2017 Commonwealth Local Government Conference

he Commonwealth Local Government Conference is CLGF's flagship event, held every two years in different regions of the Commonwealth. In 2017 the CLGF conference will be held for the first time in Malta. The conference brings together some 500-600 top local government policy makers, practitioners and other key stakeholders - including heads of government, ministers, mayors and council leaders, senior officials, and partners from development agencies, academia, civil society and the finance and corporate sector. Delegates have a chance to learn about and discuss policy developments, share and learn about innovative practice and solutions to help policy makers and practitioners to improve their processes and services in their own areas.

The theme of the 2017 conference is Fit for the future: capacity and resources for effective local government. 

Having adequate resources and capacity is critical to enabling local governments to deliver on local needs and priorities and to enable them to play an integral role in responding to national, regional and global challenges. The 2017 CLGF conference will look at strategies for boosting local government’s resource base and capacity to improve performance, governance and service delivery and to ensure it is fit for purpose to meet the demands of the future.

It will look at financing mechanisms to support local government in delivering the SDGs and a better quality of life for our citizens, focussing in particular on innovations around fiscal decentralisation, working smarter through new technology, and funding to combat climate change. The recommendations will be shared at the 2018 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in the UK and help shape CLGF’s programmes and activities in supporting local governments to strengthen their performance and delivery.

As part of the development of the programme we will be commissioning a background research paper to look at the issues and explore innovative ways in which local government is responding to the challenges of delivering services effectively as well as responding to global challenges and targets.

For more information please visit;http://www.clgc2017.org/