To what extent does decentralisation improve the quality of public service delivery? This article published by the Institute of Development Studies explores the evidence on the impact of decentralisation on service delivery in Sub-saharan Africa and offers some general lessons. It finds that decentralisation has not yet had a significant positive impact on the quality of public services in the region. However, this is due primarily to the wider policy environment rather than to the ineffectiveness of decentralisation per se.
It is difficult to draw any general conclusions about the relationship between decentralisation and service delivery since much depends on the type of service, the type of decentralisation, the way in which it is implemented and the broader policy environment. Most of the weaknesses of local governments are a reflection of the problems of governance in general. Thus, the problems of decentralisation cannot be addressed in isolation and there is a need to be realistic about what decentralisation can be expected to achieve. Notwithstanding, there have been a number of positive changes, including the move to more democratic forms of local governance, recognition of the need for fiscal decentralisation and the many recent attempts to increase citizen participation and downward accountability.
In theory, decentralisation affects the quantity, quality or equity of public services through its impact on the following intermediate variables:
- Access to local information: Decentralisation has the potential to increase access to information about local needs, conditions and priorities, which are then incorporated into local development plans.
- Locus of decision-making power:Decentralisation should localise the power to make and implement decisions, and thus to translate plans into programmes of action.
- Resource availability: Decentralisation may increase the amount of resources available for implementing programmes, especially financial resources.
- Administrative performance: Decentralisation may enhance administrative performance and thus the effectiveness of programme implementation.
In practice, it is difficult to determine a causal relationship between decentralisation and service delivery. Consequently, one should not blame decentralisation for the poor quality of service provision in many African countries. The problems stem from more fundamental characteristics of African states, which hamper any form of service delivery, whether centralised or decentralised.
- The quality of access to local information depends on who participates and on the composition of the institutions to which power is decentralised. No one institution is necessarily better than any other. Effectiveness depends on the type of institution, its structure and composition, on the motivation and capacity of members and on local/national power structures.
- Governments have generally been reluctant to decentralise sufficient power to local level governments to enable them to significantly impact on local service delivery.
- There is little evidence to suggest that decentralisation increases the availability of resources.
- Administrative performance under decentralised systems of governance is generally poor. However, this is, to a large extent, a mirror of administrative performance in the country as a whole, rather than as a result of decentralisation itself.
