A Diagnostic Framework for Decentralization and Local Governance
Presented by: Serdar Yilmaz, Ghazia Aslam and Asli Gurkan
(Social Development Department, World Bank)
Discussant: Jamie Boex (Senior Research Associate, IDG, Urban Institute)
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010; 9:30 – 11:30 am
The Urban Institute – Conference Room 5A
2100 M St., NW, Washington, D.C.
It is conventional wisdom that decentralization reforms and local democratic governance will improve local service delivery by increasing efficiency and accountability. However, the world is full of examples of failures or mixed results in delivering these gains.
Serdar Yilmaz and his colleagues suggest that the theory and the practice of decentralization have suffered from a partial and fragmented approach, undermining the comprehensive and strategic sequencing required for effective decentralization reforms. The Economic and Sector Work Reports produced by Yilmaz and his team (2008. 2009) suggest that local governments need discretionary space defined in three dimensions: political, administrative and fiscal. Within their discretionary space, local governments can be expected to be accountable to higher levels of government as well as to citizens.
The presentation applies this framework to ten countries and three sectors (health, education and urban water and sanitation) and uses case studies to provide detailed contextual analysis of political, administrative and fiscal aspects of decentralization. The countries identified for country case studies are Angola, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda, Kerala/India, Philippines, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Rwanda and Punjab/Pakistan.
Resources:
Powerpoint presentation
Background readings
Latest Research
