DUSHANBE, February 21, Asia-Plus - A special seminar to discuss key issues of improvement of legal foundation of activity of organs of local governance was held in Dushanbe on Tuesday, February 21.  

The seminar staged by the Urban Institute was conducted within the framework of the Public Management System Reform Strategy, which had been worked out by presidential working group under technical assistance of the World Bank and the Urban Institute Tajikistan.

Representative from the Urban Institute, Ms. Julian Pandey (phonetically spelled), telling the seminar noted that the Strategy underlined an important role of organs of local governments in a new system of public management in Tajikistan.   In this connection, one of the key objectives of it is in improving effectiveness of local governments able to guarantee providing the population with high-quality public utilities.  “For achieving this goal it is necessary to review and improve the legal foundation of activity of local governments in the country,” the Urban Institute representative said, adding that it is also related to the law on organs of local governments in settlements and villages as well as other laws regulating activities of the organs of local governments.  

In Tajikistan, the Urban Institute implements the USAID Local Government Initiative – II, which focuses its efforts on developing the capacity of local governments to deliver services and to assist the Central government in its efforts to reform local government structures. Phase II builds on the results of the first phase of the project, which operated only in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.  

The Urban Institute’s primary strategic task in Tajikistan is to assist local governments to improve their effectiveness through training and their responsiveness to citizens by taking more initiative and assuming a leadership role in community-based partnerships. UI emphasizes information exchange in order to re-orient local attitudes toward local government. The Urban Institute supports decentralization in Tajikistan through a range of support activities to educate and orient a wide array of officials and third sector representatives to basic concepts of local government. Finally, UI believes that for LGI-II to carve out its proper role in Tajikistan there is an unusually high need for coordination with donors working on community development in the country. UI seeks to have resources coordinated and to encourage other programs to include local governments in setting reform priorities.

Information of Asia-Plus: The Urban Institute (UI) was established in 1968 as a center for preparing independent nonpartisan analysis of the problems facing America''s cities and their residents.  Today, it analyzes policies, evaluate programs, and inform community development to improve social, civic, and economic well-being. The UI works in all 50 states and abroad in over 28 countries, and shares its research findings with policymakers, program administrators, business, academics, and the public online and through reports and scholarly books.