Due to my experience of working in many projects funded by Swedish International Centre for Local Democracy (ICLD), I was invited to ICLD Local Democracy Academy in Umeå, June 10th-14th 2019. The title for the academy was "Global Challenges and Local Governments: Towards Transformative Policy and Practice". The academy was divided into the following sessions: training sessions, writing workshops, local policy labs and thematic streams on various issues. The academy brought together an international group of leading scholars, researchers, local