About GGLN
The GGLN was founded in 2003 as an initiative to bring civil society organisations working in the field of local governance in South Africa together to network and share information and lessons towards the goal of strengthening participatory democratic local governance. Now in its second phase (2007 – 2009), the network has taken on a more active focus on positively impacting on the local governance context in South Africa through collective learning, research, information dissemination and advocacy.
Vision
The GGLN’s vision is to create a strong civil society network that harnesses and builds the collective expertise and energy of its members to contribute meaningfully to building a system of participatory and developmental local government in South Africa.
Objectives
The objectives of the network are to:
The GGLN’s vision is to create a strong civil society network that harnesses and builds the collective expertise and energy of its members to contribute meaningfully to building a system of participatory and developmental local government in South Africa.
Objectives
The objectives of the network are to:
- Share information and learning about local governance by creating an interface for organisations working in this arena;
- Document and disseminate best practices as well as produce information and research outputs that are of benefit to various stakeholders involved in local governance processes, including communities and local governments;
- Advocate for changes in policy and practice to promote participatory local governance;
- Promote the development and replication of innovative models for participatory local governance and pro-poor development at the local level;
- Generate partnerships between civil society organisations, and between civil society and government at various levels, to strengthen local governance processes.
Values
The GGLN is underpinned by the following set of values, to which all members of the network commit themselves:
- Participatory and pro-poor governance
- Non-partisanship
- Constructive engagement with government and other stakeholders
- Working together in the interests of achieving the network’s objectives
- Sharing the benefits of membership of the network amongst active members
- Building the capacity of member organisations of the network
Who are the members of the GGLN?
The core members of the GGLN are South African non-profit organisations that are dedicated to promoting participatory, pro-poor local governance and development in South Africa. A list of the full members of the network can be found in related items.
The GGLN also has an associate membership category. More information about the criteria, benefits, responsibilities and subscription costs associated with each category of membership can be found here. A membership application form can be downloaded here.
Who hosts the GGLN and how is the network managed?
The Secretariat of the GGLN is hosted by the Foundation for Contemporary Research (FCR) in Cape Town, South Africa. The Secretariat consists of a small team who co-ordinate the implementation of the GGLN programme and manage the funding for the GGLN. A Reference Group, consisting of seven individuals from member organisations of the GGLN, functions as the policy and decision-making body of the network.
History
The GGLN was initially conceived as an initiative of the Ford Foundation to bring its civil society grantees involved in local governance-related activities together to network, share experiences and lessons, and explore opportunities for collaborations and partnerships. In January 2003 the Ford Foundation convened a roundtable discussion on ‘Citizen Participation and Local Governance’ in Cape Town, which was attended by representatives of six NGOs - the Foundation for Contemporary Research (FCR), Fair Share, Afesis-corplan, Democracy Development Programme (DDP), Centre for Public Participation (CPP), and the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) – as well as the South African Local Government Association (SALGA), and two donor agencies, the Ford Foundation and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation.
At the roundtable, organisations were invited to present their experiences of citizen participation and local government and their programmatic interventions within the arena of local governance. It emerged that NGOs in the local government sector typically utilise one or more of three different intervention strategies. These are:
(i) research and monitoring;
(ii) training and capacity building; and
(iii) communication, lobbying and advocacy.
While clearly some NGOs have individually employed these strategies very successfully to make an effective impact on local governance policy and practice, there was agreement amongst the participants that building alliances and partnerships with other organisations could enable NGOs to incorporate a wider range of strategies and broaden their impact, which could contribute to a more comprehensive, integrated civil society intervention strategy in the local governance sector.
Thus the idea was mooted of creating a loose network to sustain the interaction between local governance NGOs to share experiences, learning, good practices and ways of improving their interventions. In September 2003 the Foundation for Contemporary Research (FCR), on behalf of the other NGOs at the meeting, successfully applied to the Ford Foundation for funding for a series of learning events over the period from September 2003 to August 2006.
At the first meeting of the network, in January 2004, the discussions focussed on clarifying the nature and objectives of the network, the lessons that could be taken from the experiences of other learning networks, which additional organisations or individuals would be invited to participate, how best learning could be structured, and what the learning agenda of the network would be. The theme of Integrated Development Planning was set for the first learning event. Thereafter, the themes for future events were selected collectively by participants at the events.
Vacancy: GGLN Co-ordinator