SAARC Local Governance Forum
A Step towards the Future

Concept Note
Introduction
The first decade of the 21st century is witnessing a trend that may change the geo-political and geo-economic architecture of South Asia. While the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is still growing wings to fly, the advent of democratic regimes in Pakistan, Nepal and Bhutan and the rise of India as an industrial powerhouse may spur South Asia to move from narrow bilateralism to wider regionalism and multilateralism. With the focus shifting from being the hub of poverty, demographic explosion and low human resources development to the new potential zone of economic prosperity and democratic polity, South Asia has come a long way. Though terrorism continues to cast dark shadow over the region, South Asia has put in place institutions of regional cooperation that may place it on road to development.The SAARC Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) is only the first stage on the road to deepening cooperation. Integration of the infrastructure of the region and strengthening of the transportation, transit and communication links across the region are very much on SAARC's agenda.

South Asia is linked through bonds of geography, history, culture, religion and national aspirations. There are certain unchangeable and inescapable regional realities. The first is India’s preponderance over all others in South Asia, based on size, resources, development and power, allied to influence. A second is India’s unique centrality. No two countries can interact with each other without touching or crossing Indian land, sea or air space. Also,  with each of its  neighbours, India has special ties—whether of ethnicity, language, culture, common historical experience or shared  access to and dependence upon vital natural resources—of a character and to a degree of intensity not shared by any two others. A third reality is the co-terminality of the national borders of regional member-states with those great natural physical barriers which encompass South Asia—the Himalayas and the Indian Ocean. As Lakshman Kadirgamar, former Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister used to say, “At its hub lies regionally preponderant India. Radiating as spokes are India’s neighbours with each of whom India shares land or maritime borders, but no two others are thus joined without at the same time touching India also.”

Regional organisations have come into being with the earnest objective of integration and unity in the increasingly interdependent world. Such has been the success stories of some regional groupings that it has changed the face of that region beyond recognition. SAARC has trailed other groupings for reasons not beyond comprehension. Covering a population of 1.5 billion, SAARC is the largest regional organisation in the world in terms of population. It was formed to promote the welfare of the people of the region by accelerating economic growth, social progress and cultural development through cooperation in agriculture, health, technology and human resource development. But the volatility existent in South Asia has more often than not proved to be a roadblock in the absolute effectiveness of their work. Existing border tensions, water sharing disputes, insurgency, corrupt monarchy, separatist movement, and mutual suspicion have played havoc with the original mission of SAARC. But that is bound to change over a period. If a war-torn Europe for centuries can come together, why cannot South Asia that share similar civilizational strengths?

Local governance is the bedrock of sustainable democracy. A responsive and accountable local government and a vibrant civil society will go a long way to strengthen the roots of democracy. Decentralisation has become pivotal to development, effectiveness and inclusiveness in South Asia. While India has exemplified a promising model in the field of decentralizaed governance, Pakistan has also reserved seats for women in the local government institutions to the tune of one-third, the way India has. Sri Lanka has shown interest in learning from the Indian experience in devolution of powers. Nepal and Bhutan, neo-democracies, will benefit from the Indian model.

Why SAARC Local Governance Forum?
At this juncture a SAARC Local Governance Forum would be timely as it will not only strengthen the roots of nascent democracies in Nepal, Afghanistan and Bhutan, it will also create mechanisms and institutions to learn from the experiences of each other. The Forum will focus its efforts on appraisal, rejuvenation and reinvention of grassroots democracy as also on capacity building of elected representatives and the service delivery work of elected bodies. The civil society component of the SAARC Local Governance Forum will supplement the efforts of governmental organizations.

Amidst criticism of SAARC being far behind its European, African, South American and other Asian counterparts, the establishment of the SAARC Local Governance Forum would prove to a revitalizing agent. For the members of the local governments to meet, discuss, exchange and share the best practices and emerging trends in the field of grassroots democracy will definitely be a fruitful outcome. This could bring about a much-needed break from the stagnation that the regional organisation is facing at this point of time.

This can also serve as a forum to discuss the gender disparities in the local governments of the member nations. For countries such as Afghanistan, Nepal and Bhutan an effective local governance system is important for reconstruction and consolidation of democracy.

Local governance has made valuable contributions to status improvement, structural democratisation, social broadening of representation, widening of functional scope and improving of financial resources. However, efficacy of its democratic and developmental role needs to be enhanced substantially-a SAARC Local Governance Forum seems to be the need of the moment, as it would be free from the clutches of border, water and political disputes.

Vision & Mission
The SAARC Local Governance Forum aims to deepen democracy by promoting decentralized governance, women’s empowerment, accountability and transparency. Devolution of power to the local governance institutions alone can make governance deeper and extensive. 
 
SAARC Local Governance Forum will reinvigorate SAARC, give it institutional depth and promote people-to-people interactions.

activities
To fulfill the above mentioned mission and goals the SAARC-LGF would pursue the following activities

•	SAARC countries are at varying stages of democratic decentralization. Their experiences can be easily shared and replicated. As Kamal Siddqui states, "there exists now a rich store of experience in all aspects of local government system in south Asia. Many experiments in local governments have been conducted since British rule in the sub continent. It is by now well known what succeeds and what does not in the concrete conditions of South Asia. It would be prudent and practical to draw from the experiences and use these with suitable modifications according to respective country requirements."
.	Building alliances, partnerships and networks with academic centers, research institutions and civil society organisations engage in study, research and advocacy in the field of local self-government
•	Formal institutional linkages between research institutions working in the area of local government in the SAARC countries.
•	Exchange of the research findings/ best practices and exchange visits of elected representatives, functionaries, researchers and activists.
•	Holding conferences and meetings on different aspects of local democracy, governance, gender budgeting.
•	SAARC Local Government Update It will be a bi-monthly newsletter cataloguing developments in the field of local government, decentralization. It will also profile success stories and interviews with elected representatives.
•	Website The Forum will have a dedicated website highlighting common concerns in the SAARC countries as well as international institutions.

The Secretariat
The SAARC Secretariat can play a key role-defined in terms of procuring training material, organizing seminars, creating databanks, commissioning specific studies and arranging for training and exchange programmes.