0w2010 01 RESUM EJECUTIVO 04 DEFcarta ang
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Second Global Report on Decentralization and Local Democracy. GOLD 2010 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
reasonable to expect a need for about 200 billion USD per year over the next 25 five years for the developing countries alone (UCLG Support Paper on Local Finance, 2007); this represents only one-third of the total estimated need for public infrastructure by the World Bank.
Jurisdictional fragmentation Fragmentation is a major issue for many countries in most regions of the world. In many countries the appropriate structure and size of local governments is an ongoing debate. Small local governments cannot independently take advantage of economies of scale in the delivery of some services, resulting in higher costs. Smaller local governments, however, generally provide a stronger political connection to citizens and may be better able to respond to local demands. Getting the right balance, e.g. by maintaining smaller local governments but providing mechanisms for cooperative arrangements among them and links to higher levels for large scale services, is a critical challenge in many counties. Thailand has more than 7,500 bottom tier local governments with an average population of less than 10 000, and there are concerns that these are too small for service delivery. In some cases, such as Uganda or Dominican Republic, new local governments are being constantly created, diluting the capacity of local governments that were only recently empowered. In a number of countries perverse incentives, such as offering equal lump sum transfers to all local governments regardless of size, create incentives for further jurisdictional fragmentation. On the other hand, in countries such as France (with 36,600 local governments), citizens strongly identify with smaller local governments (communes). These are said to bring greater representation and accountability, thus potentially balancing the additional costs
represented by the inability to realize economies of scale, particularly if the latter can be realized by creating cooperative arrangements among the smaller units. When local governments in South Africa were substantially consolidated in 2002, some analysts expressed concern that the new larger, more fiscally viable local governments had damaged political connectivity to citizens in some areas.
Deconcentration and devolution Devolution of spending and taxing powers to autonomous local governments is generally held up as the standard for decentralization, but even some countries with elected local councils maintain deconcentrated administration. In Kenya, for example, district administrations exist in the same territory as elected county councils. There is little clarity with respect to their distinct functions, sometimes resulting in service redundancy or gaps (although this situation should be corrected by forthcoming constitutional reforms). In other cases, empowered local governments have not been created. In the MEWA region, for example, deconcentrated local administration prevails except in Turkey and Palestine. Similar situations can be found in countries in other regions, such as Egypt, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand, and Kazakhstan. The use of local governments as deconcentrated units of the central administration leaves unexploited efficiency gains in the delivery of public services that are achievable with devolved systems by better matching the needs and preferences of local residents and making local officials more accountable to citizens.
Intermediate governments in federal and hierarchical systems While a federal country is often associated with high fiscal decentralization, many federal constitutions do not recognize directly the right
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