public policy 1 module b: local government organization and management module b local government...
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Public Policy 1Module B: Local Government Organization and Management
Module B
Local Government Organization and
Management
(half day module)
Public Policy 2Module B: Local Government Organization and Management
Overview of the module
Decentralization and local government Basic functions Central local relations: the context for
local government General systemic improvements Specific reforms (internal reform,
strategic planning, effective budgeting) New challenges facing local
government
Public Policy 3Module B: Local Government Organization and Management
Key concepts Efficiency
Relationship between inputs (resources) and outputs (services provided). Efficiency is achieved by either increasing outputs for a given level of inputs: or reducing inputs for the same outputs
Effectiveness Relationships between outputs and
outcomes: to what extent are policy objectives achieved. Issue of intended and unintended outputs
Public Policy 4Module B: Local Government Organization and Management
Key concepts (2) Accountability
Is concerned with systems that are designed to ensure that the public service does respond its citizens.
Upward accountability Officials account for their behavior
upwards to their senior officers/politicians Downward accountability
Officials account for their behavior to their citizenry
Public Policy 5Module B: Local Government Organization and Management
Objectives of the module To understand the roles and
responsibilities of local government To appreciate the concrete conditions
and the nature of central-local relationship for local government
To familiarize participants with the strategies and tools with which to improve local govt organization and management
Public Policy 6Module B: Local Government Organization and Management
Objectives of the module (2)
Specific reforms Strategic planning Internal reform and Effective budgeting
To understand the options and challenges faced by decentralized local government
Public Policy 7Module B: Local Government Organization and Management
Decentralization/Local government
Almost universal move to decentralization and democracy
In 1974 less than a third of the countries in the South were democratic while today (2002) two thirds are
In 1980 only 10 of the 48 larger countries had elected sub-national government while now there are 34
Public Policy 8Module B: Local Government Organization and Management
Local government functions Town and country –including
land use- planning Water and sanitation Solid waste management Primary health and education Informal sector and
employment creation
Public Policy 9Module B: Local Government Organization and Management
Role of the private sector?
There are increasing moves to involve the private sector in the provision of services
Solid waste management is the most common
Evidence is not completely clear but suggests that there are efficiency gains but the poor may not always benefit
Public Policy 10Module B: Local Government Organization and Management
Regulation as well as service delivery
Local government is not just about service delivery but also about regulation
One of the most important is the regulation of the informal sector
The challenge is to be able to do this without major employment loss
Remember it is much easier to destroy jobs than create them
Public Policy 11Module B: Local Government Organization and Management
Central-local context Local government operates in an
environment that is determined by central government’s framework
“ a prerequisite of good governance is a clear national framework of intergovernmental relations, one which determined incentives and the accountability of each level of government” (Freire,2001, pxxv)
Public Policy 12Module B: Local Government Organization and Management
Assessing central-local transfers
A balance between funds and responsibilities
An equalization of needs and resources
Funds should be allocated by a formula
The system should be transparent and understandable
Funds should be predictable and timely
The system should not undermine the incentives for local revenue collection
Public Policy 13Module B: Local Government Organization and Management
Reforming central local finance
The challenge is to design: Robust mechanisms for
central-local transfers Systems that do not allow for
political interference
Public Policy 14Module B: Local Government Organization and Management
New innovations Central local transfers in Uganda are
now published in the national press to empower local individuals viz. a via their local government officers
Kenya has designed a new central local funding mechanism that is controlled by a committee/board which has independent individuals with a private sector representative in the chair
Public Policy 15Module B: Local Government Organization and Management
Fiscal characteristics of local govt institutions
Central governments hold on to the best taxes
Local taxes are difficult: property tax Administration problems Highly political Central control of local tax rates
Central-local transfers (but are they regular, transparent and formula driven?)
Public Policy 16Module B: Local Government Organization and Management
But structural tendency toward fiscal weakness
Scissors in service delivery: Elastic demand fast increases with
population, inflation and growth But service delivery (Education, SWM
and Health) have few economies of scale Limits to urban infrastructure in SAP
Lumpy, capital intensive, non revenue and forex earning
Public Policy 17Module B: Local Government Organization and Management
General improvements Research suggests the following
are important for successful urban management
Boundaries that include both the core and the growing periphery
Function coherence: functions that “hang together”
A buoyant revenue base (local or through a formula)
Qualified professional staffing
Public Policy 18Module B: Local Government Organization and Management
Comprehensive boundaries
Important that the municipal boundary includes all the built up area –this is a problem in fast growing urban areas
Ideal solution is an automatic trigger to increase urban boundaries (with a formula) as population increases (usually via the census)
Public Policy 19Module B: Local Government Organization and Management
Functional coherence Local government is more
efficient if it has control on the services that fit together and have mutually reinforcing benefits
These include Planning and development control,
water supply and sewerage, roads, drainage, regulation of public transport and environmental health
Public Policy 20Module B: Local Government Organization and Management
Functional coherence (2) This coherence is particularly important
in capital development and in services to new settlements
Two challenges Private providers are sometimes harder to
coordinate as you have less control Central funds can be earmarked which
makes it difficult sometimes to coordinate
Public Policy 21Module B: Local Government Organization and Management
A buoyant revenue base A buoyant revenue base (one that increases
automatically with growth and inflation) is important
Either from your own revenues or more likely via some central local formula
These are system wide reforms but local government has power to collect its own revenues
There is often a large difference between the good and poor performers
Public Policy 22Module B: Local Government Organization and Management
Collecting your taxes-Steps to take
A political commitment to collect A political culture that rewards collection
by rewarding those that deliver Officials that are “on top” of the collection A focus on the most important revenue
streams A process of frequently slow incremental
increases
Public Policy 23Module B: Local Government Organization and Management
Well qualified staff Influence of the UN classification of
systems into Separate; Unified or Integrated
But research suggest the importance of Personal status and influence Financial reward and other benefits Intrinsic satisfaction of the work Awareness of being of importance in
the organization
Public Policy 24Module B: Local Government Organization and Management
Internal reform Political processes often result in local
governments having A shortage of qualified staff at the top of
the system An excess of unskilled and/or manual
jobs at the bottom of the systems
Rebalancing this is a major challenge but a major political challenge
Public Policy 25Module B: Local Government Organization and Management
Internal reform (2)
Internal reforms are usually centered on three processes:
An exercise to determine who is employed by the local government –seems straightforward but often is not
Determine individual’s job description
Retrench those that are not necessary!!
Public Policy 26Module B: Local Government Organization and Management
Strategic planning Strategic planning has often become
more important because of the pressures of globalization
Involves a process where stakeholders and the local government decide on values, priorities and sectors
Designing a system to implement and monitor
Public Policy 27Module B: Local Government Organization and Management
Effective budgeting Effective Budgeting is the most
important tool in management and organization of local government –often they are produced only for the central ministry and not for local use
Reforms The production of realistic revenue
projections Make the budget reflect real resource flows
Public Policy 28Module B: Local Government Organization and Management
Effective budgeting (2) Reforms seem simply but require
politically leadership
New innovation is to try and incorporate the public more in the budget process –stimulated from the experience of participatory budgeting in Brazil
Public Policy 29Module B: Local Government Organization and Management
A caveat
Source: Adapted from Schick, Look before you leap
Public Policy 30Module B: Local Government Organization and Management
New challenges Despite all the problems and
difficulties there are new challenges for local local government in the following fields
Poverty Provision of basic infrastructure Supporting industry Social capital
Public Policy 31Module B: Local Government Organization and Management
Poverty is a local concern Primary health and education are
local govt concerns
Often only in terms of implementation but because of the fungibility becomes de facto determined by local politics
But accountability to local users also matters in ensuring delivery
Public Policy 32Module B: Local Government Organization and Management
Service delivery matters!
The poor suffer most from the non deliver of basic service (e.g. water, health) by being forced to more expensive private sources
On unit cost basis the poor pay more than the better off
Industrial development suffers by having to provide own sources (power and water)
tendency to encourage capital intensive development
Public Policy 33Module B: Local Government Organization and Management
Support social capital Social capital helps strengthens the poor’s
survival and enterprise development
Violence and a lack of security destroy social capital: law and order are important for development as well as security
Importance of constructive engagement with NGOs De facto important local players Engagement rather than control/undermining
Public Policy 34Module B: Local Government Organization and Management
Watch bad governance The strongest levers local government
has on negative ones –it is much easier to destroy jobs, livelihoods and communities than to build
This is mainly through resettlement and harassment of the informal sector
The policy conclusion is that it is more important not to be bad than it is to be good!
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