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The paper examined and articulated some measurable instruments and conditions for effective management of autonomy for local government in Nasarawa State. This is with a view to investigating the challenges of efficient and effective management of this level of government. The methodology used in the study was descriptive qualitative analysis. The management of local government finance was analyzed using efficiency theory. It was discovered that management of local government finance in Nasarawa has been bedeviled by lack of long-term financial planning, corruption, the use of inappropriate budgetary system, and so on. It was the contention of the paper that appropriate constitutional amendments to remove certain cogs in the wheel of making local governments an independent but coordinate part of Nigeria federalism will ensure efficiency in the management of local government finance. Long-term financial planning and appropriate budgetary system will be ensured.

In this study, the activities of a volunteer based grassroots development in rural India  Food for Life Vrindavan (FFLV)  are presented. A thorough examination of how it complies with the dimensions established in the scientific literature about grassroots and social innovations and what the characteristics of its activities are in the light of the latest trends in human development is per-formed. The article is organised into six sections: after a short introduction about the subject, the objectives and the layout of the pa-per, section 2 presents the timeline of the development industry with a particular emphasis on the process of turning from national economy boosting initiatives to the dimensions of human development. In section 3 the key elements in the literatures on the capabil-ity approach and grassroots/social innovations are presented. Section 4 introduces the case of FFLV, followed by a detailed analysis in section 5 where FFLV’s position with regards to the different perspectives is discussed. In section 6, the quantitative analysis is conducted. Concluding the paper in the final section, some reflections on the usefulness of the study are mentioned. Based on the results of the conducted research the following conclusions have been made: 1) In the beginning, Food for Life Vrindavan was an entirely volunteer based grassroots innovation. With a gradual increase in the number of people it served and sub-sequent expansion in it’s fields of services, it has become a social innovation. 2) The characteristics of FFLV’s activities fit into the dimensions of human development established by the United Nations based on Amartya Sen’s concept of capability approach. 3) The financial resources of FFLV are modest in comparison to the OECD financed development industry, with the former having access to merely a quarter of the latter’s “per capita” funds available for the area of activity around Vrindavan.

The fiscal relations among the three levels of government in Nigeria is enmeshed with the severe problem most especially state-local government relationship. A number of factors has been attributed to this which include over-dependence of local government on statutory allocations from the state and federal governments, deliberate tax evasion by the local citizenry, creation of nonviable local government areas, differences in the status of local governments in terms of the rural-urban dimension, inadequate revenue and restricted fiscal jurisdiction to constitutional gaps. This study examines the effect of State-Local Government fiscal relations on grassroots development in selected local governments in Lagos state, Nigeria. It adopts a survey research design technique. The main instrument of data collection is questionnaire. Primary data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics, while the relevant hypotheses were tested using Pearson Product Moment Correlational analysis of hypotheses testing with the aid of Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS 20.0). The findings of the survey revealed that revenue allocation modules between and among the three levels of government have an attendant effect on grassroots development in Nigeria and also that with proper fiscal responsibility exercised by those entrusted with public fund there will be a positive effect on service delivery. The study, therefore, recommends that Local governments should be proactive and more aggressive in their internally generated revenue drives and find new ways of enhancing revenues. The 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria needs to be amended so as to grant financial autonomy to states. The study concludes that in Lagos State, there are good mechanisms in place for local governments to drive revenue generation because of the industrial and cosmopolitan nature of the state which has made fiscal relations between the two tiers to be more harmonious when compared to what is applicable in other states of the federation.

As an administrative mechanism, LG is designed to facilitate development at the grassroots. The central thesis of this work is that an effective LG system is requisite for the realisations of Nigeria’s vision of rural development. Through the 1979 and 1999 Nigeria constitutions, it was transformed to third tier government for effectiveness. This work recognises LG as a political/administrative therapy to sustaining rural development in Nigeria; but has failed owing to some socio-political factors. To make LG more fulfilling as the third tier of government, there is need for constitutional reforms separating its powers from the state/federal government, the paper suggests.

Documents the transformation of a subsidized international development project into a for-profit "environmental enterprise," an ecological business run by and for small-scale fishermen on Colombia's Caribbean coast. Demonstrates the need for development projects to become businesses and the critical role of social investments (literacy education, business training, community health services) in making those businesses work. (SV)