Now more than ever, local governments are at the forefront of responding to growing social, economic and environmental challenges. Local elected officials need to develop competencies to effectively perform their political leadership and representation roles. The Local Elected Leadership series presents two roles and ten competencies essential for every elected official to effectively perform their job when serving local communities. It is comprised of a Quick Guide, a User's Guide, Concepts and Strategies and Training Tools.

The title and subtitle say a great deal about the character of this book. These are stories about people who inevitably stand out in a crowd for their personal attributes, their ethical standards, the ways in which they have coped with great problems, and their remarkable achievements. Significantly, fourteen of the sixteen stories in this book are about people who have in some way contributed to better government. Several have worked directly in government, others have been teachers, and still others have found ways to make contributions. Not all the stories are about people in the U.S. The two stories from Brazil involve people who stayed at home and did their good work there; in the other two instances, already blossoming careers at home were ended by extreme governmental changes. In all cases, however, these are people who must be admired for their extreme dedication to the highest ideals of service. In effect, this book can be considered a primer on government that works. The two whose stories did not directly concern government contributed mightily to a better society. One was a highly productive author, who, in later years concentrated on children's books and wrote more than 50 of them. The other pioneered a wholly different journalistic undertaking, the city-regional magazine. Today these publications are found throughout the country and are distinguished by their design quality and their commitment to the communities they serve.

The Handbook of Mediation gathers leading experts across fields related to peace, justice, human rights, and conflict resolution to explore ways that mediation can be applied to a range of spectrums, including new age settings, relationships, organizations, institutions, communities, environmental conflicts, and intercultural and international conflicts. The text is informed by cogent theory, state-of-the-art research, and best practices to provide the reader with a well-rounded understanding of mediation practice in contemporary times. Based on four signature themes—contexts; skills and competencies; applications; and recommendations—the handbook provides theoretical, applicable, and practical insight into a variety of key approaches to mediation. Authors consider modern conflict on a local and global scale, emphasizing the importance of identifying effective strategies, foundations, and methods to shape the nature of a mediation mindfully and effectively. With a variety of interdisciplinary perspectives, the text complements the development of the reader’s competencies and understanding of mediation in order to contribute to the advancement of the mediation field. With a conversational tone that will welcome readers, this comprehensive book is essential reading for students and professionals wanting to learn a wide range of potential interventions for conflict.

This book analyses efforts of Bangladeshi government and NGOs to strengthen local governance, and identifies the challenges posed by collaboration with NGOs. Presenting a dominantly qualitative study, the analysis explores whether engagement between the Sharique project to strengthen local governance and the Union Parishads has translated into success. In doing so, it argues that evidence points to a positive impact on institutionalising good governance and fiscal autonomy through widening participation in planning and decision-making, reinforcing accountability of functionaries and enhancing tax collection. Furthermore, this book demonstrates that the collaboration has aided the process of development of social capital between officials of councils and NGOs, as well as amongst the community members, encouraging future partnership governance. However, with the phasing out of the project as a propelling force, it also shows that the results fall short of being sustainable and, as such, that statuary support, unequivocal political commitment, and incentivising engagements are required to stabilise outcomes. Bridging a gap in the Development Studies literature, this book presents new findings on the collaboration of NGOs at the local level. It will be of interest to academics working in the field of South Asian Studies, Development Studies, and Asian Politics.