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Decentralization and Local Democracy in the World : First Global Report by United Cities and Local Governments 2008This overall picture of decentralization and local democracy in African countries shows significant progress at the strictly institutional level. No country now publicly opposes the implementation of decentralization policies. Local governments exist in all countries, and elections are held to elect local authorities. The extent of such progress must, however, be set against a number of persistent obstacles that continue to hinder a real progression of decentralization in Africa. Difficulties remain within states concerning the transfer of financial resources needed to match the devolved responsibilities. Local governments also face difficulties in increasing their own resources (aside from state-transfers and grants) at a faster pace. Ensuring the availability of qualified human resources at the local level and improving public access to local services are also fundamental issues of concern.
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Local Government Discretion and Accountability : Application of a Local Governance FrameworkThis report evaluates the framework of decentralization reforms instituted in decentralizing countries. Decentralization is a multi-faceted process which includes giving discretion to local governments and establishing accountability mechanisms at three different levels of governance: political, administrative and fiscal. Therefore, the analysis of the decentralization reforms should also be based on an inter-disciplinary approach. The report applies this framework to ten countries and two sectors and uses the case studies as the primary data collection tool. These case studies provide detailed contextual analysis of the political, administrative and fiscal aspects of decentralization. The countries identified for the case studies are Angola, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda, Kerala/India, Philippines, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Rwanda and Punjab/Pakistan. The sectors identified are health and education. The review of these case studies suggests that most of the local governments do not fare well on many assessment criteria of well-designed decentralization. In addition to the insubstantial discretion available to the local governments, accountability mechanisms are also not well developed.
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Decentralization and Local Governance in MENA : A Survey of Policies, Institutions, and PracticesEntering the 21st century, the 1999-2000 World Development Report (WDR), identifies two main forces that are shaping the world in which development policy is being defined and implemented: (i) globalization, the increasing worldwide integration of private sector interaction and commercial relationships; and (ii) localization, a process of devolving fiscal and administrative roles and responsibilities from central to sub-national tiers of government. It goes on to note that these global-private and local-public pressures are not only reinforcing, but also challenging traditional paradigms and forms of intergovernmental systems. Political decentralization, often associated with pluralistic politics and representative government, aims to give citizens more say in public policy and decision-making. Its advocates assume that decisions made with greater participation will be better informed and more relevant to diverse interests in society than those made only by national political authorities. The concept implies that the selection of representatives from local electoral jurisdictions allows citizens to know better their political representatives and allows elected officials to know better the needs and desires of their constituents. Administrative decentralization aims to redistribute authority, responsibility and financial resources for providing public services among different levels of government. It typically takes three forms: de-concentration, delegation and devolution. Fiscal decentralization vests greater autonomy and authority with local governments in matters of fiscal importance, empowering local governments to generate their own revenues, through taxes and user charges, as well as determining their expenditure priorities based on a clear assignment of functions and responsibilities. Over the last two decades, it has been estimated that more than 100 countries, most of them in the developing world, have experimented with various forms of decentralization.