Decentralization and Development Essay

Most developing country’s governments and multilateral institutions are increasingly concerned by the slow progress being made towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals and have identified new ways of strengthening the development focus of their policies and programmes. For this reason, decentralisation is receiving increasing international attention as a potential tool in the acceleration of development. Though decentralisation would not be implemented solely for the direct purpose of economic development, the ensuing changes in the institutional architecture are very likely to impact on governance, participation and the efficiency of public-service delivery, all of which are important variables for development outcomes. Decentralisation is understood as the transfer of power, responsibility, authority, functions and appropriate resources from the central to the local level. This study attempts to analyse the performance of the decentralisation policy in Zambia since a new decentralisation policy was introduced in Zambia in November 2002 following two previous failed attempts in 1968 and 1980. An effort will be made to analyse the policy design, its implementation, monitoring and evaluation concerns and how these relate to development. Specific emphasis in the study will be placed on whether power can actually been devolved by the Central Government to the Local Governments and to what extent this can have a positive impact on the delivery and management of services at district level thereby leading to development. The study intends to evaluate how the decentralisation policy is operationalised by analysing political, administrative and fiscal decentralisation and how these interface with development in Zambia. The designers of the decentralisation policy in Zambia hoped that when implemented properly, it would reduce the workload at the centre, create political and administrative accountability, promote responsiveness, and in the long run develop organizational structures tailored to local circumstances in which the payment of taxes could be linked to the provision of services. In this way, it was intended that decentralisation would contribute to democratisation, more effective development, and good governance. The problem, however, is that despite these well intentioned goals, the theory is contrary to the practice since decentralisation in Zambia is characterised by several contradictions in the way of challenges related to human resource management, procurement, financial management, and the commercialisation of the elections process which involves the use of money to bribe voters and thereby greatly undermines the ideals of individual merit. As a result, democracy in Zambia has not necessarily produced the best leaders. These contradictions have negative implications for development and this study seeks to investigate why decentralisation has not necessarily led to development in the Zambia context. Generally, the study intends to explore the impact of the decentralisation policy on the development process of the Zambian economy, in terms of effectiveness in the delivery of services. The study hopes to highlight inadequacies, which could be addressed to improve performance and lead to development. More specifically, the study aims at: * Examining the legal and institutional framework of decentralisation in Zambia. * Analysing the determinants of pro-poor decentralisation process. * Examining the role of elected leaders in development under decentralised governance. * Analysing fiscal decentralisation in relation to service delivery (development). These objectives have been critically identified to cover the four pillars of decentralisation namely, the legal framework, as well as fiscal, administrative and political decentralisation. Decentralisation as a process of transferring authority and functions from the centre to the periphery governments is intended to result in good governance. The quest for good governance in both developed and developing countries has taken centre stage. Governments design policies, which are intended to improve people’s welfare and subsequently lead to development. The decentralisation policy in Uganda is one of such policies, which intends to encourage popular participation, accountability, and therefore enhance good governance and development. It is assumed that once organisations are decentralised formally and legally, the intended results are attained. However, there have been few tests to critically compare the assumptions and the subsequent results associated with decentralisation. This study intends to fill the gap by relating the theory of decentralisation to the practice in Zambia. A new decentralisation policy was introduced in Zambia the policy covers the crucial aspects of decentralisation such as setting up of sub-district structures and clearly defined roles for the local authorities, the province and central government. Additionally it clearly states that the government is aspiring for devolution although the process will start with deconcentration of services while capacity is being developed in the local authorities. The policy also clearly states that the objective of the policy is primarily governance, i.e. giving citizens more voice in decision-making and general improvement in democratic governance where citizens will elect the mayor as opposed to the current system where this is done by councillors, and councils will have more powers and resources. This is in keeping with the fact that the government wants to introduce devolution. A decentralisation secretariat was established to spearhead the implementation and coordination of the policy. The local government administration in Zambia is large and highly complex. This complexity together with the significant differences in management between provincial and district approaches, the researchers’ geographical location and resources determined the choice of research design and method most appropriate for the study. Thus the study will be fundamentally based on an analysis of secondary data as it relates to the theoretical and practical implications of decentralisation in Zambia. Hence secondary data will be collected and analysed by means of a literature study which makes use of various sources related to the Zambian setting, including books, journal articles, and legislation.