Constituency Development Funds Research Articles

Co-production and the Use of Constituency Development Funds (CDFs) in Poverty Alleviation: A Case of Selected Constituencies in Zambia

Constituency Development Fund (CDF) is the generic name for a policy tool that dedicates public money to benefit specific political subdivisions through allocations and/or spending decisions influenced by their representatives in the national parliament (Centre for International Development 2009: 8-9). Dissimilar to large national development projects, CDF-financed projects are essentially community based and driven with the major aim of bringing facilities and services closer to people for purposes of improving their social economic living conditions, especially reducing poverty. In the 2022 Zambia National Budget, CDF saw an unprecedented increase in the size of funding and scope of its mandate. For the year 2023, CDF was increased from K25.7 million (USD 1,070,833) to K28.3 million (USD 1,179,167) per constituency while being expanded to include additional components such as youth, disabled and women empowerment programs as well as secondary school bursaries that will now be locally administered. It is in this regard that the authors undertook a study to assess the impact of CDFs on poverty alleviation in 12 constituencies selected namely, Kankoyo, Moomba, Bweengwa, Mpika, Rufunsa, Monze, Chawama, Mufulira, Kaoma, Kantanshi, Mbala and Solwezi. Data was collected from men, youth and the disabled from the said constituencies. Due to the nature of data collected, mixed methodology research was used. Qualitative data was analysed with the aid of ATLAS.ti while quantitative data was analysed using SPSS Version 30. Key findings are that the general public is aware of the existence of the CDFs and that it is a government empowerment programme especially for funding education and skills acquisition through school bursaries and skills development components, community projects and empowerment loans. However, empirical evidence on the ground point to challenges of the CDFs through political patronage, nepotism, the abdication of key decision making to the politician (Member of parliament) who has massive influence as he/she has power to arbitrary hand-pick 6 members out of 12 to the main CDF committee responsible for administration of CDF funds.

Parliamentary Institutional Reforms in Malaysia: The Case of the Pakatan Harapan Era, 2018–2020

The parliamentary institution is the nation’s highest legislative body in a democratic system, where it enacts, amends, and approves federal laws, examines government policies and approves government spending. However, in Malaysia, during the Barisan Nasional (BN) era, this institution was frequently criticised due to its numerous flaws. Among them were executive control over parliamentary institutions, disregard for the opposition’s role and unequal development provision between government and opposition parliamentarians. Therefore, during the 14th General Election (GE14) campaign, Pakatan Harapan (PH) promised to implement parliamentary reforms, and that pledge carried PH to victory in the GE14. This article utilised the concept of institutional reform as a tool of analytics to discuss parliamentary institutional reforms during the PH’s governmental term from 2018 to 2020. The primary sources of this study were interviews and secondary sources, which were obtained through books, journals and newspapers. This article argues that the PH government has successfully implemented several parliamentary institutional reforms in only 22 months. The reforms were the reform of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), the establishment of more parliamentary select committees, the restructuring of constituency development funds for members of parliament (MPs) and the appointment of non-partisan speakers. All these reforms have benefited Malaysia’s parliamentary institutions by increasing the role of the opposition, allocating fair constituency development funds to parliamentarians and improving the parliamentary image. Nevertheless, comprehensive reforms were not implemented because the PH government was ousted from power at the end of February 2020 because of the actions of several PH MPs who defected from the party.

The Influence of Level of Funding on Implementation of Physical Infrastructure Projects in Public Secondary Schools

The free primary education and subsidized secondary levels resulted to high enrolment in secondary schools in Kenya. This led to congestion on the existing facilities, especially in government aided secondary schools hence creating the need to construct more relevant physical facilities. However, in many government aided secondary schools, there are examples of faulty project implementation in terms of; incomplete buildings, inadequate instructional materials in some schools, poorly developed play grounds, laboratories with inadequate equipment, congested class rooms and lack of departmental offices. This study therefore aimed at establishing the influence of level of funding on physical infrastructure implementation: a case of Trans-Nzoia and West Pokot Counties, Kenya. The study adopted the Critical Chain Project Management theory while the descriptive survey design was employed. The target population comprised of the principals, the Board of Management (BOM) members, Sub County and County Directors of Education. Questionnaires and interview guides were used in data collection. The validity and reliability of the tools was done by use of the expert’s opinions and a test re-tests technique respectively. The quantitative data was analyzed with the aid of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and presented by using descriptive statistics. Qualitative data was organized thematically and analyzed alongside the corresponding quantitative data. The findings revealed that; West Pokot County government allocated more funds towards infrastructure compared to Trans Nzoia. There was more donor support in West Pokot County than Trans Nzoia. Allocation and disbursement of funds from the ministry of Education and Constituency Development Funds delayed. As a result, schools in Trans Nzoia charged parents fees for infrastructure development. Allocation and disbursement of Funds from the ministry of education and the Constituency Development Funds delayed. The study recommended that there is need for more capacity building on outsourcing of resources to help implement projects in secondary schools in the two Counties. The findings from the study would be helpful to policy makers in developing informed policy in financing and implementation in education sector.

‘Copper and solar’: the gendered politics of service delivery in Solomon Islands

Clientelism, and how clientelist political systems evolve over time, is of enduring interest to scholars of politics. The rise of constituency development funds (CDFs), especially in countries where they have come to represent a significant proportion of the government budget, complicates these dynamics, with some arguing their influence in Melanesia has prompted the emergence of a distinct form of statehood. But where do women fit into CDF politics, and this new form of statehood? This article introduces a gendered lens to the emerging literature on CDFs, using a case study of an incumbent woman member of parliament’s campaign for re-election in Solomon Islands. It finds that changing political dynamics in Solomon Islands have not challenged the male dominance of the political space; there are, however, entry points for well-positioned women to gain a political foothold in the new Melanesian state. These findings suggest new avenues for future research, incorporating theories of gender and politics with the emerging literature on CDFs.

Elite clientelism in Nigeria: The role of parties in weakening legislator-voter ties

Political parties in Africa and other developing countries are known to forge clientelist rather than programmatic ties to voters. Yet this does not mean that parties reward strong legislator-voter ties. In this paper, I argue for the case of Nigeria that lawmakers seeking to advance their political careers are incentivized to direct public resources to party members and senior party elites rather than serve their constituents in general. I draw on interviews with 8th National Assembly (2015–2019) lawmakers as well as quantitative data on MP re-election, targeted bills and motions, and the use of constituency development funds to demonstrate the predominance of narrow clientelism in Nigeria. I also place the Nigerian case in comparative perspective to argue that the extent to which legislators devote attention to constituents is likely to exist on a continuum, with the causes and consequences of this variation requiring further attention from scholars.

Aid‐supported governance reforms in Solomon Islands: Piecemeal progress or persistent stalemate?

AbstractMotivationDespite seeming donor–recipient consensus on the importance of effective governance, aid‐linked reforms often fall short of the expected outcomes. Solomon Islands provides a highly relevant case to explore the dynamics of institutional reform processes, and understand why, even in a relatively favourable operating environment, structural reforms are difficult to implement.PurposeThis article aims to provide empirically grounded analysis of key factors that hinder institutional change in fragile aid‐receiving countries by addressing the reciprocal (rather than unilateral) constraints and trade‐offs faced by both recipients and donors, and examining their implications for the emerging institutional trajectories in host states.Approach and MethodsThis study is based on the use of a single case study that involves in‐depth review of related academic and policy literature, and media reports through the lens of “mutual dependencies.”FindingsSolomon Islands’ recent experience with the regulation of Constituency Development Funds and tertiary scholarships makes it clear that by continuously postponing the implementation of relevant policies, domestic authorities try to avoid the potential costs institutional reforms are likely to create. Similarly, donors concerned about their own strategic interests and power relationships with other actors remain unable to enforce full implementation of such reforms. The process in Solomon Islands further confirms that political trade‐offs facing all actors in different forms have a constraining effect on the achievement of desired policy objectives.Policy ImplicationsPolicy reforms require domestic authorities to develop specific mechanisms that have the potential to secure popular support in favour of proposed structural changes. Donors need new and more evidence‐based approaches that may help balance between their strategic concerns and the achievement of institutional outcomes.

(A)Political Constituency Development Funds: Evidence from Pakistan

Most of the distributive politics literature focuses on how incumbent politicians allocate development resources in the absence of spending rules, and on the politicization of rules when they do determine distribution. What is less clear is whether politically neutral spending rules lead to neutral spending. Using new data on a long-running federal development fund and elections from Pakistan in a regression discontinuity design, the author presents strong evidence that the ruling party manipulated fund distribution to disproportionately benefit its co-partisans and punish the weakest opposition. Considering various factors, partisan bias is the most plausible explanation. These findings are important not only because the purpose of rules-based funds is to prevent politicized distribution but also because they have implications for development patterns and for using such funds to address questions about legislator effort and patronage patterns within constituencies, which requires assuming that legislators do receive their share of funds in the first place.

Sustainability of Zimbabwe’s Parliamentary Constituency Information Centres

AbstractThis paper assessed the sustainability of Zimbabwe’s Parliamentary Constituency Information Centres (PCICs) as one of many parliamentary constituency projects through examining support from development partners and central government. With the advent of constituency development funds (CDFs) it was expected that PCICs would become increasingly important as centres for disseminating parliamentary information, as an interface between parliament and constituents as well as a communication and coordination hub for constituency activities. These aspects have the effect of improving the Member of Parliament’s (MP) work within the constituency, consequently having a positive impact on the constituency as well as improving MPs’ contribution in parliament. The study was based on theoretical assumptions of interpretive paradigm leading to the belief that respondents are subjected to the external world, with a mixed method approach (Ngulube 2010, “Mapping Mixed Methods Research in Library and Information Science Journals in Sub-Saharan Africa.”

Legislatures and Democratic Development in Africa

Abstract:Afrobarometer data collected three decades after Joel Barkan’s pioneering survey of rural Kenyans confirm his insights that voters stress MPs’ linkage roles in terms of representation (carrying views upward to the capital) and constituency service (bringing goods downward from national government) over their institutional roles (lawmaking and oversight). And, contrary to conventional wisdom, they prefer collective goods for the constituency over private goods. An African Legislatures Project survey of 822 MPs in seventeen countries revealed, however, that MPs misinterpret this as a demand for material goods and development and underappreciate the demand for representation, prompting—among other things—the adoption of controversial Constituency Development Funds.

Effects of Procurement Procedures on Adoption of Procurement Manual for Schools and Colleges (2009) in Kenyan Secondary Schools: A Case Study of Gatanga Sub-County, Murang’a County, Kenya

There has been quest for organized and standardized procurement procedures in our Kenyan schools. PPOA to this effect introduced procurement manual for schools and colleges (2009) as a customized version of procurement act (2005) specifically for schools and colleges in Kenya. However there was a problem on the adoption of this manual to secondary schools in Kenya. The researcher felt interested in finding out the degree of adoption of this manual in Kenyan schools, sampling Gatanga sub county, Murang’a County. The researcher sampled Gatanga Sub County among many others since it has a track record of ranking among the best in Constituency Development funds management. In this study, the researcher was also interested in finding out the effects of competence of various procurement committee members, procurement methods used and political interference on adopting procurement manual for schools and colleges (2009). Gatanga subcounty has a total of 34 secondary schools from which the researcher carried out his study in 11 schools sampled according to their category .There are three categories of schools in Gatanga .These are Boarding schools offering full boarding facilities for boys and girls or separate, the next is day schools which are the majority and the last is mixed day and boarding schools which give students choice of either boarding or being day scholars. The researcher handled 76 participants in the procurement process. They include the school bursars, Deputy Principals who chairs procurement committee meetings, various heads of departments, and a user department member preferably catering department. The researcher used stratified sampling technique for his data collection. He also used questionnaires and interviews tools of data collection. Data was collected by dropping the questionnaires in targeted schools and arrangements made on how they will be collected later for data collection, processing and analyzing.