July « 2011 « Advocacy International

Haiti - defending and strengthening local democracy

Jeremy Smith – 25th July 2011

At the end of June, I returned to Haiti (see previous post) for a packed 2 week programme of capacity building and advocacy support work, with the two national associations of local authorities, representing the Communes (FENAMH) and Communal Sections (FENACAH) of Haiti. The programme is organised by the local government associations of Canada (FCM, UMQ) and the Netherlands – I was there on behalf of the Dutch association, VNG International.

It was my first time back for a year, and on the ground, nothing much had changed. The tent cities were as prevalent as before, and whilst there was less earthquake rubble in the streets, not much rebuilding had taken place in Port au Prince.

A new President had been elected, after a far-from-smooth process, but his proposed government was voted down by the Parliament. And yet, despite (or because of) all the problems, the 25 mayors and elected representatives we worked with, from all parts of Haiti, were committed to achieve positive change – which in their view can only come through a real process of decentralisation.

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Lords back Ai Director's critique on Localism Bill

On 28th June, Lords from all political sides joined together to criticize the government’s proposals in Part 2 of the Localism Bill, quoting Ai Director Jeremy Smith’s criticism and critique first made in February 2011, in an article in Municipal Journal, “Fog over Parliament” .

Under the government’s proposals, ministers would decide whether and how much to require local authorities to pay to central government, in the event of a fine from the European Court of Justice, which the minister decides they are responsible for. In his article, Jeremy had explained (a) how the government had misunderstood the relevant EU Treaty provisions, and (b) in particular, how the proposed clawback proposals were in breach of the principles of natural justice, with ministers being at once prosecutor, judge and co-defendant!

Baroness Gardner of Parkes cited this article in the recent Lords’ debate.

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Aviva - the future prosperity panel

6th July 2011

Aviva has brought together a collection of prominent thinkers to provoke renewed debate and fresh ideas about future prosperity and creating a culture of sustainable savings. Today this group of thinkers, the ‘Future Prosperity Panel‘, published their report ‘Big picture thinking – Towards sustainable savings’.

Ann Pettifor’s article is called ‘Savings and the alchemy of credit’ and is published alongside valuable work from

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AFFORD – African state building and sound monetary systems

27th June 2011

The African Foundation for Development UK (AFFORD) invited Ann Pettifor to give the keynote speech at its Africa-UK Diplomatic Engagement Evening Monday evening, in the presence of the High Commissioners of Sierra Leone and Cote d’Ivoire.

Speaking on the theme of “Enterprise, Workforce and Institution Building in Post-Conflict States” Ann emphasized the vital importance of post-conflict African states building sound monetary systems. She argued that such systems should be designed to give African politicians the policy autonomy needed to formulate and execute their own monetary policy – and with it the domestic economic policies that will protect the interests of their people, and support their country’s advance.

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The World Forum on Enterprise & the Environment

4th July 2011

Ann Pettifor was invited, by Sir David King, to join a panel at this year’s World Forum on Enterprise & the Environment organised by the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment in Oxford. The session was led by Herman Mulder and was entitled ”Green the economy, Financial needs and tools: The economics of a world mobilising to address biodiversity issues on a massive scale.”

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