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NDI is currently working to enhance regional ties among municipal leaders in the member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) by developing their political skills, creating professional networks and fostering a shared understanding of and cooperation on political reform issues. At the request of senior GCC leaders, NDI is providing technical assistance in the establishment of a Gulf Municipal Councils Association, a regional Executive Office for municipalities and an annual Gulf municipalities conference which will serve as permanent vehicles for municipal officials to organize and collectively influence the GCC political system.
By aggregating resources, expertise and influence, the regional institutions will have a greater impact in advocating collectively for government action to address the interests of their constituents and to influence regional policy decisions that have local import. These efforts will also promote citizen participation in local governance as well as build the capacity of individual councils and council members. The initiative complements NDI’s in-country programs by providing a broader, international perspective on issues and processes that are central to democratization and that overlap state boundaries.
Political Context
Established in 1981, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) aims to further common regional economic and social goals, including the standardization of regulations, establishment of a common currency, and strengthening of ties among the citizens of the member states (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE)). Since the early 1990s, the various governments of the GCC member states have experimented with political liberalization and implemented political reforms designed to improve the efficiency of the public sector, institutionalize popular participation in the policy and decision-making processes, and promote regional and local development and curb corruption, while continuing to maintain stability and public safety.
While the GCC has historically centralized its policymaking coordination through executive representatives from the six member states, the municipal councils of the GCC countries have recently emerged as potential vehicles for promoting greater accountability and bringing more attention to issues of local concern. Both elected and appointed councils throughout the region have sought to elevate the discussion of local governance issues to the regional level. In 2005, the GCC ministerial committee approved an annual Gulf municipalities conference to provide local representatives from across the Gulf with an opportunity to meet and discuss issues of common interest.
NDI Programming
Within the GCC structures, policymaking on areas of cooperation that directly impact service delivery and development at the local level is overseen by a ministerial committee. Local representatives have been excluded from the committee’s decision making process and annual meeting. In 2005, at the insistence of local councilors in Bahrain who began pressing for inclusion in the policy making process, the GCC ministerial committee approved an annual Gulf municipalities conference to provide local representatives with an opportunity to meet with each other. The conference is an initial step toward greater participation in the policy process.
In December 2006, NDI conducted a “Foundational Workshop on Creating and Managing an Association” for 21 municipal leaders from Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, followed by a week-long study mission to the United States for 10 municipal leaders from Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. A senior representative of the GCC Secretariat participated in both activities, which were aimed at exposing these leaders to the costs and benefits of belonging to and managing a professional association. During the workshop, the participants established a five-member steering committee with the goal of obtaining commitments for the establishment of an association from municipal councils in the six GCC countries, through advocacy and cooperation with local executive bodies and the GCC Secretariat. The participants developed a three-month work plan for the steering committee that laid out details for producing a working paper for the association framework at the second annual Gulf Municipalities Conference, which was held in Ajman, UAE, in April 2007. However, at a meeting on the sideline of the conference, senior municipal officers for all six countries and the GCC Secretariat agreed to postpone the presentation of the working paper until the third annual conference in Doha, Qatar, in April 2008. The participants of the meeting, including the Director of the Doha municipality, requested continuing NDI technical support for the Doha conference.
Throughout the rest of 2007, NDI conducted a number of workshops for Saudi municipal councilors, which included a study mission to examine the Spanish municipal system, and developed a work plan with municipal councilors throughout the region. In October and November, NDI staff visited Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE to promote and coordinate upcoming program activities.
NDI is currently working to develop regional ties among GCC municipal leaders by developing their political skills, creating professional networks and fostering a shared understanding of and cooperation on political reform issues. At the request of senior GCC leaders, NDI is providing technical assistance on the establishment of a Gulf Municipal Councils Association, a regional Executive Office for municipalities, and an annual Gulf municipalities conference, which will serve as permanent vehicles for municipal officials to organize and collectively influence the GCC political system. By aggregating resources, expertise and influence, the regional institutions will have a greater impact in advocating collectively for government action to address the interests of their constituents and to influence regional policy decisions that have local import. These efforts will promote citizen participation in local governance as well as build the capacity of individual councils and council members. The initiative complements NDI’s in-country programs by providing a broader, international perspective on issues and processes that are central to democratization and that overlap state boundaries.
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Contact Information
For more information about these programs, use our contact form or contact:
Washington, D.C.
Leigh Catherine Miles, Program Manager
(202) 728-6304
