ABSTRACT
This chapter describes some of the variations and acknowledges the challenges that local governments face in attempting to implement children's rights. In most countries, local governments are responsible for wide range of tasks that affect the well-being of children and their families. In addition, the local authorities are usually responsible for water supply, sanitation, electric power, police and fire protection and public transport. Decentralization reforms have in some cases reallocated responsibilities to local authorities resources or the power to raise them locally. In many urban centres, governance takes this form in most illegal or informal settlements even as more conventional patterns of local government provision prevail in other areas. The impact of international forces on the daily lives of children and their families, and on the practice of local government is profound. The extent to which most local governments can respond to the growing need for infrastructure and services depends on the extent of their support from higher levels.
