strengthening the centre to enable effective local governance PAR & Decentralisation UNDP Practice Meeting Bratislava, 20 April 2004 Luigi N. Tessiore Decentralization & Local Governance Policy Advisor Central and Eastern African Sub-Regional Resource Facility UNDP

April 2004PAR Presentation LNT 2 Main goal of PA The main goal of public sector activities is to meet citizens’ needs Is decentralization the panacea?

April 2004PAR Presentation LNT 3 The Paradigm of Decentralization

April 2004PAR Presentation LNT 4 Decentralization Brings a plurality of decision making centres dealing with: Political aspects Administrative aspects Fiscal aspects This raises concerns…… about the political agenda

April 2004PAR Presentation LNT 5 Defining good local governance What do we understand as “good local governance”? good local governance is seen as an institutional system (a set of organizational and procedural measures) for managing local public affairs. This system should be characterized by three critical dimensions[1]:[1] (a) Performance of the local authorities (in terms of fiscal effort and discipline, as well as allocative and operational efficiency) in managing public resources and discharging their responsibilities for: 1. Delivery of economic and social services, 2. Protection of the environment and management of natural resources 3. Promotion of economic development, (b) Participation of organized and individual citizens in local public sector decision-making, through mechanisms that supplement and enhance, rather than replace or contradict, the functioning of the institutions of democratic representation, (c) Partnership, between local authorities, civil society organizations and private sector units for the provision and production of local collective goods and services. [1][1] See Romeo, Leonardo, UNCDF: "A Local Governance Approach to Post-Conflict Recovery" October 2002.

April 2004PAR Presentation LNT 6 STOP 1

April 2004PAR Presentation LNT 7 Spread of PAR interventions in Africa Typology (i) Promoting a Professional Civil Service, (ii) Functional Reviews, (iii) Training of Civil Servants, (iv) ICT to Enhance Public Services: same as other regions HDI: 60% of interventions are in Low HDI, opposite to the general trend of other regions that see a concentration in Medium HDI countries

April 2004PAR Presentation LNT 8 PAR sectors Civil service reform Improving policy making systems Reforming the machinery of government Reforming the public expenditure management system

April 2004PAR Presentation LNT 9 Decentralization reforms Fiscal Revenues collection & management Tax collection & management Investment planning Public expenditure management system Fiscal transfers & compensatory mechanisms Administrative De-concentrate administration Inter-governmental administrative relations Civil service structures Competencies & Procedures ICT Political Policy making systems Inter-institutional relations Overlooking bodies

April 2004PAR Presentation LNT 10 PAR Decentralization Reforming the public expenditure management system Fiscal Civil service reform Administrative Improving policy making systems; Reforming the machinery of government Political

April 2004PAR Presentation LNT 11 Fiscal decentralization UP-STREAM Inter-Governmental Fiscal Relations –Treasury –Revenues collection & management –Tax collection & management –Fiscal transfers & compensatory mechanisms DOWN-STREAM Participatory Planning and Budgeting –Investment planning, M&E –Public expenditure management system –Audits (internal & external) and oversight

April 2004PAR Presentation LNT 12 Challenges in Designing and Implementing Intergovernmental Transfers Macroeconomic Concerns The Challenge of Multiple Objectives Criteria for Allocating Resources Political and Bureaucratic Interference Overall Effects of Intergovernmental Transfer Programs (Paul Smoke – ADB)

April 2004PAR Presentation LNT 13 Civil service reform Promoting a Professional Civil Service Facilitate passages/transfers of CS from central to local administrations; One or more independent CS?? (integrated with the other levels); Key areas and necessary tools: Legal compatibility of CS structures and hierarchy at central and local level (grades, functional positions, etc.); Legal equivalence of salary scales; Homogeneity of recruitment and selection systems; Packages, incentives for leaving central administration; Packages, incentives for transfers of CS form central to local; Legal mechanisms for facilitating rotation, exchange, of CS between different levels of PA;

April 2004PAR Presentation LNT 14 Improving policy making systems Facilitate inter-institutional dialogue and negotiations; Avoid duplications and overlapping of responsibilities between different institutional levels; Key areas and necessary tools:

April 2004PAR Presentation LNT 15 Training of Civil Servants Include the three levels of capacity (systemic, institutional and individual); Concentrate on the legal competencies of the LG; Focus on inter-institutional dialogue and negotiation capacity; E-training (when feasible) can contribute to both (i) development of capacity and (ii) creation of LG network

April 2004PAR Presentation LNT 16 Key areas and necessary tools 1 A) Developing local governments capacity should cover three dimensions: a. The build up of a systemic capacity for effective and cooperative intergovernmental relations between local authorities and the central and de-concentrated public administration; b. The strengthening of institutional capacity, through the introduction of improved methods and organizational arrangements for managing local public sector resources. c. The improvement of individual capacities through training of elected personnel and local administration staff.

April 2004PAR Presentation LNT 17 Key areas and necessary tools 2 B) Developing local capacity Local capacity to plan and manage the delivery of sustainable public services requires a systemic approach that recognizes three critical levels: a) The local governments themselves, where capacity must be built to plan, program, budget, implement, monitor and evaluate local services delivery, environment and development activities. b) The de-concentrated State administration, (at provincial/regional level) where capacity must be built to provide the financial and technical support that local authorities will require and exercise the necessary legality controls and performance monitoring. c) The communities of residents, whose settlement-level and special interests organizations must be promoted and strengthened to actively participate in local government processes of allocation of resources and programs/projects implementation.

April 2004PAR Presentation LNT 18 Reforming the machinery of government ICT to Enhance Public Services (ATTENTION ICT is only a tool) First the government should work, after we can think about e-government; Opposite to central administrations, local ones deliver proximity services. This makes the impact of ICT on local services delivery different, and need specific attention on maintenance cost and long term sustainability of investments; Concentrate on economic development and critical enabling sectors, and core institutional activities (civil registry, electoral registry, etc.); Strategic impact of local government networks (e-training and e-government);

April 2004PAR Presentation LNT 19 ICT to Enhance Public Services Key areas and necessary tools: Asses ex ante availability and cost of communications and energy; Concentrate on rentable investments: Land use and management and cadastre (GIS); Local civil registry and electoral registry are powerful tools for democracy, participation and transparency;

April 2004PAR Presentation LNT 20 Issues and Potentialities Political agendaMDGs, poverty alleviation thru services delivery Localize interventionsdifferent specific needs/tools Bottom-up approachfrom practice to policy Separation of roles and integration of policies avoid duplications and increase performance Networking, relations, connections dialogue both inter- institutional and social

April 2004PAR Presentation LNT 21 LG Horizontal accountability Administrative accountability Political accountability

April 2004PAR Presentation LNT 22 Local Dialogue Framework & Network (Sudan)