FRAMEWORK FOR LOCAL GOVERNANCE & LOCAL DEVELOPMENT Jurgita Siugzdiniene Development at Local Level in Central Asia Workshop Ashgabat 9 October 2008

OBJECTIVES OF THE PRESENTATION/DISCUSSION Present and discuss a conceptual framework for local governance & local development and agree on the terminology; Discuss the role of local government in local development; Facilitate programming discussion on local governance & local development; This is not a one-way presentation but a dialogue…..

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK: GOOD LOCAL GOVERNANCE FOR LOCAL DEVELOPMENT

LOCAL GOVERNANCE Comprises a set of institutions, mechanisms and processes, through which local government, central agencies, community members and their groups, private sector can articulate their interests and needs and exercise their rights and obligations at the local level; Local Governance is not just about local governments - All local institutions contributes to local governance; - LG important pillar around which to anchor relationships among local institutions; Local governance is not synonymous to decentralization.

Good Local Governance for Local Development E n a b l i n g e n v i r o n m e n t L O C A S E R V I Good local governance: Empowered local community; Participation to meet people needs; Capable local institutions to engage in partnerships (CBOs, private sector) Effective and accountable local government; Local development : Improvements in social and economic welfare of people & accumulation of social capital E M P O W R N T Based on WB

GOOD LOCAL GOVERNANCE REQUIRES Changing attitudes and practices, that is more than changes in rules and procedures; New institutional arrangements to manage complex processes and overcome institutional boundaries; Changes in the distribution of power between central and local levels and among local actors.

FACTORS THAT MAY AFFECT GOOD LOCAL GOVERNANCE (1) Local governance is understood in different ways by different people and organizations. Therefore, support to local governance is usually fragmented; Different entry points: direct community support, local government support, decentralized sectoral support; Institutional environment is not always favorable to local initiatives: Ambiguous national legislation, policies and regulations; Role and status of civil society and private sector associations and organizations; Values and norms grounded in the culture.

FACTORS THAT MAY AFFECT GOOD LOCAL GOVERNANCE (2) Local governments do not have sufficient capacities and resources to play a community leadership role: Limited or/and unclear mandate and responsibilities of LGs; Organizational capacities and resources are inadequate to meet citizen expectations or the responsibilities transferred to them by national policies; Lack of a modern understanding of the role of local government;

FACTORS THAT MAY AFFECT GOOD LOCAL GOVERNANCE (3) Lack of institutionalized opportunities to participate in local planning, policy making and service delivery processes; Lack of permanent participation and monitoring procedures; Opportunities to participate maybe not equally available to all; Insufficient inclusion of different social and disadvantaged groups as contributors to local governance, service provision and as service beneficiaries;

FACTORS THAT MAY AFFECT GOOD LOCAL GOVERNANCE (4) Lack of adequate coordination and cooperation among local stakeholders and with central level institutions; Absence of mechanisms for coordinating activities between community groups, local government bodies, and central agencies; Coordination weaknesses between local governments and de-concentrated central agencies due to different lines of responsibility and inadequately developed horizontal mechanisms for cooperation; Weak capacities of community members and organizations to participate and partner with each other and with public sector organizations; Insufficient capacities of LG associations, weak channels of communication.

HOW WE SUPPORT GOOD LOCAL GOVERNANCE? We carry out a comprehensive situation assessment to design a country specific support strategy; We promote integrated approach: capacities of all stakeholders involved are important; Local government is our main entry point; We ensure strong linkages with policy making process (scaling up best practices, policy advice); One of our key strategies: integrated local development planning.

Integrated local development planning: Helps to agree on a common development vision of the area; Ensures integration of local governance activities with other spheres of local development planning at regional and national levels; Serve as bases for engagement and partnerships between local governments and various stakeholders and interest groups at local level; Ensures effective utilization of limited financial and human resources; Develops capacities local stakeholders.

EXAMPLE 1: Integrated and inclusive local development planning (BiH, Armenia, Georgia) Main issues to be addressed: Different methodologies and various approaches are applied for local development planning; Few links with higher level planning processes; Insufficient attention to the institutionalization of participatory spaces and limited inclusion of different social and disadvantaged groups into planning; Local development plans are mainly project oriented and rely mainly on donor funding, weak linkages with budgeting process and performance management systems.

Selected strategy to address the issues (1): Involvement of central and local stakeholders to develop a national methodology for local development planning; Methodology introduces: linkages with higher level planning documents and processes; mechanism for inclusion of disadvantaged groups (vulnerability assessment, Focus Group discussions); suggests how to institutionalize participation; provides guidelines for developing capacities of community members; links with budgeting and performance management processes;

Selected strategy to address the issues (2): Development of national training and consultation package to ensure a uniform implementation of the methodology, provision of technical support to selected local governments (strengthening local development function of LG, setting relevant processes, development of facilitations skills, etc.) . Anchoring of the training and consultation package??

EXAMPLE 1: Sustainable training and development system for LGs (Georgia, BiH, Armenia) There is a need to ensure that LG capacities are developed for a uniform implementation of national policies and this happens on a continues bases; Ad hoc and supply driven training and development; Personnel management function in local governments is generally either not developed at all or very weak and tends to focus on the administrative dimension of managing staff and record keeping. There is a lack of capacity to articulate training and development needs. Quality assurance mechanisms are not in place and there are no commonly agreed standards for training; Local training market is not well developed and potential training providers have limited capacities to develop and implement quality training programmes on their own.

Selected strategy to address the issues (1): Support a participatory development and implementation of the National Training and Development Framework for local government (all decisions are made by national stakeholders, UNDP only provides technical support and advice); The Framework defines: (1) the principles of training and development; (2) priority programs; (3) priority target groups; (4) the institutional structure of the local government training system (roles, responsibilities, linkages, legal framework); (5) a quality assurance mechanism; (6) the financing framework; and (7) the reporting and monitoring mechanism.

Selected strategy to address the issues (2): Strengthen HR management function in the local government units (sample procedures and guidelines for recruitment, performance appraisal and development of municipal training plans); Based on the accumulated expertise provide policy advice to the Government on strengthening HR management and municipal service systems; Strengthen local training providers: training and advice on development of curricula, ToT, data base; Support the establishment of training and development infrastructure.

Questions for discussion: 1 Questions for discussion: 1. WHAT ARE THE KEY FACTORS THAT AFFECT GOOD LOCAL GOVERNANCE IN YOUR COUNTRIES? 2. HOW WE CAN ADDRESS THESE FACTORS?

2. LOCAL GOVERNMENT AS A COMMUNITY LEADER

WHY ARE LOCAL GOVERNMENTS IMPORTANT? Local communities need strategic leadership In the past LG would solve the problems themselves, today they are much more likely to discharge their role through partnership; LGs are best positioned to offer participatory mechanisms open to all members of a community: - manage different interests; channel public funding, foster balanced development ; to better absorb external support, slow out- migration and the overly rapid growth of capital cities; and provide critical links to national governments.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT REFORM – KEY ISSUES (based on experience of Post-Communist Europe) Democracy and effectiveness; Which service delivery responsibilities should be assigned to local governments? How these responsibilities should be financed? How we should keep local governments accountable? Decision on these questions depends on country traditions, economical situation, culture… No single right answer, no prescriptions

1. Democracy and effectiveness Virtuous circle – “democratic accountability increases the effectiveness of public spending, and better public spending legitimates and strengthens democracy”; It only works if: Local governments are really democratically elected; Have a skills and resources necessary to manage the public services they have been assigned; If local voters really have the information and the motivation to monitor. However, this encounters number of practical problems and especially in developing countries..

2. Which service delivery responsibilities can be assigned to local governments? Capacity of local governments to manage particular functions? It might be good reasons to assign it first as delegated function; Responsibility for most modern public services must be shared between levels of government; Rational decisions about these questions are influenced by the historic, demographic and topographic characteristics of individual countries; How this sharing should best be defined will differ from country to country..

3. How these responsibilities can be financed? LG should have adequate and predictable revenue sources; There is a preference that biggest share of revenues would come from own sources, however: - Tax bases of most developing countries are skewed to capital cities; - There are very few high yield taxes that can be reasonably be made LG taxes.

4. How do we promote accountable local government? All reforms were implemented with little thinking about their accountability implications; LG should be accountable to higher levels of government (upward accountability) as well as to local community (downward accountability); Community members should have the ability and opportunity to demand accountability and the LGs should have the means and incentives to respond to citizen demands for accountability and better service delivery.

Public Accountability approaches Social Accountability Approaches Administrative accountability Bureaucratic hierarchy Civil service rules Procurement practices Financial accountability Local public financial management Political accountability Local council oversight Electoral accountability Local Governance Outcomes Responsive, effective, efficient, sustainable services Enhanced political, financial and administrative accountability Greater local control over development planning and decision making Strengthened accountability through greater citizen monitoring and vigilance over power holders D e m a n d Social Accountability Approaches Participator monitoring and evaluation Participatory management of investments/projects Citizen feedback for services (report cards, social audits) Participatory planning Participatory budgeting Participatory expenditure tracking Citizen access to information campaigns

Thus, local governments to fulfill their role effectively, must have: Clearly defined responsibilities for the management and finance of public services; Independent budgets with adequate, predictable, and transparent revenues; Effective and participatory accountability mechanisms. The right to own property as well as the actual ownership of at least some of the publicly owned land and buildings located in their jurisdiction; Legal identity and the right to enter into contracts in their own name; ……and capacities

How we can support local government reform? (1) INSTITUTIONAL ENVIRONMENT Advocate, raise awareness (based on real examples); Support LG policy development process: - Strengthen policy making capacities of responsible agencies; - Support the development of legislation, strategic documents; - Facilitate inter-ministerial cooperation; Develop capacities of the line ministries for LG reform; Facilitate the dialog between central and local level (formal procedures, strengthen LGAs, Working Groups, Forums);

How we can support local government reform? (2) ORGANIZATIONAL AND INDIVIDUAL CAPACITIES: - Employment conditions; - HRM; - Training systems; ACCOUNTABILITY AND PARTICIPATION. THANK YOU!

Question for discussion: LOCAL GOVERNMENTS IN CENTRAL ASIA: WHAT ARE THE KEY CHALLENGES AND HOW CAN WE HELP TO ADDRESS THEM?