DFID, the World Bank and GTZ have recently undertaken multi-country reviews of their support to decentralisation and sub-national governance. The EU has also produced a set of guidelines based on its experience. A great number of country-level evaluations are now available online, the majority of which conclude with lessons learned and recommendations.
Recommendations vary from broad-level observations about what makes programmes more or less successful, to highly specific technical recommendations on how to implement such programmes. At the more general end of this spectrum, several recurring lessons/recommendations are notable:
- There is a need for strong national ownership, at both central and local level
- There is a need to assess whether the political context is conducive to decentralisation
- There is a need to focus on both governance issues and technical capacity
- There is a need to build inclusive partnerships
- There is a need for better monitoring and evaluation (M&E)
- There is a need for greater realism and management of expectations
