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committees), has ensured better coordination of the grant reforms with the sectors and better coordination of revenue enhancement activities, especially within capacity building. The LGFC, although its capacity and effect were initially weak, has gradually expanded its role as a forum for providing analytical preparatory work for reforms, for bringing urgent issues to the top of the agenda, for coordinating initiatives, and for involving stakeholders from the central and local governments. The associations of local authorities have also been instrumental in this process, representing the interests of local governments and bringing in additional expertise. However, it is important to clarify the roles of independent committees and forums in the early stages of a reform program. It is also important to ensure sufficient links between the bodies coordinating reforms and the implementing agencies and ministries to make certain that proposals are being properly implemented. Finally, for serious reform initiatives, strong, consistent support is needed for medium- to long-term capacity building.
Notes 1. Please refer to Steffensen and Trollegaard (2000) for a detailed treatment of the experiences in Ghana, Senegal, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe and to Steffensen and Tidemand (2004). Some sections of this chapter are based on (or excerpted from) the 2004 study. 2. For elaboration, see Republic of Uganda (1990) or for more details, Tidemand (1994), especially chapter 3. 3. The LGA is being changed. 4. The administrative units are county councils; parishes or wards; and villages, cells, or zones. 5. The chairperson of a city carries the title of mayor. 6. Steffensen and Tidemand (2004), annex 4.1, gives an overview of the share of local governments’ expenditure in total public expenditures with or without donor funding. Many official calculations tend to underestimate the local government share, because the local governments have their own revenues in addition to the grants from central government. (The local own-source revenues typically constitute 10 to 15 percent of the total local government revenues.) In the calculations in the text, local government revenues for budget FY 2002/03 are estimated at the level of FY 2001/02 (U Sh 104.8 billion). 7. However, this indicator is only one among many and should not be evaluated in isolation. 8. Based on unaudited data from the Budget Framework Papers. 9. Population figures for rural local governments obtained from UBoS (2002). 10. See Steffensen, Tidemand, and Ssewankambo (2004, 70–80) for a detailed description of the reasons behind this development. 11. It appears from schedule 7 that unconditional grants are paid in the amount equal to the amount paid to local governments in the preceding year for the same item
