Local structures are crucial for effective and inclusive governance. The 8th batch of the Konrad Adenauer School for Young Politicians (KASYP) met from 23rd to 26th August 2017 in Penang, Malaysia to discuss local governance and development, sharing best practices and discussing with political and community stakeholders.

In his welcome remarks, Christian Echle, director of Regional Programme Political Dialogue Asia, highlighted the importance of supporting and training young political leaders of the future, especially in Asia. The first day of the training programme began by laying the foundation for further discussion by assessing the state of local institutional governance in Asia. This regional perspective was given by Edmund Tayao of the Local Governance and Development Foundation and then further developed through a session of discussion, exchange and presentation among the participants regarding the state of affairs in their respective countries. Taking the discussion of local governance to the state level, the politics of federalism in Malaysia were consecutively presented and discussed by Wong Chin Huat of the Penang Institute. Concluding this first day, Hon. Dr. Afif Bahardin, Penang State Minister of Agriculture and Agro-Based Industry, Health and Rural Development, and Deputy Youth Chief of People’s Justice Party (PKR), held a session of Political Dialogue with KASYP-participants, reflecting on the role of young leaders in politics and sharing insights into local and rural development in the state of Penang.

The second day, with on-site dialogue and discussion sessions, gave insights into experiences, issues and best practices regarding local governance and development in Penang state. As such, representatives of the city council of Penang Island discussed questions of governance and urban spatial, social and economic planning. Subsequently, the special perspective of women’s empowerment in relation to Gender Responsive and Participatory Budgeting (GRPB) in the provision of public services was presented by Shariza Kamarudin of the Penang Women’s Development Corporation (PWDC). Site visits of the UNESCO World Heritage area concluded this day of reflections on local planning and governance.

The training session’s last day concluded the insights of the first two days with interactive and practice-oriented workshops. First, a simulation exercise with Caroline Brassard of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy assessed disaster risk management on the local municipal level. Subsequently, Dr. Romero of the Ateneo de Manila University talked about inclusive politics and strategies for stakeholder ownership, opening the floor for discussion of inclusive politics in the participants’ respective countries. This session then allowed the participants to present updates on their political projects, sharing vision, implementation and impact of each project. The training programme ended with a certificate ceremony.

We would like to thank all of our speakers and participants for this successful event and we look forward to meeting again for the third training session in Nepal next year!

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