This guide is the first of its kind to provide an overview of the current range of local representative arrangements and electoral systems in Asia and the Pacific. This easy-to-use guide will assist country offices/teams and government partners as programmes are shaped to make local decision-making processes more inclusive and accountable to all citizens.

This paper was written for a series of seminars on public legislative hearings held in Beijing and Shanghai, China. The purpose of the paper is to provide Chinese participants with first-hand accounts of the context and functioning of public hearings in the United States and Germany, where public hearings are more integrated into the legislative process.