DECENTRALISATION

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Municipal Development ProgrammeEastern And
Southern AfricaPolicy Environment Responding to
Priorities Shared by by Citizens and Governments
Case Study of the Victoria Falls Declaration By
George MatovuPresentation at the Regional
Workshop on Decentralisation and Community
Empowerment Sharing Lessons and Designing Action
held at the Safari Park Hotel in Nairobi, Kenya
from March 25-28, 2002
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Objectives of Decentralisation

• Local Empowerment
• Administrative Efficiency and Effectiveness
• National Cohesion and Central Control
• Reduction in Public Expenditure

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Decentralisation and Empowerment

• The objective of empowering local communities is
  normally advocated by
• three main types of institutions (Diana Conyers
  1999)
• Local organisations that are interested in
  influencing a national policy, for example
  efforts by a national association of local
  authority to influence the nature and scope of
  existing or proposed decentralisation policies
• International agencies and non-governmental
  organisations (NGOs) who are promoting democracy
  but also who see decentralisation as a way of
  reducing public expenditure
• Central governments whose motive might be to
  prevent the secession of a regional or ethnic
  group, or as cost-cutting measure

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Empowerment

• A process by which local communities or through
  representative institutions attain the authority
  and capacity to do, act and to influence the
  present and future.
• A process seeking to increase the control of the
  underprivileged sectors of society over resources
  and decisions affecting their lives and their
  participation in benefits produced by society in
  which they live

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Some of the Priority areas Shared by Citizens and
Governments

• Poverty
• Unemployment
• Provision of Infrastructure
• Provision of social services
• HIV / AIDS

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Poverty Indictors in some Countries
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Urbanisation Unemployment rates ()
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InfrastructureProportion of Earth Roads
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Selected Indicators of Health
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HIV / AIDS ESTIMATES BY 1999
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Decentralisation and Community Participation

• How effective has decentralisation been in
  getting grassroots participate in challenges
  facing local governments?
• How can the local government capacity for
  empowering communities and grassroots be
  enhanced?
• What are the main problems facing civic groups in
  their bid to participate in public affairs and
  how can their capacity be strengthened?
• What are the factors that affect the empowerment
  of civic groups and how can these problems be
  overcome?
• How can mutual trust between civic groups and
  local governments be strengthened?
• What role should central governments play in this
  process?
• What mechanisms can be put in place to ensure
  that there is mutual cooperation and
  understanding between civic groups and local
  governments?
• What should be the role of national associations
  of local governments?

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Ministers Conference

• To help examine some of the above issues, the
  Municipal Development Programme for Eastern and
  Southern Africa in association with the African
  Union of Local Authorities organised a conference
  on the Challenges Facing Local Government in
  Africa in the 21st Century, in Victoria Falls,
  Zimbabwe from September 20-24, 1999 in Zimbabwe.
  The purpose of the conference was to bring
  together ministers responsible for local
  government and decentralisation, mayors, chief
  officers and key stakeholders to help MDP define
  a shared vision on Africa local government and to
  identify action for strengthening further local
  governments in Africa. The conference registered
  120 participants including 14 ministers from
  Ethiopia, The Gambia, Ghana, Lesotho, Malawi,
  Namibia, Nigeria, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda,
  Zambia and Zimbabwe and representatives of the
  Ministers of Local Government from Botswana,
  Mozambique and South Africa. All the countries
  invited had embraced decentralisation as a
  strategy for promoting good governance and local
  economic development.

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The Challenges Facing Africa Local Government in
the 21st Century

• The Conference had six objectives
• to review the state of decentralisation in the
  Africa Region and share real life experiences on
  successes, problem areas, and constraints
• to share experiences on how to enhance
  transparency, integrity and accountability in
  service provision
• to share experiences in managing the
  transformation of local governments and
  contribute towards a shared vision for
  transforming local governments into engines of
  national and local development
• to suggest effective and sustainable strategies
  for financing local government
• to chart the way forward for enabling local
  government to deal effectively with the
  challenges of the 21st century

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Victoria Falls DeclarationProgress and Challenges

• The Conference recognised that
• Sub-Saharan Africa has made significant progress
  towards decentralisation and empowering local
  governments
• The principle of subsidiarity which advocates
  that public policy decisions and actions should
  be effected at the most appropriate level and as
  close to the local as possible was gaining
  acceptance
• However, the Conference also recognised that
• Issues of capacity related to narrow revenue
  base, inappropriate legal provisions, difficult
  macro-economic environment, debt burden,
  unfavourable donor conditionalities,
  bureaucratic, sector-specific resistance and
  inertia, insufficient consultation with local
  communities, poverty and corruption are adversely
  influencing decentralisation of functions,
  responsibilities and resources.

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Victoria Falls DeclarationVisioning

• There was consensus that decentralisation should
• be geared towards improving the quality of life
  of local populations
• enhance accountability and transparency
• promote inclusion of marginalised and
  disadvantaged groups
• enable effective community participation in local
  governance
• enable access to resources and local economic
  development
• be enshrined in the constitution

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Victoria Falls DeclarationCommitments

• Ministers committed themselves to
• promote and support the vision of
  decentralisation in their respective countries
  and to place local government on the agenda of
  OAU, ECOWAS, SADC, COMESA, and EAC
• Share information and build the capacity of local
  government
• Support the formation and strengthening of
  national associations of local government
• Support exchange programmes
• Promote information sharing
• Recognise the useful role that traditional
  leaders play in national development
• Provide resources for sectoral decentralisation
• Support participatory planning and budgeting
• Peace and stability as fundamental for
  sustainable economic and social development

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Municipal Development Programme Eastern and
Southern Africa (MDP-ESA)

• A Non-Governmental Regional Development Agency
• Established in 1991 as a multi-year partnership
  between African municipal governments and a
  partnership of donors.
• Headquartered in Zimbabwe
• Responsible for 25 countries and active in 12
• Ethiopia - South Africa
• Kenya - Tanzania
• Malawi - Uganda
• Mozambique - Tanzania
• Namibia - Zambia
• Rwanda - Zimbabwe
• Supported by Governments of the Netherlands,
  Finland, International Development Research
  Centre, Federation of Canadian Municipalities,
  UNCHS-HABITAT, World Bank Institutions, and
  Contributions from Local Governments
  participating in activities
• Sister Unit of MDP-WCA based in Benin, Cotonou

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THE MDP MISSION

• "To support the process of decentralisation and
  strengthening local government capacity to
  deliver services and promote development at the
  local level, as a means towards raising the
  standard of living of local populations". .

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Programme Components Current Activities

• Policy research and governance seminars
• Enhancing Local Government Capacity for Poverty
  Reduction and Services delivery
• The Political Economy of Access to Land for Urban
  and Peri Urban Agriculture
• Fiscal Transfers and Poverty Reduction in the
  Context of PRSP
• Direct technical assistance to local governments
• Institutional Strengthening through developing
  Integrated Strategic Plan
• Civic Participation in Municipal Governance
• City Consultations on Municipal Issues
• Service Delivery Surveys
• Decentralised Co-operation
• Supporting inter-municipal cooperation currently
• Training and Capacity Building
• Urban and City Management
• Intergovernmental Fiscal Relation and Local
  Government Finance
• Local Economic Development
• Urban Transport
• Distance Learning Africa Local Government Action
  Forum
• Information management and dissemination
• Local Government Perspective Newsletter

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The MDP Pilot Programme On Civic Participation In
Municipal Governance (CPMG) supported by the
Finland Government and the World Bank Institute

• Justification for the Programme
• The spirit underlying the launch of CPMG
  programme was to create a platform for municipal
  authorities and civic groups to work together
  more closely and productively for the development
  of their municipalities and improving the quality
  of life of their residents.

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Participating Countries and Municipalities

• Mozambique Manhica Municipality focusing of
  Infrastructure provision and keeping Manhica
  clean
• Tanzania Dodoma and Mbeya Municipalities
  focusing on training councillors and
  representatives of civic groups
• Uganda Entebbe and Soroti Municipalities
  focusing on participatory budgeting and training
  councillors and civic groups respectively
• Zambia Kabwe Municipality focusing of preparing
  a community strategic plan and keeping Kabwe clean

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Decentralisation as a Tool for Community
Empowerment Lessons for MDP

• In order to sustain the empowerment process,
  governments need
• to accept local communities as partners in
  development
• to help grass roots assert themselves through
  enabling policy, legislative, and institutional
  instruments
• to appreciate that building trust and confidence
  between civil society organisations and state
  agencies takes time
• to appreciate that there is no one single
  standard approach to empowerment. Differentiated
  approaches are needed to take into local
  political conditions, vibrancy of civil society
• promote civic education to make sure communities
  and governments understand their civic
  obligations

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• THANK YOU
• FOR YOUR
• ATTENTION