Kigali will host the Commonwealth Local Government Conference (CLGF) 2023 taking place from November 14 to 17, under the theme "Building local government resilience to future shocks.” The conference will focus on ensuring that local government is empowered and has the skills and capacity in place to ensure sustainable development at a time of significant national and global challenges.

The New Times’ Alice Kagina had an exclusive interview with Helen Clark, the former Prime Minister of New Zealand and Patron of CLGF, and discussed the upcoming conference and its bearing on current global events. Besides explaining why local-level politics is so important, Clark also talked about why it is important to continue to strive for gender equality in politics, particularly at the local government level.

The excerpts:

As CLGF's Patron and former Prime Minister of New Zealand, you obviously play a major role in politics at the national level; why do you consider local government and local-level politics to be so important?

Local government is the way services get delivered directly to people and is often in charge of quite important infrastructure depending on the national context and the way that the government allocates duties between local and national governments. So often, local government has a key role in building the resilient infrastructure that countries need, particularly in this era of the climate crisis, which is causing a lot of damage to the infrastructure that we have had in many places.

Also, local government is closer to the people by definition. You know; the village council, the local council, ...the capital may be quite far away. So, people often see their local representatives as the ones who are closest to them and understand them well.

Why is this conference so important? Why should stakeholders from the local government consider coming along?

I have been to a lot of the Commonwealth Local Government Forum conferences and before the pandemic, they were very regular and then we’ve been sitting up like everybody. So, the Rwanda gathering is a big opportunity for local governments from around the Commonwealth to come together again.

These are big conferences; they buzz and they’re very relevant to the national, local, and global agendas. In the past, the Global Government Forum picked up the Millennium Development Goals. It really encouraged local councils to see that as a way of prioritizing certain issues and now with the Sustainable Development Goals, a much broader agenda.

The forum has consistently raised awareness about that and how local government can meaningfully engage with that mission of the goals. I think it will be a tremendous opportunity for people to meet up again, for people to exchange ideas and best practices, hear about what others are doing and really be energized by that.

The theme of this conference is about building resilience why do you think this is such an important subject? Why does the local government have to prioritize this?

In the age of the climate crisis, it has become very important. In fact, on the North Island of New Zealand, we have had the worst summer ever with huge rain events. For the first time in living memory, significant areas of the city have been flooded and landslides. The infrastructure damage is very large and the rebuild costs come back on the local government.

There’s so much to think about like how to make your infrastructure and communities more resilient because no one wants their home flooded or bridges and roads washed away by water. So, back to local government. The question is; how do we build our infrastructures in our communities to withstand these pressures?

You are a key advocate for the promotion of women in public life. Why is it important to continue to strive for gender equality in politics, particularly at local government level?

Gender equality in politics is important at every level from the local to the national, and global. Rwanda has done incredibly well with the representation of women in its decision-making bodies. Parliament has more women in proportion than anywhere else in the world. So often, local government is a stepping stone to nationally elected office.

I know in my own country you see women come through the local councils and then they might stand for parliament. So, it’s a very good training ground. But local government is also meaningful in itself. It does very important work and it does work that is relevant to women.

For example, it was shown that when there was a gender quota put in place in India for women in local councils, the decisions started to change about what was prioritized. The women were very interested in the water and sanitation infrastructure. The men haven’t been so interested in that, but it’s the women who have to walk for water in the village. So, we have seen firm evidence that having women in local government will change the priorities of local government and make them better for women.

How should the government ensure that the youth's voices are heard and given a seat at the decision-making table?

Young people want space. They want meaningful engagement. They want to be heard and have input. I also think that these days, having young people on local councils, and in parliament is a good thing. They don’t need to see this as a lifetime endurance; they can come in, make their point, and if they want to, go into other things, or have a long career.

Just as we want to see women’s perspectives and needs taken into consideration, so it is for young people. They have desires, needs, hopes, and fears. And they need to express them in the right places. Finding a space for that is very important.

How can the discussions at this conference be continued and taken forward?

The outcome of the Kigali Commonwealth Local Government Forum will go to the Heads of Government when they meet in the CHOGM next year [2024]. So, it is an important conference because the decisions made here at the forum will go forward to the leaders.

I think sustainable urbanization will be a big thing. That’s sustainability in a number of ways; climate disaster resilience, the broader balance of sustainable development.

We want a clean environment, clean energy, and an economy that provides jobs and we want social services, education, health, and safety nets. So, we will be finding where the local government’s role fits in all of this because the attending participants have quite a lot of differences in terms of the responsibilities they have and areas of expertise.