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In conflict, post-conflict or protracted crisis, local governance systems and communities face many challenges, including disruption of service delivery, limited resources and capacities, lack of job opportunities and livelihoods. This threatens the legitimacy of institutions and social cohesion within societies, thereby leading to further instability and violence. UNDP and the European Union have partnered on initiatives that aim at strengthening the resilience of local actors and communities to promote resilience, stability and recovery. A few examples include UNDP interventions in Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen and Libya.

Local approaches to resilience, stability and recovery

It is key to support local authorities to effectively and efficiently perform their functions and to promote inclusive local economies. While these local approaches are tailored to the specific context, they usually encompass the following three interconnected components:

• Supporting local governance systems to identify the needs of the populations in a participatory manner, promoting a more accountable and efficient use of resources and planning;
• Strengthening local service delivery and enhance access to basic services to the most vulnerable groups;
• Reinforcing local economic resilience by promoting local development, supporting livelihoods and enabling a better environment for economic recovery.

Such programmes are centred on engagement with citizens to promote inclusion and greater accountability, to encourage dialogue and build trust, as well and to empower communities to lead recovery and build resilience. Engagement with the private sector and especially micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) is of essence to generate more sustainable economic recovery opportunities. Strong analyses to ensure conflict-sensitive interventions, and to understand and support central-local and horizontal relationship is also essential.

Objective of the workshop

Exchange lessons learned from EU and UNDP approaches to local governance and local development programmes to strengthen resilience, stability and recovery – especially drawing from the experiences in Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen and Libya. The workshop will:

• Share lessons learned and experience from designing and implementing such programmes in conflict, post-conflict and protracted-crisis settings;
• Identify common approaches, tools, parameters and partners;
• Showcase results and success stories.

This exchange will help inform the design and implementation of current and future programmes, and provide an opportunity to review related EU-UNDP partnerships and explore areas for future collaboration.