Local%20Accountability%20Mechanisms

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Local Accountability Mechanisms

• Panel Discussion
• Panel Presentation Accountability Mechanisms
• Wednesday, March 31, 2004, 1030-1230am
• Decentralization ad Intergovernmental Fiscal
  Reforms

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The Panelists Peter Dent, Senior Forensic
Accountant, INT Ronald MacLean-Abarao, Lead
Public Sector Management Specialist,WBIPR Keith
McLean, Social Development Economist, SDV
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A framework of relationships of accountability
WDR 2004 Accountability Framework
Policymakers
Poor people
Providers
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Voice
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Compact
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Client Power
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Twelve (potential) steps to enhancing
accountability under decentralization

• a dirty dozen
• not in rank order!

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• Participatory processes enable citizens
  preferences to be realized in local budget
  processes

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• Corrupt and unresponsive local governments are
  hard to reform from within. At the outset, they
  are better bypassed with village level CDD.
  Grass-roots demand pressures will then spill-over
  to make LGs more responsive

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• Minimum standards provide benchmarks by which
  central governments and citizens can assess local
  governments to make them more accountable

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4

• Competition with the private sector in social
  services enhances local accountability by putting
  pressure on local public service provision

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• Local elections are paramount to local
  accountability, with direct elections of local
  heads preferable to indirect elections

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• Local media are critical to enhancing local
  accountability

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• Public Expenditure Tracking Surveys (PETS) and
  Citizen Score Cards are sustainable means to
  enhance local accountability

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• Local governments need to be able to hire and
  fire their civil servants to ensure
  accountability

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• Strong financial oversight mechanisms (including
  audits) are critical to accountability

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• Quotas for marginalized groups, including woman,
  ethnic groups, and castes, can over time improve
  broader based local representation

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•  Local taxes and user fees enhance local
  accountability

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• Formal audits are rarely done at the local level,
  or enforced, in conditions where overall
  governance is weak. Social audit mechanisms
  present viable alternatives in such as context