Municipal Capacity Research Articles

How reception centers affect the integration of asylum seekers and recognized refugees

Abstract After arrival, asylum seekers are often housed in reception centers. The type, quality and duration of stay in such centers varies considerably across or within countries. In the context of the so-called “EU refugee crisis” in 2014-2016, reports emerged that some asylum seekers and refugees remained in reception centers for several years due to limited capacity of municipalities, lengthy asylum procedures and tight housing markets. It is often argued that reception centers have a detrimental effect on integration processes of asylum seekers and refugees, yet empirical, inferential evidence is still lacking. This paper estimates the medium-run effect of duration of residence in reception centers on language skills, contacts to the host population, and employment status. We use high-quality panel data on asylum seekers and refugees living in Germany and apply inverse-probability-weighting (IPW). The results suggest that a comparatively quick transition from reception centers into private housing modestly increases interactions with the host population and their language proficiency. We find no effects on labor market participation. Furthermore, we find that moving into private housing is often associated with a shift to more precarious neighborhoods, potentially hindering a stronger realization of the benefits linked to independent living in general.

The technical capacity of local governments in Zio1 (Togo) and Zou (Benin) to propose solutions to climate risks

Solutions to climate risks in municipalities require the development and implementation of specific policies and measures aimed at providing solutions to climate risks, promoting better management of environmental and energy resources, and strengthening the resilience of poor and marginalized populations to climate change. However, municipalities in West Africa, and in particular the municipality of Zio1 (Togo) and those of Zou (Benin), have little technical capacity to conduct climate policies autonomously at local level. This article aims to examine the technical capacity of the municipalities of Zio1 and Zou to propose solutions to climate risks. The work is based on the hypothesis that the technical capacity of municipalities limits their search for solutions to the risks caused by climate change. To verify this, a survey was carried out from September to November 2023 with 449 people aged 18 and over, altogether in Zio1 and Zou municipalities. The results show that municipalities have little technical capacity to take action on climate change at local level. This weakness is manifested by the lack of qualified human resources related to climate risks.

Factors Affecting Rainwater Harvesting Practices: In Case of Assosa Town, Upper Blue Nile Basin, Northwestern Ethiopia

In many parts of the world, conventional water supplies do not exist, are unreliable or prohibitively expensive. Many actual or potential water shortages can be alleviated if the practice of rainwater harvesting becomes widespread. A study was conducted to evaluate the factors affecting rainwater harvesting practices in Assosa city. The reason for starting the research is that the municipality of Assosa suffers from a severe water shortage, especially at the end of the dry season. The study involved 99 randomly selected respondents and purposively selected respondents using a semi-structured questionnaire. Data were collected using a combination of data collection methods including survey interviews, key informant interviews, and direct observation. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequency tables to draw conclusions and recommendations. The results showed that lack of funding played a key role in the adoption of rainwater harvesting and, furthermore, lack of information and poor technology contributed to the failure to adopt rainwater harvesting for domestic use. It was determined that roofing materials were not a problem in the area, but storage areas and gutters hindered rainwater collection. We therefore concluded that the implementation of rainwater harvesting systems in Assosa town was hampered by the lack of resources required for the installation of rainwater harvesting systems. In addition, inadequate accesses to information, particularly for women, and lack of knowledge about the maintenance of rainwater harvesting technologies have contributed to the lack of widespread adoption of rainwater harvesting. We recommend making a conscious effort to subsidize rainwater harvesting in this area. The study also recommends strengthening municipal capacities in the area of rainwater harvesting technology, which is expected to be important for improving rainwater harvesting technology.

Municipal capacity for water justice: a cross-case comparison of affordability and equity policies in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts

ABSTRACT Water unaffordability is a growing environmental justice crisis for vulnerable groups in the United States due to increasing water rates. These injustices disproportionately affect low-income and minority groups. We investigate how organizational capacity and learning processes influence the ways publicly managed water utilities develop and implement policies addressing water unaffordability. We also investigate the connections between financial, relational, and technical capabilities on offered customer assistance plans (CAPs). Combining these two areas of analysis, we examine how organizational capabilities and contextual factors (e.g. citywide poverty) influence the quality and efficacy of CAPs. This comparative case study of 11 cities and towns in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania draws on 33 semi-structured interviews with utility staff and other local officials, as well as a review of policy documents from utilities and online resources. Our findings demonstrate that organizational dynamics undermine the efficacy and adoption of CAPs. From interviews, the efficacy and adoption of CAPs depends on how utilities handle fixed costs and mediate knowledge gaps, and their ability to innovate around financial barriers to meet customer needs. Utilities in high-poverty cities were best situated to leverage organizational capacity in administering CAPs, regardless of utility size.

The system of horizontal fiscal equalization in the context of ensuring the implementation of the principles of unity and fairness of the budget system of Ukraine

The article is dedicated to defining the peculiarities of the system of horizontal fiscal equalization and substantiating the proposal for its improvement in terms of ensuring the implementation of the principles of equality and fairness of the budget system of Ukraine. The tax capacity index and reverse and basic grants were calculated for 1439 municipalities of Ukraine for 2022, taking into account the possible inclusion of the Kyiv city budget in the horizontal fiscal equalization system. This index is also computed for 2023 based on the population of territorial communities as of the beginning of 2022. It has been established that the exclusion from the equalization system of municipalities with the highest tax potential artificially increases the tax capacity of all other municipalities, thereby reducing the amount of the basic grant for grant recipients, and reduces their ability to fulfill responsibilities without attracting debt financing, and exacerbates the already significant development disparities between the capital and the regions. The involvement of the Kyiv city budget in the system of equalizing horizontal fiscal imbalances will satisfy the criteria of fairness and completeness in accordance with the principles of the budget system of Ukraine, significantly reduce the burden on the donors of the reverse grant and at the same time create a minimal (3% of the total need for basic grants) additional burden on the state budget. The comparison of the scheduled data for 2023 and the estimated data has shown that the amount of the estimated reverse grant is significantly higher than the scheduled amount of the grant for certain municipality, in particular for Kharkiv UTC (2.1 times) and Zaporizhzhia UTC (2.5 times), which suggests that the Ministry of Finance did not comply with the approved calculation methodology when planning interbudgetary transfers for 2023. The reasons for significant differences in the annual growth rates of PIT revenues (from 14.8% to 45%) to the budgets of different municipalities require additional research, as this makes the tax potential of a municipalities disproportionate to its grant need or grant potential. It is suggested to improve the system of horizontal equalization of fiscal imbalances in Ukraine by implementing EU legal norms into Ukrainian legislation, as a result of which personal income tax should be transferred to the local budget at the place of residence of the taxpayer, not at the place of registration of the tax agent.

Intermunicipal health consortiums as an institutional arrangement of cooperation and federative coordination for the promotion of health policies in municipalities

This paper analyzes the joint responsibility of federation entities for the promotion of health services, through structuring public policies that allow the reduction of disease risks, universal and equal access by citizens to health protection and recovery actions and services. Health services depend directly on the financial capacity of municipalities. At this point, the intermunicipal health consortia allows to the management carrying out results – efficiency, efficacy and effectiveness, aiming to deliver better quality services to people in the interested community. This work addressed doctrinal elements and positions through the dialectical interpretation method, with a deductive method approach. The aim is to show managers that there is the possibility of exponential gains in the provision of public services, with rational processes and expenses, and the implementation of projects considered unfeasible when carried out in isolation by the municipal entity. The consortium presents itself as an option to underfunding and a government tool for promoting structuring public policies in the health sector.

The co‐governance of basic education: Assessing the complementary effects of intergovernmental support, municipal capacity, non‐governmental organization presence and international development assistance

AbstractEnsuring equitable local service delivery requires sustained investments that are often beyond the reach of local governments in poor countries. In many developing countries, access to basic education is achieved primarily through the complementary efforts of state, municipal, non‐governmental and international development agencies — what I call the complementary “quartet” of service delivery. While the current literature acknowledges the individual roles of this “quartet,” it has not given much attention to the influence of their complementary efforts on access and quality of education outcomes. Using a unique (2013–2015) dataset of 260 Ghanaian municipalities in a cross‐sectional pooled regression analysis, the study finds that state assistance has broader influence on both access and quality of education outcomes, while municipal capacity, international development assistance and the presence of education focused non‐governmental organizations are associated with access (enrollment).

E-SMART Assessment for Rural Areas (Case Study of Veliko Tarnovo Region, Bulgaria)

Abstract The research topic is motivated by the fact that rural areas in Bulgaria are lagging behind in their economic, social and territorial development compared to urban areas, despite European Union support policies for regional development and cohesion. Regardless of the fact that more and more the specialized literature investigating the development of rural areas emphasizes multifaceted factors, including environmental, social and technological aspects, there is a lack of a complex approach to analysis and assessment of their condition. Therefore, the authors set out to develop and demonstrate the application of a comprehensive E-SMART evaluation model based on a combination of 6 groups of factors with a significant impact on the socio-economic development of rural areas. The approbation of the toolkit was carried out in the seven rural municipalities in the Veliko Tarnovo region. The analysis of the results of the groups of factors – economic, social, manufacturing, agriculture, resources and technologies, as well as the complex indicator E-SMART-score, reveals the general and specific problems, as well as the competitive advantages of the rural areas included in the analysis. E-SMART model can be used as a reliable tool to increase the administrative capacity of municipalities when making strategic decisions for the development of the region.

A tale of urban experimentation in three Swedish municipalities

ABSTRACT Increasingly, cities and municipalities are involved in urban experimentation to meet current societal challenges. The expectations on local authorities to implement new ways of dealing with current challenges are high and raise questions of municipal capacity and governance structures, challenging more traditional ways of planning and policymaking. In this paper we have analysed three urban experiments related to transport and mobility in three Swedish municipalities and how they are governed and planned for. The study builds on qualitative interviews and document analysis. Our results show that the municipalities are working with urban experiments on different scales. All experiments are top-down experiments run by the municipalities, with limited citizen involvement. All experiments have become part of placemaking activities in the municipalities with the aim to support and promote both future visions and municipal sustainability work related to transport and planning. However, to date, the experiments have had limited outcomes, and planners express a concern for implementation and limited knowledge transfer within and between cities.

Feasibility of Urban-Based Climate Change Adaptation Strategies in Urban Centers of Southwest Ethiopia: From Local Climate Action Perspective

This study identified the practices of adaptation strategies to climate change in Jimma, Bedelle, Bonga, and Sokorru urban centers using a survey of 384 households, 55 key informant interviews, 4 focus group discussions, and field observations. A cross-sectional study design was employed from 2019 to 2021. The adaptive capacity of municipalities to reduce climate extreme events was rated as poor by the majority (51%), mostly reactive measures (76%). The climate hazards identified in four urban centers were riverine and flash floods, urban heat waves, landslides, and windstorms. The urban households practiced lifestyle modification, reduce paved surfaces, the use of air conditioner, planting trees, and multiple windows. The adaptation strategies practiced by municipalities include the relocation of prone areas, the support of basic amenities, the construction of protection walls, diversion ditches, the clearance of waterways and rivers, greenery, and park development. The adaptation actions were constrained by a lack of awareness, commitment, cooperation and coordination, adaptive capacity, and participation. Gray/physical infrastructures (costly but important) as adaptation actions were hampered by the low municipal capacity. We recommend that urban authorities should incorporate climate change adaptation strategies into urban planning and development proactively to ensure future resilient climate smart urban centers of southwest Ethiopia.

Refer rather than treat: coping with uncertainty in municipal primary care clinics in India

PurposeThe institutional conditions of primary care provision remain understudied in low- and middle-income countries. This study analyzes how primary care doctors cope with medical uncertainty in municipal clinics in urban India. As street-level bureaucrats, the municipal doctors occupy two roles simultaneously: medical professional and state agent. They operate under conditions that characterize health systems in low-resource contexts globally: inadequate state investment, weak regulation and low societal trust. The study investigates how, in these conditions, the doctors respond to clinical risk, specifically related to noncommunicable diseases (NCDs).Design/methodology/approachThe analysis draws on year-long ethnographic fieldwork in Pune (2013–14), a city of three million, including 30 semi-structured interviews with municipal doctors.FindingsInterpreting their municipal mandate to exclude NCDs and reasoning their medical expertise as insufficient to treat NCDs, the doctors routinely referred NCD cases. They expressed concerns about violence from patients, negative media attention and unsupportive municipal authorities should anything go wrong clinically.Originality/valueThe study contextualizes street-level service-delivery in weak institutional conditions. Whereas street-level workers may commonly standardize practices to reduce workload, here the doctors routinized NCD care to avoid the sociopolitical consequences of clinical uncertainty. Modalities of the welfare state and medical care in India – manifest in weak municipal capacity and healthcare regulation – appear to compel restraint in service-delivery. The analysis highlights how norms and social relations may shape primary care provision and quality.

Environmental Governance in Small Cities: Decentralization, Municipal Capacity and Autonomy in Gujarat and West Bengal

India’s 74th Constitutional Amendment obliges state governments to devolve responsibilities related to urban environmental resources and services to the Urban Local Bodies. However, the existing literature points to deficiencies in urban decentralization, including a mismatch between resources and responsibilities, financial constraints, and a lack of capacities at the municipal level. This article, based on comparative fieldwork and analysis of environmental governance in four small cities in Gujarat and West Bengal, two states representing contrasting subnational political regimes, largely confirms the literature on urban decentralization, but it also shows important differences between the two states. Municipal governance reflects state-level regime types to some extent: While an efficient local and parastatal bureaucracy spearheads investments in environmental infrastructure in Gujarat, relatively autonomous elected municipal councillors in West Bengal guide a widely spread creation of small environmental assets. The availability of more untied funds at the local level in Gujarat than in West Bengal leads to more pronounced intra-state variation and opens possibilities for more substantial municipal agency.

Implementing auditor-general annual recommendations in South African municipalities: A situational analysis

IMPACT The authors explain why municipal capacity should be significantly improved for the successful implementation of audit recommendations by the Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA). Municipalities need robust systems of financial delegation, oversight and internal controls. Such systems should make provision for record-keeping, financial risk assessments, processing and reconciling of financial transactions, regular, accurate, and complete financial and performance reports, as well as the reviewing and monitoring of compliance with applicable legislation. Audit action plans must be developed to outline key details. In addition, municipal councils should adopt a consequence management and accountability framework to enforce due diligence and compliance with council resolutions. Support mechanisms, such as disciplinary boards and municipal misconduct regulations, can add significant value in this regard. The lessons in this article have value beyond South Africa and particularly for senior local government officials, members of audit and risk committees, internal auditors, members of political oversight committees, and senior managers of national and provincial government overseeing municipal financial affairs.

Mining-energy boom and local institutional capacities - the case of Colombia

Despite the burgeoning discussion about how the mining-energy sector affects local communities, the roles of local institutions remain understudied as one of the key factors to understand the impact of mining booms on local development. Literature has recently emerged analyzing the role institutions play and finds that natural resource booms can be a curse or a blessing. This article seeks to answer the research question: Do oil and coal-producing municipalities have better institutional capacities? Our research analyzes the incidence that two extractive industries – oil and coal – have on local institutional capacities in Colombia. We use two methodological approaches to study this relationship at a municipality level over the period 2011–2019: a panel data model and a cross sectional exploratory-confirmatory spatial data analysis. The panel estimation results show that municipalities with oil and coal activity have a higher fiscal performance index suggesting that producer municipalities have stronger institutional capacities than non-producer municipalities. However, due to the local development dynamics in each sector's territories, the capacities of coal and oil producing municipalities differ. The spatial analysis reveals spillover effects in the production of oil. Public policy recommendations are made based on the findings.

The financing of medicines in Brazilian municipalities: whose responsibility is it?

To analyze the investments made in medicines by the federated entities and the asymmetries in these investments from 2016 to 2020, which may have an impact on the supply of and access to these medicines in the SUS. This is an exploratory, retrospective study to identify who are the main entities responsible for investment in Primary Care medicines in municipalities, the evolution, counterparts, and regional differences of this investment between 2016 and 2020. The amounts spent on medicines by Brazilian municipalities were higher than the contribution to the CBAF from the MS or the MS + State in all the years analyzed. The average percentages of federal funds transferred and municipal spending varied according to the region of Brazil. The average per capita amount invested in medicines by municipalities increased between 2016 and 2020 (deflation applied), with a greater impact for municipalities with lower MHDI. The Farmácia Popular program mainly reaches municipalities with the largest populations and the highest MHDI and is therefore not enough to address the inequalities in access pointed out. There has been a widening of inequalities in the capacity of municipalities to ensure access to medicines, especially among the most vulnerable municipalities, accumulating even more risks of illnesses and deaths from primary care-sensitive diseases.

A five-year case study analysis of USAID local governance programming and public investment spending in post-earthquake Haiti

In the aftermath of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the central government operations were paralyzed, and municipal officials became even more important as they were more readily able to respond to their constituents’ needs during this time of crisis. The United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) five-year post-earthquake Limyè ak Òganizasyon pou Kolektivite yo Ale Lwen (LOKAL+) program aimed to bolster the capacity of municipalities – beyond this disaster event – through revenue mobilization activities, within quake-affected and non-quake affected areas. The intended outcome of this effort was to improve local public service delivery throughout Haiti.Nearly all participating LOKAL+ municipalities experienced increased local revenue collection, particularly in property and business taxes, from 2012 through 2017. However, the impact of these increases on public investment spending was not evident even though this was a stated objective of the program. To evaluate whether public services improved in two of the nine LOKAL+ localities, due to USAID’s local revenue mobilization efforts, I employed a case study analysis using descriptive statistics, in-depth interviewing, and content analysis.The findings revealed modest public service improvements in one of the two case study sites. However, the political climate within which LOKAL+ was executed – mainly, the unlawful installation of interim executive agents throughout the country at the time – had an observed impact on the study’s findings. The implications of country-specific political economic realities on the timing of donor-led local governance efforts are underscored, as Haiti continues to navigate compounding political crises – including the assassination of the President in 2021 – since the end of the LOKAL+ program.

Economic Sustainability of Small Mining Towns: A Case Study in South Africa

Small mining towns are often single-industry towns that turn to ghost towns or face negative socio-economic impacts upon mine closure. This study qualitatively explores the roles that mining companies and other key stakeholders (should) play in the development of local economies of the small mining communities to bring about economic sustainability, employing a constant comparative analysis. A small mining town in South Africa is the case study. Legislative and policy frameworks were scrutinized for their effectiveness in promoting economic sustainability. In-depth interviews with key stakeholders were carried out. Key factors limiting the effective implementation of developmental strategies were also explored. The study finds that weak community involvement, lack of trust, poor collaboration, poor municipal capacity, and legislation and policy flaws impact economic sustainability. Sustainable local economic development efforts are reported though. However, such efforts are insufficient because of the legislation and policy frameworks that are promoting short-term growth. Also, the town’s overdependence on the mining company, local government not optimally fulfilling their roles and responsibilities, and minimal community members’ participation on local economic development are other hindrances. However, the fact that the mining company and local municipality do acknowledge the shortcomings in their efforts towards promoting economic sustainability is a promise in minimizing the socio-economic effects of mine closures.

Rural Communities and Water Governance: Understanding Participatory Processes for Catchment Management in the Upper Umzimvubu Catchment

Water is a crucial issue for sustainable livelihoods, and a lack of it impacts human life. Catchment areas play an essential role in water provisioning, and their management is fundamental for sustained water availability. The UN-endorsed Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) approach best expresses catchment management ideals that resonate with South Africa's constitutional ideals of efficient and equitable distribution of resources. South Africa has a history of inequality that led to severe neglect of rural areas in many facets, including the water sector. Despite the country's reformed laws and policies, sustainable water provision and access remain challenging, particularly in rural-based municipalities where land degradation and a weak revenue base interact to reduce access to water for most communities. This paper reports on a study that sought to understand participatory processes for catchment management in the upper Umzimvubu catchment within Matatiele Local Municipality in the Alfred Nzo District Municipality in the Eastern Cape Province. This study used a qualitative approach to data collection and document analysis. The findings show that participatory water governance strategies exist and tend to coalesce around non-governmental structures. The findings also show that there is room for improving water governance in rural communities, including the need to finalize the establishment of Catchments Management Areas (CMAs) in all nine existing Water Management Areas (WMAs) while incorporating strong community involvement and strengthening the capacity of rural municipalities.

Slow Emergency but Urgent Action? Exploring the impact of municipal climate emergency statements in Sweden

In recent years, more than 2000 jurisdictions worldwide have declared a climate emergency. While such declarations have been suggested to have the potential to spark transformative climate action, there is much disagreement about the merits of climate emergency framings. Moreover, no studies have been conducted on the topic from a Swedish perspective. This study addresses this research gap by exploring the ‘climate emergency statements’ issued by the Swedish cities of Lund, Malmö, and Kalmar. Specifically, the study focuses on the political implications of the statements, and the extent to which the climate strategies of these three municipalities correspond to a climate emergency mode. The findings indicate that the political implications of the climate emergency statements are perceived to be rather limited, and mostly symbolic. However, it appears the statements, at least to some extent, have empowered the climate movement in Sweden, and invited reflections on the capacity of municipalities to act on the climate crisis. Moreover, the document review suggests that the cities exhibit – at least implicitly – a climate emergency mode. The study concludes that if symbolic acts such as the statements are to assist transformative change, they must be coupled with political and practical action.

Participatory governance and the capacity to engage: A systems lens

AbstractEffective local participatory governance depends on government responsiveness. Drawing insights from empirical research in a large South African city, we show how inadequate integration of institutional platforms for community participation into the wider participatory system undermines this capacity. While much of the participatory governance literature considers tools, norms and the experiences of citizens, we explore how officials, structures and platforms within the city interact. We apply a systems lens to understand the municipal capacity to engage and respond to citizens and communities. Our analysis demonstrates that officials navigate an institutional system experiencing disconnected municipal structures, engagement practices and platforms. We theorise the government capacity to engage in terms of the personalisation, co‐creation and institutionalisation of responsiveness. This capacity to engage thus requires a systemic capability that acknowledges complexity and nurtures collective learning alongside institutional design strategies that seek to address potential disconnects.