EAST AFRICA COMMUNITY MINISTERS TO MEET IN KAMPALA, UGANDA, NEXT WEEK TO EXPLORE

WAYS TO ACHIEVE MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS, IMPROVE LOCAL SERVICE DELIVERY

Ministers in charge of local governance from five East African Community (EAC) countries will gather in Kampala, Uganda, from 5 to 6 March to consider how their countries can work together to improve service delivery at local level and help achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The workshop will also bring together senior public servants, chairpersons and executive secretaries of local government associations, women leaders in local governments and representatives of international organizations, including the United Nations system.

Participants will share information and best practices on local governance issues, as well as on their policies and strategies for achieving the Millennium Development Goals.  They will identify ways in which they can mutually complement local governance policies, systems and actions to improve the delivery of public goods and services, including education, health, water, justice security, law and order, transport and environmental protection, in each of their countries.

“The exchange of knowledge, information and experiences, is critical if the EAC countries are to address common challenges and deliver more effective and efficient services to citizens -- a crucial factor to eradicate poverty and achieve the MDGs,” said John-Mary Kauzya, Chief, Governance and Public Administration Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

The East African Community is an intergovernmental organization comprised of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, the United Republic of Tanzania and Uganda.

The Kampala meeting is part of the United Nations sustained support to the decentralization process in Africa, through the work of its agencies and programmes, including the Department of Economic and Social Affairs and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The United Nations support in past years has been “instrumental in galvanizing and harmonizing the decentralization outlook among African ministers and other local stakeholders”, said Major General Kahinda Otafiire, the former Minister of Local Government of Uganda.  Adolf Mwesige, the new Minister of Local Government, expects participants to come out from the conference with practical and implementable solutions.

The workshop is organized by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs in cooperation with the Ministry of Local Government of Uganda and the United Nations Development Programme.

For further information, please visit http://www.unpan.org/Regions/Global/Events/Conferences/tabid/458/mctl/EventDetails/ModuleID/1510/ItemID/1250/language/en-US/Default.aspx, or contact John-Mary Kauzya, Chief Governance and Public Administration Division, United Nations, tel: +1 212 963 1973, e-mail: kauzya@un.org; or Patrick K. Mutabwire, Commissioner Local Councils Development, Ministry of Local Government of Uganda, tel: +256 414 258100, e-mail: pmutabwire@molg.go.ug, pmutabwire@yahoo.co.uk; or Mary Symmonds, Country Director, United Nations Development Programme, tel: +256 414 233440/1/2/5, e‑mail: mary.symmonds@undp.org.

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For information media • not an official record