Local and regional governments (LRGs) are increasingly asked to do more with less. At the forefront of public service delivery and emergency responses, local authorities and their workers are essential to national and local public policy implementation. Cities and territories need to provide a wide range of local public services: transportation, water, sewers garbage collection and disposal, police, fire protection, parks, education, culture and recreation, affordable housing and social assistance. LRGs are ultimately in charge of the implementation of global policy frameworks on the ground (‘localisation)’, such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)1; the Paris Agreement on Climate Change; the New Urban Agenda (NUA); the Sendai Protocol on Disaster Preparedness, and the Decent Work Agenda.