Decentralization Efforts Research Articles

Decentralisation in Zimbabwe: a local perspective

AbstractAlthough decentralisation has been on the Government of Zimbabwe's agenda since the early 1980s and there have been several structural reforms, little effective power has been decentralised. This article describes Zimbabwe's various decentralisation efforts and effects including fiscal decentralisation, sectoral decentralisation, local political and institutional structures and local economic development and poverty reduction, and analyses their impact in Binga District, which is one of the poorest parts of the country. A number of conclusions are drawn from this experience. Firstly, decentralisation is part of a wider process of national political and economic change and cannot be planned independently; moreover, decentralisation for the ‘wrong’ reasons can be worse than no decentralisation at all and, if the political environment is not ‘right’, the problems of decentralisation can be exacerbated by external funding agencies. Secondly, decentralisation must be accompanied by capacity building, and the capacity of local institutions depends to a significant extent on the individuals involved. Thirdly, decentralisation must be seen as a ‘learning process’; consequently, despite the relatively little effective decentralisation to date, those involved have learnt valuable lessons. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Decentralisation and local governance: experiences from Francophone West africa

AbstractSince the 1980s, decentralisation has become a key development theme in Francophone West Africa for various reasons. Perhaps most significant is the great dissatisfaction with centralised approaches of the past. Despite the heavy interest in decentralisation, however, progress of implementation has been rather slow and problematic. Except in Senegal, decentralisation is a relatively new phenomenon in Francophone West Africa and even there the decentralisation process is far from complete. Other more recently decentralising countries have taken very different paths. Burkina Faso, for example, is gradually phasing in decentralisation in the rural areas, while Mali created local governments across the entire country simultaneously. Such differences in approach can be a justifiable response to variations in the political and social climate across countries. One factor that has been uniformly given inadequate attention in decentralisation efforts is the role of traditional local institutions and how they respond to the introduction of new local institutions. This and other aspects of decentralisation in Francophone West Africa require further careful study if policymakers are to better understand how to design and implement more effective and sustainable decentralised systems. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Decentralisation in Africa: goals, dimensions, myths and challenges

AbstractDecentralisation is a complex and often somewhat elusive phenomenon. Many countries around the world have been attempting—for several reasons and with varying degrees of intention and success—to create or strengthen sub‐national governments in recent years. Africa is no exception to either the decentralisation trend or the reality of its complexity and diversity. Drawing selectively on the large academic and practitioner literature on decentralisation and the articles in this volume, this article briefly outlines a number of typical prominent goals of decentralisation. It then reviews some key dimensions of decentralisation—fiscal, institutional and political. These are too frequently treated separately by policy analysts and policy makers although they are inherently linked. Next, a few popular myths and misconceptions about decentralisation are explored. Finally, a number of common outstanding challenges for improving decentralisation and local government reform efforts in Africa are considered. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The role of external assistance in supporting decentralisation reform

AbstractA paradigm linking public sector decentralisation reforms to poverty reduction via improved local governance and development has provided the rationale for donor support of decentralisation and parallel efforts to build local government capacity. This article briefly considers the paradigm and reviews modalities of external aid to decentralisation, highlighting key limitations and contradictions. In spite of much rhetoric, decentralisation remains marginalised in a donor‐government policy dialogue dominated by macro‐economic and sectoral issues. Compartmentalisation within major aid organisations of the expertise and responsibilities to support administrative reforms, sectoral assistance programmes and community development projects, produces fragmented and competing interventions that do not address and even retard the systemic changes needed to advance decentralisation. New and more effective partnership arrangements between decentralising governments and their external partners are necessary to link ‘downstream’ assistance to local governments to ‘upstream’ development of the national decentralisation reform framework and to help manage a gradual and strategic approach to implementation of the reforms. Donor support to ‘decentralisation policy experiments’ may provide a new model for policy dialogue and the basis for building more effective partnerships. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Sectoral decentralisation and intergovernmental arrangements in Africa

AbstractA critical issue in decentralisation is the assignment of services to sub‐national governments. This article examines normative arguments, legislated models and actual experiences of Sub‐Saharan service assignment in two key service sectors, primary health care and rural roads, each of which is a common target for decentralisation efforts and has substantially different characteristics. In analysing intergovernmental provision and production arrangements and the way in which different service components are organised in these sectors, it is apparent that legislated models of decentralisation are largely informed by normative theory. In both sectors, however, a disjoint is evident between what governments decentralise in a formal sense (i.e. in the law) and what they decentralise in an actual sense. This disjoint can be partially explained by normative arguments about the limits to decentralisation, for example, spillovers and economies of scale, but also result from the influence of factors such as intergovernmental and bureaucratic politics, local level capacity constraints and particular production issues associated with each service. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The impact of decentralised forest management on charcoal production practices in Eastern Senegal

In accordance with Senegal’s decentralisation policy, important forest management tasks, including the right to allocate charcoal production rights, have been transferred to rural councils. This paper investigates the impact of these institutional reforms on charcoal production practices using the environmental entitlement framework developed by Leach et al. [Environmental entitlements: dynamics and institutions in community-based natural resource management. World Development 27 (2) (1999) 225]. The councils have not been able to turn their new endowments into entitlements because they lack sufficient strength and legitimacy. Informal institutions, notably the coalition between merchants, state agents and village chiefs, continue to run the charcoal business and are hardly affected by decentralisation efforts. Most rural people, especially those relying solely on agriculture for sustenance, do not benefit at all from the charcoal trade. They do suffer from the environmental costs it brings with it, however. Although tensions between pro-exploitation actors and pro-conservation actors are evident, the pro-exploitation actors’ firm grip on the informal institutions will probably lead to a prolonged subversion of the laws that seek to enhance local control and to sustain the forest.

Participatory agricultural research and decentralisation in Vietnam

Based on a conceptual framework, that describes the relationship between the effectiveness of up-scaling participation and implementing decentralisation, the objective of this paper is to analyse the effectiveness of decentralisation measures in the Agricultural Technology System (ATS) of Vietnam. It discusses whether the decentralisation efforts so far have enabled the rural population to express their options and take joint decisions in the sense of participation. The paper uses primary and secondary data, collected between November 2000 and June 2001. The paper first discusses the theoretical literature on up-scaling participation and decentralisation. Emphasis is given to highlight the links between the concepts of good governance in decentralisation and its effects on people's participation in the decision making process. Thereafter, the Vietnamese decentralisation measures are reviewed and it is assessed to which extent the agricultural sector and its relevant state agencies have benefited from these efforts. The experiences from the decentralisation activities is summarised. Whether decentralisation opened space for the rural people to express their opinions and to ensure that their preferences are incorporated in the ATS is specially considered. The paper closes with recommendations.

Regime Change--Prospects for Community-Based Resource Management in Post-New Order Indonesia

In January 2001, Indonesia embarked on a historic effort to devolve many functions and responsibilities of government from the center to the district level. These changes are being attempted in the midst of the political and economic uncertainty that continue to bedevil Indonesia's government and population years after the "East Asian crisis" swept through the region in 1997-1998. After decades of centralized control of economic and political development, the country's more than 360 district and municipal governments are suddenly placed in charge of managing nearly all affairs of state, excluding foreign policy, monetary policy, religion, and security. This essay examines emergent natural resource and environmental management consequences of this momentous transformation. Long promoted by social scientists and development agencies, it now appears that decentralization brings with it a host of new worries and problems. Indonesia's decentralization effort is still in the initial stages, and many of the problems have roots in previous regimes.

Dilemmas of top—down decentralisation in Jordan

This paper examines the variety of ways in which decentralisation has been used as a centrally-administered panacea for various ills in developing countries. In particular, the paper examines the case of Jordan, and provides a brief overview of previous decentralisation efforts as well as a more in-depth case study of decentralisation in the Petra region, the site of the ancient Nabatean city of Petra. The paper documents the weaknesses of previous planning efforts and considers whether the current efforts to decentralise will result in the protection of the fragile and historically valuable area as well as the stimulation of the local economy. The authors conclude that the current system of decentralised planning does not have the trust of local residents and is unlikely to gain the wider local support needed to ensure the long-run sustainability of the newly completed masterplan for the region.

School-Based Management: Reconceptualizing to Improve Learning Outcomes

This article examines educational decentralization efforts in both developed and developing countries, guided by two questions: (1) under what conditions does school-based management (SBM) produce best results and (2) what are the roles and relationships of the school/community and of the region/center. The authors summarize, from recent literature, reasons for the usual failure of SBM and identify the conditions under which SBM works, noting school/community relations and external infrastructure as important factors. In looking at research from developing countries, the authors highlight similarities and differences compared to Western research, focusing on projects with promising results. Finally, the article draws strategic implications for establishing the kind of school-based developments that will positively affect learning outcomes.

Institutionalising Decentralised Information Systems for Local Level Planning: Comparing Approaches Across Two States in India

Since the 1980s, administrative reform in a number of developing countries has been directed at achieving decentralisation of planning through the use of information systems. These experiments have not led to any significant improvement in planning and monitoring of development programmes. In this paper, we argue that a closer look at different approaches to decentralisation is useful in order to draw wider lessons about long-term impact. We trace the process of decentralisation adopted in two states of India, namely Gujarat and Karnataka. While both states are noted for their decentralisation efforts, the degree to which new work practices have become institutionalised has been influenced by differences in the structure of their planning apparatus and different approaches to the implementation of information technology for local-level planning.

Prescriptions, Power and Politics: The Turbulent History of Methadone Maintenance in Canada

Illicit opiate addiction has emerged as a major problem in many Western countries in the second half of this century, and its social harm implications have become much exacerbated with the onset of the HIV epidemic in the 1980s. By now, most Western jurisdictions have resorted to methadone treatment as the most effective and best researched intervention against the negative consequences of opiate addiction including mortality, morbidity, crime, and loss of social functioning. Methadone treatment in Canada features a long, turbulent, and instructive history as an exemplary case study in public policy. While both Britain and the U.S. experimented with opiate prescription treatment in the first half of the century, Canadian proposals for such programs initially never made it beyond the discussion stage, largely due to the influential resistance from the law enforcement sector. However, in light of growing influence from an emerging addictions treatment sector, Canada became the first Western jurisdiction to experiment with methadone prescription for the treatment of opiate addiction forty years ago. Methadone treatment became quickly and widely established as an effective treatment modality through the 1960s. But in the early 1970s, resistance from the law and health sectors evolved, and triggered the government to establish a set of comprehensive and restrictive federal methadone treatment regulations, which have dominated its realities until today. Almost completely regulated out of existence by the end of the 1970s, methadone treatment's prevalence gradually increased again through the 1980s, and recent decentralization efforts to provincial levels earlier this decade have had dramatic effects on treatment availability. Significant events in the Canadian history of methadone treatment and its regulation reflect developments in the U.S., and substantial recent domestic treatment expansion developments--as well as renewed sparks of resistance--are reminiscent of methadone treatment's patterns of history as they developed in the late 1960s. This paper traces the turbulent history of methadone treatment, regulation and policy in Canada with particular attention to institutional, professional and political determinants at the complex intersection of health, law, and addiction.

Decentralisation, participation and accountability in Sahelian forestry: legal instruments of political-administrative control

Colonial relations of political administration are being reproduced in the current era of participation and decentralisation. In natural resource management, participation and decentralisation are promoted on the basis that they can increase equity, yield greater efficiency, benefit the environment and contribute to rural development. Reaping these benefits is predicated on (1) the devolution of some real powers over natural resources to local populations, and (2) the existence of locally accountable authorities to whom those powers can be devolved. However, a limited set of highly circumscribed powers are being devolved to locally accountable authorities, and most local authorities to whom powers are being devolved are systematically structured to be upwardly accountable to the central state, rather than downwardly accountable to local populations. Many of the new laws being passed in the name of participation and decentralisation administer rather than enfranchise. The article examines the historical legal underpinnings of the powers and accountability of state-backed rural authorities (chiefs and rural councils), the authorities through which current natural resource management projects in Burkina Faso and in Mali represent local populations, and the decisions being devolved to local bodies in new natural resource management efforts. Without reform local interventions risk reproducing the inequities of their centralised political-administrative context. Rather than pitting the state against society by depicting the state as a negative force and society and non-state institutions as positive—as is done in many decentralisation and participatory efforts—this article suggests that representation through local government can be the basis of general and enduring participation by society in public affairs.

Federalist Flirtations: The Politics and Execution of Health Services Decentralization for the Uninsured Population in Mexico, 1985-1995

Around the world health services delivery systems are undergoing decentralization, responding to pressure to increase equity, efficiency, participation, intersectoral collaboration and accountability. This study examines the Mexican health decentralization efforts of the past decade to discern the motivations for the reform, the context for its implementation, the politics of its downfall, and the reform's impact at subnational levels of government. Sparked by economic crisis and pressure from international creditors for fiscal reform; demands for greater democracy, equity, and quality; and technocratic impulses to rationalize health services delivery, the decentralization reform could not overcome the authoritarian centralism of the federal government and its corporatist clients. In the end, even in the most technically capable states, the reform was unable to overcome political obstacles to decentralizing fiscal power, redistributing resources in an equitable fashion, and eliminating the inefficiencies of separate but unequal health systems for social security recipients and the uninsured population.

Évaluation des politiques de décentralisation en Afrique dans les années quatre-vingt-dix

Evaluating African Decentralisation Policies and Programmes of the 1990s The onsets of liberalisation and democratisation have necessitated a third wave of decentralisation reforms in many African countries in the decade of the 1990s. The article discusses the extent to which the current decentralisation efforts have effectively tackled the problems, which bedevilled past efforts. It is shown that some countries in the region are indeed breaking new grounds. The paper concludes by suggesting areas that deserve greater scrutiny and assistance by African governments and development partners.

Primary Health Care in Ethiopia: From Haile Sellassie to Meles Zenawi

This paper examines developments in primary health care (PHC) in Ethiopia under the authoritarian/feudal regime of emperor Haile Sellassie, the socialist/military rule of Mengistu Haile Mariam and the sprouting democracy and free market economy under Meles Zenawi. The focus is on health policy, progress and problems in implementing programs and on recent decentralization efforts. The primary health services of the Derg have been described1 but continuity and change under these three governments and the relationship with the health services of the rebel forces in Tigray and Eritrea has not been analyzed except for a paper on community participation.2 The grassroots, community based health services of the TPLF and EPLF have been characterized as efficient, equitable and community based, consistent with the PHC approach.3'4 Similar achievements were reported from other liberation movements, including those in Mozambique5 and Vietnam.6 Primary health care essentially is the application of the basic needs approach in the field of health, with a central focus on correcting inequities and improving the health status of the poor and dispossessed. The concept of PHC, developed at the WHO-UNICEF conference in Alma Ata in 1978, has been used during the last two decades in Ethiopia and most other developing countries with variable results. The Alma Ata Declaration of Health for All by the Year 2000

Evolution of the Philippine Health Care System During the Last Forty Years of Development Administration

This article discusses the influence of the evolving development administration emphases - centralisation and decentralisation — to health care delivery in the Philippines during the last four decades. It shows how prescriptions during the 1950s and 1960s led to the creation of a centrally planned Philippine health care system. The dysfunctions of this centralised system motivated development administration specialists to call for decentralisation in the 1970s. Initial attempts at decentralisation were mainly functionally and structurally-oriented, that is, the health care bureaucracy was reorganised and streamlined to ensure improved programme implementation especially at the local community level. However, the limitations of structural decentralisation created the demand for process decentralization efforts — an approach which concentrates on more social-behavioural changes and active stakeholder participation. Process decentralisation was used not only to improve implementation but also to ensure sustainability. Governmental and non-governmental organisations of the 1980s and early 1990s have emphasized this dimension of decentralisation as manifested in their projects and programmes.

Interorganizational Community-Based Collaboratives: A Strategic Response to Shape the Social Work Agenda

In 1992, the Assembly Democratic Economic Prosperity Team, a group of California legislators and business leaders, issued a report proposing ways to manage the state's economic dilemmas. The report stated that traditional ways no longer suffice in today's complex global economy. Neither the standard, stereotypical Republican laissez-faire model nor the standard, stereotypical Democratic command and control model works any more. . . . We learned that only a third voice - the way of trust, partnership, and collaboration - offers us any hope for our (cited in Dreher, 1996, p. 132). This quote sums up the essence of this article: With constant change characterizing today's world and heightened uncertainty about tomorrow's, the organizational unit that offers the most hope for meeting these challenges and at the same time achieving its own goals is the interorganizational collaborative. Whether it is a for-profit PAL (that is, pooling, allying, and linking across companies) as prescribed by Kanter (1989), a nonprofit community-based consortium (Bailey & Koney, 1995a), or a social change coalition (Mizrahi & Rosenthal, 1992), interorganizational collaboratives more often are being recognized as the system of choice. On the basis of a longitudinal field study (Bailey & Koney, 1995a), this article supports the relevance of interorganizational community-based collaboratives in addressing the challenges facing social work. Further, it identifies eight major components of community-based collaboratives and explores the paradoxical nature of these highly interdependent components to help social workers and other professionals conceive and maintain collaborative efforts. The article begins with an analysis of the current and forecasted political environment and presents interorganizational collaboratives as a highly appropriate vehicle for proactive work in this rapidly changing context. The authors conclude with recommendations for enhancing social work education and practice to better prepare the profession to create and lead these much-needed interorganizational entities. From Past to Present: Assessing the Challenges of the Political Context Examining the Push toward Devolution In many ways, the current political climate is reminiscent of the early 1980s. Spending cuts are a priority, this time to balance the federal budget. Emphasis is being placed on reducing the role of the federal government, returning power to the states, and cutting taxes. Given the policy priorities of today, political dialogue is centering more frequently on decentralization and to describe approaches to government reform. As in earlier decades, the idea of American federalism is being redefined once again. Recommendations for dramatic reductions in federal grants and the creation of new block grants are key features of the proposed Republican plan to achieve these goals. As part of this plan, block grants are being touted as the best way to reform the welfare system. Block grants are not new. However, the emphasis placed on large-scale block granting of entitlement services by House Speaker Newt Gingrich and the 104th Congress, in conjunction with other cost reduction and decentralization efforts, has led to the characterization of today's political environment as the devolution revolution (Nathan, 1995). Three central elements of the proposed Republican plan to achieve these goals pose significant threats to community-based services. First, discretionary funding for domestic programs is expected to be reduced annually for the next seven years. Projections suggest funding cuts averaging a minimum of 6 percent beginning in 1996, increasing to as much as 30 percent by the end of the seven-year period (Nathan, 1996). Second, as part of this devolutionary plan, the federal government would transfer authority to the states for entitlement programs, including Medicaid and Aid to Families with Dependent Children, while simultaneously reducing future growth in program expenditures by capping state spending through the block grant process. …

Decentralisation of educational planning in India: The case of the district primary education programme

Decentralisation of educational planning continues to be a major concern in India. The District Primary Education Programme (DPEP) is one of the recent efforts in this direction. This paper closely scrutinises various steps initiated under the DPEP to promote decentralisation of educational planning in India. The analysis in this paper shows that the DPEP initiatives have succeeded in overcoming existing constraints on decentralisation by developing planning machinery and competency and by ensuring resource availability at the district level. The DPEP experience also shows that centralised decision making in certain areas in the initial stages may become necessary to promote decentralisation efforts in the long-run. However, to sustain the decentralisation process, it is important to progressively reduce the domains of centralised decision making.

The politics of urban planning in the Sudan

Urban planning in the Sudan fails to deal adequately with the problems of rapid urbanisation. In this paper the poor performance of urban planning is related to developments in the planning environment. The context is investigated using what is known as the urban management approach as a tool for analysis. An attempt is made to elucidate how the overall political climate, measures to increase popular participation, decentralisation efforts, economic development policy and the prevailing administrative culture and structure affect urban planning practice. The grim picture that arises from the evaluation is attributed mainly to the adverse role of politics and to countervailing forces within the social system. Accepting, however, that progress is gradual, the paper ends with some suggestions as to how to improve upon the present situation.