Dear Friends and Colleagues-
The Local Public Sector Alliance was launched in June 2021 to promote inclusive, equitable societies and sustainable global development by enhancing the understanding of decentralization and localization as complex, cross-cutting and multi-stakeholder reforms.
However, it wasn’t until January 2022 that the Alliance was formally organized, incorporated and received official recognition as a not-for-profit organization. As such, we only recently celebrated the Alliance’s official first birthday. So much has been accomplished in our first year! In fact, the Alliance grew from a handful of professionals at the beginning of 2021 to over 1000 members in less than two years!
As a global professional network, and as an alliance of advocates for inclusive and efficient decentralization and localization, the activities of the Local Public Sector Alliance are shaped almost exclusively by the commitment and contributions of its members, who volunteer to share their knowledge and enthusiasm about different aspects of decentralization, local governance, and localized development with others in the global Community of Practice. A such, we are incredibly grateful to the contributions of time, energy, and support received from our Board of Directors, our Advisory Board Chair and members, our program team (including our NYU Capstone researchers), the leaders of our nascent Expert Working Groups, our webinar panelists and participants, our members, and our partner organizations for making our first year a great success.
We are further deeply grateful to Jennifer Obado Joel and her colleagues at the Gender Equity and Governance Program at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation for their generous operating support. The Hewlett Foundation’s financial support to the Alliance for 2022/23 has allowed us to lay a solid foundation for the organization during its first year.
Building on our efforts and achievements during our first official year in existence, we look forward to working with you and the global Community of Practice on decentralization and local governance as we continue to “elevate the debate” on decentralization and localization around the world.
Jamie Boex, Executive Director
Serdar Yilmaz, Advisory Board Chair
Local Public Sector Alliance
LPSA Accomplishments 2022
The Local Public Sector Alliance’s activities are grouped into three inter-related programs, which aim to: (1) advance the state of knowledge on decentralization and localization; (2) ensure a more informed, interconnected global Community of Practice, where knowledge sharing takes place across countries, disciplines, institutions and sectors; and (3) engage in convening, outreach and field building to achieve a larger, more empowered global Community of Practice, with country-level champions well-positioned to elevate the debate on decentralization and localization.
Program 1. Knowledge development
- Launched LPSA Primer on decentralization, multilevel governance and intergovernmental relations
- Reviewed and updated the Local Governance Institutions Comparative Assessment (LoGICA) Framework with extensive Community of Practice input
- Initiated LoGICA reviews in Africa and Asia based on the updated LoGICA framework, wit the aim of preparing regional State of Local Governance Institutions (SOLGI) assessments in Africa and Asia. The countries included in the first round of SolGI/Africa are Ethiopia, Malawi, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. Bangladesh, East Timor, India, Indonesia, and Nepal are included as part of the State of Local Governance Institutions Assessment in Asia.
Program 2. Knowledge sharing
- Growing Decentralization.Net as the leading online platform for the decentralization and localization Community of Practice. The platform served 34,000 web sessions to 26,000 users around the world (an 80% annual increase). The LPSA Team posted 120 new blog posts in 2022.
- Completed LPSA’s Global Webinar Series 2021/22, which included knowledge weeks on Asia (September 2021), Sub-Saharan Africa (December 2021), Middle East and North Africa (March 2022), Latin American and the Caribbean (July 2022), and Europe and Central Asia (November 2022). The Alliance’s Global Webinar Series attracted 674 webinar registrants (353 total attendees) in 2022. LPSA webinar content attracted 1,868 views on YouTube in 2022.
- Launched our “Elevating the Decentralization Debate” webinar series by bringing together global experts to discuss the global state of knowledge on local governance indicators (October 2022: 220 registrants; 120 attendees)
- By invitation from UNDP/Moldova and the Government of Moldova, LPSA co-hosted a webinar on territorial-administrative reforms in Moldova, opened by Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilița (November 2022)
- Together with The Hague Academy of Local Governance, LPSA developed and launched free online mini course Decentralization and Localization: Why and What?
- LPSA formalized its Membership Policy and achieved 1,071 members / subscribers. In 2022, the Alliance sent out 6 bimonthly newsletters and 6 special announcements.
Program 3. Convening, outreach and field-building
- LPSA concluded partnerships with The Hague Academy of Local Governance; Forum of Federations; and the DeLOG Development Partner Network.
- Provided regional Outstanding Paper Awards (2021/22) to young scholars for outstanding research on decentralization and local governance in Asia, Africa, LAC and ECA Regions.
- LPSA piloted the establishment of a regional LPSA Expert Working Groups in Asia (in partnership with ADB, The Asia Foundation, and Oxford Policy Management) and ECA Region (in partnership with NALAS).
Program “0”. Inclusive governance of the Alliance
- Incorporated as non-for-profit (January 2022) and received designation as 501(c)3 entity (March 2022)
- Established Bylaws, developed LPSA’s Strategic Plan 2022-2026, and adopted LPSA’s Mission, Vision, Principles and Policies
- Established a globally inclusive, highly expert, and active Board of Directors and Board of Advisors
- Secured general operating grant for 2022/23 from the Hewlett Foundation and secured a Grant Agreement with UNCDF for support of nascent Africa Expert Working Group. LPSA is working towards achieving long-term financial sustainability.
- Prepared LPSA Annual Workplan 2022/23, including formulation of details sub-programs. Subprogram 3.3 (Expert Working Groups) aims to establish regional and thematic Expert Working Groups.
Finally, at LPSA’s first birthday, our birthday cake was a layer cake. We hope that by our second birthday, our organization warrants a marble cake. 🙂
