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Decentralisation and Local Governance

The Hague | 6 – 9 July, 2009

Course introduction

The summercourse Decentralisation and Local Governance is designed for professionals dealing with decentralisation processes and local service delivery in developing and transitional countries. It discusses questions like: How do decentralisation policies contribute to poverty reduction and reaching the Millennium Development Goals? In what way can a transfer of power and budget from central to local authorities lead to better services on the local level? How can a dialogue between national governments and local stakeholders be stimulated? And how can local governments be made more accountable to their citizens?

The summercourse provides you with indicators for assessing and monitoring decentralisation practices and increases your insight into decentralisation processes in different contexts, like fragile states or countries with ethnic tensions. Fiscal decentralisation, sources for local income generating and local leadership issues are discussed as well as aid modalities and the role of the donor community.

The experts

Contributions come from practitioners in the field of decentralisation and local governance, with extensive experience in various parts of the world. During the training, you will have the opportunity to share your experiences with them and ask their opinion about the situation in the country you work in.

Jamie Boex, expert in public finance with extensive experience in fiscal policy reforms in developing and transitional countries such as Armenia, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Georgia, Russia, Malawi, Namibia, Nepal, Tanzania and Uganda. Presently, Jamie is principal research associate at the Centre on International Development and Governance at the Urban Institute in Washington.

Otto Stapel, expert in the field of public administration and local governance and specialised in participatory policy making, worked as a local government advisor for VNG International in a.o. Sudan, Afghanistan, Turkey and Iraq.

John Jackson, with 21 years of experience at senior levels in local, national and public sectors, advised and trained local government staff in Eastern Europe, Turkey, Russia, Georgia and Armenia. John developed several National Training Strategies and led the Best Practice Programme in cooperation with (local) governments.

Jean Bossuyt, Head of Strategy at the European Centre for Development Policy Management and author of the EuropeAid publication ‘Supporting Decentralisation and Local Governance in Third Countries’. Jean Bossuyt has been working extensively on issues of EU development policy over the last seven years. Areas of particular interest are the political dimensions of EU-ACP cooperation (e.g. democratisation, governance), aid relations with conflict countries, private sector development, decentralised cooperation and relations with NGOs.

Learning objectives

The summercourse Decentralisation and Local Governance helps you in:

Assessing decentralisation practices in the countries you work in;
Increasing insight into the various factors that influence performance at the local level;
Judging the impact of decentralisation policies on the realisation of poverty reduction;
Designing strategies for a more effective implementation of decentralisation in partner countries;
Exchanging experiences with other professionals in the field.

All participants will receive a certificate upon completion of the course.

The content

Day 1: Assessing decentralisation practices
The first day of the course will introduce you to various concepts and practices of decentralisation, such as motives for decentralisation; coherence between political, administrative and fiscal decentralisation; conditions for successful decentralisation and special circumstances like fragile states and countries with strong ethnic or regional tensions. Otto Stapel will share his experience with developing local democracy in post conflict areas such as Iraq, Afghanistan and The Sudan. At the end of day one, an assignment will help you in assessing the decentralisation practice in your own country.

Day 2: Fiscal decentralisation and local service delivery
A governance game will introduce you to the world of municipal financing, followed by a presentation by Jamie Boex, clarifying expenditure responsibilities, intergovernmental transfers, local taxes and user fees. Jamie will illustrate the theory with practices from various parts of the world and he will give you feedback and suggestions on the questions you may have. In the afternoon, Jamie will zoom in on financing local services such as water, education, health and waste collection and will analyse with you two case studies.

Day 3: Local leadership and capacity development
Good leadership at a local level is crucial for strategy development, involving the community, increasing accountability and improving municipal services. On the third day, we will discuss roles, responsibilities and key competencies of local leaders. Special attention will be paid to accountability and developing partnerships with community groups, NGOs and the private sector. In the afternoon, John Jackson will introduce several capacity development instruments such as the leadership benchmark, the stakeholder analysis, the force field analysis and the toolkit for strengthening the capacities of local government associations.

Day 4: Decentralisation and development goals
Day 4 will focus on the role of the donor community. We will talk about questions like: How to design a coherent support strategy for decentralisation? How to integrate decentralisation in sector wide approaches? How to implement (do’s and don’ts) and how to asses outcomes and impact on development goals such as the MDGs? In a final exercise you will prepare an individual action plan that describes the steps you will take for assessing, monitoring and intervention strategies related to decentralisation and local service delivery in your partner country.

Day 5 (optional)
For those who are interested there is the opportunity to see in practice how a Dutch municipality manages its public services, and how this relates to the higher goverment tiers. On day 5, you can participate in a field visit and exchange experiences with municipal staff.

Practical information

The course fee is € 2.415,-. This includes all training-related costs for five days as well as drinks and meals, training materials and travel during the training.

If you would like to receive more information you can contact our programme manager Emmely Benschop at emmely.benschop@thehaguacademy.com or +31 6 575 384 13.