Building Capacity to Develop Local Economy
LOCAL Economic Development (LED) is one of highlights in achieving sustainable development goals. While in Millennium Development Goals LED didn’t show progress as evenly as other sectors, it nestles as Goal 8 in the pursuance of new development concept. Embracing the spirit to highlight the effort to reach sustainable economy, UCLG ASPAC in collaboration with the Malaysian Association of Local Authorities (MALA) and Seberang Perai Municipal Government, organized the LED Training in Seberang Perai, Malaysia, on 13-15 December 2016. Welcoming participants to her city, Dato Maimunah, Mayor of Seberang Perai stated her expectation, “I hope we will benefit from this training and build a foundation on how to organize our joint efforts for LED strategic planning, guidance on how to bring a stakeholder group to consensus, an important skill when determining the critical issues that form the basis of the LED strategy
and concludes with defining critical issues.” Addressing similar expectation, Secretary General of UCLG ASPAC, Dr. Bernadia Irawati Tjandradewi, mentioned, “LED is great opportunity and role that local government can play.” In her remarks, Bernadia also thanked MALA and Seberang Perai for hosting the first training of UCLG ASPAC on LED.
In this training, 66 participants were introduced that LED was a process where all resources from within and outside communities get involved in addressing business challenges and promoting economic growth at local level. To pursue to this level, knowledge and skills in strategic planning, stakeholder engagement, assessment of economic management of cities/regions, and SWOT analysis were needed. After exposed to the knowledge in eight training sessions, participants were also given opportunity to exercise the knowledge through group discussion, presenting their analysis of what makes a city competitive, as well as to assess the works of other groups. Participants proposed concrete actions and received feedback from Mayor Maimunah, Mayor Mayor Madelaine Alfelor of Iriga and Secretary General of UCLG ASPAC, for implementation.
Â
To enrich the knowledge, participants were also invited to a field visit in one of Seberang Perai’s public market.