Confronting the Challenges to Democracy in the 21st Century

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Strengthening Democracy at the Grassroots: Local Government and Civil Society

• What to do when local government officials are inaccessible or unapproachable?
  
• What to do when local government officials are corrupt?
  
• How to strengthen local civil society, which is usually weak?
  
• How to address the lack of resources for local bodies?
  
• When local communities, councils, or communes have been created by citizens, how do you bring the issues raised at this social level to the political level?
  
• How to achieve effective decentralization in an authoritarian country?
  
• How to address the quality of service delivery at the local level?
  
• How to increase the awareness of democratic values at the local level?
  
• If media is important in denouncing bad practices at the local government level, how can that be done when there are no independent media?

• Distribute fiscal resources equally for effective decentralization.
• International groups and NGOs should support local civil society.
• The admonition that "democracy requires democrats" should be complemented by the admonition that "democracy requires citizens." Citizens need the necessary skills and training to create democracy.
• In the absence of independent media, programs should be broadcast that raise issues in a non-adversarial way.
• Experiences with local government in established democracies should be shared.
• Decentralization should not be an end in itself but a means to achieve improvement.
• Local communities should be included in local decision-making processes.
• Public spaces at the local level should be created where grassroots organizations can meet with local business leaders and local authorities.
• Using local languages at the local level can be a key factor in decentralization.
• Civil society can help in the election of "good" local political candidates who respect strict democratic principles.
• Local bodies can help in addressing corruption.
• Opportunities should be given to local citizens to assess the efficiency of local governments and the quality of their service delivery.

• Create a forum to enable the exchange of experiences on the decentralization process.