The current momentum for decentralization of government in africa and elsewhere in the developing world is driven in many instances by the needs and desires of donor organizations. Decentralization and local governance in developing countries. Explore issues related to industrial centralisation and decentralisation. Cameron concludes by suggesting that, in contrast to many african countries, decentralization in south africa is strong. South africa both exemplies these processes, as well as providing some interesting counterexamples. It provides an overview of fiscal decentralization for undp officers involved in policy debates on restructuring intergovernmental fiscal. While the national government has made some attempts to recentralize power the strong constitutional framework and financial decentralization mean that south african cities have maintained a large degree of independence. However, there are varying opinions on the impact of decentralization. Rethinking decentralization in developing countries 26 incentives for accountability 26 the role of capacity 27 policy dialogue and project design 28 more case studies, data, and research 29. Decentralisation in commonwealth africa commonwealth. Focusing on two claims in particular, this book questions whether decentralisation does offer a significant pathway out of poverty and conflict in africa. African development bank group decentralization roadmap march 2011 pecod members appointed in 2011 mr. Decentralisation and municipalities in south africa. Summary west african countries have been characterised by a process of decentralisation.
Decentralization has been put forward as a powerful tool to reduce poverty and improve governance in africa. However, repeated waves of local government reforms have had little impact on the regions continuing problems with governance, and the decentralisation. It is the strategic framework for delivering on africa s goal for inclusive and sustainable development and is a concrete manifestation of the pan african drive for unity, selfdetermination, freedom, progress and collective prosperity pursued under panafricanism and african. Summary apartheid industrial development strategies maintain south africa as a white republic bantustan policy to keep black people in their ethnic homeland. These spillovers impact the efficiency of decentralization. Sectoral decentralisation there has been a great deal of talk about sectoral decentralisation in zimbabwe but very little actual decentralisation of meaningful powers has taken place. Second, the motives, claims and issues concerning decentralisation are outlined. Decentralisation, as an aspect of local governance, helps to shift thinking away from statecentred perspectives to include elements which are often considered to be outside the public policy process. Through detailed case studies of decentralisation policies in five subsaharan african countries botswana, cameroon, ghana, mozambique and tanzania this book examines the challenges presented, lessons learned, and recommends ways to improve policy implementation. We document the changing forms of decentralisation in south africa from the early 20th century through to the postapartheid era. Sometimes called a silent or quiet revolution, decentralisation is among the most important reforms of the past 50 years. Goals, dimensions, myths and challenges paul smoke new york university, new york, usa summary decentralisation is a complex and often somewhat elusive phenomenon.
South africa s health system is already structured with a certain degree of decentralisation, and the advent of nhi facilitatessign ificant flexibility in this regard. Chapter 12 of the manifesto on local government and housing provided that, under a swapo government, independent. Decentralisation in south african local government. Decolonization of africa 1 decolonization of africa the decolonization of africa followed world war ii as colonized peoples agitated for independence and colonial powers withdrew their administrators from africa. Iese is an institution committed political economy of. The current momentum for decentralisation of government in africa and elsewhere in the developing world is unparalleled, but are the benefits claimed by its advocates being realised. Decentralization operates under the principle that decentralized systems have the advantage of having superior information on local needs and stronger incentives to address them. There are 16 countries that form west africa that were part of the original colonization under the great britain and france. The 1992 constitution of the republic of ghana and the various legislations on decentralisation articulate the explicit objectives of the policy which includes responsiveness to community needs.
Making the case for rethinking 20 years of decentralisation. Concept paper on decentralisation and local governance 2 1. This is a video briefing drawn from the research from the renewable energy and decentralisation project hosted by loughborough university. Xxxii, council for the development of social science research in africa outstanding debt % gdp % general government outstanding debt 20 expenditure by function % subnational government expenditure. We argue that particular forms of decentralisation create. Decentralization and empowerment of local government, overcoming fiscal challenges, poverty, gender inequality and the difference in social values slows progress toward deconstruction and decentralization. An analysis of the mandate to deliver basic services anne stanton 932431873 submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of doctor of philosophy policy and development studies in the faculty of. Its aim is both to record the state of the art on a specific topic and to contribute to ongoing local, regional, and global policy debates.
Creating 10 homelands border industries are growth points bordering the homelands. Bolivia, brazil, china, india, indonesia, pakistan, south africa, and uganda. The descriptive survey design was used for the study and the target population included all stakeholders of decentralization. You must be an education provider to purchase this book. However, in many cases decentralisation processes have been incomplete, perpetuating existing challenges and limiting the ability. This volume questions whether this sort of decentralization offers a significant pathway out of poverty and conflict in africa addressing issues of poverty reduction in uganda, ghana, malawi, and tanzania and. The main statement was addressed through eight research questions. Recognizing that with any large region and, in the case of the african continent. This is why a number of developing countries have opted for reforms in which decentralisation played an important part mookherjee 2001. Schoeman1 department of economics university of pretoria 1 professor in economics university of pretoria.
Decentralisation in east africa by uclg cglu issuu. The speed of this decentralisation is also impressive, they point out, having been largely rolled out between 2000 and 2010. More precisely, the system was based on several variants of hierarchical deconcentration, associated with an. The contributors to decentralization and local governance in developing countries examine this institutional transformation from comparative and interdisciplinary perspectives, offering detailed case studies of decentralization in eight countries. Addressing the challenges of decentralisation an increasing trend towards decentralisation 6 simply stated, decentralisation is the dispersion or distribution of functions and powers. The aim of this paper is to study the existence, and identify the nature, of spillovers resulting from local expenditure policies. Rethinking decentralization in developing countries. Rondinelli et al 1999 noted that decentralization seldom, if ever, lived up its promise.
Experiences and lessons learned during the two decades of decentralisation in east africa suggest that the three fundamental roles of the state of equitable distribution of. Detractors, however, have argued that rwandan decentralisation is simply a way for the political centre to penetrate deeper into society. Agenda 2063 is the blueprint and master plan for transforming africa into the global powerhouse of the future. In order to fulfill its promise to reduce socioregional inequalities and improve public services all sides must compromise on a new understanding of decentralisation that. By clicking add to cart, i confirm that i am an education provider. Decentralisation and local governance theory and the. It involves the transfer of decisionmaking power and accountability for results to individuals or operating units at. Fiscal decentralisation overseas development institute. Introduction sdc has been implementing projects in support to decentralisation and local governance for about 15 years. Decentralisation in africa and the nature of local. Swapos vision on decentralization was reflected way back in its election manifesto of 1989. Abstract decentralisation is a major policy item across many emerging african democracies.
Despite attempts by the mlg, the little sectoral decentralisation that has occurred has been on a piecemeal basis and without adequate. The hypothesis underlying this study is that the effective application of the principles of decentralisation, to the extent that they have been incorporated in the constitutional, policy and regulatory framework of local government in south africa, is endangered by a lack of commitment to the concept of decentralisation by central government. Decentralization, defined broadly as the transfer of public authority, resources, and personnel from the national level to subnational jurisdictions, has been a recurrent theme in african countries since independence. Many countries have adopted health system decentralisation to address political, managerial and operational issues in terms of systemic efficiency and costeffectiveness. Article pdf available april 2017 with 2,009 reads how we measure reads. It becomes easier to understand the popularity of decentralization in africa when we return to the point of departure.
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