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Africa Region Working Paper Series No. 40 Decentralization in Africa: A Stocktaking Survey
In the last decade or so, decentralization has gained prominence as an expressed goal or as an actual pursuit in several African countries. Moreover, since independence, several countries have experimented with decentralization with varying degrees of success. The near universality of the claim to decentralization and the diverse consequences of the revival of local government structures under political liberalization suggest a need to better understand the extent, pace, and consequences of decentralization in Africa. This is critical for development work since the reformulation of state power through decentralization has implications for how and where development partners set their priorities and deploy their resources. This paper provides an overview of decentralization in Africa based on the assessments of World Bank specialists working on each country covered. The extent of decentralization was measured by three indices reflective of the three aspects of decentralization: political, administrative, and fiscal. Our findings indicate decentralization in Africa is progressing but unevenly
both in terms of regional spread and in terms of the aspects of decentralization
that are installed. Overall, the pace and content of decentralization
in the region can best be described as moderate and, where it has effectively
been installed, in need of deepening. Among the 30 countries analyzed,
a little less than half have high or moderate levels of overall decentralization,
with the least decentralization occurring in francophone countries. While
these findings suggest decentralized authorities in Africa are short on
the requisites for effective administration and development response to
local community needs, it is critical to recognize that these authorities
are in the midst of immense change. This change is indeed in the right
direction - toward a deliberate creation and enhancement of local authority.
It is significant to note that in no country was the claim to centralization
as a preferred organizational model made or implied, nor was decentralization
considered undesirable, only difficult to effect and sustain. Full text of paper. (735KB, In Adobe Acrobat format. Requires Acrobat PDF viewer) |
