanges will be a motor for the network and are necessary to nurture the network in order to keep it vivid. Besides, communication is just much easier if one knows the counterparts and if communication is facilitated through regular encounters.

Petar Vasilev

My personal main learning from the f2f is:

New knowledge gained on the performance based grants. This modality can be used to help the municipalities break the vicious circle of underdevelopment and lack of capacity. The PBGS adheres to the liberalism ideology, or makes the municipal administrations compete for additional grants. Such a system can be applied where the setting is conducive both on central and local levels – this is essential to successful application.
Learn book – a user friendly application designed to facilitate learning processes. Its interactive design makes it appealing for the possible users. Information is presented in a concise and effective manner.
Power map – tool used to analyze the power relations. Application of such a tool before project formulation could answer the question whether SDC should embark in a specific intervention. It is simple, provides a clear overview of formal and hidden relations and is not time consuming, which makes it very practical to use.

Rudi von Planta

My personal main learning from the f2f is:

Get to know different Local Governance Assessment Tools; better understand the various aspects an LGA can assess; discussing a possible roster for LGA in SDC.
In depth discussions on topic and different cases studies “Sustainable municipal finances”, interesting and well initiated process to achieving SDC-wide recommendations in this field.
Great opportunity to exchange with SDC-governance-specialists worldwide, to learn more about their work and approaches and to promote own ones. Perfect networking atmosphere, very well organized by SDC dlgn responsibles.