This volume examines the persistence of poverty - both rural and urban - in developing countries and the response of local governments to the problem exploring the roles of governments NGOs and CSOs in national and sub-national agenda-setting policy-making and poverty-reduction strategies. ItÂbrings together a rich variety of in-depth country and international studies based on a combination of original data-collection and extensive research experience in developing countries. Taking a bottom-up and multi-dimensional perspective of poverty and well-being as the starting point the authors develop a convincing set of arguments for putting the priorities of poor people first on any development agenda thus carving out an undisputable role for local governance in interplay with higher-up governance actors and institutions. Language: English