Executive Summary: "This report outlines the results of the Local Governance Mapping (LGM) conducted by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in partnership with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA) in Kachin State from November 2014 to January 2015. Drawing on the perceptions of the people and local governance actors, the mapping has captured the current dynamics of governance at the front line and enables an analysis of the participation, responsiveness and accountability for local governance and basic service provision. The report examines processes, mechanisms and the way in which they are functioning for development planning and participation, people?s access to basic services and the information, transparency and accountability dimensions of local governance processes in the four selected townships of Tanai, Putao, Momauk and Myitkyina. While the focus of the LGM is on local governance institutions, the roles of the State and Union government authorities and their relationships with the lower levels in a broader governance context are also relevant and, to some extent, reflected upon in this analysis. Kachin State occupies the northernmost area of Myanmar bordering India to the west and China to the north and east. Kachin has the third largest land area of the 14 States and Regions in Myanmar and has the country?s highest mountain ranges. The people living in Kachin State belong to various ethnic groups, primarily Kachins, Bamars and Shans. The four townships of Momauk, Myitkyina, Putao, and Tanai covered under the mapping offer a variety of examples of issues of access and sophistication of the local economy as well as the effects of the conflict in the state. Since 2011, Kachin State has seen the most serious of all the armed confrontations affecting the country, and pending a lasting settlement of the decadesold conflict, local governance systems and mechanisms will be affected by this state of affairs. The information collected as part of the mapping and presented in the subsequent sections must therefore be read and understood as part of the broader geographic, socio-economic, demographic, historical and political context in which the State finds itself. The legacies of armed conflict, ethnic mobilization and military rule inform and shape the efforts, undertaken since 2012, of reintroducing some forms of popular participation at the local level in Kachin State, in particular the townships and the village tracts and wards. The degree to which Kachin State will be successful in both reflecting its own ethnic diversity while at the same time delivering basic services in an equitable and effective manner will depend largely on the progress made in building local governance institutions and processes that are inclusive and responsive to the needs of the local population. Given the pending peace agreement, perceptions of safety are thus more of an indication of relative change rather than any absolute measure. At the time of the community-level mapping in November 2014 most people felt the security situation had not worsened. The perceptions of this vary between townships and since conflict has been more evident in Momauk, nearly half the respondents felt the situation in the township had worsened although most people (76%) feel secure in their immediate area. Finding a balanced solution to the underlying causes of this conflict remains an urgent challenge for the people of Kachin State..."