As an alliance that champions decentralization and inclusive development, the Local Public Sector Alliance aims to organize itself in an inclusive and participatory manner.
In line with this ambition, one of the first actions of LPSA’s Board of Directors was the establishment of an Advisory Board as a mechanism for receiving regular input from the global Community of Practice on decentralization and localization.
Now, the Local Public Sector Alliance is taking the next step in ensuring the Local Public Sector Alliance is organization “of the Community of Practice, by the Community of Practice, for the Community of Practice” through the establishment of Expert Working Groups as integral part of the Local Public Sector Alliance’s organizational structure. This organizational reform is accompanied by the Alliance’s new membership policy, which allows LPSA members to identify topics, regions and sectors of interest as part of the LPSA registration process.
LPSA Expert Working Groups consist of groups of practitioners and scholars who bring together skills and expertise in a specific sub-topic or cross-cutting issue within the field of decentralization and localization. Each working group will seek to assess, advance, and share the state of global knowledge within their topic area, with the objective of providing the global community with best-practice conceptual and operational knowledge to address development challenges on that particular topic.
Expert Working Groups can focus on topic-based issues which can be regional, sectoral, or thematic in nature. Over the next few months, the Local Public Sector Alliance hopes to support the establishment of a number of regional Expert Working Groups (including in the Africa, Asia, and the MENA regions) as well as sectoral or thematic working groups (for instance, in areas such as Local democracy and inclusive governance; Community-led development; Cities and urban development; Local climate action; and Conflict and fragility). However, the formation and establishment of Expert Working Groups will be a demand-led process.
Each Expert Working Group will consist of (i) one or more (co-)chairs; (ii) representatives of organizations/institutions interested on that particular topic; (iii) researchers and practitioners with expertise in the topic; and (iv) other stakeholders with an interest in the topic.
Individuals interested in forming an Expert Working Group or joining one as a chair and/or member are encouraged to contact Serdar Yilmaz, Chairman of the Advisory Board at syilmaz@worldbank.org.
