Category: Papers of Interest
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Introducing the RDLG Bibliographic Database
We are pleased to announce that the Rural Decentralization and Local Government (RDLG) Database, with its 1600 bibliographic entries – is now part of this website. The Royal Tropical Institute in the Netherlands has, for many years, supported its development and operation within its KIT Information and Library Services. When the services closed in August 2013 due…
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An Analytical Framework for Assessing Decentralized Local Governance and the Local Sector
How do we assess the public sector with regard to decentralization, intergovernmental relations, and the role of the local public sector? To answer the question, the paper from the Urban Institute Centre on International Development and Governance (IDG) (2010) proposes a comparative decentralization assessment for rapidly assessing a country’s local public sector, including its political-administrative…
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Role of Civil Society towards State of Panchayat Raj in India
Mr. Ramit Basu, UN Habitat (Nairobi, Kenya) recently published the article, “State of Panchayat Raj in India, Not just Government Apathy!” on the State of Local Governments in India from the role of civil society point of view. He argues that Civil Society can be a great motivator and supporter for decentralized governance. The Indian…
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Local Governance Assessments
Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)’s Decentralization and Local Governance Network (dlgn) published the paper “Local Governance Assessments: A Capitalization of SDC Experience” in February 2011 to offer guidance on conducting Local Government Assessment (LGA)s in the future. The purpose of the paper is part of the broader Learning Project on Local Governance Assessments,…
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Assessing the Institutional Environment of Local Governments in Africa
Africa’s cities are growing at an unprecedented rate, over 3% per year on average, and local governments are expected to play a crucial role in the urbanization process. United Cities and Local Governments of Africa (UCLGA) and Cities Alliance proposed an assessment of the institutional environment of local governments in Africa. The report analyzes…
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Governance and Public Service Delivery
Asian Development Bank ‘s “Asian Development Outlook 2013 Update” published in October 2013 highlights the need of government reform to sustain development momentum in Asia and the Pacific. Strengthening governance is a key among reform priorities and the report identifies public service delivery as an entry point for the reform. The annual Asian Development Outlook,…
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Engendering Local Governance
Tools for Engendering Local Governance (TELG) were produced as part of the continuing efforts of the Caucus for Women’s Leadership (formerly the Kenya Women’s Political Caucus) to build local capacities in matters pertaining to good governance and gender mainstreaming. The tools are intended for use by the leaders of gender groups in conducting a series…
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The Impact of Decentralization on Corruption
In the paper Decentralization and Corruption: New Cross-Country Evidence, Maksym Ivanya and Anwar Shah present empirical evidence of the impact of decentralization reforms on corruption for a sample of 158 countries. In the paper, decentralization is defined as the empowerment of local governments, (not as decision making at sub-national levels as other literature on the…
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Local Leaders Transforming Chinese Provinces and Indian States
In an essay published by the Brookings Institution, William J. Antholis highlights the role of local leadership in China and India in transforming the economic development of the two countries. Antholis and his family traveled through China and India for five months, interviewing local and national political leaders and ordinary citizens, from corporate executives to slum dwellers, asking them…
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The Impact of Decentralization
While decentralization is considered as a good way to reform the public sector in developing countries, there are opponents who argue that it has even negative or inconclusive impacts. In CESinfo DICE report 2004, the paper titled “The Impact of Decentralization on Service Delivery, Corruption, Fiscal Management and Growth in Developing and Emerging Market Economies:…