Foreword

The preparation of the four pro-poor infrastructure and service delivery case studies in rural sub-Sahara Africa is an important contribution to the policy debate on the linkage between improving local governance and poverty reduction.
The case studies and the accompanying synthesis were prepared for the Africities Summit in Yaoundé, Cameroon in December 2003, in which the Local Governance Unit of the United Nations Capital Development Fund took an active role.

The Summit, which occurs every two to three years in a different African city, is considered by many to be the most important platform of dialogue on decentralization and local development ever organized in Africa. The 2003 Summit, the theme for which was Ensuring Access to Basic Services in African Local Governments, brought together more than 2,000 local and central government representatives from throughout the continent to share experiences and ideas on local government policy and the case for decentralization.

Professor and author Akin L. Mabogunje, who also is an advisor to President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, told the packed opening plenary at the Summit that although much development emphasis is placed on urban areas, the rural areas of Africa are often characterized by abject poverty and suffering – thereby contributing to a rural exodus. “Not providing services to rural areas causes urban problems,” he concluded.

About this publication

The first draft of this publication was distributed at the Africities Summit. The four case studies encapsulated in the synthesis presented in this printed publication, highlight the important roles that local governments play in fostering the pro-poor outcomes in terms of rural service delivery in the Africa region, where the majority of the poor (up to 80 per cent) still reside. Rural local governments are often ignored because of their structural weaknesses but these case studies show that they can make a meaningful and enduring contribution to poverty reduction through intensification of linkages between sector departments/ministries and local governments, through improved local revenue mobilization, through improved planning and budgeting, through improved operations and maintenance, and strengthened downward and upward accountability.

The four case studies are included in a CD ROM in their original languages: Uganda and Ethiopia in English; and Mali and Senegal in French. Also included on the CDROM is a paper on UNCDF and its Niche in Local Governance and Development, written by UNCDF’s regional technical advisor for East Africa, Joyce Stanley.

The publication of these case studies, documenting key lessons from our experiences in infrastructure and service delivery, marks the beginning of an important initiative on the part of the UNCDF Local Governance Unit’s knowledge-management activities. In the future, the Unit will document lessons learned from the different LDCs covered by the project portfolio, and share the experiences with Governments, associations of local governments, and other partners. This will also help shape the design of new projects and programmes at UNCDF, which seek to achieve the targets of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

 

Kadmiel Wekwete Director, Local Governance Unit United Nations Capital Development Fund

Overview

This paper provides a synthesis and comparative analysis of the case studies of local government (LG) infrastructure and service delivery (ISD) in rural areas in four sub-Saharan countries (Ethiopia, Mali, Senegal and Uganda). The paper:

• starts by looking at the specificities of rural ISD in Africa;
• sets the geographical and institutional stage for the rest of the paper;
• moves on to describe, examine and compare differing institutional arrangements;
• then looks at the innovations introduced by four pilot programmes;
• discusses how and whether such approaches have resulted in pro-poor, institutionally useful, and policy-enhancing outcomes; and
• concludes with some brief statements about key lessons learned.

The case studies draw upon experience gained through UNCDF-supported local governance projects, all of which were explicitly formulated with a view to piloting innovative LG practices in ISD.

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