AGSL is fully integrated within the overall UNDP Country Programme and its activities are prioritized and coordinated in accordance with the objectives and strategy of the UNDP Governance programme. AGSL coordinates with and builds upon the achievements of other UNDP initiatives such as i) the CADREP Initiative that aims to develop the capacity of government and civil society in the planning, management and delivery of recovery and reconstruction services on a sustainable basis; ii) the STRONG PLACES Project that supports and develops the institutional and human capacity of small NGOs and COBs in the Southern Province, iii) the Disaster Management program and iv) the MDG Country Support Programme which constitutes a concerted effort in support of policies, programmes, and institutional capacity development that will facilitate the government of Sri Lanka in its efforts to achieve the MDGs. AGSL actively cooperates with other UN agencies working in the Southern Province in order to avoid duplication of efforts and exploit programmatic synergies.
The broad elements of the Governments development strategy can be found in various documents issued since 2004. The latest, a ten year development framework for Sri Lanka (2006-2016), Mahinda Chintana: Vision for a new Sri Lanka, re-emphasises the Government’s pro-poor and pro-growth strategy to reduce poverty. The aim is to accelerate economic growth and to re-balance the allocation of resources towards the development of less developed provinces, including the districts affected by man made and natural disasters. AGSL, in line with the Government’s ten years framework for development and the findings presented in the UN Common Country Assessment (CCA) fosters the capacity of local level Government for improved local level planning and public service delivery in specific prioritised areas of intervention. The CCA clearly states that ‘accountability for public service delivery and local level planning is best located as close as possible to the point of delivery and despite the mandate of local government bodies to deliver basic services critical for the realisation of the MDGs, there are currently serious capacity constraints facing these institutions’.
AGSL promotes a new type of multilateralism through which the United Nations system works with Governments at all levels to promote the active participation of local communities and social actors from the South and the North. It actively supports the role of local communities as crucial political subjects in the development process facilitating an active dialogue with governmental structures and international organizations. It values and promotes local natural, historic, cultural and knowledge-based resources and support innovative, sustainable and long term partnerships with a global system of cooperation that links local, national and international actors towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals at local level.
AGSL operates through Working Groups established at the national (National Coordination Committee/NCC), Provincial (Province Working Groups/PWGs) and local level (Local/Technical Working Groups/LWGs). These WGs are established by and through the local authorities, building upon existing governmental structures but emphasizing their cross sectoral and integrative nature. They include representative from various technical sectors and allow participation from the civil society and the private sector. WGs are the basis for real territorial development where needs are analysed and respective government development plans are complemented by civil society and private sector contributions. It is also the forum through which local authorities do interact with international development possibilities, initiate partnerships and receive complementary funding to address the most pressing developing needs in their territory. The PWGs consist of all main Provincial Ministries and Departments, crucial civil society and private sector actors. Normally, t he Head of the provincial administration, the Chief Secretary, also heads the PWG.
The PWGs merge the participatory plans derived from the local level into strategic development initiatives directed to an equitable and sustainable development of the Province. The PWGs actively promote and foster different strategic interventions in the priority areas of the programme. They coordinate with all relevant partners, be it international, national or local entities. The LWGs ensure an inclusive participation of all concerned sectors at the local level and implement concrete development activities that have been prioritized through the participatory planning cycles. AGSL creates an enabling managerial framework that will allow local and international actors to capitalise to the maximum from their partnerships and ensure efficiency and avoidance of duplication of all efforts directed towards the development of the participating Provinces.
Main strategic elements of AGSL:
Partnership Building
A central element of AGSL’s strategy is the establishment of decentralised partnerships. Through its international services and framework programmes, the ART Initiative provides technical and organizational support to local government entities and communities (including their national and international associations) to establish decentralized co-operation partnerships oriented towards the Millennium Development Goals. Decentralized co-operation projects serve as laboratories for innovation in the various fields of human development, driven by a spirit of shared dignity and mutual learning. They also serve to promote social-solidarity, scientific, cultural, professional, training, economic and commercial initiatives and exchanges that nurture an open and internationalised vision of development. Decentralised partnerships are part of an approach that places dialogue at the centre of the development process but at the same time strives for achieving concrete results. It builds on the principles of consultation amongst and complementarities between partners. AGSL will promote and facilitate innovative partnerships for development and selected development interventions in the fields of Local Governance, Local Economic Development Education and Culture, Local Health and Welfare Systems and Environmental Protection and Territorial Planning.
Access to International Networks and Centres of Excellence
AGSL facilitates the active involvement of traditional and non-traditional development partners (bilateral donors, UN agencies, regional and city governments, associations, universities, private sector organisations and firms, citizens groups and any others) who wish to contribute to Sri Lanka’s local human development. The ART Initiative counts on an international network of partners ready to provide expertise, technical knowledge and funding in support of AGSL interventions in the country. Access to these networks and coordination of partners is facilitated through UNDP’s Hub for Innovative Partnerships at its Geneva headquarters which forms part of the Office for Bureau for Resources and Strategic Programmes (BRSP) in New York and provides support to the UNDP country offices.
Exchange of Experience, Technical Expertise, Technology and Promotion of Innovation
AGSL’s partners contribute through financial resources and the provision of targeted technical expertise and technology in the identified areas of cooperation/intervention. Local entities in the participating provinces thereby get access to latest technologies and advanced methodologies and approaches for social and economic development. An exchange of experience between centres of excellence in Europe and their respective counterparts in Sri Lanka enriches the various strategic interventions prioritised by the programme working groups and implemented in the framework of AGSL. AGSL furthermore promotes south-south and north-south cooperation for innovations for human development.
Capacity Development
Capacity Development for Local authorities and Civil Society is a main strategic focus of ART GOLD programmes. As AGSL operates through the local government structures at provincial and local level there is an inbuilt mechanism that guarantees an ongoing capacity building of the different local government officers participating in the Working Groups in one way or the other. Working groups do get exposed to a wide variety of different issues as they manage the internationalization of their local development plans in cooperation with the decentralized partners. AGSL also conducts targeted capacity building for local authorities and civil society actors in areas such as participatory needs assessments, territorial development planning; coordination, harmonization and monitoring of development interventions; partnership building; promotion of local economic development and others as needs will be identified by the programme working groups.
Linkages and Coordination between Local Development Efforts and National Policies
AGSL conducts activities at local, provincial and national level, taking into account the evident interdependency of these levels of action to implement sustainable processes of local development. The NCC guides the Working Groups regarding national polices and will create an enabling and receptive environment for best practices and strategic solutions implemented at the local level to meaningfully enrich the policy process at national level. AGSL will work towards the creation of a virtual and physical space for interaction and between the actors of all different levels.
Integrated Territorial Development
AGSL promotes an integrated territorial development of the participating provinces. This is a proactive approach geared toward shaping the future of regions or larger territories and can to certain extend referred to as spatial planning. It goes beyond traditional regional policy as it brings together economic, social and environment opportunities and concerns as well as other factors of influence, how different places function and are connected, and what conditions are offered for living and doing business. Territorial development strategies help to explore potentials for economic growth and decent jobs and at the same time support an enhanced quality of life by helping to meet the challenge of sustainable development.
Promotion of Territorial Competitiveness
An area/a territory becomes competitive if it is able to face market competition whilst at the same time ensuring environmental, social and cultural sustainability, based on the dual approach of networking and inter-territorial relationships. That includes: i) taking the area’s resources into account in a bid for overall coherence; ii) involving different players and institutions; iii) integrating business sectors into an innovation dynamic; iv) cooperating with other areas and linking up with regional and national policies as well as the global context. In that context AGSL will support the local actors to acquire a set of different skills: i) the skill to assess their environment; ii) to take joint actions; iii) to create links between sectors by assuring that maximum added value is retained; and iv) to liaise with other areas in the country and abroad.
Inclusiveness – Government, Civil Society and Private Sector
The ART GOLD approach is based on inclusive and participatory principles. All actors of a territory should be allowed to take part in the decision-making processes and thereby shape their own future. The Government has acknowledged that the ambitious goals laid out in the Mahinda Chintana can only be achieved if the civil society and the public sector will actively contribute towards their achievement. AGSL will foster such cooperation by providing a platform for public sector, the private sector and the civil society to work together in planning, implementation and monitoring thereby and addressing the multi-facetted and multi-dimensional development challenges of the territory.
Integration of Vulnerable Groups in the Local Development Process
All initiatives developed within the framework of AGSL pays special attention to include the poor and other vulnerable and marginalized groups of the population. AGSL initiatives do not specifically target the socially excluded or underserved areas but provide a structural response that benefits the population as a whole and at the same time integrates vulnerable areas and groups into the development process. The Programme adopts methodologies that favour the integration of vulnerable and marginalized groups of the population in the processes of local development thereby contributing to the cohesion of the social tissue.
