Making Decentralization Work in Developing Countries: Transforming Local Government Entities into High Performing Organizations

Deborah Kimble, Jameson Boex, Ginka Kapitanova

In developing countries, through the process of decentralization, municipal officials are constrained by administrative and governing practices that reflect a highly centralized, command driven economic system that has left a lasting impact on the culture and behavior of municipal administrations. In order for these local governments to become efficient and responsive providers of local infrastructure and public services, individuals and the organizations in which they work have to be transformed from entities that are local administrators of centrally-mandated public functions -which in large part requires compliance with central government rules and responsiveness to instructions from the top- into high-performing local government organizations (HPLGOs) which are capable of proactively identifying and responding to local needs.

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