The guidelines outline the main principles underlying the democratic, constitutional/legal and administrative aspects of local governance and decentralization. At the same time they must be applied to specific conditions of State form (federal, regionalized or unitary), with different State traditions (for example, Napoleonic, Germanic or Anglo-Saxon, as well as traditions found in Asia, or in the Arab world).

For that reason they do not provide a uniform and rigid blueprint applicable to all Member States of the United Nations. They may be subject to national adaptations. Their main objective, however, is to support and guide legislative reform where necessary and appropriate.

L’élaboration de nouvelles politiques foncières peut prendre du temps et se heurter à bien des difficultés. C’est d’autant plus vrai lorsque ces politiques se veulent favorables aux pauvres- c’est-adiré dans les cas ou elles cherchent a corriger les désavantages dont souffrent généralement les pauvres dans bien des domaines de politique foncière.

There is no one best way to set up and manage a town-level multi-stakeholder forum. The composition of the multi-stakeholder forum and issues to be addressed will differ from one town to another. This Step-by-Step Guide has been developed with the understanding that one-size-does-not-fit-all. The users of the Guide are, therefore, encouraged to be flexible in developing multi-stakeholder partnerships in line with their local needs and resources.

A substantial part of the Guide is based on UN-HABITAT’s own learning and experiences gained in the first phase of the Lake Victoria Region Water and Sanitation Initiative. Current thinking on multi-stakeholder partnerships and the experiences and practices of other development partners are also used to illustrate some points.