Does Decentralization Enhance Service Delivery And Poverty Reduction

Author : Ehtisham Ahmad
Publisher : Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1849801851
Total Pages : 411 pages
Book Rating : 4.50/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Does Decentralization Enhance Service Delivery and Poverty Reduction? written by Ehtisham Ahmad and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2009-01-01 with total page 411 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Does decentralization enhance service delivery and poverty reduction? The expert contributors to this book address this fundamental question faced by policymakers and scholars in developing and advanced countries. The book illustrates that it is equally important for international agencies as well as bilateral donors to provide advice and assistance on decentralization that effectively supports poverty reduction. The volume builds on insights from the recent, political economy developments in the intergovernmental literature reviewed in the Handbook of Fiscal Federalism, and presents new empirical evidence on the effects of decentralization in different parts of the world. Policy-oriented papers evaluating the effectiveness of decentralized service delivery are presented. The role of institutions and the importance of sequencing of policies in ensuring effective outcomes are also considered. The volume presents some insightful empirical studies of the decentralization process from Latin America, Eastern Europe, and Africa. With a detailed empirical analysis of effective outcomes of public policies implemented at the sub-national level, and a focus on method, this book will be of great interest to academics specializing in public sector economics and public finance, and to national and international policymakers.

Author : Moussé Sow
Publisher : International Monetary Fund
ISBN 13 : 1475564031
Total Pages : 30 pages
Book Rating : 4.37/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Fiscal Decentralization and the Efficiency of Public Service Delivery written by Moussé Sow and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2015-03-17 with total page 30 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper explores the impact of fiscal decentralization on the efficiency of public service delivery. It uses a stochastic frontier method to estimate time-varying efficiency coefficients and analyzes the impact of fiscal decentralization on those efficiency coefficients. The findings indicate that fiscal decentralization can improve the efficiency of public service delivery but only under specific conditions. First, the decentralization process requires adequate political and institutional environments. Second, a sufficient degree of expenditure decentralization seems necessary to obtain favorable outcomes. Third, decentralization of expenditure needs to be accompanied by sufficient decentralization of revenue. Absent those conditions, fiscal decentralization can worsen the efficiency of public service delivery.

Author : Peter Friedrich
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9783830507208
Total Pages : 262 pages
Book Rating : 4.08/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Fiscal Decentralization written by Peter Friedrich and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author : Zoë Scott
Publisher : Commonwealth Secretariat
ISBN 13 : 1849290296
Total Pages : 220 pages
Book Rating : 4.96/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Resource Guide on Decentralisation and Local Government written by Zoë Scott and published by Commonwealth Secretariat. This book was released on 2011 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This topic guide provides practical guidance for designing, implementing and evaluating decentralisation reforms and local government practices to ensure they are as effective as possible. It includes summaries of key texts and provides links to cutting edge research and recent case studies.

Author : Johannes P. Jütting
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.71/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Decentralization and Poverty in Developing Countries written by Johannes P. Jütting and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Decentralization has been advocated by donors and development agencies as an important factor broadening citizen participation and improving local governance, thereby, promoting poverty reduction from the bottom up. On the basis of a comprehensive review of 19 country case studies documented in the literature, this paper questions this assumption. The authors find that an unambiguous link between decentralization and poverty reduction cannot be established. In some of the poorest countries characterized by weak institutions and political conflicts, decentralization could actually make matters worse. Interestingly, the poverty impact of decentralization would appear to depend less on the physical country setting, for example a country's size or quality of infrastructure, than on the capacity and willingness of policy makers to ensure a pro-poor devolution process. Two important policy lessons emerge from this study. First, in an environment where the central state is not fulfilling its basic functions, decentralization could be counterproductive and, therefore, should not be a donor priority. Secondly, in countries that are fulfilling their functions, decentralization could be a powerful tool for poverty reduction, improving representation of the poor and better targeting of service delivery. To fully reap the potential benefits of decentralization, donors' intervention in these countries should focus on providing technical support and improving the co-ordination of their aid policies at both the local and national level.

Author : Kent Eaton
Publisher : World Bank Publications
ISBN 13 : 9780821388402
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.01/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Political Economy of Decentralization Reforms written by Kent Eaton and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2011 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume presents a framework designed to help international development partners consider the relevance of political economy issues for their programmatic support to decentralization and local government reform. The intention is neither to advocate decentralization in general or in any particular form, nor to presume or privilege any particular decentralization objective. Instead, the purpose is to document the potential value of better understanding how (primarily national and intergovernmental) political and institutional dynamics do or could affect the scope for realizing decentralization reforms aligned with commonly advocated service delivery, governance, and poverty reduction goals. The underlying premise is that systematic analysis of these issues can productively complement the dominantly technical diagnostic work typically carried out by development partners. Specifically, development partners can benefit from better understanding the practical significance of motives that drive politicians and bureaucrats to support or oppose reform at various stages of the decentralization process, from making an initial reform decision to detailed design and implementation. In addition, the authors address how these incentives can weaken, strengthen, or shift in response to changes in political and economic conditions that arise after reform begins. A general approach to conducting political economy of decentralization analysis is outlined, recognizing the need to tailor such analysis to the particular country context. This volume is based on literature reviews and knowledge derived from selected country experiences.

Author : Ngamije Festo
Publisher : LAP Lambert Academic Publishing
ISBN 13 : 9783843377614
Total Pages : 88 pages
Book Rating : 4.18/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Poverty Reduction and Fiscal Decentralization written by Ngamije Festo and published by LAP Lambert Academic Publishing. This book was released on 2010-12 with total page 88 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The benefits of decentralized service delivery can depend on the point of capture by the elite groups and on the level and nature of population inequality. However, if there is elite capture and the interests of the local political elites are not aligned with those of the poor, decentralization may work against the well-being of the poor. Similarly, in circumstances with pronounced inequality in local relations of power and authority, decentralization, and in particular the decentralization of poverty programs in such context will worsen inequality. In this paper, we attempt to present a survey of empirical evidence accessible on the link between fiscal decentralization and poverty reduction between Uganda and Rwanda. Through this, the research focuses on the measures of revenues and expenditures in different sectors under decentralization between the two countries. IOn the other hand, there has been a consequence of having over stretched financial capacity of revenues and expenditures. The expenditures surpassed the revenues leading to the huge gap between revenues and expenditures in Rwanda with high poverty head counts in provinces.

Author : Kent Eaton
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780821388419
Total Pages : 92 pages
Book Rating : 4.1X/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The political economy of decentralization reforms : [implications for aid effectiveness] written by Kent Eaton and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 92 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume presents a framework designed to help international development partners consider the relevance of political economy issues for their programmatic support to decentralization and local government reform. The intention is neither to advocate decentralization in general or in any particular form, nor to presume or privilege any particular decentralization objective. Instead, the purpose is to document the potential value of better understanding how (primarily national and intergovernmental) political and institutional dynamics do or could affect the scope for realizing decentralization reforms aligned with commonly advocated service delivery, governance, and poverty reduction goals. The underlying premise is that systematic analysis of these issues can productively complement the dominantly technical diagnostic work typically carried out by development partners. Specifically, development partners can benefit from better understanding the practical significance of motives that drive politicians and bureaucrats to support or oppose reform at various stages of the decentralization process, from making an initial reform decision to detailed design and implementation. In addition, the authors address how these incentives can weaken, strengthen, or shift in response to changes in political and economic conditions that arise after reform begins. A general approach to conducting political economy of decentralization analysis is outlined, recognizing the need to tailor such analysis to the particular country context. This volume is based on literature reviews and knowledge derived from selected country experiences.

Author :
Publisher : World Bank Publications
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 29 pages
Book Rating : 4./5 ( download)

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Download or read book Decentralization and Service Delivery written by and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2005 with total page 29 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dissatisfied with centralized approaches to delivering local public services, a large number of countries are decentralizing responsibility for these services to lower-level, locally elected governments. The results have been mixed. The paper provides a framework for evaluating the benefits and costs, in terms of service delivery, of different approaches to decentralization, based on relationships of accountability between different actors in the delivery chain. Moving from a model of central provision to that of decentralization to local governments introduces a new relationship of accountability-between national and local policymakers-while altering existing relationships, such as that between citizens and elected politicians. Only by examining how these relationships change can we understand why decentralization can, and sometimes cannot, lead to better service delivery. In particular, the various instruments of decentralization-fiscal, administrative, regulatory, market, and financial-can affect the incentives facing service providers, even though they relate only to local policymakers. Likewise, and perhaps more significantly, the incentives facing local and national politicians can have a profound effect on the provision of local services. Finally, the process of implementing decentralization can be as important as the design of the system in influencing service delivery outcomes.

Author : Sawanya Phakphian
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781267132642
Total Pages : 116 pages
Book Rating : 4.47/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Decentralization, Community-based Planning and Poverty Reduction in Chiang Mai, Thailand written by Sawanya Phakphian and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 116 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The existing literature shows little understanding of the relationship between community-based planning and poverty reduction in the concept of decentralization, demonstrated in part by empirical evidence of the mechanism of decentralization at the local level. Proponents of decentralization highlight its three main positive impacts on political, administrative, and economic considerations. Examples of these positive impacts are an increase in people's participation, better allocation of resources to meet people's need due to more knowledge about local conditions, and improvement for transparency and accountability of governance - all of which are prerequisites of poverty reduction. However, opponents of decentralization believe that it creates inefficient governance and ineffective economics (Devas 2004 and Tanzi 2002). Some of these opponents go so far as to say that decentralization increases social inequality (Tanzi 1995). It is these inconsistent perspectives on the impacts of decentralization on poverty reduction that this study investigates. This study investigates the evolution of decentralization policy in Thailand and the process by which decentralization helps reduce poverty at the local level. This study uses a case study of Pan-Num, a poor Chiang Mai urban community, and conducts a comparative study of two community-based planning efforts which have different modes of participation - Canal Cleaning, a local initiative program, and Baan Man Kong, a governmental initiative program. Data were collected through 49 in-depth interviews, complied with household surveys, six months of field observations, and secondary sources of governmental and international documents. Since 1932, the year that democracy was established in Thailand, the country has undergone several radical changes in its political administrative structure. There are many factors that have affected changes in the political structure and decentralization in Thailand. Examples of these changes are rapid urbanization, political dynamics such as the 1990s demonstration, and economic changes such as the 1997 economic crisis. Decentralization is suggested as a progressive approach to solving Thailand's existing problems, such as the distressed economy, inadequate service delivery, political instability, and social inequality, all of which contribute to poverty, one of the issues of greatest concern. Scholars and practitioners have tried to understand the process of decentralization that links it with poverty reduction (von Braun and Grote 2000, Rondinelli, Nellis and Cheema 1983, UNDP 2005). Their studies have revealed that the relationship between decentralization and poverty alleviation outcomes are inconsistent. It is this uncertain finding that this study investigates. This study attempts to analyze how community-based planning efforts help reduce poverty in the concept of decentralization by pushing beyond analyzing decentralization as democratic participation. The findings reveal that the implementation of community-based planning efforts in Pan-Num was able to promote some aspects of poverty reduction. A lack of infrastructure and public services is seen to improve after implementing community-based planning efforts. However, poverty reduction is limited to some groups of residents, and most still faced the problems of poverty. This represented the gap in social equality and the limited accountability of governance and planning. In addition, the findings reveal that positive outcomes of community-based planning depend upon the level of collaborative work between the government, NGOs, the international agencies, and the community. Both modes of participation create relatively small-scale solutions and have difficulties to maintain their organizations. Several reasons are associated with the limited involvement of an array of relevant organizations. Also, positive outcomes are associated with the level of social capital. Residents who have strong tie to a community tend to work together better within community-based planning efforts. Thus, this study then suggests to building up social capital as well as promoting collaboration between the government, NGOs, the international agencies, and the community as well as more cooperative work between communities. By its nature, this study's coverage is limited, further research is required. Further research should either use larger pools of randomly sampled residents and communities in Chiang Mai or investigate the study using longitudinal approach. Only this approach would allow a researcher to draw conclusions from case studies to the population of other poor urban communities.