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Republic of Burundi Fiscal Decentralization and Local Governance : Managing Trade-Offs to Promote Sustainable ReformsDespite the remarkable progress achieved since the end of the conflict, Burundi still faces significant development challenges. Since 2005, the Government of Burundi has embarked on a potentially transformative process of decentralization, with the aim of strengthening social cohesion, improving local governance, and promoting access to basic infrastructure and service delivery. The weakness of the communal tax system, coupled with low mobilization of local revenue and nonexistent (current) or negligible (capital) transfers from the national budget threaten the financial viability of communes, which struggle to support even basic operating costs. Addressing a specific government request, the present study aims to provide concrete policy recommendations to help the Government of Burundi improve the financial and institutional sustainability of the decentralization reform process, while enabling communes to address popular demands and deliver better services. The report will also look at the implications of these macro-level challenges at the sectoral level, through a case study of the recent experiences of decentralized land administration services, whose responsibilities were recently transferred to communes. The report is based on results from interviews, fieldwork research, and qualitative focus group discussion, combined with existing administrative data and secondary sources on decentralization in Burundi. The present study is organized into four thematic chapters. Chapter one provides a snapshot of Burundiapos;s political and macroeconomic context, and reviews the evolution of the decentralization process to better understand how institutional, political, and bureaucratic dynamics have shaped the historical trajectory of decentralization and generated the outcomes observed today. Chapter two provides a systematic investigation of the status of fiscal decentralization in Burundi, and identifies key policy issues to be considered to ensure the medium-term sustainability of the reform process while at the same time addressing the short-term financial needs of communes. Chapter three provides an in-depth diagnostic of a key service delivery responsibility recently devolved to communes - the provision of land registration services and discusses the challenges and opportunities related to ongoing efforts to scale up access to these land services across 116 rural communes and Bujumbura. Chapter four shifts the focus to the nature of state citizen relations in an effort to better understand how citizen engagement in the decision-making process may be improved and local authorities held accountable for the provision of basic services.
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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.
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Decentralization, Accountability and Local Services in Sierra Leone : Situation Analysis, Key Challenges and Opportunities for ReformFollowing years of civil war that ended
 in 2002, Sierra Leone has pursued a policy of
 decentralization, devolving responsibility for many
 government functions to the Local Council level. The aims of
 this policy include achieving a more equitable and inclusive
 access to public services across the national territory, in
 part to alleviate regional inequities that contributed to
 the civil war. The implementation of the decentralization
 policy has faced many obstacles, however, including the need
 to rebuild local government institutions and capacity after
 30 years of centrally dominated governance; the limited
 devolution of financial resources; and multifaceted
 political economy hurdles. This report, first, analyzes the
 current state of decentralization in Sierra Leone; second,
 identifies the most prominent challenges to continued
 decentralization; and, third, discusses options for the way
 forward. The report draws on qualitative and quantitative
 data collected from both central and local government
 stakeholders, and takes the perspective that
 decentralization and strengthened local governance
 institutions are an effective means to localize development
 and improve the effective and equitable delivery of key
 public services. The study focuses on progress to date and
 standing challenges in four key areas of analysis: fiscal
 decentralization, human resource decentralization, ensuring
 inclusivity and accountability in local governance, and
 ensuring efficiency and responsiveness in service delivery.