Skl International

Support to local democracy and local self governance is the raison d’être for SKL International. We provide know-how on policy support and practical guidance towards accountable local governance based on experiences from a wide range of projects.

Transparency, accountability and civic participation have become phrases like buzz words, but are all serious aspects that determine if a political system is truly democratic or not. SKL International provides evidence based Swedish and international experience for local management, planning and decision-making but is always building its recommendations and proposals on the local context and conditions. Interventions can be about::

• Training, internship and exchange programmes for politicians and action learning pilot projects.
• Capacity building through consultancy on the spot.
• Municipal cooperation through a strengthening of an existing association or creation of a new body for this purpose.
• Policy review related to local governance and or follow on support in drafting of legislation and regulations
• Manuals for cross-sector and sector oriented activities for local governments for example connected to the budget planning cycle.
• Guidance/coaching in gender mainstreaming and civil society dialogue.
• Guidance/coaching on design and implementation of tprocedures and systems to be established to fight corruption or through power analysis support reveal informal power centres that need to be considered in the creation of interface between party politics and local government systems.
• Evaluations of government policy or donor support for the sector

Local democracy is also about making good use of resources through citizens’ participation, which require thorough and systematic data collection to support informed decisions.

Strong local government associations (LGAs) provide their members with capacity development and other services. They also engage in national policy processes, advocating on behalf of the sub-national levels and contributing to more effective local governance.

We work with all stages of local government association development, from establishing national associations and contributing to comprehensive organizational strengthening, to providing targeted support in areas such as EU approximation and gender mainstreaming. Our technical assistance includes:

• Organisation Development (OD) reviews followed by implementation through strategic guidance and capacity building
• Strategic development through improved services, lobbying mechanisms and communication to members and other stakeholders, and
• Different methods for exchange of experiences such as study visits and on the job-training.

SALAR’s organizational set-up and experiences of interaction with the members (including delivery of services) is a significant showcase that provides an important reference in the context of support to other associations that need to develop their own solutions. These solutions build on country specific traditions and organisation of the public sector. SKL International’s involvement in countries like Albania and Serbia differs a lot from that in China, India and South Africa. To ensure quality we treat every project as unique in both proposals and assessments.