In general, the workshop was well received by all participants. There was consensus that whilst participants had already been exposed to participatory budgeting in their respective countries, the information provided was quite useful. The idea of having a multi-regional event was considered highly positive (i.e. participants from Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe) despite the communications problems. Field trips were considered the highest point of the workshop. Most participants felt that having direct discussions with the actors enhanced their understanding of the intricacies of PB. One participant summarized her experiences thus, “PB is not an answer to state failure, but a strength to modern democracy”. Finally, participants requested the World Bank to provide continued support to the promotion of PB in various countries and to support inter-regional exchanges.

Ministerial Conference on: Leadership Capacity Building for Decentralized Governance and Poverty Reduction in Africa: 30 August - 1 September 2006, Maseru, Lesotho

The Ministerial Conference on: Leadership Capacity Building for Decentralized Governance and Poverty Reduction in Africa was held at the Manthabiseng Convention Centre in Maseru, the Kingdom of Lesotho from the 30th of August 1st September 2006 in Maseru, Lesotho. The conference, hosted by Lesotho's Ministry of Local Government, was organised by MDP-ESA in cooperation with the United Nations' Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) and UNDP.

The conference whose theme was “strengthening competencies for participatory planning and budgeting for effective local level delivery of services” is a direct follow-up to the previous conferences, seminars, workshops, and meetings aimed at strengthening local governance in Africa. Notable among these activities are the following: the Ministerial Conference on Leadership Capacity Building for Decentralized Governance and Poverty Reduction for Sub-Saharan Africa held in Kigali, Rwanda (06 08 June 2005), The Conference on Decentralization: the New Dimension of Peace, Democracy, and Development” organized, jointly by the Regional Assembly of Tuscany, the Conference of European Regional Assemblies (CALRE) and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) which was held in Florence (Italy) in September 2004, the Victoria Falls conference in 1999, the Windhoek Africities Summit in 2000, the Yaoundé Africities Summit 2003, the Mombassa Conference of 2004, and the Nairobi Consultative Meeting.

The conference is also a direct response to the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) which is an African-owned development driven program for eradicating poverty and getting on the path of sustainable development on the continent. The NEPAD has among its cardinal components, strengthening good governance which has also a sub-program on leadership capacity development.

The principal objective of the conference was to give opportunity to ministers in charge of local governance, high level managers of public institutions and/or programs related to decentralized governance as well as national, continental, and international Associations of local Authorities, to review and exchange experiences of leadership in Africa with respect to participation of citizens in local level development planning and budgeting and to discuss issues related to capacity-building for decentralized governance and poverty reduction.

In all the ministerial conference was attended by more than 150 participants including ministers of local government, permanent secretaries, senior government officials and members from local authorities. The countries represented at the conference included Benin, Botswana, Cameroon, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Also represented were UNDESA, UNCDF, CLGF and UCLGA.