Daily Times

The Government of Balochistan has taken the lead by taking a historic step towards promoting community-led local development in the province. The Balochistan Cabinet, chaired by the Chief Minister, had approved the Community Led Local Governance (CLLG) Policy on 31 March 2023.

These views were expressed by Senior M and E Communication Specialist Europium Union Muhammad Asim Hanif in statement issued here on Wednesday. He said that the CLLG Policy regulated and encouraged greater participation of grassroots communities in the local development process, linking bottom-up identified needs and priorities, to top-down government investments.

The Policy strengthens local governance and empowers the third tier of local government, the Local Councils and the Local Communities. The Policy encourages communities to engage in local public sector development planning, financing, and implementation processes, he said. He said that The Policy was an innovative approach aimed at strengthening our local communities, though Public Private Partnership between the Local Government, the Local Council Bodies and the Mobilized Communities and Empowered Citizens.

He said that this innovative LG-PPP was triggered by the Balochistan Local Government Act (2010) Section 87 Amendment (2022), which confirms the vital institutional role that Mobilized Community Institutions (CIs) were to play in local development and local governance and introduces these Registered and Mobilized Community Institutions as partners of the Local Councils as integral part of the Balochistan Local Government system.

This Policy shows the commitment of the Balochistan Government to foster a more inclusive and participatory approach to local governance, one that fully recognizes the needs, and awakens and builds on the strengths of our communities and citizens, he mentioned.

He further said that the CLLG Policy aimed at provision to these Mobilized Communities, with holistic mix of socio-economic local development investments, ranging from Community Physical infrastructures to Technical and Vocational Training, Community Investments Funds, Income Generating Grants, support to People with Special Needs, and any other need that might be identified by a community, following the CLLG Policy procedures.

This mix of local development investments aims to lift the poor out of poverty. The Balochistan CLLG Policy is based on past experiences, especially with the European Union funded community mobilization BRACE programme, and on experiences and lessons learned from other Provinces’ community-led local development policies and community led rural development programmes, and on an understanding of Balochistan’s own institutional, socio-economic and political context, he said.

He said that the CCLG Policy was developed by the Local Government & Rural Development Department (LGRDD) in close coordination with other key Departments, like the Planning and Development Department, Finance Department, Women Development Department, Social Welfare Department and the Chief Secretary’s Office. The European Union provided Technical Assistance, implemented by DAI Global, to the LGRDD to work out the CLLG Policy and the Implementation Arrangements, he said.