Decentralisation reforms are now perceived as essential elements of the devolution of responsibility to elected local governments in order to achieve good governance and ensure the public sector responds to the needs of both urban and rural people. How can local governments become responsive, efficient and pro-poor deliverers of services?

A book from the Commonwealth Secretariat, based in the UK, draws on evidence presented at the first pan-Commonwealth workshop on local governance, organised by the Governance and Institutional Development Division of the Commonwealth Secretariat, in collaboration with the International Development Department of the University of Birmingham, in the UK.

In developing countries local government reforms have often resulted from donor pressure. Local ownership has been lacking and a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach has been apparent. In least developed countries, decentralisation has not generally achieved the success that has been experienced in better-off nations. It is increasingly apparent that external pressure cannot result in sustainable local government performance, unless there is a strong domestic coalition for reform.

There is growing interest in ‘New Public Management’ and similar models stressing how the public sector must learn from and borrow management strategies from the private sector. The Commonwealth (the voluntary association of 53 independent sovereign states, most of which are former British colonies) is working to assist sub-national governments in member countries to assess and evaluate performance in order to minimise the waste and inefficiency that has given local government a poor reputation.

As it is still difficult to find a developing country that measures local government performance effectively, some chapters draw on evidence from developed countries. In the Canadian province of Ontario, the Municipal Performance Measurement Programme has demonstrated how to strengthen public accountability by requiring performance information to be made public. An alternative service delivery scheme in Winnipeg, the capital of the Canadian province of Manitoba, has enabled the city to operate alternative forms of service delivery. International links between cities in the UK and ‘twinned’ municipalities in developing Commonwealth cities have not just been one-way provision of material assistance, but have increased awareness of development, devolution and governance issues for both sides.

Case studies also report:

• A public-private partnership in the water supply sector in Cartagena, Colombia, highlights how capacity building is needed to ensure reforms are pro-poor.
• In Pakistani reforms, inclusion of a mandatory minimum education requirement for mayors has allowed a more educated, and potentially younger, leadership to emerge.
• Local councils in Mauritius are being encouraged to set up business councils to ensure public-private sector dialogue and to ease bureaucratic approvals for building and development schemes.
• Reforms in Swaziland aim to harmonise traditional rural and urban local government structures.

Merely allocating more responsibilities to sub-national governments does not in itself transform service delivery. Contributors stress that local government reform crucially depends on:

• quality communication during government reform processes
• open, timely and accurate communication with the community
• widening citizen and civil society participation in local government
• clearly indicating how local government is to be financed
• clarifying the new role of the public sector, especially in relation to the provision of services: is government primarily a regulator, rather than provider?
• remembering that no two contexts are alike: local governments and countries may well have different answers to the question of the necessary balance between centralisation and decentralisation.

Source(s):
‘Managing Change in Local Governance’, Commonwealth Secretariat, edited by Munawwar Alam and Andrew Nickson, 2006

Funded by: Commonwealth Secretariat

id21 Research Highlight: 14 March 2008

Further Information:
Munawwar Alam
Governance and Institutional Development Division
Commonwealth Secretariat
Marlborough House
Pall Mall, London SW1Y 5HX
UK

Tel: +44 20 77476331/6366
Fax: +44 20 77476515/6335
Contact the contributor: m.alam@commonwealth.int

The Commonwealth Secretariat

Andrew Nickson
International Development Department
University of Birmingham
Birmingham B15 2TT
UK

Tel: +44 121 4143953
Fax: +44 121 4144989/3165
Contact the contributor: r.a.nickson@bham.ac.uk

International Development Department (IDD), University of Birmingham, UK

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'Does decentralisation work for public services?'

'Decentralisation and service delivery: the experience of sub-Saharan Africa'

'The critical challenges facing urban municipalities in India'

'Credit ratings to help municipalities raise funds'