Minister Shahine Robinson, Minister of State with responsibility for Local Government met with Ed Fordham councillor at the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA)  at the offices of the Department of Local Government on, Wednesday August 10, 2011.  Also present was Mayor Milton Brown, president of the Association of Local Government Authorities in Jamaica (ALGAJ)

The COSLA representative is here in Jamaica to discuss capacity building within ALGAJ.

Mr. Fordham discussed innovative ways in which the Local Government Association can impact the development within the local jurisdiction and improve service delivery through partnerships with business as well as other government entities.

The Department of Local Government and ALGAJ welcomes COSLA’s input and sees it as a perfect fit with the local government reform process. A major objective of the Reform process is the empowerment of citizens in their communities, and the mobilization of all elements of civil society, including the private sector, NGOs, CBOs voluntary organizations and local sectoral interest groups, to become partners in the process of local governance, which is essential to achieving a strong and vibrant system of Local Government and local development.

COSLA hopes to assist ALGAJ in staging a conference later this year, which would put on display current and potential partnerships as well as successful innovative projects that demonstrate the change in the complexion of the Local Authorities that is envision by the reformed process.

The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities formed in 1975 represents Scottish local government, lobbying on behalf of its members – Scotland’s 32 councils which are all memebrs of COSLA. Together they represent over 5 million people, spend around £12 billion a year on local services, and employ over 260,000 people.