Local Governance and Decentralization No. 19 January – March 2012
Regional Centre LAC
In this Issue Viewpoints Highlights Article – El Salvador Launches Postal Stamps as a Sign of its Commitment to Transparency Event - Workshop on Anticorruption International Cooperation: Prevention, Transparency and Accountability Thematic Web Site Golstat Agenda
Viewpoints Local Governance and Decentralization: Are they the Same? Often in the political and policy discussions in the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region, local governance and decentralization are concepts that are used interchangeably. However, practices and evidence continue to suggest that while potentially complementary and interrelated, local governance and decentralization are separate concepts and processes. Local governance covers a wider range of issues and stakeholders, and includes planning and decision-making processes in the local political, economic and social realms. Local governance is often driven more by the interaction and relationship between the government and those that are governed. The dynamics of local governance involve institutions, structures, systems, resources, regulations, practices, leadership, actors and relationships. At the same time, local governance also incorporates typically local elements such as political, territorial and gender equity history, accountability and xxxxxx
citizen participation mechanisms, and Decentralization, on the other hand, is service provision and resource a more political and politicized process, highly dependent on the political will generation and management. and commitment of mainly central government authorities. As such, decentralization processes are complex in both political and technical terms. In its more pure form, decentralization involves transferring political, administrative and fiscal power and competencies to sub-national governments (states, departments, provinces, municipalities, Local Governance can be a framework and parishes). The implementation of that provides the maneuvering space decentralization processes often can for policy and programming at the local change the political landscape, by level and can also regulate the enhancing the power of various subinvolvement of stakeholders from national groups and can also change national and local levels of the dynamics for power, authority and government, civil society, and the resources. private sector. Local governance can also be a means to promote local Because of the issues mentioned economic and human development. As above, decentralization processes have such, local governance can extend to be sustained for a long period, but beyond the formal functions given to also have to be gradual and staged, local authorities, and can produce starting from limited approach and localized policy processes that can have gradually leading to greater levels of national implications (up-scale policy). decentralization strictly on the basis of Continue on next page | 1
Continuation of Viewpoints Local Governance and Decentralization: Are they the Same? capacity of sub-national governments to manage effectively the new responsibilities. Devolution is the deepest form of decentralization, as it involves the formal and legal transferring of powers from the central to subnational governments. Under devolution, the majority of decisions and resources are the result of local governance dynamics and transparency and accountability are localized. Delegation is an intermediate form of decentralization that assigns some administrative functions to sub-national units. Under delegation, sub-national governments have limited autonomy and both local and national governance have responsibilities in terms of accountability and transparency. Desconcentration is the least form of decentralization, as it involves not only the presence of sub-national governments, but the creation of units at the sub-nation level that are appendages of central level institutions, and are there mainly to implement centrally generated and financed policies at the sub-national level. While sub-national governments under desconcentration can have some political autonomy, the desconcentrated units are accountable to central government institutions for policy issues. Currently, a majority of the countries in the LAC Region have made efforts towards decentralization but the process has involved mostly delegation and desconcentration, while devolution is still a work in progress for most countries. In the LAC region one finds
for better local governance and more decentralization remain high in the LAC Region. This provides an important opportunity for UNDP, not only to advocate for better understanding the dynamics of local governance and decentralization, but also how they can complement and their potential contextual limitations, but also to mainstream related activities across practice and thematic areas.
two interesting scenarios: one with local governance successes, in spite of limited decentralization processes, and another one with limited lack of governance success, despite higher degrees of decentralization. This paradoxical situation often creates a challenge in assessing these two processes in terms of human development, MDGs, and/or local economic development, as causality is generally difficult to ascertain. The evidence so far is still spotty in terms of the role of local governance and decentralization in development outcomes in the LAC Region, although there are selected examples and best practices that have been identified. Much of the theoretical work shows that decentralized governance can lead to greater human and economic development. Despite the limited and mixed empirical evidence of their impact, expectations and aspirations nnnn
Both, local governance and decentralization require support in the LAC region, although at different levels and intensity. It is clear that decentralization reform is an ongoing process in most countries that is multidimensional and complex, and often involves mainly central/national actors and institutions. It is also clear that context matters for decentralization reforms, particularly in terms of the institutional and constitutional elasticity of the political systems. It may be more fluid to promote decentralization processes in Federal models and/or parliamentary systems (particularly the Caribbean countries), but even under Unitary models the LAC region is making important strides in decentralization reform. Irrespective, decentralization processes are medium and long-term enterprises and evidence from across the globe shows there is no blueprint. UNDP can facilitate dialogue and evidence on challenges, issues and factors that affect the process, in particular as a way to keep deliberation, discussions and dialogue as de-politicized as possible so the more technical aspects Continue on given next page of the process could be also the attention they deserve. | 2
Continuation of Viewpoints Local Governance and Decentralization: Are they the Same? as possible so the more technical aspects of the process could be also given the attention they deserve. UNDP also has an important and more immediate role in focusing on local governance. Advocating and showcasing local governance practices could provide evidence to up-scale practices into policies and decentralization reform processes. Priority areas could be civil society engagement, capacity building of local governments and tools to promote effective, participatory, transparent and accountable services. Sub-national governments have a natural advantage of being closer to constituencies and better understanding the local needs. In the LAC region, such natural advantage is often dwarfed by inconsistencies in institutional design bbb
to better articulate multi-level governance, lack of enforcement of normative frameworks, and lack of capacities of sub-national governments to assume transferred responsibilities. As has been documented widely, subnational governments in the LAC region will take the blunt of future challenges as a result of increasing urbanization, climate change, environmental degradation, and natural disasters, to name but a few. Therefore, subnational authorities need to be part of national policy level deliberation and dialogue on strategies to further enhance local governance and decentralization processes. Similarly, further dialogue is needed in terms of expanding downward accountability and transparency systems by involving both policy makers and beneficiaries.
A well thought-out local governance and decentralization strategy involves all levels of government, to enable better articulation and avoid duplications, to ensure more efficient service delivery systems and to close the asymmetric gap between citizen expectations and the natural gradual process of these reforms. This strategy may involve accommodating some current structures of governance with new and innovative structure that respond to the actual and future realities of sub-national governance. A congruent and strategic local governance and decentralization strategy could help in the transition from territorial atomization to inventive territorial arrangements to deal with current and future political, fiscal and administrative challenges.
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Highlights Decentralization, Basic Services: The Cases of Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica and Mexico in Health, Education, Waste, Security and Development ECLAC and GIZ January 2011. The document is the result of a comparative research study on decentralization of basic services, carried out by the Latin American and Caribbean Institute for Economic and Social Planning (ILPES) of ECLAC. The study focuses on the experience of five countries in the region (Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica and Mexico). The hypothesis of the study is that the provision, coverage and quality of basic public services could be improved through decentralized models. The objective of the study is to identify experiences where the services delivery is optimal. The study concludes that decentralization processes are particular to each country, and therefore generalized conclusions cannot be done. In the opinion of the majority of the experts, and as the results of this survey points out, the decentralization processes have made progress, particularly where these have had benefits for the economy and fiscal management, and have promoted an active citizen participation and oversight. On the other hand, the study also notes progress where there is a conducive functional institutional architecture for decentralization, which highlights an enabling dimension of power delegation and trust toward sub-national entities. The document identifies "good practices" in all the countries studied, which are predominantly at the local-municipal, associations of municipalities and regional (departments and states) levels.
The Internet in Latin America: Online Publics, Social Media Use and the Impact of Diffusion Paola Prado The Western Hemispheric Security Analysis Center Applied Research Center/Florida International University June 2011.
This paper analyzes the impact of the Internet in Latin America. It is a brief overview of online publics in the Region and their adoption of social media. The study begins with a review of Internet access rates in the Region, briefly recounts universal access and digital inclusion policies. Then, it describes select moments in the diffusion process, and concludes with a brief analysis of the impact of this first phase or Internet diffusion in the Region. This paper focused on a sample that consisted primarily of the four countries in South America with the highest rate of Internet access, and the two highest ranked countries in Central America and the Caribbean, respectively: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic. While the study cannot be considered representative of the entire region, the analysis provides a snapshot of this topic in the region. Internet access in Latin America is quickly expanding: more than three out of every 10 people in the region are now online. This is no longer a medium restricted to the elite, it is rather a public sphere, upon which civil society has staked its claim. [To download click here]
[To download click here]
Topic Guide on Decentralization and Local Government Scott Zoe and Rao Summedh Commonwealth Secretariat and the Governance and Social Development Resource Centre (GSDRC) March 2011. This Topic Guide provides practical guidance for designing, implementing and evaluating decentralization reforms and local government practices to ensure they are as effective as possible. It also synthesizes and presents current debates on the impact of decentralization and local government on poverty reduction, service delivery and conflict as well as providing links to cuttingedge research and recent case studies. The guide provides information and relevant bibliography on key decentralization topics such as: the changing role of the State; designing and strengthening local government, fiscal decentralization, participation and accountability; monitoring and evaluation; decentralization and development; local service delivery; and conflict and fragile contexts, to name but a few. Each section provides summaries of key resources and online links to an array of relevant resources. [To download click here]
Decentralization in Honduras. From a Distribution to a Development Approach Cesar Vargas GFA Consulting Group December 2011
The document develops in the first chapter a retrospective analysis of what has been the Honduras decentralization approach from the Municipalities Law to the country´s vision until 2038. Chapters 2 to 6 analyze the fiscal decentralization with a development approach, and focus on key topics such as the competencies of national and sub-national levels, the system of intergovernmental transfers emphasizing equity for the less-developed municipalities, and spending and the debate on how to achieve an optimal structure of municipal expenditures. In Chapters 7 and 8, finally, proposals for an institutional framework to support the decentralization process and Honduras are recommended. Decentralization as an integral and long-term public policy, has to have a high social and political consensus, and should be an integral part of strategies for raising long-term productivity in the public sector, and for the modernization of the State.
[To download click here]
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Article El Salvador Launches Postal Stamps as a Sign of its Commitment to Transparency*
Three images that travel around the world show the commitment of El Salvador with strengthening a culture of transparency and ethics in public administration. It is a postage stamp series that captures the importance of the fight against corruption, which is at the core of the government agenda. A transparent government is essential to strengthen democracy. Together with the government, the citizens must assume its responsibility and demand a more efficient and accountable public sector. In the region, El Salvador ranks in the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index (CPI) in the middle, and in Central America it has a prominent ranking, as it occupies second place, just below Costa Rica. Despite this, on 2011 there was a slight increase in the perception of corruption, which meant a fall in the CPI, from 3.6 in 2010 to 3.4 last year, a return to the levels of 2009. In institutional terms, during the last few years, the creation of the Transparency and Anti-Corruption Sub Secretariat at the Presidency has represented a step forward, as well as in the work of the government to create an effective anticorruption public policy. This year, the Law of Access to Public Information will mark a new milestone, since it will allow for the first time that the citizens demand information to public entities and participate more actively in their democracy. "We are aware that it is necessary to go further and that is why the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is a strategic partner of the Government in its transparency initiatives," added Richard Barathe, the Deputy Resident Representative of UNDP El Salvador. UNDP supported the issuance of these postage stamps so that it can stimulate awareness in civil society of the legal tools the country has to prevent and combat corruption, such as the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), which El Salvador is a signatory.
Although the stamps highlight legal norms, the Government and UNDP emphasize that much more is needed to win against corruption. Without a doubt, an active civil society increases the opportunities for the legal tools to be effective. There were 100.000 stamps produced in the series and they are circulating in the post offices as of December 9, a date that has been precisely designated by the United Nations General Assembly as the International AntiCorruption Day. The postage stamps will travel around 191 countries with which El Salvador has mail exchange services around the world, and will have the slogan "transparency benefits all of us." One of the postage stamps represents the control and monitoring of public and private institutions on transparency and anti-corruption, which should be exercised by public servants. The second stamp shows the United Nations as a watchdog and observer of compliance between State Parties to the agreements, and the third postage stamp is dedicated to the InterAmerican Convention against Corruption. "We should be proud that around the world it is going to be known that in El Salvador we are against corruption," concluded the National Director of Post Offices, Elsa Margarita Quintanar de Ortez.
*UNDP-El Salvador |
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Event Workshop on Anticorruption International Cooperation: Prevention, Transparency and Accountability, By Maristela Marques Baioni and Maria Teresa Amaral Fontes* On January 26, 2012, the workshop "Anticorruption International Cooperation: Prevention, Transparency and Accountability” (Cooperação Internacional Anticorrupção: Prevenção, Transparência e Controle) was held in São Paulo, Brazil. The event was sponsored by the Office of the São Paulo State Comptroller General (Corregedoria Geral da Administração), the Special Office of International Affairs of the State Government of Sao Paulo (Assessoria Especial para Assuntos Internacionais do Governo de São Paulo), and UNDP-Brazil. Government of São Paulo and the Federal Government of Brazil. These actions will serve to strengthen the role of the country in international events about anticorruption taking place on 2012 in Brazil, such as the 5th Community Global Meeting on Anti-Corruption Practices of UNDP (COP), and the 15th International Anticorruption Conference (IACC).
Nearly 80 government employees from the areas of internal and external control of the State participated. The workshop aimed to provide a global, national and regional perspective on transparency, accountability and the prevention and fight against corruption. The morning session was reserved for Gerardo Berthin’s presentation, Governance and Decentralization Policy Advisor of UNDP’s Regional Center for Latin America and the Caribbean in Panama; followed by Ronald da Silva Balbe’s presentation, Director of Brazil’s Comptroller General Office (Controladoria Geral da União); and Gustavo Ungaro, President of the São Paulo State Comptroller General (Corregedoria Geral da Administração). The afternoon session provided an opportunity to dialogue about mainstreaming anti-corruption in development sectors, and about the United Nations Conventions against Corruption. Over 50 participants, including key high-ranking officials participated. The joint work between UNDP’s Regional Center and UNDP Brazil proved to be very successful, and will certainly help to build new partnerships with the State
Besides its exceptional presentation on the workshop, Mr. Gerardo Berthin gave an interview to UNDP’s Brazil website, in which he talks about the impacts of corruption on human development and the importance of the involvement of society as a whole in the fight against corruption. The full interview can be accessed here. The fight against corruption is a priority issue to the Brazilian government and society. According to the World Bank data, corruption accounts for over US$ 1 trillion per year in the whole world. In Brazil alone, the resources involved in acts of corruption in the federal public sector are estimated to be US$ 23 billion. UNDP Brazil has been supporting the Brazilian government in actions focused on the strengthening of capacities of its governance institutions in order to make them more effective to prevent and reduce corruption. UNDP Brazil also seeks empowering the media and civil society to involve citizens to participate in the control of public policies and resources.
*Assistant Resident Representative for Programmes, and Programme Analyst respectively, UNDP-Brazil | 6
GOLSTAT
Thematic Web Site
Rendir cuentas Rendir Cuentas is a network of civil society organizations in Latin America and the Caribbean that promote transparency and accountability. The initiative is integrated by 25 organizations from six countries in Latin America and the Caribbean (Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay), and works at two levels: 1) identification, analysis, systematization and dissemination of good practices in transparency and accountability; and 2) ) promotion of self-regulation practices of civil society organizations through the adoption of voluntary and common standards for transparency. The web page of Rendir Cuentas, has news, blog and discussion forums sections, and documentation on the subject. To visit the website, click here
According to the Latin American Information Agency Free Press, more than 35 municipalities will be proclaimed free of illiteracy in El Salvador. The Department of Education announced that since the start of the program “Full Time Inclusive School (La Escuela Inclusiva de Tiempo Pleno)” in March 2010, approximately 120,000 persons have benefited. It was also announced that the budget for education in 2012 is US$120igher than in 2011 and reaches US$827 million. This amount represents 3.7 % of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and it is expected that by 2014 the amount will reach 5% of GDP. The Ministry of Education will invest $59 million to repair the infrastructure of 746 educational centers that suffered damage during the 2001 earthquakes and storms, and/or damaged over the years. It was also announced that it will allocate US$46 million to finance wage increases for teachers.
Agenda
Planning and Working Mission to UNDP Regional Center Panama of Gerardo Noto, Programme Specialist Democratic Governance Practice Area/RBLAC, March 6-9.
Support to the Mid-Term Evaluation Mission of the Programme on Anti-Corruption for Development Effectiveness (PACDE) in Bogota and Cartagena, March 11-15.
Expert Workshop on the Virtual course "Accountability tools to lead Local development," Bogota, Colombia, March 12.
Nicaragua Mission to Support the External Evaluation of the Anticorruption Fund (FAC III Phase) and participation in the closing session of the Building Resources in Democracy, Governance and Elections (BRIDGE)-GPECS Workshop, March 11-23.
Participation in the Seminar on "The Impact of the Right of Access to Information on Citizen Participation,” organizedhttp://www.regionalcentrelac-undp.org/en by the Council of Transparency and supported by UNDP-Chile, April 19 - 20. |
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