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Strengthening Decentralization in Southeast Asia
Strengthening Local Government in Southeast Asia
Local governments in Southeast Asia have to face differing issues in their road to development. Yet, there are certain trends and challenges that each country of this region has equally to confront, in a context of growing international relations.
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Regional Trends In every challenge there lies opportunity
Building urban infrastructures and services:
The countries of Southeast Asia are experiencing a rapid process of urbanization due to significant increase in the urban population. Among the 600 million people of the region, the urban population accounts for 247 million in 2010. Local authorities have already assumed considerable responsibilities in local urban planning and in delivering public services. While cities are centres of wealth and prosperity, they also represent most poverty-related issues. The share of population living in urban areas is expected to rise to 50% by 2025, involving complex issues of building more efficient cities and fighting back poverty in urban areas.
bilize people for their own development. Political education is a growing focus of concern, whereby citizens are educated about their roles in politics, government and in their communities.
Promoting citizen participation:
Peoples’ participation is advocated in order to promote democratic local governance and as a means of empowering citizens. In certain cases, the principles of citizen participation and local democracy are constitutionally guaranteed, however efforts must still be made towards fully integrating these practices into democratic local governance. Local governments have yet to move from guaranteeing general freedom of expression to concrete citizen participation in resolving community issues and problems.
Increasing local resource management: Cooperation and prevention:
Natural and man-made crises in the region place a heavy burden on local government expenditure. Tsunamis, earthquakes followed by landslides, tropical storms, eruptions, greatly impair the economy, while local own-source revenues are simply inadequate to take on major natural disasters. National disaster management is often well organized, but the long-term effects are left to local governments to handle. The negative economic consequences of disasters cannot be entirely avoided, but can be addressed efficiently in cooperation with national governments, local authorities and civil society. Disaster prevention programs and pro-active planning positively enhance the recovery of regions and municipalities and mitigate harm in the most affected areas.
Building strong local democracies:
Local democracy is not only an emerging concept, but is on the way to becoming an integral part of the governance agendas. The participation of citizens in the democratic election of local authorities needs to be promoted: when local government councillors are appointed and not elected, there is no direct line of accountability. The already-existing constitutional provisions have to be brought more fully into practice, with movements aiming to democratically mo-
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Local authorities across the region are highly dependent on transfers from central and intermediary governments, linked to national priorities. With relatively small un-conditional revenue sources it is difficult for local authorities to set their own priorities, to contribute more actively to national development and to directly respond to the demands of their own communities.
Promoting mobilization of local resources:
In some countries, central and provincial governments retain the majority of taxes and the management of public properties, with tax administration highly centralized. Local own-source revenue sources are limited and do not yet play an important role in funding local development. The lack of control over local taxes and own-source revenues makes long-term proactive planning for sustainable solutions difficult.
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Increasing transparency and accountability:
With the majority of funding coming from higher levels of government or local authorities appointed by other levels of governments, there is little incentive to account to citizens and decision making processes are unclear. In addition, many local administrations are challenged by an overly complex management system with multiple actors, many formal procedures, weak coordination and unclear lines of accountability.
Strengthening local capacities:
Citizens’ satisfaction with local government service delivery is increasing in the region; however the majority of social services provided remain of limited quality. Local staff capacity in terms of both number and knowledge requires more investment and training, as do performance monitoring systems, as tools for reporting to the public. More investment in manpower development will strengthen local governments and speed up national, regional and local development.
Supporting inter-municipal cooperation:
While inter-municipal cooperation, both city-to-city cooperation and international city networks have increased in number, in many cases there is need for a stronger enabling environment (juridical framework and resources) to support this cooperation and networking. Successful inter-municipal cooperation also has the longer-term benefit of encouraging local governments to help themselves, instead of waiting for assistance from central government.
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Strengthening Decentralization in Southeast Asia
Decentralization.
A road to local development. Decentralization should be understood as a process and not as a goal in itself; it is a fundamental tool in the road for achieving a reduction in poverty, democratic governance and human development. Dialogue, constant exchange of ideas and cooperation between local, national and international actors is the path from poverty to dignity, the sustainable way to local development. Responding to challenges in each city, empowering local and regional actors, creating transparency, achieving social cohesion, promoting innovation are key components of sustainable development not only in Southeast Asia, but also at a global scale, in the wider international community. Faced with these trends, it is necessary to vindicate the role of decentralised and autonomous local governments and advocate the strengthening of decentralization processes in cooperation, paving the way of a common future.
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Opportunities In every opportunity there lies a solution. Decentralization has become an important process in the political agenda of Southeast Asia. Several development programs have been created and it is beneficial to all, when positive achievements in one country or in one local government are made available to others. The Regional Report: Administrative and Fiscal Decentralization in Southeast Asia provides useful policy recommendations linked with best practices regarding decentralization and local development in the region. A solution has to be efficient, sustainable and preferably innovative, with a high transferability potential. Each of these best practices carry those elements, allowing for further replication and can be adopted in countries and local governments with differing political and cultural backgrounds. They stand as models for other projects.
1. Risk management and disaster mitigation:
Local authorities are on the front line in a disaster situation and must upgrade their capacity to respond quickly and efficiently in a crisis. This requires a long term strategy and commitment to disaster risk management and preparation. Case: The city of Makati, has been recognised as a
model city for disaster resilience and as a benchmark for others, both within the Philippines and throughout the region. With disaster potential from flooding, earthquakes and landslides, the city has implemented a multi-stakeholder self-assessment process of its Disaster Risk Reduction Management (DRRM) System, towards better use of funding, targeting Quick Response Activities. It has also built programs in partnership with the private sector to strengthen local level preparedness such as the Barangay Emergency Evacuation Planning Project (BEEP), and is implementing risk sensitive urban redevelopment planning projects. 2. Continuous Training, Investment in manpower:
A major bottleneck in the region’s decentralization process is the lack of human resources available at the sub-national level. Administrative staff members are the vital machinery for local governance, so staff capacity building should be a priority at the local level. Case: In 2005 the League of Municipalities of the
Philippines (LMP) created the Major’s Development Centre (MDC) which works to meet the capacity building needs expressed by municipal governments. With a focus on programs specifically targeting Local Chief Executives (LCEs) learning events in areas such as Integrated Solid Waste Management (ISWM) and Performance Assessment through the Local Governance Performance Management System (LGPMS) have been undertaken. By 2008 the program was seeing positive impacts reflected in the governance styles of participating LCEs towards a more active role as development managers in their communities.
3. Develop dialogue between national and local governments:
The national environment of decentralization programs is constantly changing, not only because of new policies, but also because of the increasing challenges. In order to facilitate the effective implementation of decentralization programs, a periodic dialogue and consultation between central governments and local authorities is advisable for both. Case: The Government of Malaysia established a Ro-
yal Commission of Inquiry to review the performance of local authorities, which is a concern not only of the state government, but also of the National Council for Local Authorities. 4. Allying forces and strengthening cooperation:
Inter-municipal cooperation provides a strong opportunity to maximize limited budget, and share experience. Barriers to cooperation should be removed and flexible partnerships encouraged by the central and intermediate governments, so as to best meet service delivery mandates. Case: The Kartamantul Institution is based on the
cooperation of 3 local governments in Indonesia, who decided to optimize their services to their communities by identifying and jointly addressing common urban problems. They hold regular regional discussions and use the outcome of those, to formulate their integrated work program, submitted to and financed by the provincial budget. Enjoying the support of both the community and the government, and based on cooperation between local stakeholders (legislative assemblies, academics, practitioners, community leaders, NGOs), the institution has provided solutions to various problems, such as garbage and waste management, clean water, drainage management, transportation and spatial layout.
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5. Measuring performance:
Effectiveness highly depends on performance measurement. Local governments should adapt a code that would guide them to improve their achievements, a Code of Good Practices on Transparency and Performance. Case: Among the performance measurement instru-
ments already in use in the Philippines, are the Local Government Performance Measurement System (LGPMS) and the concept of per capita budget and service standards. The Citizen’s Performance Rating of public service is used in both the Philippines and Thailand. 6. Strengthening links with academia:
Service delivery by local authorities has to be adapted to local community demands and constantly upgraded. Local governances can monitor and improve situations through research and training. Academic institutions can assist local authorities in resolving some of their local issues in public administration through providing training, research and consultancy services. Case: The Yogyakarta City government in Indonesia
has developed a management system that makes use of information and communication technology (ICT) for a more organized, efficient, and effective delivery of services. They partnered with various institutions in developing the E-Government system, but more importantly, cooperated with the MPA Faculty at the Gajah Mada University in surveying every government agency. The city government also obtained technical assistance from the university in the procurement of infrastructure. 7. International networking:
Local authorities all over the world are no longer purely local. In the context of our global village they have growing international relations which allow them to exchange experience, access outside funding and build a united international presence to advocate for local needs. Case: The Capacity and Institution Building (CIB)
Working Group of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), brings together professional practitioners from Local Government Associations (LGAs) and individual local governments (LGs) active in the field of international development cooperation. The CIB Working Group focuses amongst other things on the exchange of experience, best practices and know-how in order to improve the quality of the international development cooperation projects. Since 2008, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) and the International Cooperation Agency of the Association of Netherlands Municipalities (VNG International) have collaborated on the development and implementation of annual Asia regional workshops that have involved a total of 14 LGAs (from Cambodia, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam among others). The meetings have provided knowledge sharing opportunities and have included capacity building workshops in two key priority areas identified by the LGAs — LGA financial sustainability and LGA advocacy.
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EACH SOLUTION IMPACTS OUR FUTURE Beyond manifest functions of solutions, there are latent processes in the background that only show their positive results in the long run.
Poverty reduction
In combination with an effective and equitable resource distribution system, decentralization should spread the benefits of growth more widely and so help to reduce poverty.
Citizen participation
Decentralization opens up political space for citizen participation and citizens’ voice, and by doing so, creates the potential for greater accountability of decision making.
Increased participation of women
Not only does it enhance citizen participation, but decentralization also promotes the idea of an inclusive government, allowing more space for women to participate, or take up leading roles in policy making and decision taking processes.
Reducing corruption
With the introduction of performance measurement tools, by ongoing monitoring programs and through participating in transparent decision making processes with democratically elected members of local administrations, local governances become more accountable and contributes to the elimination of corruption.
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A project that opens up dialogue: United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) aims to support and strengthen decentralization processes around the world. Through its reports – Global Report on Decentralization and Local Democracy in the World: GOLD I (2008), GOLD II (2011) – and activities, it demonstrates ways of initiating a permanent dialogue about local authorities and presents regional best practices, as steps to be followed on the GOLDen road to local development. In the framework of this global goal the UCLG project “Support to Decentralisation in Developing Countries” co-financed by the European Commission, has supported a process of regional debate on decentralization and local democracy in the ASEAN region. A Regional Report on Decentralization in seven ASEAN Countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia) has been created to open a debate on the regional agenda for strengthening decentralization and the participation of local authorities in the definition of strategies for development cooperation. Several DELGOSEA (Partnership for Democratic Local Governance in Southeast-Asia) case studies have been included in the report, as examples of best practices in Decentralization and their dissemination across national borders. A regional Forum on Strengthening Decentralization and Local Governance with ASEAN national governments and local authorities has been promoted. The 1st Forum will take place in Phnom Penh (Cambodia) on the 3rd-4th of May 2012.
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