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The UN International Guidelines on Decentralization and Access to Basic Services calls for the clarification of roles and responsibilities in the organization and delivery of basic services and for partnerships between stakeholders, within a framework of decentralization.11 Three factors influence the extent to which decentralized governance can fulfil its potential of improving the efficiency and accountability of service provision: 1) decisions about which powers are decentralized and to what level; 2) technical and financial differences between services; and 3) the influence of political factors and existing governance on decentralization and on cohesion between levels of government and across regions. On the first issue, constitutional or legal reforms have generally transferred responsibilities for basic services (except energy) to local governments. The principle of subsidiarity (that the organizing authority be as close as possible to the people, while still being efficient) is critical. Local proximity, knowledge and accountability are important, but so are economies of scale. Some services are better provided locally; others work better on a larger scale, integrating a number of municipalities (e.g. metropolitan transport) or at regional level (watershed management). In terms of the second issue –technical and financial differences between services- the distribution of responsibilities should be adapted to the logic of each sector. Each stage of service provision can be managed in different ways. Local authorities have traditionally been responsible for water, sanitation, waste and local transport and, in a few cases, for the distribution of electricity. However, the landscape of service provision is evolving due to technological and economic changes. Shared responsibility between supra-municipal entities, intermediate governments, and even with
central governments, is increasingly common. In some cases, central governments has created public operators to manage the whole process, including servicing local populations (often the case for water in West and Central Africa and the Middle East, as well as in some small countries in Asia and Latin America). Regulation and planning is a national responsibility (carried out by sectoral ministries or specialized agencies). Financing is increasingly a shared responsibility, though local governments are still usually heavily dependent on central governments. This brings us to the third factor: the effective transfer of responsibilities, not only officially, but in practice, is vital. This includes the autonomy of local governments over local policies, management and funding, upward accountability (degree of discretion in decision-making and resource mobilization, etc.) and the coordination between different levels of government. Downward accountability is also critical: if basic service provision is the responsibility of local governments but higher levels of government continue to carry out the tasks transferred to local governments, or fail to support their autonomy, to what extent can local governments be genuinely accountable to citizens? The regional reports show how different degrees and forms of decentralization across the world affect service delivery. In countries with widespread provision of good quality services, local governments generally have greater autonomy and accountability, legally recognized authority, qualified human resources, the capacity to raise revenues, and expenditures that are significant share of government spending (averaging 24% in Europe).12 This situation is encountered mainly in high- and upper-middle income countries. While this doesn’t mean that multi-level governance issues have been resolved in high-income countries, it does
See www.unhabitat.org/ pmss/listItemDetails.aspx ?publicationID=2613 11
12
See Europe chapter