Building Local Governance Capacities in South Asia

Capacity development is indispensable for strengthening local governance and key actors within and outside the state need to be involved in the process. Capacity building of local governance institutions includes spreading political awareness among citizens, building capacities of local governments to work effectively for the people and creating a culture of inclusion in all decision-making processes.

Developing networks and collaborations at the regional and local level is one strategy to help build local governance capacities. In this context, PRIA and Local Governance Initiatives South Asia (LoGIn), Embassy of Switzerland, New Delhi, hosted a delegation comprising Mr. Phuntsho Namgay, CEO and Mr. Kunzang Thinley Tenzing, Head, Training Service Division from Local Development Learning Institute (LDLI), Thimphu, Bhutan.

Local Development Learning Institute is a recently established institution to provide capacity building courses for local governments and administrations in Bhutan as well as management training. During their India visit, the team members interacted with civil society and government training institutions to benefit from the experiences of these organizations, collect training material, identify resource persons and explore potential for partnership with Indian institutions.

The team visited PRIA on 1 November 2011 to get an overview of PRIA, its thematic and programmatic experiences on capacity building of local governance institutions and the educational programmes related to this theme. Rich discussions were held on issues common to both institutions, in particular the governance structure in Bhutan and India which have some similarities.