The Hague Academy for Local Governance is a non-profit, non-governmental organisation that aims to strengthen local democracy worldwide. We offer practice-oriented training in The Netherlands and abroad.
1000 participants a year
90 different countries
Governments, donors & NGOs
Every year, we provide practice-oriented training courses for local practitioners from around the world. Are you interested? Join our open courses!
We specialise in developing training programmes that fit your specific needs. Contact us if you are interested in a customised training for your organisation!
The Hague Academy supports local practitioners from all over the world. We have trained 10000+ professionals in more than 60 countries.
Real development starts at the local level. Read inspiring stories from our alumni about the positive changes they’ve created in their communities
Curious about our upcoming courses? Discover more about our practice-oriented training in local governance!
At The Hague Academy for Local Governance, we specialise in developing practice-oriented training programmes that fit your sepecific needs. Contact us if you are interested in a customised training!
Explore the latest news, stories, and publications related to local governance!
As project manager Gender Equality and Inclusion at Jeunesse au Service d’un Burundi Meilleur, Elsa Digne Kagwiza aims to improve socioeconomic opportunities for women and girls in Burundi. She explains that Burundian women face ingrained barriers in the social, legal, economic, and political spheres that disadvantage them. These barriers and inequality can be seen in […]
Jacqueline Muthee is a Democratic Governance Specialist at USAID Zambia, supporting the Zambian government’s efforts to decentralise fiscal management and transfer decision-making power to local governments. As the donor co-chair for the Decentralisation Secretariat, she collaborates with senior officials in sectors like Health, Education, Economic Development, and Democracy to advise on effective decentralisation strategies. Eager […]
In 2011, millions of Egyptians went to the streets to ask for more democracy. Since then, they have witnessed three different regimes and unfinished reforms to Egypt’s local administration. Ahmed M. Kodair, local development advisor to the Ministry of Local Development, joined our Fiscal Decentralisation and Local Finance course in 2020. He explains the strides […]
Adedayo Olubukola is an alumna of The Hague Academy’s Multilevel Water Governance cohort of 2022. Now back home, she shares with us her insights on Lagos’ troubled relationship with water, and on the effective change she hopes to see in Lagos with safe drinking water for all its citizens. With an estimated 30 million people […]
Having attended The Hague Academy’s Migration and Local Governance course, alumnus Juan Sebastián Barco López shares his insights on Colombia’s approach to developing a consolidated national migration system that works towards inclusion and integration for migrants. In contrast to many national anti-immigration postures worldwide, the Government of Colombia has taken a welcoming approach to one of the […]
Myanmar is in a humanitarian crisis. Now two years of political turmoil have forced over a million from their homes. Internally displaced persons and host communities alike have struggled to find basic services amid conflict. We spoke with alumna Yin Yin Min as she explained how her project builds social cohesion through integrated waste management. […]
Meet Alpha Ibrahim Bah, a high-level policymaker who wishes to make his country prepared for future climate upheaval. Join us as he strides to build Guinea’s and Conakry’s climate resilience. Alpha Ibrahima Bah is a national project coordinator of Guinea’s Third National Communication on Climate Change. As an established practitioner who seeks to build the […]
Meet alumna Shoma Nurun Naher, Director of Health and Environment at the DASCOH Foundation in Bangladesh. A physician by profession, Shoma felt frustrated by the service gap that keeps many in Bangladesh from receiving adequate healthcare. With the goal of helping ensure primary healthcare at the community level, Shoma joined The Hague Academy for the […]
Read storyMeet alumna Salome Mekvabishvili, Head of the Strategic Development Department at the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia. Salome followed our Local Economic Development course in 2020 with a purpose in mind: to contribute to boosting local economies across Georgia. She seeks to do this through the empowerment of local governments and communities […]
Samuel G. Ford is the Assistant Commissioner of Community Services at the Liberian National Police, an institution that has, for the past twenty years, sought to reform after being involved in the conflict of the Liberian civil wars, one of the bloodiest in Africa. Samuel is taking the next step in building his community’s trust […]
Dhankuta sits at the foothills of the Himalayas, in eastern Nepal. The town is the capital of Dhankuta District, a lush and biodiverse area that ranges from temperate, hilly woods to subtropical Sal forests along its river valleys. In the past, these rich resources have granted local communities a certain degree of autonomy in agriculture […]
Fred Buzu Asi works as Community Services Officer at the Ministerial Department of Refugees in Uganda. His main responsibilities are to ensure peaceful coexistence among refugees and between refugees and local host communities. To expand his knowledge and skills, he took the opportunity to follow the Migration and Local Authorities course at the Hague Academy. […]
Issiaka Bôh Magassa is a technical advisor at the Regional Development Agency of Kayes, in Mali. In 2021, he joined our Fiscal Decentralisation & Local Finance course with the aim of improving the ability of Malian local governments to collect revenue. Learn more about Issiaka’s ambitious plan to ensure that citizens have access to high-quality services.
To sustain peace in Aceh, Indonesia, Said Achmad Kabiru wants to address inequalities amongst youth by supporting economic recovery and entrepreneurship. With the Moringa project, he helps students, ex-combatants and community youth by securing and cultivating land to produce tea and medicine. Read more.
Our programmes aim to develop our participants’ knowledge and skills to act as change agents. We often hear back from our alumni, who share inspiring stories about their current projects. This is the case of Dahiana Manjarrés, who joined our Local Economic Development training in 2019. Since then, Dahiana has done a tremendous amount of […]
“Planners and policy makers need to gear towards sustainable planning to ensure that future generations have access to clean water”, says Tshering Lhamo, senior planning officer for the Bhutanese government. Tshering took part in our Multilevel Water Governance course and shares her experiences. Read her story.
Over the last 30 years, Albania has transitioned into a democratic society, putting new policies in place, building democratic institutions and making considerable progress in decentralisation. One of the main actors supporting this process is the Delegation of the European Union (EU) to Albania. Orlando Fusco works for the delegation as a Programme Manager for […]
Anjas Prasetiyo is the team Leader of the Gratuity Control Programme, at the Indonesian Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). In Indonesia, corruption is one of the greatest impediments to national development, taking many different forms. One of them is illegal gratuity (gratifikasi). A gratuity, also called a tip, is a sum of money given by a […]
Water. Inspiration. Know-how. Expertise. These are words that continuously cross the minds of our ‘Shiraka: Water Management’ participants. The training is an experience that brings together the brightest and most proactive professionals from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) to exchange knowledge and skills on Water Management. Mr. Mousa Alhlaihl is the Manager of […]
The Hague Academy for Local Governance is committed to strengthen local governance around the world! Since 2008, we have developed and implemented projects in over 60 countries.
The Hague Academy works together with research institutions, universities, development agencies, civil society organisations, government ministries, and regional and local authorities from across the globe.
Thanks to this cooperation, we are able to offer innovative programmes that are tailored to contemporary challenges in diverse regional contexts.
We maintain sustainable partnerships with:
