A recent survey by the UK Local Government Alliance for International Development (LG alliance) has shown that councils are asking for more online information and support to get involved in development activities. In response to this, the LG alliance has set up an online community of practice for those working in local government to share advice and resources on development work.

The survey aimed to get views from those working in local government on global poverty issues and what councils could and should be doing. Initial findings have shown that nearly half of respondents were aware of their council being involved in some form of international development activity, which involved a range of council departments from town planning to children’s services.

The main barriers to international development work nominated included accessing funding, staff & resource pressures and gaining political support. When asked to nominate types of support to help with their international development work, whilst the top request from 46% of respondents was for advice on accessing funding, 40% of respondents asked for more online information & training.

The International Development Community of Practice is the first of a number of initiatives to give those working in local government greater access to information & support on international development work at the same time minimising the pressure on budgets or days out of the office.

Communities of practice for local government is a website that was set up by the Improvement & Development Agency (IDeA) to support collaboration across local government and the public sector. It is a freely accessible resource that enables like-minded people to get together and explore ways of working to identify common solutions and share good practice and ideas.

The benefits of CoPs lie in providing a collaborative environment that connects people to other people, information and knowledge. Specifically CoPs can:
•    encourage the development and sharing of new ideas and strategies
•    support faster problem-solving
•    cut down on the duplication of effort
•    provide potentially endless access to expertise

The International Development & Local Government Community aims to provide an environment to get in touch with others doing similar work, ask questions and share & improve how we in local government can and are contributing to international development. The Community of Practice is now live! If you are working in local government and have an interest in international development issues, join our Community and get involved.