KARACHI: Karachi, Larkana, Khairpur and Benazirabad have not been included in the new Commonwealth Local Government Funding (CLGF) project, aiming to strengthen associations and enhance contribution of local government to governance and development in Pakistan. This program worth 1.67 million pound sterling with the major part of funding from the European Union (EU), will build the capacity of associations at the provincial and national level to support local governments. Association for Development and Local Governance (ADLG), a conglomerate of four provincial local government associations and eight district councils of the country have been put in focus to get benefit from CLGF. Ramzan Awan, Secretary Local Government Sindh has revealed that these cities had not been included in the program for more than one reason, including non-submission of detailed layout of economy, capacity of bodies at provincial level, delivering for communities, with a particular focus on helping local government to work in a developmental way and due to poor follow-up approach of Sindh Local Government masters, responsible to convince international donors. The officials from Sindh Local Government did not even bother to attend an international conference held in London in 2015 on this particular matter, Ramzan lamented. Above all, non-representation of any public elected person on local government level, Sindh government had also failed to attract the attention of CLGF program, he added. The program is aimed to build the capacity of associations at provincial and national level to support local governments in Pakistan through advocacy, capacity building and training, exchange of good practice, peer support and a series of local pilot projects. The project will also be able to support the new local government associations to better represent and support their members in delivering for their communities, with a particular focus on helping local government to work in a developmental way. Urbanisation and migration, urban planning, informal settlements, formal and informal economy, disaster risk reduction and emergency planning, safety and security in cities, smart cities and ICT, financing cities, is the new agenda 2030 of Commonwealth. CLGF Deputy Secretary General, Lucy Slack who is in-charge of the program said, “The project will take a multi-stakeholder approach involving civil society and the private sector as well as the provinces, associations and local councils and help to promote a more participatory, accountable, responsive and inclusive approach in the way councils work and their processes including development planning and budgeting”.