Why Local Governments?

Local government means government at the village and district level — the level of government that is closest to the common people and closest to the everyday problems of ordinary citizens. It works on the belief that local knowledge and local interest are essential for good, democratic decision making, and that they make administration both more efficient and more people-friendly. Because it is so near to the people, it is convenient for them to approach it to get their problems solved, both quickly and at minimum cost — unlike a state or central government office that may be physically and administratively distant. This closeness is not just about convenience, though. Democracy is fundamentally about meaningful participation and about accountability, and it is at the local level that ordinary citizens can most directly be involved in decisions about their own lives, their needs, and their development — and most directly hold their representatives to account, since a local leader lives among the very people they represent. In a genuine democracy, tasks that can be performed locally should be left in the hands of local people and their own representatives, because people are far more familiar with, and far more concerned about, what their local go …