Local government is the sphere of government closest to the people, providing vision and leadership for local communities and many of the basic services needed to improve their day-to-day lives and meet the Millennium Development Goals. Local government has a lot to offer in accelerating MDG progress and energizing development overall and can is the key to advance gender equality. This is what emerged from the Gender and Local Development Africa Regional Forum that took place in Freetown on 27th-28th September, 2012.

The U.N. Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), U. S. Agency for International Development (USAID), The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Citi (NYSE: C), Ford Foundation, Omidyar Network, and Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) announced today the launch of the Better Than Cash Alliance. The new initiative will call on governments, the development community and the private sector to adopt the use of electronic payments for programs that support people living in poverty—and provide resources to those who commit to make the transition.

UNCDF Programme Officer in Uganda, Jenifer Bukokhe Wakhugu, delivered the opening statement to the 8th Joint Annual Review of Decentralization (JARD) on behalf of the Public Service and Decentralization Development Partners Group.
The JARD was initiated in 2004 after 10 years of implementing the decentralization policy. It is a performance review mechanism that brings together all stakeholders from Ministries, departments, agencies, local governments, development partners and private sector to jointly assess the progress made in implementing the decentralization policy.

UNCDF’s Executive Secretary a.i, Ms. Christine Roth, visited Bhutan for the first time last week. During her permanence in Bhutan she visited Thimphu and Wangduephodrang, meeting officials from the Royal Government of Bhutan and Development Partner Agencies to discuss the future strategic joint programming of UNCDF support.
Currently, UNCDF supports the ongoing joint Local Governance Support Programme (LGSP, 2008-2013) implemented in 20 districts and 205 gewogs throughout Bhutan. It is a joint programme with other development partners who have agreed to coordinate and harmonise support in the field of decentralisation and local governance to support the 10th FYP target of poverty reduction to 15 % by 2013.