Yesterday, the 8th Annual Meeting of the Development Partners Working Group on Decentralization and Local Governance (DeLOG) took an end. The 3-day workshop co-hosted by UNCDF, UNDP and UN-Habitat, ran under the theme “Effective Multi-Level-Governance for improved development results.”

A special focus was put on the role for Decentralization and Local Governance (DLG) in the post-2015 development agenda and how it connects to the Busan Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation. Further, a close look at the vertical and horizontal cooperation, coordination and control mechanisms of a decentralized or multi-level-governance system was taken and how this can be applied to fragile contexts. Finally the event was devoted to discuss the linkages between rural and urban development in a multi-level governance setting.

The event brought together approximately 50 senior representatives from development partners and academia. The opening day featured opening remarks by Marc Bichler, Executive Secretary of UNCDF who stressed “the importance of sustainable and inclusive financing to promote sustainable and inclusive development”. The first day featured also a presentation by Nicola Crosta, UNCDF’s Head of Knowledge, Policy and Advocacy, who highlighted options for ‘localising’ the post-2015 development framework.

The following two days included a number of interactive sessions and a presentation by David Jackson, Director of UNCDF’s Local Development Finance (LDF) Practice Area, who shared UNCDF’s experience and lessons learnt in promoting multi-level governance mechanisms.

In the closing session of the meeting, Dr Joan Clos, Under Secretary General and Executive Director of UN Habitat stressed the importance of the on-going urbanization processes and advocated for the challenges of cities to be well reflected in the post-2015 development framework.