It is in these four Southeast Asian countries that decentralisation has opened up possibilities for changing local power relations—between local elites and traditional authorities on the one hand, and local movements and an engaged citizenry on the other.

This project aims at making these changes happen by empowering ordinary people to assert their rights and participate meaningfully in local governance processes.

Much assistance for local governance initiatives in Southeast Asia emphasizes building the administrative and managerial capacities of local governments. This, however, does not necessarily improve the way citizens, especially the poor, are able to be participate in the decision-making that affects their communities. The working premise of this project therefore is that the gains of decentralization can only be maximized if popular participation is institutionalized.

The program aims to build capacity for effective citizen participation in local governance to contribute to more responsive, people-centered and gender-sensitive decision-making and development planning at the local level. Our political task is to assist local movements and reformers in building strong networks and broad-based constituencies for participatory local governance.

The CPLG project is a cutting-edge initiative in many ways, because it zeros in on new democratic dynamisms at the local level. It combines cross-learning approaches, research and advocacy towards developing and promoting new context-specific mechanisms for citizen participation appropriate to each country.

What's new at CPLG