Assessing decentralisation and local governance in West Africa

Sonia Le Bay and

Christiane Loquai (eds)

Assessing decentralisation and local governance in West AfricaTaking Stock of Strengthening the Monitoring and Evaluation Capacity of Local Actors

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ASSESSING DECENTRALISATION AND LOCAL GOVERNANCE IN WEST AFRICATaking Stock of Strengthening the Monitoring and Evaluation Capacity of Local ActorsSonia Le Bay; Christiane LoquaiBamako: Communicances, 2008-271p.Registration of copyright: August 2008ISBN 99952-58-06-4

ASSESSING DECENTRALISATION AND LOCALGOVERNANCE IN WEST AFRICATaking Stock of Strengthening the Monitoring andEvaluation Capacity of Local Actors

Sonia Le Bay and Christiane Loquai (eds.)

Foreword 4

Introduction 6

PART I.THE CAPITALISATION PROCESS AND ITS RESULTS 8

Chapter 1: Methodology 101.1. The process of joint stocktaking, analysis and learning 101.2. The objectives and targets of the capitalisation process 101.3. How have experiences been capitalised? 12

Chapter 2: The steps and products of the process 142.1. Step 1 – Identifying, documenting and analysing experiences 162.2. Step 2 – Organising a subregional seminar for exchange

and learning 172.3. Step 3 – Publishing and disseminating the experiences and results 182.4. Step 4 – Networking and broadening exchanges and learning 18

Chapter 3: Developing the M&E capacity of local actors 203.1. What kinds of capacities need to be developed? 203.2. Why invest in developing local capacities for monitoring and

evaluating decentralisation? 21

Chapter 4: The findings of the case studies: A synthesis 224.1. Developing the capacity to analyse and monitor local

development at the municipal level 234.2. Self-evaluation tools for assessing local government performance 244.3. Strengthening citizens’ control and local stakeholders’ capacity

to monitor the delivery of decentralised services 264.4. Opening external M&E systems to local perceptions 28

1

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 5. How to assess decentralisation and local governance: 31Taking stock of experiences with tools for strengthening the M&Ecapacities of local actors

5.1. Consistency, coordination and complementarity of M&Eapproaches and tools 31

5.2. Budget support and related M&E challenges 325.3. National policy changes and new M&E challenges:

An example from Mali 355.4. Decentralisation, local governance and poverty reduction 37

PART II.THE CASE STUDIES

Chapter 1. The context of decentralisation and local governance in West Africa 42

Chapter 2. Developing the capacity to analyse and monitor localdevelopment at the municipal level 44

2.1. Cameroon and Mali: Strategic planning and monitoring of municipaldevelopment 44

2.2. Niger: Planning and M&E in municipalities, focusingon poverty reduction 57

2.3. Ghana: Experiences with district-based poverty profiling,mapping and pro-poor planning as an M&E tool 74

2.4. Mali: Geographical information systems (GIS) forthe development of rural municipalities 90

2.5. Mali: Municipalities in figures: needs and realities 103

Chapter 3. Self-evaluation tools for assessing local government performance 1303.1. Mali: Assessment of local government performance, experiences

with a self-evaluation tool 130

Chapter 4. Strengthening citizens’ control and local stakeholders’ capacity tomonitor the delivery of decentralised services 157

4.1. Mali: Towards a basic health-sector information systemfor municipal actors (SIEC-S) 157

4.2. Benin: Public control in the education sector, pilot phase of theparticipatory local impact monitoring methodology (SILP) 174

Chapter 5. Opening external M&E systems to local perceptions 1885.1. Mali: Participatory monitoring and evaluation as a means

of empowering local government in the region of Mopti 1885.2. Mali: Public perceptions as a barometer of local governance 2045.3. Mali: Evaluating the impact of decentralisation 221

Conclusion: Lessons learned and challenges 233

2

ANNEXES 237

Annex I : Acronyms 238Annex II : Bibliography 240Annex III : Guide for the preparation of case studies 244Annex IV : Brief biographies of case-study authors (in alphabetical order) 249Annex V : Country overviews 253

- Benin 254- Cameroon 258- Ghana 261- Mali 264- Niger 268

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According to a Bambara adage, 'He who knows all will not die'. Today, is an evident desire, inmany countries of the West African region which have launched decentralisation reforms since the1990s, to try out new approaches and new methods of cooperation to build local monitoring andevaluation (M&E) capacity!1 By sharing with the readers some of the experiences and lessonslearned from these new M&E approaches, this publication aims to make a modest contribution tothe knowledge available on the subject.

This publication is for all actors in development, working in the field of decentralisation and localgovernance, especially practitioners and policy makers working on issues connected with capacitybuilding in the area of monitoring, evaluation and democratic control of local governance structures.

The case study presented in this document has been prepared in the context of an exercise thataimed to document, analyse and learn from experiences with different approaches/methods andinstruments for building the capacities of different actors in decentralisation and local governance,and in particular, the capacities of local government to monitor and evaluate the outcomes of thesecomplex reform processes.

This learning exercise started in Mali. It has been a joint initiative by the Réseau de Réflexion etd'Échanges sur le Développement Local (REDL,2 a Malian network of development organisationsand programmes working in the field of decentralisation and local development), the NetherlandsDevelopment Organisation (SNV-Mali), the Malian Ministry of Territorial Administration and LocalGovernment (MATCL) and the European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM), anindependent foundation based in Maastricht in the Netherlands, in cooperation with severaldevelopment organisations working in West Africa.

The purpose of this exercise has been to jointly map and document relevant experiences in theWest African region and share 'good practice' and lessons learned. A total of 11 case studies fromdifferent countries of the West African region were prepared during this exercise, and a seminarheld under the auspices of the MATCL in Bamako on 17 and 18 May 2006 provided a forum for astructured exchange of experiences.

The facilitators of this joint documentation, analysis and learning exercise would like to thank allthose who contributed to the process. In particular we thank the authors and members of theteams that prepared the case studies, the members of the Malian REDL network and theorganisations working in other West African countries that have supported and co-financed thepreparation of the different case studies. Through the generous support of these organisations and

1- Taken from the welcome speech given by Mr. Ibrahima Sylla, decentralisation advisor at the Ministry of TerritorialAdministration and Local Government (MATCL) of Mali, at the subregional seminar 'Building capacities formonitoring and evaluation of decentralisation and local governance in West Africa: exchange of experience andlearning'.

2- See Annex I for a list of acronyms. For more details see http://www.snvmali.org/actus/redlinfo0606.pdf.The REDLmembers taking part in this learning exercise were SNV-Mali; the Programme d'Appui aux Collectivités Territoriales(PACT), a project in support of local government run by German Technical Cooperation (GTZ); Norwegian Church Aid(NCA); CARE International in Mali; the Programme d'Appui aux Acteurs de la Décentralisation (PAAD), adevelopment programme of HELVETAS-Mali (the Swiss Association for International Cooperation); Solidarité, Union,Coopération (SUCO), a Canadian NGO; the Association of French Volunteers (AFVP); and the ProgrammeGouvernance Partagée (PGP), a programme financed by the US Agency for International Development (USAID).4

Sonia Le Bay (SNV-Mali)

Christiane Loquai (ECDPM)

FOREWORD

the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) these case studies are being published inboth French and English and will also be included in a more comprehensive publication, bringingtogether all the case studies and the results of the regional seminar held in May 2006.

We would also like to express our gratitude to Mr. Ibrahima Sylla, decentralisation advisor at theMinistry of Territorial Administration and Local Government of Mali, for his indefatigable support forthe success of this joint initiative. Last but not least, they would like to thank the people who wereinvolved in the language editing and translating of this document: Valerie Jones, Kathleen Sheridan,Tony Parr, Bianca Beks, David Harris, Josh Dillon, Claudia Backes and Annelies Vredeveldt.

5

Implementation of decentralisation programmes,particularly the creation or strengthening of localgovernment, with elected councils, legal personaand own resources, has changed these countries’institutional landscape and governance at thecentral and local levels. Discourse on theadvantages of decentralisation has also raisedhopes that local governance will become moreresponsible and responsive to citizens’ needs andthus contribute to improving their living conditions.However, the commitment and pace of reform hasvaried considerably from one country to the next.

For their part, donors and development agencieshave shown increasing interest in assessing theresults, outcomes and impacts of decentralisation,including the related development assistance(Steinich 2000,3 Hutchinson and La Fond 2004). Thistendency, and donors’ search for appropriateassessment methods, is in line with the presentconcern for aid effectiveness and a more generalinterest in gauging governance in developingcountries (Besançon 2003, UNDP/DESA 2007).Donors and development organisations are nowalso displaying increasing willingness to invest instrengthening monitoring and evaluation (M&E)capacities of local stakeholders in decentralisationprocesses and citizen control with a view to buildinglocal accountability systems (Massuangahe 2005,Hilhorst and Guijt 2006). At the same time, manydonors are seeking ways to render their own M&Esystems more participatory.

3- See the bibliography in Annex II.4- According to the definition given by J.C. Ribot (2002), 'political, or democratic, decentralisation occurs when powers

and resources are transferred to authorities representative of and downwardly accountable to local populations.…Democratic decentralisation aims to increase public participation in local decision making … and is in effect aninstitutionalised form of the participatory approach.… [Political and democratic decentralisation] are 'strong' formsof decentralisation from which theory indicates the greatest benefits can be derived.'

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INTRODUCTION

In the context of the democratisation movements of the late 1980s, manyAfrican countries launched a new generation of decentralisation policiesaimed to build or strengthen more democratic, participatory and accountableforms of governance. In the years since, these reform efforts have attractedsubstantial development assistance provided by the international community.

The African governments involved in ‘democraticdecentralisation’4 also acknowledge the need toinvest in national and local capacity to monitor andevaluate some of the changes these reformprocesses have induced.

This document examines a number of initiativesto build the capacity of local stakeholders tomonitor and evaluate decentralisation and localgovernance processes. It builds on the results ofcase studies done in five West African countries(Benin, Cameroon, Ghana, Mali and Niger. Seefigure 1), as well as discussions of these studiesat a regional seminar in Bamako, 17–18 May 2006.

This event attracted over 100 participants withdifferent backgrounds (regional and localgovernments, civil society, private sector, nationalinstitutions, development organisations, anddonors), most of whom had been involved indeveloping, testing and implementing the toolsand approaches. It provided a good opportunityfor structured exchange and learning from thecases and experiences presented.

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Figure 1: Building capacity experiences for monitoring and evaluating decentralisationand local governance in West Africa

This publication is divided into two parts: thefirst part deals with methodological issues andsummarises cross-cutting findings arising of theexchange of experiences on the case studiesduring the seminar. The second part presents theexperiences documented with different tools andapproaches to strengthen local monitoring andevaluation capacity in the form of case studiesthemselves.

PART I:

The capitalisation processand its results

‘Most monitoring and evaluation (M&E),especially of capacity development, has beenexpensive, inconsequential and futile,’ concludesGovernance Consultant David Watson in a recentarticle on innovative M&E practices (Watson 2006).Basing this opinion on his professional experience,he explains these conclusions in the following way:‘[M&E] rarely seemed to result in effectivemanagement responses in the form of changedpractices. It was even more rarely accompanied bycollective reflection and learning amongstakeholders. M&E seemed to be “something thedonor needed to do”, since donors understandablyhave to justify development aid expenditures. Toooften, the corollary was that national counterpartshad limited or no involvement (or interest) in suchmonitoring and evaluation activities.’

These critical observations have been dealt withat length in the literature on monitoring andevaluating development assistance and are sharedby practitioners in the field (Maina 2004, Sébahara2004). At the same time, the increasing attentionpaid to ‘capacity building’ and transparent,participatory governance has prompted a series ofnew M&E approaches. Based more on the needsof development stakeholders and the capacities inpartner countries, these new approachesemphasise joint or participatory M&E methods(Guijt and Gaventa 1998, Simon 2004).

The initiative described here was aimed atcapitalising on M&E capacity-building approachesand corresponds to a determination to renewM&E practices. It has evolved from a very realconcern about the need to document and analysedifferent M&E approaches and tools — asimplemented within the framework ofdecentralisation and local governance processes.The idea was to identify and documentexperiences and to facilitate an exchange ofinformation about existing approaches and tools

in order to make them known beyond theparticular country in which they were designed orthe area in which they are used. Moreover, theexercise aimed to facilitate learning among thosewho design, use and seek these approaches.

At the same time, the initiators of this processof documenting and analysing these experiencesand tools, as well as their partners at the locallevel, felt that it was important to introduce theseexperiences to political decision makers anddevelopment-assistance agencies at both anational and an international level. A betterrecognition of these experiences and of localactors’ capacities could be useful to designingM&E tools for assessing the outcomes andimpacts of reforms at the national level.

Establishing a link between M&E capacities atthe local and national level seemed all the moreimportant in a context where aid instruments arechanging to focus increasingly on budget support.The inception of the Support Programme forAdministrative Reform and Decentralisation(PARAD)5 was another reason for initiating acapitalisation process (European Commission/EuropeAid 2005). This nationwide programmewas launched in Mali by the Commission of theEuropean Community to provide budget supportto the Malian state for its political andadministrative reforms, from 2006 onwards,including the decentralisation process. A pilotprogramme, it is expected to serve as a model toother countries in the subregion. Because thequality of its M&E depends largely on theinformation generated at the local level, it seemedworthwhile to capitalise on the approaches andtools that could help generate this information forthe national level, as well as on the challengesrelated to the production, analysis andmanagement of that information by local andnational actors.

5- PARAD stands for 'Programme d'Appui à la Réforme Administrative et à la Décentralisation'.

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The capitalisation process and its results

The case studies and findings presented in thispublication are based on a process of jointstocktaking, analysis and learning, carried outwith stakeholders in decentralisation and localgovernance. The French term used for such aprocess is capitalisation. Although this term has avery different meaning in English,6 for practicalreasons, we will use it in this English version ofthe publication.

For those interested in conducting a similarexercise on the topic in other regions, thefollowing description of the methodology mightbe useful.

1.1. The process of jointstocktaking, analysis andlearning

The French term capitalisation refers neither to astandard recipe nor to a similar process employedby the various actors involved, who, in fact, oftenhave different habits and tastes. Rather, itrequires a variety of ingredients that should beselected, measured and combined according tothe context, stakeholders and objectives.

In a recent briefing document published by theInternational Centre for Studies in LocalDevelopment (CIEDEL),7 Graugnard and Quiblier(2006) elaborate on various capitalisationconcepts and their usefulness to developmentcooperation, distinguishing three categories:

� individual capitalisation, which correspondsto a personal analysis of experiences thatindividuals undertake for themselves in order toimprove practices and relationships with theirsocial, economic, technical or administrativeenvironment;

� collective capitalisation, which meets team-or service-related interests and aims to improvecollective skills with a view to strengthening acompetitive position or to developing sharedknowledge or a common identity; and

� institutional capitalisation, which aims topreserve the memory of activities carried out in acontext where expertise migrates or where

knowledge holders transfer that knowledge toother operators within or outside the structure.

They also refer to three areas of logic underlyingcapitalisation processes:

� the logic of experience, since capitalisedknowledge results from building on the memoryof what has been done;

� the logic of method in which capitalisationfocuses on pinpointing, selecting and modellingexpertise; and

� the logic of function in which the objective ofcapitalisation is, on the one hand, learning frompractices to achieve progress, and, on the otherhand, applying this acquired expertise internallyand, if necessary, ensuring its dissemination.

The facilitators of the capitalisation processdiscussed here took as their starting point a lesselaborate definition, which is closer to that ofcollective capitalisation and which encompassesthese three areas of logic. The term capitalisationhas been used – independently of any programmeor organisation – to describe a process ofstocktaking, documentation, analysis and exchangeof experiences (with M&E approaches and tools)with a view to learning.

This simple definition also has the advantage ofbeing easy to translate into English for theanglophone participants of this process.

1.2. The objectives andtargets of thecapitalisation process

On a subregional scale, the capitalisationprocess aims to assist participating organisations,as well as their partners, in

�documenting and analysing their experienceswith local capacity-building approaches formonitoring and evaluating decentralisation andlocal governance;

� facilitating an exchange structured around theseexperiences to identify elements of approachesand M&E practices adapted to a local context;

6- The English-language concept closest to the French term capitalisation is that of 'knowledge management', whichis used to refer more to capitalisation processes within an organisation than to multi-stakeholder initiatives.

7- CIEDEL stands for 'Centre International d'Etudes pour le Développement Local', an institute based in Lyon, France.

11

CHAPTER 1: METHODOLOGY

�providing participants with a networkingopportunity and a chance to learn from the differentM&E approaches about the outcomes and impactsof decentralisation and local governance processes;

�making the experiences of successful practicesand expertise from a variety of decentralisationcontexts available to actors and stakeholders indecentralisation and local governance (working atthe micro-, meso- and macro-levels); and

� providing support to these actors in debates oncapacity building, as well as support fordecentralisation and local governance at thenational, subregional and international level.

Experiences have also been documented andpublished in an effort to help increase the amountof literature available on this subject, which, untilnow, has been rather limited.8 The capitalisationprocess has also aimed at helping local governmentactors learn lessons from the experiencesdescribed in order to improve their practices. It washoped that publishing and disseminating the resultsof the exchanges could encourage new initiativesfor building local M&E capacity to improve theperformance of new government systems —thereby avoiding reinventing the wheel.

The stakeholders in the decentralisation processdecided that the focus of the exercise should beon West Africa, namely the French-speakingcountries in the region, for the following reasons:first, because these countries have closehistorical and cultural links that are also reflectedin their decentralisation processes; second,because they are still marked by an administrativeculture influenced by French administrative andconstitutional law; and, finally, according to theirgovernments, the countries selected forcapitalisation are involved in the process ofdemocratic decentralisation: local governmentshave been set up following electoral processes, inwhich local actors are made accountable. Thesecountries are thus in a position to have relevantexperience with respect to the M&E ofdecentralisation.

Ghana, the only anglophone country involved,was added for two reasons: (1) it has strongcultural links with neighbouring countries, withwhom it formed an Empire in the pre-colonialperiod, and (2) the Malian government wanted toexchange with and learn from experiences in acountry whose decentralisation process and localgovernment are embedded in and shaped by adifferent administrative tradition (i.e., Britishcolonial rule).

1.3. How haveexperiences beencapitalised?

To achieve their goals, the promoters ofcapitalisation agreed on an organisational structure,allocation of responsibilities, a joint approach andthe use of common tools for uniformly gatheringand structuring the contributions made.

Two people (referred to as facilitators oractivity leaders in the following text9) werechosen to guide and coordinate thecapitalisation exercise. One facilitator wasclosely linked to the promoters of the process andREDL – and thus also more likely to win thestakeholders’ trust.10 The other facilitator wasexternal to the REDL network and could thusbring a more objective, enquiring perspective tothe capitalisation exercise.11 This type of alliancewas sought throughout the process, as wereoccasional contributions by resource personswho could bring a fresh outlook to the results andto the form in which they were reproduced.12

An MATCL-level steering committee was alsoestablished to support the initial phases of thecapitalisation process (see table 1), resulting inthe organisation of a subregional workshop.Chaired by the MATCL’s technical adviser incharge of decentralisation,13 the committee had aremit ‘to coordinate and to monitor theprocess of preparing and organising the

8- Aside from the publications cited in this section and the works listed in the case-study bibliographies in Part II,documents dealing with monitoring and evaluation in decentralisation are scarce (particularly in French). Reviews ofthe literature failed to reveal a single publication that focused explicitly on the subject of strengthening the M&Ecapacity of local governments in West Africa.

9- These designations were used in the terms of reference drawn up to specify their mandate.10- She was based in Mali, is a founding member of REDL and worked regularly with the MATCL/DNCT.11- She is based in Europe, regularly undertakes missions to West Africa and has coordinated several capitalisation

exercises as well as studies on decentralisation and local governance and the issue of monitoring and evaluation 12- For example, making the texts more accessible to the public by avoiding the use of jargon, which develops within

every development organisation, and by ensuring uniformity of style and language.13- The other members are the MATCL's head of communications; the head of the DNCT's resource and technology

centre; representatives from DAF/MATCL, ANICT and AMM; the two activity leaders from SNV and the ECDPM;and two representatives from REDL.

14- Excerpt from resolution no. 06-00044/MATCL-SG creating the organisation committee of the subregional seminarfor building capacities to monitor and evaluate decentralisation and local governance in West Africa.12

subregional seminar. As such, it was to ensurethat all the stakeholders would abide by thetimetable set and duly carry out the tasksassigned to them.’14

Inasmuch as the experiences to be capitalisedwere developed by a large number of actors,author teams15 were formed in cooperation withthe organisations with which they were affiliatedfor the purpose of documenting the approaches ina participatory way. Each team was to choose avolunteer to play the role of focal point16 (whoserved as the main point of contact for thefacilitators). This person was responsible forcoordinating the process encompassingeach experience, ensuring the quality of thedifferent outputs, presenting them at thesubregional seminar and writing the casestudy.

It was felt that a joint approach and commontools would allow the stakeholders to questioneach other more effectively on their experienceand to document it in a structured and conciseway. This would also help them take away lessonslearned that could easily be shared with others. Tothat end, the facilitators of the capitalisationexercise drafted a methodological note (Loquaiand Le Bay 2005). In addition to listing the mainsteps and proposing an indicative time frame, thisdocument included the following as part of theannex of tools:

15- These teams were made up of three people on average.16- For exercises carried out simultaneously in two countries or by two organisations in the same country (such as the

monographs on the municipalities in Cameroon and Mali, or those involving the geographical information systemsin Mali), two focal points - one for each organisation - guided the capitalisation process.

17- Capitalisation in the form of case studies was regarded as the best methodological option: case studies allowknowledge to be documented in way that can easily be shared, particularly with a less-informed audience. As casestudies are increasingly used by organisations in cooperation for purposes of knowledge management, all authorswere familiar with this instrument. Moreover, case studies were considered as the ideal means of presentingexperiences made in a specific national and subnational context, while providing sufficient scope for the differentperspectives and views of the stakeholders involved in testing the tools for strengthening M&E capacity.

18- This included common definitions for terms such as M&E, accountability, outcomes and impacts.19- The style guide is based largely on the experience of the ECDPM editors, who are accustomed to revising

documents written by non-native speakers before they are published. The document also incorporates suggestionsand comments submitted from surveys of readers of ECDPM publications, users of the guide, and English- andFrench-speaking editors with partner organisations. 13

� a case-study inventory list17 was provided tohelp authors focus their contribution on issues ofcommon interest in order to facilitate exchangesand help compare experiences during thesubregional seminar;� a guide for preparing case studies (see AnnexIII), which aimed not at inhibiting the authors’creativity but, rather, proposed a methodologicalapproach to help them focus their case study onissues of common interest, adopt a similarapproach and, subsequently, facilitate comparativethematic analyses; � definitions of several concepts and referencesavailable for online consultation.18 The idea wasnot to impose definitions but to promote a sharedunderstanding to help authors use appropriateterminology while avoiding the use of jargon; and� a style guide in English and French,19 intendedto help authors present their experiences in aneasy-to-read style, thus accessible to a wideraudience.

The recommendations and criteria for analysisproposed in the methodological note were basedon an analytical review of the literature oncapacity building, monitoring and evaluation, anddecentralisation and local governance. Theexperiences and approaches already identifiedand the initial exchanges with actors who hadtaken part in designing and testing theseapproaches were also used. In addition, the finalversion of the note took into account thecomments made after a first reading by theauthor teams, the steering committee, membersof the REDL and several resource persons.

Initially, the capitalisation process comprisedthree steps (see details in table 1).

� The first step involved identifying, documentingand analysing worthwhile experiences andapproaches in building capacities for monitoring andevaluating decentralisation and local governance.This was done in the form of case studies.

� The second step consisted of a subregionalseminar where experiences (structured aroundthe documented cases) could be exchanged.

� The third step was devoted to publishing anddistributing the case studies and the results ofthe seminar with a view to sharing and promotingnew debates, reflection and initiatives related tobuilding local capacities.

By the end of the second step, however, thestakeholders’ perspectives had shifted; they felt itwould be desirable to make further use of theoutputs and to enhance the learning that resultedfrom the capitalisation process as a whole. Anadditional step was thus developed andimplemented:

� the fourth step included diversifying the waysin which results were shared (particularly throughnetworking) in order to promote new exchangesand learning opportunities at another level.Additionally, opportunities such as internationalconferences on capacity building for monitoringand evaluation by local actors were also exploited.

These various steps or phases are summarisedin table 1. In terms of implementation, theytended to overlap and were punctuated byintermittent pauses to enable the stakeholders todigest what they had learned.

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CHAPTER 2:THE STEPS AND PRODUCTS OF THE PROCESS

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Table 1 - The steps of the capitalisation process

Steps Deadlines

Pre

para

tio

n

Drafting a proposal for the joint initiative June 2005

Ste

p 1

Inventory of relevant experiences July-December 2005

Methodological note�Formal commitment undertaken by the author teams contributing to the

capitalisation activity and completion of a questionnaire for classifying theapproaches

�Preparation of a preliminary draft of the methodological note by thefacilitators

�Distribution of the methodological note to allow stakeholders to submitcomments

�Validation by the steering committee of the methodological note and ofthe inventory list of the case studies to be capitalised

�Distribution of the final version of the methodological note to the authorteams

Preparing the case studies and the seminar�Documentation and analysis of the experiences by the author teams - in

collaboration with the actors involved and the facilitators - in accordance withthe methodology described in the guide (see Annex III)

�Translation of certain contributions into French�Providing a website allowing the stakeholders to follow the development

of the capitalisation process and to access the documents produced�Preparation of the subregional seminar

December 2005-January 2006

January-May 2006

Ste

p 2

Subregional seminar 'for exchange and learning'�Presentation of the case studies and discussions�Exchanges at the local-government user level�Online publishing of the preliminary drafts of the case studies and the

seminar documents�Preparation of the seminar report and distribution to the participants

17 and 18 May 200619 May 2006

June-July 2006

Ste

p 3

Publishing and disseminating the experiences and results�Revision of the preliminary drafts of the case studies with the author

teams�Translation of the case studies into English/French�Preparation of the various publication formats (articles, discussion papers,

compilation) �Publication and distribution of the printed copies�Publication of the various formats online

August 2006-December 2007

Ste

p 4

Networking and broadening exchanges and learning�Presentation of the results of the capitalisation exercise at the fourth

conference of the African Evaluation Association (AfrEA)�Preparation, publication and dissemination of offprints of the case studies

in English and French�Online discussion on the Pelican Initiative platform (www.dgroups.org/

groups/pelican) about the results of the capitalisation exercise and thevarious case studies

January 2007February 2006-February 2008

August-December 2007

Source: Adapted from Loquai and Le Bay (2005).

2.1. Step 1 – Identifying,documenting andanalysing experiences

The objective of this step was to draw up aninventory of the tools and approaches used in thesubregion to illustrate the theme selected aseffectively as possible. Four main criteria wereused to guide research and to select theexperiences to be capitalised:

� the fact that the approaches and tools weredeveloped jointly with various stakeholders at alocal level to encompass several perspectives;

� the importance not only of developing orstrengthening the capacities of M&E at the local-government level, but also of involving other localactors (associations or NGOs, de-concentratedstate services, supervisory authorities in thecommunities, traditional structures, civil society,the private sector, etc.) to follow and evaluate bythemselves the outcomes and impacts ofdecentralisation processes and the performanceof the new government systems;

� the aim of helping to promote forms ofgovernance at a local level, which are responsible,more transparent and more attentive to the needsof citizens; and

� showing the link between decentralisation,local governance and poverty reduction within theframework of local development.

Jointly, with the members of the REDL and thesteering committee, the two facilitators researchedthe experiences worth capitalising. No specificexploratory mission was carried out for thispurpose. Members of REDL used their ownnetwork of resource persons and capitalised onmissions already planned in order to refine theirproposals.

Obviously, this identification procedure introducedcertain biases:

� the tools and approaches identified were alldeveloped within the framework of developmentcooperation and thus benefited from externalsupport. For this reason, the facilitators felt it

20- This term can appear ambiguous in so far as only the design procedures for the approaches involving differentstakeholders (including users) were selected. Understandably, even though the procedures were participatory, onthe one hand they can never involve all the users (there is a test phase, followed by a wider application), and onthe other hand, the approaches should ideally be used over the long term, even in the absence of an externalincentive. Finally, the results obtained by the users must also be recognised as their own.

21- See Annex III, 'Guide for the preparation of case studies', point h: 'Ownership, sustainability, adaptation andreplication of the approach'. Some of these approaches were replicated at a later stage by local decentralisationactors in other regions or countries without the support of the initial sponsor.

22- The experiences identified in the Republic of Guinea appeared interesting, although the decentralisation process atits present state can hardly be classified as 'democratic'.

23- This commitment involved documenting and analysing their experience in the form of a case study and supplyingdifferent outputs (preliminary drafts, presentations, a publishable version) by the agreed deadlines (see table 1).

24- Initially, the joint initiative proposal (Loquai and Le Bay 2005) anticipated work on only six to eight case studies.16

worthwhile to pay particular attention to theaspects of oversight and ‘ownership’20 of localactors’ approaches, as well as their sustainability21;

� some worthwhile experiences may have beenpassed over because of the different systems inevery country in the area concerned, the inventoryprocess and the sometimes ‘confidential’ natureof certain approaches developed;

� in two other cases, the Republic of Guinea22

and the Cape Verde Islands, the experiencesidentified could not be included because ofongoing communication difficulties; and

� finally, some organisations involved in thepreselected approaches were unwilling tocommit to the capitalisation process as a whole,23

which meant that they could not be included.

In December 2005, eleven experiences relatingto M&E of decentralisation and local governancefrom five countries had been identified. Theseexperiences focused on approaches of anexperimental nature that were still underdevelopment or already in use and beingreplicated.24

Following their declaration of interest, the authorteams were requested to provide additionalinformation by filling in an inventory form (seeAnnex III) so that the approach could be describedand then classified according to specific criteria. Italso gave them the opportunity to identify lessonsand challenges they wished to discuss at thesubregional seminar.

The author teams were encouraged to choose aform of capitalisation that was participatory innature. Local actors involved in designing, testingand using approaches or tools were thus includedin the procedure in a variety of ways. Theinformation contained in the case studies, as wellas the exchanges during the subregional seminar,showed that the various teams had taken thisproposal into account.

All the teams submitted the preliminary draft oftheir case study prior to the seminar. Oftenwriting in their free time, the author teams putforth considerable effort to meet the deadline.

2.2. Step 2 – Organising asubregional seminar forexchange and learning

Organised under the auspices of the Ministry ofTerritorial Administration and Local Government(MATCL) of Mali, the seminar was held in Bamakoon 17 and 18 May 2006. In addition to the teamsthat had prepared the case studies, the eventattracted some 100 participants involved in localgovernment, civil society, the private sector,national institutions, development organisationsand aid agencies working on the themesaddressed in six West African countries.25

The objectives of the seminar were to

� provide a platform for a structured exchange ofexperiences and learning focusing on differentapproaches and tools for capacity building in theM&E of decentralisation and local governance;

� identify examples of ‘good practice’, lessonsand operational challenges worth sharing withpolitical decision makers and practitioners ofdecentralisation in the subregion; and

� share these experiences and conclusions witha wider audience and use them to contribute tothe international debate on the issue of the M&Eof decentralisation.

The exchanges were structured largely on thebasis of the case studies presented and thediscussions they generated. In addition, severalresource persons were invited to present and leaddiscussions on subjects of common interest linkedmore to national policy and framework, whichcould influence efforts to strengthen the capacityof actors involved in M&E at the local level.26

Prior to the seminar, a website was created forbringing together the methodology documents,information relating to the seminar (such asprogramme, practical details) and the workproduced by the teams (for example, a summary ofthe approach and tools, preliminary drafts andpresentations for the seminar).27 Over time, the sitehas continued to develop, providing access to thedifferent outputs of the capitalisation process to aswide an audience as possible. In addition to thesupport provided by the facilitators, the site proved

to be a source of motivation to the teams, whowere thus able to take inspiration from the workdone by others and to start comparing experiences.

The seminar was conducted on the basis of aparticipatory approach, alternating betweenplenary sessions and working groups. All thework was moderated; a constant focus on theoutputs proved essential to producing a reliableexternal record of the exchanges within thedifferent groups. Throughout the workshop, thecase studies served as the basis for exchange,which involved the sharing of experiences andlearning. In practical terms, three methods wereused to facilitate exchange and reflection:

� Markets of experiences: before the seminargot under way, all the author teams wererequested to prepare a poster presenting anoverview of the experiences they wished to sharewith the other participants. These were displayedduring an informal meeting held before theseminar, and attendance was limited to teammembers. The teams were encouraged to walkaround and view the posters to get a basic idea ofthe different approaches and tools on display. Thisapproach was also used to present the main pointsof the exchanges during the workshops, as it wasan easy way to provide access to the outputs ofthe seminar to a very diverse audience.

� Presentations given during the plenary sessions

followed by question-and-answer sessions: certaincase studies were used in the plenary sessions tointroduce a type of approach or set of themes. Thepresenters were encouraged to use visual aids(such as PowerPoint presentations, drawings andsketches).

� Theme-based workshops: in these workinggroups, different experiences were categorisedand discussed in connection with specificthemes, such as approaches using tools aimed atevaluating the effects of local governance onpoverty or tools for the participatory monitoringand evaluation of social services.

A report summarising the main points of thediscussions and exchanges, as well as participants’proposals and recommendations was prepared andsubmitted to them for comment and then finalisedin July 2006 (FORANIM Consult 2006). Hardcopies were given to participants who did not have

25- Benin, Cameroon, Ghana, Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso.26- For Mali, this involved representatives of the National Coordination Unit for Technical Support for Local Government

(CCN) speaking about the implementation of a national database for M&E of decentralisation support, theObservatory of Sustainable Human Development (ODHD) speaking about the creation of a poverty index at themunicipal level, and the Delegation of the European Commission (DEC) speaking about the establishment ofPARAD. For Benin, a representative of the Embassy of the Kingdom of Denmark spoke about budget support, andfor Burkina Faso, a representative of the Ministry for Territorial Administration and Decentralisation (MATD) spokeabout the development of a national system for monitoring and evaluating decentralisation. See Part I, chapter 5.

27- http://www.snvmali.org/actus/actualite.html.17

Internet access in order to facilitate feedback on theexperiences and debates, as well as the sharing ofinformation with actors with a poor grasp ofFrench.28

After the seminar, some participants also wishedto visit the municipalities using the approachesand tools presented. The discussions were thusprolonged to examine specific reflections atgreater length and even to exchange informationor make comparisons. The elected officials andcitizens of these municipalities thus also got achance to learn about practices in other countries.

2.3. Step 3 – Publishingand disseminating theexperiences and results

This phase started at the close of the seminarand has involved the publication and disseminationof the outputs of the capitalisation process invarious formats, via different channels and indifferent languages. It is aimed to promote debatebeyond West African countries by reaching anaudience who thinks about and works in the field.

At the design phase, the promoters of the jointcapitalisation process had planned to disseminatethe results in three formats prepared by thefacilitators, Sonia Le Bay and Christiane Loquai:

� an article in Capacity.org (Le Bay and Loquai2006): this publication constitutes a tool dedicatedto passing on knowledge to, and exchanginginformation with, researchers, practitioners andpolitical decision makers. Available both on theInternet and in printed form, ‘Capacity.org’presents articles and points of view on debates andpractices related to development capacities. Thejournal is published in English, French and Spanish,and distributed to readers throughout the world.

� an InBrief (Loquai and Le Bay 2007): thispublication targets decision makers, managers ofdevelopment organisations and developmentstakeholders. The format – in both electronic andprinted form in English and French – is wellsuited to disseminating experiences and lessonsfrom case studies.

� a synthesis report including the compilation

of case studies: this (the present document)contains the ‘final outputs’ of the capitalisationprocess in English and French. Intended for a

28- This was a concern voiced during the subregional seminar evaluation.29- www.dgroups.org/groups/pelican30- Some of the development organisations represented were already familiar with how online discussion groups

work.31- www.afrea.org

18

wide audience of practitioners and academics, itsaim is to bring together the various contributionsmade during the seminar (a compilation of thecase studies, in particular), as well as a summaryof the results of the capitalisation, exchange andlearning process as a whole.

2.4. Step 4 – Networkingand broadeningexchanges and learning

Most of the participants in the subregionalseminar stressed the importance of networkingto broaden the exchange of information to includeactors in other countries engaged in processes ofdemocratic decentralisation. In addition tosupporting the author teams who wereintegrating the information resulting from theexchanges, contacts were made with the PelicanInitiative to encourage an online discussion with awider audience about the capitalisation process.

The Pelican Initiative29 is an online network forevidence-based learning. The network has some300 active members, ranging from evaluators,knowledge-management specialists, developmentpractitioners in various fields and researchers.Online discussions promote and improve theunderstanding of joint learning processes indifferent areas of development.

Given the relevance of the theme addressed, thePelican Initiative management board agreed tolaunch a pilot discussion (moderated for the firsttime in two languages – English and French) onbuilding capacities for monitoring and evaluatingdecentralisation and local governance. It was basedon case studies from the capitalisation process andthe questions and challenges identified byparticipants in the subregional seminar. The usualgroup of network members was extended toinclude these participants, as well as otherinterested collaborators from the organisationsrepresented.

This discussion platform obviously favoursactors with Internet access who are accustomedto this type of exchange.30 Many of those involvedshared an interest in passing on new knowledgeand in receiving multiple contributions as part ofthis online network. At the same time, some

participants were conscious of contributing to ‘atool capable of boosting performance indevelopment’ (Keijzer et al. 2006).

The lessons learned from some of the casestudies were also presented at the fourth

conference of the African Evaluation Association31

(AfrEA) to encourage a debate on issues involvingstrengthening the M&E capacity of local-government actors (Le Bay et al. 2007). Theconference was held from 17 to 21 January 2007in Niamey, Niger. Entitled ‘Evaluate Development,Develop Evaluation: A Pathway to Africa’s Future’,the conference aimed to

� broaden public debate on the practice ofevaluation and its impact on human developmentin Africa, especially for poverty reduction and thefostering of good governance;

� create awareness of the decisive nature ofmonitoring and evaluation in public developmentpolicies and strategies; and

� take stock of international experiences in thearea of monitoring and evaluation and of lessonslearned for developing better evaluation practicesin Africa.

‘Governance, evaluation and developmentchallenges in Africa’ presented the work carried outthus far to the 500 participants32 from fivecontinents. While it was developed around a groupof themes, it dealt more specifically with theestablishment of permanent, transparent andeffective mechanisms for monitoring and evaluationand communicated the relevance for governmentsto successfully evaluate development projects,programmes and public policies’.33

The resulting questions and discussions, as wellas the informal exchanges that followed, confirmedthat the experiences documented in the casestudies met the specific needs of manyparticipants, mainly practitioners. Many requestedthat the case studies be made available as offprints

so that they could make the most of them withtheir partners, which resulted in new publications.

32- It brought together various stakeholders and organisations, including regional and international developmentorganisations; national and regional evaluation networks and associations; specialised monitoring and evaluationinstitutions; representatives of public and private enterprise; political decision makers, elected personalities andlocal authorities; African and foreign experts; representatives of civil society; researchers; students; and otherindividuals with an interest in M&E in Africa.

33- The sub-themes addressed in this area were the evaluative approach from the perspective of good governance;the duty to monitor and evaluate development; comparisons between experiences from country evaluations;setting up country evaluations, using the example of the CLE (Country Led Evaluation) project; roles andresponsibilities in development evaluation; value clashes in evaluation; evaluation in a multicultural andmultilinguistic context; ownership and application of evaluation results by stakeholders/interest groups; democraticversus non-democratic governance, with lessons drawn from parliamentary evaluation in Africa; local participatoryevaluation, with an exchange of experiences acquired at the community level; evaluation and new challenges ofglobalisation: the opening of markets and migration. 19

The passage of time has shown that thepublication of offprints does meet a real need,since, despite online availability, requests for hardcopies are received continually. Given the level ofinterest they continue to generate, reprints arebeing considered.

Interestingly, beyond those activities planned aspart of the capitalisation process, exchanges arestill taking place within and between some of theauthor teams, even though some individuals nolonger hold the same position or are now employedby other organisations. Readers interested incertain experiences continue to contact thefacilitators or the institutions and resource personslisted at the end of the case studies. E-mail is themain means of communication, supplemented byoccasional telephone contact.

Structured around the actors’ common interestsand developed in a flexible, reactive way inaccordance with their continued growth, theprocess has thus enabled the creation of acommunications network for sharing experiences

and learning, which continues to evolveautonomously in different forms. This mobilisation,both collective and individual, represents a veryencouraging secondary outcome that underscores(should any doubt exist) the potential power of avoluntary capitalisation procedure and some of thespin-off effects it can have – not just in theimmediate future, but also in the short and mediumterm.

The authors of the case studies do not definewhat exactly they understand by strengtheningthe capacities of local actors to monitor andevaluate decentralisation and local governanceprocesses. One reason for this is that theguidelines for the joint stocktaking and analysis ofexperiences provided them with definitions ofterms (see Part I, section 1.3, and box 1).

Box 1. A few definitions of a concept thatremains difficult to delimit: capacity,capacity development and capacitybuilding34

� ‘Capacity … refers to the ability of anorganisation to function as a resilient, strategicand autonomous entity’ (Kaplan 1999).� ‘Capacity development is the process by whichindividuals, organisations, institutions and societiesincrease their abilities to perform functions, solveproblems and achieve objectives; [and] tounderstand and deal with their development needin a broader context and in a sustainable manner’(UNDP, 1997).� ‘Capacity development is the process by whichindividuals, groups, organisations and institutionsstrengthen their ability to carry out their functionsand achieve desired results over time’ (Morganand Taschereau 1996).� ‘Capacity building is any support that strengthensan institution’s ability to effectively and efficientlydesign, implement and evaluate developmentactivities according to its mission’ (United Nations1999).� ‘Capacity strengthening is an ongoing process bywhich people and systems, operating withindynamic contexts, learn to develop and implementstrategies in pursuit of their objectives for increasedperformance in a sustainable way’ (Lusthaus et al.1995).

Source: Adapted from Loquai and Le Bay (2005), excerpted from Annex 3 of the methodological note.

In addition, the use and significance of the term‘capacity development’ or ‘capacity building’, as itwas earlier called,35 has evolved tremendously. Inthe region under review, it has come to encompassnew aspects of capacity development, as well as

34- For more information about capacity building, see the DAC's list of reference documents: http://www.oecd.org/document/47/0,2340,en_2649_34565_20633455_1_1_1_1,00.html. For an insight into recent discussions on thisconcept, see the following websites: http://www.capacity.org (in particular Capacity.org no. 26, September 2005)and http://www.intrac.org.

35- Today, the term 'capacity development' is preferred by many authors, because it is perceived to have a morepositive connotation: the capacity of partners is developed, thus already there, and not built from scratch as theterm 'capacity building' might imply.

20

CHAPTER 3. DEVELOPING THE M&E CAPACITY OF

LOCAL ACTORS

new needs arising in the context of decentralisationand new modes of local governance.

In development cooperation and relatedliterature, the term ‘capacity development’ isalternately used to refer to an objective, approach,process, input or result (Lopes and Theisohn2003). It remains a complex and elusive concept,but is relatively unanimously considered to be a‘key issue’ for development (Morgan et al. 2005,Baser and Morgan 2008). As these definitionsillustrate, ‘capacity development’ is seen as animportant ingredient to improving the processesof decision making and institutional development,recognising the various actors who contribute tothat improvement.

Seminar participants mentioned that theseconcepts (as they are used by donors anddevelopment agencies and adopted by nationalauthorities) tend to be too abstract, vague andtheoretical for local actors at the municipal level.They are also difficult to translate into locallanguages. At the same time, local actors haverather concrete ideas on what kind of capacitybuilding they require and how the different toolsrespond to these needs.

3.1. What kinds ofcapacities need to bedeveloped?

In the case studies, capacity building for M&E ofdecentralisation refers mainly to the followingelements:

� stimulating interest in M&E tools, asinstruments for adaptive management of municipaldevelopment, more informed decision making andlearning;

� enhancing statistical literacy, i.e., thecapacity to analyse and interpret statistical datathat can help municipalities and their local-levelpartners to plan, monitor and assess developmentand poverty reduction at their level;

� enabling municipal actors to access, collect,

stock and update relevant information incollaboration with other local actors (e.g., de-concentrated services, civil society, private sector);

� helping local actors to jointly design and test

methods and tools for M&E of decentralisationand local governance processes that are adaptedto their specific needs and the local context(including commonly agreed performance criteriaand indicators);

� developing procedures and systems for

exchange of information and statistical data onthe implications, outcomes and impacts of differentaspects of decentralisation and local governance;

� strengthening citizens’ capacities to monitorlocal government’s actions, to voice criticism andto demand accountability from their electedrepresentatives.

3.2. Why invest in buildinglocal capacities formonitoring and evaluatingdecentralisation?

Why are donors thinking about M&E ofdecentralisation? Why should they invest inexercises aiming to build capacities in partnercountries to monitor and evaluate decentralisation?Should national and local actors in decentralisingstates be interested in developing systems andtools for assessing the results, outcomes andimpacts of reform processes?

In answer to these questions, with reference tothe case studies, literature and discussion on thesubject, the following can be said:

�Donor agencies and development

organisations supporting decentralisationprocesses want to know to what extent and underwhat conditions their support to these reformscan contribute to development goals, such aspoverty reduction, economic development andgood governance (Reyes and Valencia 2004).

However, as the recently published referencedocument of the European Commission rightlystates, assessments of outcomes and impacts ofassistance to decentralisation are still ‘works inprogress’ (European Commission/Europe Aid 2007a).

Moreover, until recently, M&E practices tendedto emphasise the information needs of donoragencies and central governments more thanenhancement of local stakeholders’ capacity tomake their own evaluations. This approach hashad limited success as far as ownership andutilisation of evaluation results are concerned. Itrelies more on external experts than on localknowledge and has failed to contribute enough tostrengthening local systems of accountability(Watson 2005, Simon 2004). These latter,however, are highly desirable in the context ofprojects and programmes to promote democraticdecentralisation and local governance.

�National authorities dealing withdecentralisation are sometimes portrayed asreluctant to invest in M&E. However, this imagehas been countered by the readiness of Mali’sMinistry of Territorial Administration and LocalGovernment (MATCL) to promote a process ofstocktaking and exchange of experiences withM&E tools for local government actors, as well asby the interest expressed by other Africancountries in the results of this exercise. It isimportant to note that national authorities oftenhave different expectations of M&E systems thandonor representatives and local-level actors. Theformer tend to be interested in instruments thatcan help them to coordinate and centraliseinformation on local government performance, asmanaging data from a variety of locations andproviding feedback requires specific capacities.

� Mayors committed to democratic localgovernance increasingly realise their need fortools with which to show citizens how they areperforming and why the municipality has difficultydealing with certain issues that citizens mightview as high priority. In this regard, M&E toolscould help them to make progress andconstraints visible to citizens and donors alike.

� To citizens, decentralisation reforms and localgovernment will be credible only if they havesustained positive impacts on people’s lives andprovide them with more opportunities toparticipate in decision making or to exertinfluence in local affairs. Elections provideopportunities for political participation, but onlyevery few years. Nonetheless, other channels ofparticipation and citizen control of localgovernment have tended to be neglected.

21

Table 2 gives an overview of the case studies and the contributions made during the subregionalseminar. It classifies them by theme and according to the types of capacity-building tools andapproaches involved in each.

22

CHAPTER 4:THE FINDINGS OF THE CASE STUDIES:A SYNTHESIS

Table 2. Classification of tools and approaches in case studies

Type of tool or

approachExperiences

Supporting agency or

organisation

Developing the capacity

to analyse and monitor

local development at

the municipal level

�Cameroon and Mali: Strategic planning and monitoring ofmunicipal development

�Niger: Planning and M&E in municipalities, focusing onpoverty reduction

�Ghana: District-based poverty profiling, mapping and pro-poorplanning as an M&E tool

�Mali: Geographical information systems (GIS) for thedevelopment of rural municipalities

�Mali: Municipalities in figures: needs and realities

Helvetas

SNV, UNDP, GTZ

GTZ, NDCP, GPRP/SIF,MLGRDE

SNV, GTZ

SNV, GTZ

Self-evaluation tools for

assessing local

government

performance

�Mali: Assessment of local government performance,experiences with a self-evaluation tool.

�Niger: Planning and M&E in municipalities, focusing onpoverty reduction

�Benin: Assessment of local government performance:Experiences with a self-evaluation tool

�Burkina Faso: The role of self-evaluation in a new nationalsystem for evaluation of decentralisation

SNV, GTZ, Helvetas,MATCL/DNCT

SNV, UNDP, GTZ

SNV, UNDP, GTZ,Helvetas, ANCB

GTZ, MATD

Strengthening citizens'

control and local

stakeholders' capacity

to monitor the delivery

of decentralised

services

�Mali: Towards a basic health-sector information system formunicipal actors (SIEC-S)

�Benin: Public control in the education sector, pilot phase ofthe participatory local impact monitoring methodology (SILP)

SNV, KIT

GTZ, FIDESPRA

Opening external M&E

systems to local

perceptions

�Mali: Participatory monitoring and evaluation as a means ofempowering local government in the region of Mopti

�Mali: Public perceptions as a barometer of local governance

�Mali: Evaluating the impact of decentralisation

CARE

NCA

UNCDF

Abbreviations: ANCB = National Association of Benin Municipalities, DNCT = National Directorate for Local Government (Mali),FIDESPRA = International Forum for Development and Exchange of Knowledge and Expertise Promoting Self-Sustained RuralDevelopment, GPRD/SIF= Ghana Poverty Reduction Programme of the Social Investment Fund, GTZ = German Technical CooperationAgency, Helvetas = Swiss Association for International Cooperation, KIT = Royal Tropical Institute (Netherlands), MATCL = Ministry ofTerritorial Administration and Local Government (Mali), MLGRDE= Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and theEnvironment (Ghana), MATD= Ministry for Territorial Administration and Decentralisation (Burkina Faso), NCA = Norwegian ChurchAid, NDPC= National Development Planning Commission of Ghana, SNV = Netherlands Development Organisation, UNCDF = UnitedNations Capital Development Fund.

Source: Classification based on presentations and written cases discussed at the regional seminar in Bamako, 17-18 May 2006

36- Some of the experiences listed in table 2 were in too early a stage for capitalisation, but stakeholders participatedin and made contributions to the seminar (in the form of posters for the 'market of experiences' and in theworkshops).

37- For more information, see case studies 2.1, 2.2 and 2.5 in Part II. 38- For more information, see case study 2.4 in Part II.39- For more information, see case study 2.3 in Part II.

Details of the experiences that weredocumented and analysed in the case studies areprovided in Part II. The section below summarisesseveral of the main points that were addressedwithin the framework of the different approachesor types of tools. It also includes findings thatemerged from experiences that were notcapitalised in case studies.36

4.1. Developing thecapacity to analyse andmonitor local developmentat the municipal level

In many francophone West African countries,newly established local governments are learningto formulate and implement municipal or regionaldevelopment plans. A common problem theyexperience is the lack of baseline data andstatistical information to draw upon to analyse thesocial, economic and cultural situation in theterritory. Often, national statistical systems havenot been adapted to decentralisation. They mightnot produce sufficiently disaggregated data forlocal planning, or municipal level planners mightlack easy access to the information that isavailable. Moreover, municipalities and districtsoften lack specialised staff to collect backgrounddata and diagnose development issues beforeengaging in the planning process.

The case studies from Mali, Cameroon andNiger37 all deal with participatory approaches toestablishing municipal baseline information with aview to improving planning, monitoring andevaluation of local development. With the assistanceof external facilitators, the municipalities employedparticipatory approaches to assemble and analysedata jointly with other local developmentstakeholders (e.g., de-concentrated technicalservices, community based organisations, villagechiefs and the private sector) and to construct abaseline that could be used for strategic planningand eventually adapted for M&E purposes.

In Mali, this baseline exercise was complementedby the design and testing of geographic informationsystems (GIS) for rural municipalities. As feedingand manipulating a GIS requires computer literacyand basic cartography skills, primary responsibilityfor system updating and maintenance lies with

23

municipal advisory centres. These are based atthe district level and provide various capacity-building services to the municipalities of a givendistrict.38

In Ghana, where districts have their own statisticalservices, the challenge was slightly different:development of a new methodology for povertyprofiling and mapping. Enhanced information wasneeded on the level, causes and geographicaldistribution of poverty at the district level in order tofacilitate pro poor planning, M&E of district plansand pro-poor targeting of national developmentprogrammes. Here too, an important element of theapproach was participation of a spectrum of localdevelopment stakeholders, such as community-based organisations, village associations, traditionalleaders and NGOs, in constituting databases anddistrict poverty maps.39

Experiences with these different tools provide anumber of lessons:

� The process of constructing baselines andconducting monographic studies enhancesknowledge of the local governments’ economic,geographic and sociocultural potential and thusallows it to be used more fully.

� The tools give decision makers more clarityabout the constraints that local governments faceand about populations’ needs, thus providing amore realistic basis for planning.

� Such tools can help bring municipal planningbetter in line with national-level poverty reductionpolicies and with sector policies.

� In the course of the exercise, the municipalcouncil usually assumes increasing responsibilityfor steering and owning the process.

� The participatory approach often contributes todevelopment of team spirit within the municipalcouncil, which enhances initiative.

These exercises all showed positive effects onthe capacities of local governments and municipaladvisory centres to collect and select relevantstatistics. They also resulted in stepped-upcollaboration between technical services,supervisory authorities, local governments, civilsociety and private sector agents at the local level.

So far, most of the baselines have been used forplanning and less as tool for M&E of local

development and governance. For that latterpurpose, they need to be adapted, made moreselective, indicator-focused and converted into adatabase that can be regularly updated. A step inthis direction is the effort in Mali to feed data intoa GIS. Plans to establish similar electronicdatabases were under way in Cameroon andGhana at the time of the stocktaking exercise.

4.2. Self-evaluation toolsfor assessing localgovernment performance

In 2004, the National Directorate for LocalGovernment of the MATCL of Mali issued apublication explaining a tool for performance self-evaluation of local governments. These guidelineswere later included in a toolkit for mayorsdistributed to all 703 municipalities of the country(MATCL/DNCT et al. 2004).

40- For more information, see case study 3.1 in Part II.

24

The tool was the result of a long process ofdesign, testing and fine-tuning a participatoryapproach to performance self-evaluation, anexercise assisted by a number of developmentorganisations, in particular, SNV, Helvetas andGTZ. These organisations all took active part inhelping their partners at the local level(municipalities) to develop, test and use theapproach and provided feedback to stimulate thetool’s gradual improvement and adaptation foruse in different contexts.

The proposed methodology puts the municipalityin the driver’s seat of an evaluation of its ownperformance, which is repeated at regular intervals(figure 2). Members of the local council comparetheir self-evaluation with evaluation resultsprovided by various groups of other local actors,such as community based associations, localinterest groups, private sector representatives,staff of de-concentrated technical services andsupervisory authorities.40

Figure 2. Steps of performance self-evaluation of municipalities

Optimum rate

= 1/yr

2. Conduct the

self-evaluation

(3 to 4 days)

3. Feedback from

the self-evaluation

(1/2 day)

4. Use of the results of

the self-evaluation

(ongoing)

1. Preparation for

the self-evaluation

(1 to 2 days)

The tool proposes that the self-evaluationrevolve around five key areas of municipalperformance: (i) internal organisation, (ii) financialand administrative management, (iii) mobilisationof financial and human resources, (iv) planningand programming of local development and (v)services, products and infrastructure. For each

area a number of indicators was jointly definedagainst which performance could be assessed(using scores).

Experience with the tool has illustrated theimportant role of external facilitation andmentoring the first time the self-evaluation

Source: Le Bay et al. (2007).

exercise is conducted. It has also revealed somepotential pitfalls that users of the tool mightencounter, such as cultural barriers to articulatingand dealing with constructive criticism and beingself-critical in public. Experience has alsohighlighted problems that the various stakeholdersmay come up against if they focus solely onperformance based results and disregard thewealth of communication that takes place beforeand after the exercises. In fact, these exchangesmay well pave the way for shared responsibilityand consensual decisions.

Testing and utilisation of the tool has had manypositive results on the evaluation capacity of themunicipalities and others:

� Municipalities are now able to measure theirperformance (achievements and weaknesses)and to analyse it themselves; they have learnedhow to develop argumentation and mediatebetween different viewpoints.

� Understanding has improved of the roles of thedifferent actors and of the legislation ondecentralisation and local government.

�Municipal councillors, mayors and contract staffof municipalities now realise that they must bemore accountable to citizens and supervisoryauthorities.

� Municipal staff have learned to use evaluationresults, adapting decision making andmanagement in line with findings.

� Evaluation results have helped local officials toformulate better targeted and more completerequests for capacity building assistance tomunicipal advisory centres.

Inspired by publication of the guidelines for theself-evaluation tool in Mali, neighbouring countrieshave begun to devise similar tools:

� In Niger, a number of development agencies,together with the de-concentrated state servicesand municipalities, started testing and adaptingthe self-evaluation tool in 2005. An innovativefeature of the adapted tool is its emphasis onencouraging municipalities and their partners tothink at the local level about integrating goals ofthe Millennium Declaration. The adapted tool alsoallows the national poverty reduction strategy tobe taken into account in municipal planning,monitoring and evaluation. The present challenge

25

is to get the tool validated by the Ministry of theInterior and Decentralisation and used on a muchwider scale throughout the country.

� In Benin, mayors have strongly contested anexternal evaluation of the performance of themunicipalities. Instead, they have mandated theNational Association of Municipalities (ANCB) todesign an alternative approach. In collaborationwith a number of donors and ANCB branches atthe departmental level, the ANCB is presentlydeveloping a municipal performance self-evaluation tool inspired by the one from Mali. TheBenin tool is also to serve as a means of bettertargeting external support for capacity building forthe country’s young municipalities.

� In Burkina Faso, the Ministry for TerritorialAdministration and Decentralisation (MATD) plansto make systematic use of self-evaluation atvarious levels of its future systems for M&E ofdecentralisation. The approach proposed for themunicipal level builds on the Malian tool.However, in view of the very recentestablishment of the rural municipalities, the self-evaluation process will initially emphasise helpingthese entities to reflect on the kinds of capacitiesthey need to acquire to become functional andachieve their goals.

More recently, a development programme inSenegal produced a two-step evaluationmethodology for measuring municipalperformance. The first step is an obligatoryexternal performance assessment of localgovernments. The second step is a voluntaryperformance self-evaluation conducted with aview to identifying the different needs of localgovernments. With the programme, the centralstate has shown its interest in the performance ofpublic action at the local level. It would like to seelocal governments and development programmesfurther develop this tool so that it can be used toidentify local government capacity-building needs.On the whole, the tool serves to promote goodgovernance and performance based allocation ofresources to local governments.

These initiatives show that performance self-evaluation approaches have considerable potentialfor replication. This is especially so because they helpto pinpoint the effects of capacity building in termsof improved performance of local government.

4.3. Strengthening citizens’control and localstakeholders’ capacity tomonitor the delivery ofdecentralised services

The two experiences presented under thisheading differ in terms of their entry points,rationale and approach. Nevertheless, both haveas their end goal to improve the quality,effectiveness and transparency of delivery ofpublic services at the local government level. Toachieve this objective, the case from Beninpromotes citizen control in the primary educationsector, while the Malian experience uses jointmonitoring of basic health indicators.

In Benin, the pilot phase of a participatory localimpact monitoring methodology (SILP) hasinvolved 15 schools in three municipalities of thedepartment of Atakora. School attendance inthese in northern territories has lagged behind thenational average. The trial forms part of Benin’spoverty reduction strategy, which gives priority toeducation and decentralisation policy.

Use of SILP is aimed at providing supplementaryinformation for quantitative evaluations of the barriersblocking the proper operation of decentralised publicservices. It is also intended to facilitate identificationand implementation of appropriate correctivemeasures by citizens themselves.41

For this purpose, SILP follows an iterativeprocess of consultation and exchange, involvingsector actors at a number of levels (municipal,departmental, national) and various groups ofactors (e.g., pupils, teachers, parents’associations, citizens, local government, womenselling food to pupils, de-concentratededucational departments of the central state,central institutions and development partners).The stress lies on two aspects of the publicspending cycle: tracing the resources allocatedand evaluating service quality. Figure 3 gives anoverview of important steps in this participatorymonitoring process.


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Both aspects are jointly reviewed by public andcommunity service users and suppliers, applyingnational norms and standards and their owncriteria. An external moderator facilitatesdiscussion and evaluation according to thesejointly defined criteria.

The evaluation is followed by a debate oncorrective measures, which are then summarisedin a collective action plan. Implementation of theplan is steered by parent associations and schooladministration, but jointly monitored andreviewed on regular basis with municipalcouncillors. Initial results of the pilot phase of theSILP approach show that the methodology canimprove knowledge on strengths and weak-

nesses in using financial resources devolved fromthe central state to the decentralised level (to thedepartments, municipalities and schools). Evenafter only a few months of testing, the methodappeared to have helped various local actors tobetter assume their respective roles in enhancingpublic scrutiny of the use of public funds. The actof mobilising their thoughts and energy for acommon cause also improved the efficiency ofpublic spending. Moreover, there is evidence thatthe SILP approach disseminates itself, as it is nowbeing used in municipalities that were notincluded in the test sample.

However, the strategy also has pitfalls. In theabsence of capable moderation, latent conflicts

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Figure 3: Budgetary cycle, public monitoring approaches and the approachesdeveloped for the SILP

Independent policyanalysis

Independent auditby civil society

Participatorybudget

Evaluation ofpublic-service

performance byusers

Joint managementof public services

Tracing of publicspending

Independentbudget analysis

Analysis and reviewof policies- and public spending

Planning/Formulation- of a strategy- of a budget framework

Establishing objectives

Evaluation- of performanceof service quality

Audit

Resource mobilisation andallocationPreparation and vote onbudget

Monitoring of execution- monitoring of activities- monitoring of accounts

Budget execution- transfer of funds- allocation of staff

Source: Floquet A. and R. Mongbo (2006).

Key : Budgetary cycle stages

Stages of public monitoringof public spending

Budgetary cycle stages

Budgetary cycle

can surface that hamper constructivediscussions. Also, if not properly prepared andsupervised, SILP can lead to covert tactics andexclusion of actors, instead of self-correctivestrategies. External support is thus essential inthe test phase and probably well beyond.

Mali’s testing of a basic health-sectorinformation system similarly rendered servicedelivery more effective and transparent. However,for this exercise the initial objective was adifferent one. Because the transfer of resourcesand capacities for municipal-level health serviceprovision is advancing only slowly in Mali, the ideawas to test a tool that could contribute to theprocess of devolution.42

A basic package of information was developed forkey public health actors at the local governmentlevel, including elected officers, community healthassociations and technical departments. Theinformation kit, called ‘SIEC-S’,43 had beenproduced jointly by the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT),SNV, the Malian Ministry of Health and thecommunity-based health associations that runmany of the local health centres. Action researchwas then conducted on how to use this packagefor monitoring and managing basic information onpublic health at the municipal level, involvingmunicipal councillors, the deconcentrated healthservices of the central state and representatives oflocal community health associations (ASACOs).

The strength of the SIEC-S approach is itsenabling non-specialists on health, including theilliterate, to take part in discussions on healthsystem results, progress in public health andreasons for failures and success. As participants’comments illustrate (see box 2), use of SIEC-Simproved local stakeholders’ understanding ofkey health statistics and of indicators directlyrelevant to their daily work. This, in turn,strengthened municipal councillors’ ability todiscern top priorities for action, to take informeddecisions on health matters and to negotiate withthe Ministry of Health. The joint collection,sharing and analysis of health-related indicatorsand information enhanced cooperation betweenthe actors concerned. For this reason, the projecthas constituted a very practical experience thatpaves the way for the transfer of health sectorpowers to local governments.

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‘We thought the pictures on the wall weremeant to make the community health centre looknicer. We didn’t realise they were technical figuresthat we could understand.’

Comment of a participant at a working meeting on basichealth indicators organised in the context of SIEC action

research.

‘This is great. It’s just what we needed. Now wecan get a better idea of the state of health in ourmunicipality. Before, we thought we were makinggood progress because we weren’t analysing thefigures properly, but now we can also find outwhere the problems lie.’

Comment by the chairperson of a local mayors’ associationafter a working meeting on health indicators.

Source: Toonen et al. (2007: 11).

4.4. Opening externalM&E systems to localperceptions

In 2004, CARE Mali made the design andimplementation of participatory M&E systems forits programmes a priority of its new long-termstrategic plan. As the test case for a newintegrated participatory M&E system it chose theSupport Programme for Municipalities andGrassroots Organisations, co-financed by theNorwegian Agency for Development Cooperation(NORAD). The focus of the programme, whichwas based in the region of Mopti, was naturalresource management and local governance. Atthat time, it was still in its initial stages ofimplementation.44

Design and testing of the new participatoryM&E system brought together a range of actorsinvolved in resource management and newgovernance structures. Participants spanned thevillage, municipal, district (‘cercle’) and regionallevels and were drawn from both civil society andthe de-concentrated technical departments of thecentral state. All had been intensely involved indesigning the programme.

Box 2. Comments of local actors

42- For more information, see case study 4.1 in Part II.43- SIEC-S stands for 'Système d'information essentielle pour la commune dans le secteur de la santé' (System of

Basic Health-Sector Information for Municipalities).44- For more information, see case 5.1 in Part II.

These actors were later to take on roles in thenewly emerging M&E system, intended to meetboth CARE’s internal needs for monitoring dataand Mali’s need for better information andaccountability systems for its new localgovernance structures.

Although the M&E system had been running forbarely a year at the time of the stocktakingexercise, the authors of the case study couldalready point to several lessons learned:

� Participatory M&E is an effective way oftransferring skills to local actors, but time andpatience are required to put such an approach intopractice. Especially in a poor region like Mopti,where educational standards tend to be low,participants need to be given plenty of time toabsorb the information they receive.

� It is vital to choose able participants with abasic level of capacity from among the‘beneficiaries’ if the process is to be successful.Illiteracy, for instance, has proven to be anobstacle to participants taking ownership of someof the M&E tools.

� The commitment of the steering team is a keysuccess factor of participatory M&E. It isimportant that the team clearly distinguish thismethod from earlier, less participatory methodsof managing projects.

Problems encountered during the test phasewere, among others, related to the diversity oflanguages and dialects spoken in the region anddifferences in educational levels of the participants.As a solution, all important documents weretranslated into the three main languages (Dogon,Peulh and Bambara) spoken in the region.Moreover, at meetings the participants weredivided into groups according to language spokenand educational background. This made the processtime-intensive, but ensured that the peopleinvolved could communicate and make their points.

In a similar vein, to open strategic planning andM&E to the perspectives of local governancestakeholders, Norwegian Church Aid (NCA)conducted an assessment of the state ofdecentralisation and local governance in threeregions of northern Mali (Gao, Timbuktu and Kidal)in 2005. The assessment was less anchored in a

45- For more information, see case study 5.2 in Part II.46-See, in particular, the current work of Afrobarometer and the Impact Alliance's Local Governance Barometer

project, which is intended to be used as a tool for measuring the performance of local government throughoutAfrica (www.impactalliance.org).


29

participatory M&E approach, but more focused oncapturing and analysing citizens’ perceptions bymeans of a traditional survey approach. To get adifferentiated picture of citizens’ perceptions onthe state of decentralisation and local governancein the three regions and to ensure that the viewsof marginalised and vulnerable groups were takenon board, the researchers interviewed officers ofcivil society organisations working with thesegroups and representatives of citizens directly.45

The evaluation concluded that integrating ananalysis of citizens’ perceptions can improve toolsand current systems for monitoring andevaluating local governance. A greater emphasison citizens’ perceptions, opinions andassessments would also better equip electedcouncillors and supervisory authorities to ensurethat approaches adopted for governance anddevelopment are relevant, viable and sustainable.

Bearing in mind the lack of opinion polls and thevery few surveys on local governance themesamong electors that have been conducted inWest Africa, the survey of perceptionscommissioned by the NCA makes an interestingcontribution to current thinking about barometersof governance (Bratton et al. 2000).46

The last experience, in Mali, is from the UnitedNations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), whichhas been active in promoting local governance innorthern Mali since the latter 1990s.47 In the contextof a broader UNCDF initiative, UNCDF-Mali startedan evaluation of the poverty reduction impacts of itsSupport Programme for Rural Municipalities inTimbuktu (PACR-T).

Data collection proved a real challenge. The mainconstraint was the mediocre quality of theinformation available on the reference situation.Baseline figures were meagre and a lot ofstatistical information was unusable because itwas not broken down to the municipal level. Toremedy the situation, the project team andexternal evaluators decided to try a newqualitative surveying approach drawing largely onthe perceptions of local communities and aparticipatory assessment method.

Hence, a conceptual framework for analysingthe impact of decentralisation on variousdimensions of poverty was jointly designed withpartners, and local perceptions were used to rankthe villages and wards of each municipality inthree categories, from poorest to least poor.Community participation in the planning processand use of municipal investment funds in eachcommunity were then analysed in order toidentify which of the three categories hadreceived the most investment.

A clear advantage of this method is its allowing‘poverty’ to be defined and assessed from theviewpoint of the beneficiaries of the programme’sactivities. In this case, this led to a focus on theimpact of socio-economic investment, becausethe dimension of poverty most widelyexperienced in the Timbuktu region is that ofgaining access to basic socio-economic services.

As this case study concludes, it is regrettablethat monitoring and evaluating the impact ofdecentralisation on poverty reduction is oftenregarded as only a concern of researchers anddonors. The authors argue that decision makers indeveloping countries should make M&E a moresystematic management practice. This wouldallow a counterchecking of the underlyinghypotheses of development approaches. It wouldalso contribute to improving the living conditionsof poor populations and enable populations tobetter analyse and understand their rights andoptions as citizens.

This review revealed that the capacity of localactors to monitor and evaluate the processes ofdecentralisation and local governance is stronglyinfluenced by national-level frameworks andpolicy development — as is their interest in andwillingness to try out new practices.

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48- Several examples were discussed during the subregional seminar. The UNCDF has experience with tools thatmonitor and evaluate the performance of local government registry offices, as well as their capacity to mobiliseresources. And, in light of Mali's decrees implementing intercommunality, the Canadian organisation SUCO hasput a great deal of effort into an original approach designed to strengthen M&E capacity at the village, municipaland inter-municipal levels.

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CHAPTER 5. HOW TO ASSESS DECENTRALISATION AND LOCAL

GOVERNANCE:TAKING STOCK OF EXPERIENCES WITH

TOOLS FOR STRENGTHENING THE M&E CAPACITIES OF

LOCAL ACTORS

The case studies highlighted the importance ofactors at the national level (such as nationalauthorities and associations of municipalities)because the chances of the M&E tools developedwith local actors being used and replicated dependlargely on their collaboration. Mayors at the regionalseminar also underscored the importance ofsupervisory authorities’ cooperation — even justtheir ‘endorsement’ of M&E tools was crucial fortheir wider usage. The mayors said that they find itworthwhile to test planning and M&E approachesfor municipal development, to conduct self-evaluation sessions on municipal performance andto identify changes to improve operations.Nevertheless, in the implementation phase, theydepend on the collaboration of supervisoryauthorities, de-concentrated state services withmunicipal oversight functions, as well as supportfrom the national level (for example, in the form ofministerial directives or lobbying by municipalassociations). This type of support from national-level institutions is often essential for ensuring thatthe results of M&E processes are taken on board bythe de-concentrated state administration.

5.1. Consistency,coordination andcomplementarity of M&Eapproaches and tools

The subregional seminar showed that a goodmany development organisations are trying outnew approaches and tools aimed in one way oranother at strengthening the M&E capacities oflocal actors.48 The approaches and toolsdocumented in this publication are probably onlya few among many others being tested and usedin the region. They show what can be achievedthrough coordination as well as the need forcoordination and complementarity in order toavoid a proliferation of different procedures andtools at the expense of a systemic approach.

Most of the experiences selected for capitalisationreflect the desire of several developmentorganisations to jointly design, test and implement aspecific approach or tool by involving theirrespective partners. The experiences described inthe case studies are encouraging examples thatshow what is possible when the various actorsconsult with each other or develop strategicalliances based on common objectives. Thisrequires an openness to a systemic approach onthe part of stakeholders and the existence ofindividuals prepared to act as ‘champions’ andguide and promote the joint process. Thedefinition of a relevant mandate and the will oforganisations to devote human and financialresources to consultation and commonprocesses appear to be equally important.

Despite the desire to coordinate and harmonisepolicies and aid instruments, as set out in the ParisDeclaration (OECD 2005), collaboration aroundjoint initiatives is not yet standard practice. Often,development organisations and project orprogramme leaders prefer to invest in ‘their ownapproaches’, in ‘their own areas of involvement’and with ‘their own partners’. Results are oftensaid to be ‘innovative’ and ‘replicable’ (in principle).However, because of a lack of collaboration on, andsharing of, experiences with other organisationsthat could promote them in ‘their areas ofinvolvement’ with ‘their target groups’ during thedesign and testing phases, the use of these toolsremains very limited. Another obstacle to thedevelopment and replication of the availableapproaches and tools is a lack of willingness tocoordinate efforts and exchange experiencesbetween different ministries, directorates anddepartments at the national level.

Although there are fewer tools for strengtheningthe M&E capacity of local government actors thanthere are for municipal planning, the seminarparticipants felt strongly that there was a risk of‘mushrooming’. Citing adverse effects on

49- A tranche (or tranch) is a slice or portion of a whole. Budget support is disbursed in fixed annual tranches, wheredisbursement is subject to certain conditions, and variable tranches, which are linked to progress made towardsspecific objectives (defined in terms of results to be achieved).

32

systemic coherence, some voiced the desire toinform national authorities (particularly thoseministries in charge of local governments) of theneed for coordinating efforts to design and testnew M&E tools and approaches. Otherparticipants, however, stressed the importance ofbeing able to choose from several options.

On the whole, it was deemed highly desirable fornational authorities (particularly those ministries incharge of implementing decentralisation andthose departments responsible for overseeinglocal governments) to promote access to thetools and approaches available. In this connection,various inputs were mentioned, includinginformation sessions, written communications,radio broadcasts and online availability viaministry or local-government associationwebsites.

The manuals for the self-evaluation tool for localgovernment performance in Mali and for povertyprofiling, planning and M&E in the municipalitiesof Ghana are very educational and are excellentexamples of good practice in ‘popularising’ aspecific approach. But even these documentscould be improved further through the addition ofa simplified version and translations into locallanguages, thus promoting the replication of thepractices they propose at the local level.Furthermore, the case studies show theimportance of facilitating and externally supportinglocal actors in mastering the procedures andbuilding capacity.

5.2. Budget support andrelated M&E challenges

For several years, some donors have shown astrong tendency to shift their focus to sector-wide

approaches and, more recently, to budget

support as a new instrument for assisting theprocesses of decentralisation and state reform indeveloping countries. This recent preference forbudget support as a new aid instrument is true ofthe European Union, which is one of the largestdonors in West Africa, but it also applies to anincreasing number of important bilateral donors,who prefer this instrument of developmentcooperation to more traditional forms of aid (suchas projects or programmes). ‘Budget support’

means that development assistance is feddirectly into the beneficiary state’s budget andchannelled through a developing country’s ownadministrative system, using its own procedures.

Its proponents consider this tool to be bothconducive to improving the transparency andefficiency of the management of public financeand more suited to promoting ownership andcapacity building among partner countries’national institutions. It is argued that it involvesfewer transaction costs than project aid or basketfunding and is more effective in promoting policydialogue between donors and the relevantgovernment. Budget support is also promotedwith a view to generating synergies betweeninterdependent actors in achieving planned results(European Commission/EuropeAid 2007b, OECD,DAC 2006, Hauck et al. 2005). There was broadrecognition that the effectiveness of budgetsupport is strongly linked to the terms ofimplementation, its capacity to fuel politicaldialogue, and the quality of the monitoring system.

This shift towards budget support has variousconsequences for M&E practices, particularly inthe context of democratic decentralisation, whererelationships between the central and local levelsare changing dramatically (Land and Hauck 2003).It places increased demands on the evaluationcapacities of both donor agencies and actors indecentralisation in developing countries.Disbursement of budget support usually takesplace in tranches,49 with the funding leveldepending on specific conditions being put inplace and progress achieved in relation to jointlyagreed-upon performance indicators.

The government of the partner country usuallyproposes and negotiates the performanceindicators with the donor. It also has to design anadequate M&E system and report on progress.Progress is then jointly analysed and reviewedwith the donor. Implementing and monitoringbudget support thus requires a capacity toidentify and systematically track key indicators ofdecentralisation and local governance. Ideally, thisprocess should involve actors from the national tothe local level, including local councillors,representatives of users of decentralised publicservices and countervailing forces from civilsociety.

50- On the specific features of sectoral budget support, as used by the European Commission, see EuropeanCommission/EuropeAid (2007a) and Schmidt, P. (2006).Although decentralisation and administrative reforms are not a sector, but rather a cross-cutting process, themodalities of aid PARAD follows are those of sectoral budget support, as the assistance is earmarked for a specific'area of reform'.

51- A total of 75% of programme funds are earmarked for supporting the decentralisation process (budget-supportcomponent) and 25% are for supporting state reform (institutional-support component). The Ministry of ForeignAffairs and International Cooperation of Mali is the contracting authority for the programme and is the nationalcommitments officer for all support provided by the European development fund. The MATCL and the Ministry ofPublic Service, State Reform and Institutional Relations (Ministère de la fonction publique, de la réforme de l'Étatet des relations avec les institutions, MFPRERI) serve jointly as the contracting authority for PARAD.

52- See M&E of budget support for state reform, example of PARAD in Mali by Casas C. in FORANIM Consult (2006).53- Negotiations began in January 2005 and resulted in the outputs from an ad hoc workshop held on 19 May 2005

with the agencies involved in preparing the programme: the National Directorate for Local Government (DNCT),National Coordination Unit (CCN), Commissariat for Institutional Development (CDI), Ministry of Economy andFinance (MEF), Higher Local Government Council (HCC), Association of Malian Municipalities (AMM), sectorministries (education, health, water), DEC, unit of the Strategic Plans for Poverty Reduction, National Statistics andInformatics Directorate (CSLP), and ratified by the Council of Ministers (see European Commission/EuropeAid[2005: Annex 2]).

54- 'OISE' stands for outil informatisé de suivi et evaluation (computerised monitoring and evaluation tool).55- See Mali in the country overview in Annex V.

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Box 3. PARAD’s areas of involvement andstrategic priorities

In 2006, the European Commission launched apilot programme providing Euro 72 million insectoral budget support50 for a period ofoperational implementation from 2006 to 2010.51

This programme (Support Programme forAdministrative Reform and Decentralisation,PARAD) was presented during the subregionalworkshop by a representative of the Delegationof the European Commission (DEC) in Bamako.52

Because of its innovative, ambitious character,and since it had just begun to be implemented,the participants had many questions about theprogramme. These underscored the manychallenges arising from a programme aimed atstrengthening the link between decentralisationand government reform. This is also seen in thefinancial proposal, which requires horizontalinvolvement of the sector ministries and, invarious capacities, all the actors concerned. In hispresentation, the DEC representative stressedvery strongly the principle of making Malianactors accountable.

Box 3 gives an overview of PARAD’s differentareas of involvement and their complexity.

PARAD provides support toThe six strategic areas of the Institutional

Development Programme of the Malian

Government (Programme de développement

institutionnel, PDI):

1. Reorganising the central state2. Improving methods and procedures for themanagement of public affairs3. Strengthening de-concentration4. Consolidating decentralisation5. Developing and strengthening humanresources6. Strengthening communication andrelationships with users

The four strategic priorities of the

decentralisation process:

1. Developing the capacities of localgovernments2. Improving the de-concentration of stateservices3. Developing local citizenship4. Developing private service providers at thelocal level

Source: European Commission/EuropeAid (2005),MFPRERI, CDI (2004), MATCL, DNCT (2005).

PARAD’s performance indicators were identifiedand negotiated in a participatory process thatinvolved representatives of all the stakeholders inthe administrative reforms and decentralisationpolicy53 (such as ministries and nationaldirectorates, the donor community and localgovernment representatives). The indicators areall from different strategic documents and legaltexts relating to the decentralisation process andstate reform. Information is obtained from amonitoring system that relies partly on datacollected by the ministries and partly on data fromthe monitoring tools of the strategic plans forpoverty reduction and a computerised monitoring

A list of the twelve performance indicators isprovided in table 3. The levels achieved annuallyfor these performance indicators are measured bya national scale that corresponds to the sum ofthe efforts made by the actors involvedthroughout the territory (European Commission/EuropeAid 2005).

and evaluation tool (referred to as the ‘OISEdatabase’54), which is linked to the NationalSupport Programme for Local Government(PNACT).55

The first meetings of the programme’s steeringcommittee56 and, more recently, a joint evaluation(Comité de pilotage du PARAD 2007)57 have revealedthe need to strengthen the capacities of the actorsinvolved and to jointly fine-tune certain indicators ortargets in a timely manner. This was also indicated bythe review mechanisms. Indeed, although ‘overall,most of the information was provided’ to show thatindicator targets had been reached for 2006, ‘somewas not complete and even contained gaps. It thusfollows that a satisfactory verification of the relevanttarget reached is impossible. […] The examination ofthe indicators and the review of the targets reachedby the evaluation mission provided an opportunity tohighlight certain difficulties involving theinterpretation of indicators or a lack of precision indefining them.[…] Certain indicators should be re-examined, either for taking into account situations or

56- According to decree no. 278/PM-RM, dated 11 July 2006, the steering committee includes the Commissariat forInstitutional Development (CDI), the National Directorate for Local Government (DNCT), the National Agency forLocal Government Investment (ANICT), the Association of Malian Municipalities (AMM), the Association of Malian'Cercle' and Regional Authorities (ACCRM), the Higher Local Government Council (HCC), the Ministry of Economyand Finance, the Strategic Plans for Poverty Reduction (CSLP), the sector ministries concerned and the DEC.

57- This was carried out in accordance with a resolution passed by the PARAD Steering Committee on 27 March 2007.58- It is important to remember that the disbursement of budget support takes place in tranches (four fixed tranches

and three variable tranches). While the disbursement of fixed tranches is contingent on a series of trigger indicators(achieving a series of policy decisions and measures jointly agreed upon and considered to be determining factorsfor implementing decentralisation policy and state reform), the disbursement of variable tranches is contingentupon the annual review of the twelve performance indicators. The amount of the variable tranches is calculatedjointly by the European Commission/European Community and the Mali government, with the final decision lyingwith the former. The decision to disburse each variable tranche, as well as the amount paid out, is contingent onthe degree to which the targets defined for the twelve performance indicators have been met.34

difficulties which could not be sufficientlyunderstood when the targets were approved, or,inversely, for eliminating objectives which seem tohave been met already at the outset and are thuspoorly defined or not really relevant’ (Comité depilotage du PARAD 2007).

The donors and development agenciesparticipating in the coordination group on‘decentralisation and institutional development’took part in discussions on feedback from theevaluation, which revealed problems of datainterpretation and statistical significance.Performance-based disbursement of budgetsupport can introduce new biases,58 so thequestion of building the capacity to verifyinformation at the local level must also beaddressed. Hence, it makes sense to develop

Table 3. PARAD’s 12 indicators of decentralisation (9) and de-concentration (3)

Group 1 Indicators measuring the population's access to public services at the local government level

(1) Villages having at least one water point producing drinking water

(2)Percentage of women having at least one prenatal consultation during pregnancy and theaverage number of prenatal consultations per woman

(3) School enrolment of girls

Group 2 Indicators on the link between decentralisation and de-concentration

(4) Quality of local governance (three indicators)

(5) Own resources of local government per inhabitant

(6)Transfers of human and financial resources from the central to local government (in differentsectors)

Group 3 Indicators relating to de-concentration and the role of supervisory authorities

(7) Assistance provided to empower local governments

(8) Level of fiscal de-concentration of ministries

(9) Level of de-concentration of human resources from ministries

Group 4 Indicators concerning the reform of state

(10) Establishment and operationality of 31 additional tax offices at the decentralised level

(11) Computerisation of the administration

(12) Time required for tendering

Source: European Commission/EuropeAid (2005: Annex 2).

techniques of triangulation and cross-checking ofdata generated by an M&E system created toreview budget support.

Several means exist for achieving this. One is todraw on information produced by other M&Esystems, such as those of bilateral donorsoperating at the local level. Another is to enablethe responsible central and supervisoryauthorities, or other relevant actors, to conductsurveys of public perception.59 In this regard,agreements on how to verify the reliability of dataand to provide capacity-building support for centraland supervisory authorities appear particularlyimportant; the focus on a few performanceindicators can introduce biases, negative effectsand incentives for manipulation of data, thuscasting a shadow on the reliability of the data.

During the subregional seminar, there was agreat deal of interest in the definition (as well asthe methods of monitoring and evaluating) theperformance indicators for the variable tranches.There were comments on the degree ofaggregation and complexity of the indicators.Some participants felt that the extent of budgetsupport and conditions related to the twelveindicators and the variable tranches created therisk of a simplistic view of decentralisation, thedanger being that the various actors would focustoo heavily on meeting the twelve targets.

Mayors, as well as representatives ofdevelopment organisations, expressed fearsabout the transparency involved in calculating andassessing the indicators. They felt that thedefinitions and methods of calculation were noteasily understood at the local level, particularly bylocal-government actors. They made theEuropean Commission and the Malian authoritiesaware of the fact that making local actors trulyaccountable and encouraging good performancealso requires more sustained efforts forcommunication, explanation and dialogue (inaddition to the multimedia information campaignpreviously conducted). This is particularly true in

59- See the three case studies from Mali in Part II on the opening of external M&E systems to local perceptions.60- The wide dissemination of directive no. 2337/MATCL-SG, dated 16 August 2006, concerning the implementation

and monitoring of the indicators of the Support Programme for Administrative Reform and Decentralisation(PARAD) is particularly important.

61- PARAD's financial proposal broadly describes the M&E system to be implemented (monitoring commissions andcommittees, annual and midterm reviews, audits, merging databases), but the concrete procedures, andparticularly, coordination with the other technical and financial decentralisation partners, were still to be establishedafter the start of the programme.

62- See 'Design and use of an M&E tool for decentralisation support at the national level: Experience of the OISEdatabase in Mali' by Ba (National Coordination Unit - CCN) in FORANIM Consult (2006).

63- The CCCs, operating from 2000 to 2007, were seen as the heart of the support mechanism for local governance.Run by development organisations (called 'operators'), they were tasked with providing support to localgovernments, particularly in the areas of overseeing local development, managing support programmes andoperating the technical-support mechanism at the local level. 35

regard to procedures, evaluation results and theroles of all those involved in monitoring theindicators.60

In the same context, several participantsstressed that PARAD’s effectiveness in Mali wasbasically due to the development of an ‘M&Eculture’ by the government ministries. They alsohighlighted the efforts still to be made incoordinating the production of statistics becauseof ongoing problems at the national level involvingthe supply of data for, and the harmonisation of,different databases.61

5.3. National policychanges and new M&Echallenges: An examplefrom Mali

It is evident that the development of newmethods of support requires the paralleldevelopment of new M&E systems that are moreparticipatory and which increasingly linkqualitative and quantitative considerations. It wastherefore considered useful at the seminar todiscuss Mali’s experiences with the OISE

database as an innovative nation-wide tool formonitoring and evaluating support todecentralisation (and as an invaluable database inmonitoring the PARAD indicators).62 Thepresentation and ensuing discussions, based onstatements by stakeholders and on lessonslearned, served as a point of departure for lookingat ways to improve the operation and use of OISE— now needed more than ever, following theclosing of the Malian Municipal Advisory Centres(CCCs),63 which, until 2007, had been managingthe OISE database at the local level.

Launched in 2002, the OISE database wasdesigned to meet the needs of the NationalSupport Programme for Local Government(PNACT) (the predecessor of PARAD) and toprovide stakeholders with access to basicinformation on local governments, as well as onthe range of local services delivered (both public

and private). The OISE database was thusconceived as a data storage and processing toolof PNACT’s M&E system, with the aim ofinstitutionalising feedback loops between thelocal and the national level.64 Various types of datawere collected: general information on localgovernments (voter turnout and humanresources, such as elected officials and the staffemployed by the municipalities), technical supportprovided (e.g., training courses offered andplanned support), investments planned andrealised (in the context of the implementation ofthe Economic, Social and Cultural DevelopmentPlan65 [PDESC]), local government performance(through reports submitted to supervisoryauthorities or the holding of ordinary sessions, forexample), local government funding (budgeting,and setting up and running administrativeaccounts), technical services (number provided)and technical and financial partners (number).

One of the objectives of the OISE database wasto make data related to decentralisation availableto all the actors. Although, theoretically, the OISEdatabase functions as an up- and down-flow datacollection, storage, processing and transfersystem, the seminar participants felt that it wasunfortunate that local actors — who contributemost to maintaining the tool and who need thesedata to carry out their activities (planning,programming and decision making, in particular)— did not have easy access to the tool. They alsostressed that the quality and nature of the datahad to be improved because of inconsistenciesbetween the local and national level and becauseof a tendency to be overly quantitative.Additionally, it appears that the database does notcompile data that already exist (such as referencesituations),66 although it is technically capable ofimporting data from other databases, hence a lackof simple cross-checking of data and lingeringdoubts as to the reliability of the informationcompiled over the years.

Efforts have been made to make the dataaccessible on the Internet,67 and there are variousways of presenting the data (in table, graph andchart form) adapted to various user profiles,

although the result does not constitute a realinformation system that can serve as a tool to aiddecision making. Despite these efforts, accessremains difficult, mainly at the local and regionallevel. The sustainability of the system has even beencalled into question: the CCCs, which played a keyrole liaising between the various decentralisationactors and which had invested a great deal (intraining, purchasing equipment and setting up amaintenance system) to develop their capacity formonitoring and evaluating decentralisation and localgovernance, will no longer operate the system after2008.

In 2007, the National Coordination Unit forTechnical Support for Local Government (CCN)conducted ‘ownership tests’ to develop a strategyfor transferring the tool to sustainable structurescapable of administering it effectively andefficiently. Different options were analysed inrelation to sustainability, and although itsrelevance was not called into question, it wasdetermined that expectations related to its useneeded to be recalibrated (MATCL, DNCT, CCN,2007). Transfer of responsibility to otherstructures is not expected to be easy, as all therelated skills and inputs must be transferred alongwith it. At the beginning of 2008, the MATCLdecided that the database would be managed bystate officials (MATCL/SG, 2008).68

At the ‘cercle’ level, the database will bemanaged by the prefect, who will delegateresponsibility to his deputy. Local governmentswill gather the information pertaining to them andupload it via the sub-prefects. The data to becollected is the same as before. Once processed,the data are forwarded to the regional governor,who manages the database with the help of theAdviser for Administrative and Legal Affairs andthe Regional Director of Statistics, InformationScience, Planning and Population.69 Once regionaldata have been added, they are forwarded to theNational Directorate for Local Government(DNCT), which compiles the information andpublishes a quarterly report. At the local level, thelocal policy committees continue to function aspoints for sharing information.

64- The CCC teams updated the computer data and transmitted them to the regional level, where they were compiledbefore being centralised at the National Coordination Unit (CCN). The teams also took part in quarterly meetingsfor data interpretation and repeated these in their area of operation with local actors (mainly the members of theLocal Policy Committee [CLO] and the providers).

65- The Economic, Social and Cultural Development Plan is the official name of the municipal development plan in Mali.66- See case studies 2.4 and 2.5, as well as 4.1 and 4.2., in Part II.67- At www.matcl.gov.ml/DonneesDNCT/OISE.html, although the site is not always accessible.68- Directive no. 000313/MATCL-SG, dated 23 January 2008, on assuming the management duties of the OISE

database: a technical committee consisting of the deputy prefect, a number of sub-prefects and a representativeof the health, education and water information service at the 'cercle' level is assuming the tasks that had previouslybeen carried out by the CCCs.

69- At the beginning of 2008, the resources necessary for transmitting data successfully between the various levelswere not available (MATCL/SG, 2008).36

During this transitional period, it does not seemthat the role of local governments has evolved, norhas their means of accessing the data. Moreover,the question of how operating costs will be metover the long term remains open, particularly asthe importance of the OISE database to theimplementation of an observatory ofdecentralisation at the national level has grown.

Held up on several occasions as a panacea forM&E and management by the PNACT, and takinginto account only some of the indicators, in itscurrent state it does not constitute a true nationalsteering mechanism — but it does contribute tothe dialogue on decentralisation and localdevelopment. Its new role of monitoring andevaluating reform objectives raises severalquestions, including those of reconciling theinterests of actors at the different levels,70 ofallocating responsibilities within the new systemand of communicating the data generated.Several other West African countries with thesame aspirations of creating an observatory fordecentralisation or governance are also facingthese issues. An observatory for decentralisationin Africa has even been established by theMunicipal Development Partnership (PDM),71 anAfrican organisation with a regional focusencompassing the national associations of localgovernments in West and Central Africa.

5.4. Decentralisation,local governance andpoverty reduction

In the West African countries in which the casestudies were conducted, the decentralisationprocesses all seek, either explicitly or implicitly, tocontribute to poverty reduction. Improving livingconditions, creating local wealth and providingcitizens with new opportunities to participate inthe formulation, implementation and evaluation ofdevelopment policies at the local level are threeobjectives stated in many decentralisationpolicies (UNDP, 2006). In the development of

national strategies for poverty reduction,supported by donor agencies, the link that existsbetween decentralisation, local governance andpoverty reduction has often been emphasised inthe policy design. But how does one knowwhether decentralisation and new forms of localgovernance really contribute to povertyreduction? More concretely, how does onemeasure, monitor and evaluate the outcomes andimpacts of the processes of decentralisation andlocal governance on poverty?

This is one of the questions decentralisation actorsat various levels are asking themselves, and thediscussions held during the subregional seminarshowed that there are still no clear answers. Fewdevelopment organisations have invested in impactassessments on the subject. Ministries, localgovernment associations in some countries anddevelopment partners in the region are currentlyconsidering the issue (as is the case in Mali, Ghanaand Benin, for example). Nevertheless, these ideasare still in the embryonic stage, and implementationis still largely dependent on external support.

The United Nations Capital Development Fund(UNCDF0 was among the first donor agencies toadopt an analytical concept and to launch a series ofsurveys to explore the impacts of decentralisationon poverty in countries where decentralisation isactive (UNDP 2003). The case study by Sylla andOngoïba72 describes the challenges of analysing theimpacts of decentralisation as part of its supportefforts in northern Mali. It also reveals the limits ofan external analysis in a situation characterised by ascarcity of baseline data, as do the case studiesdealing with tools for establishing referencesituations and for planning at the municipal level.73

The creation of a Municipal Poverty Index (IPC)in Mali is one of the national-level initiatives aimedat compensating for this scarcity of data. Byproviding benchmarks for an assessment ofpoverty at the municipal level, it can help targetlocal development interventions and strategiesfor poverty reduction more effectively.

70- These include local governments and actors, de-concentrated technical services, departments of supervisoryauthorities, projects and programmes, technical and financial partners, researchers and research institutes, etc.

71 The PDM has six main objectives: '(1) gathering reliable information and analyses on the dynamics ofdecentralisation in Africa and making them available in real time to decentralisation actors and the public; (2)providing decision makers with analytical tools for developing their policies; (3) serving as a framework forreflection, analysis and collective evaluation in respect of decentralisation policies and processes; (4) promotingbasic research and action research in the areas of decentralisation and local development; (5) constituting anexhaustive “memory” of decentralisation in Africa, allowing its development to be monitored; and (6) building andspearheading a network of African experts devoted to the issues of decentralisation, local democracy and localdevelopment for states, local governments, civil society and international development partners.'www.pdm-net.org/fichier_pdm/poles_appui_sui.php

72- For more information, see case study 5.2 in Part II.73- For more information, see case studies 2.1, 2.4, 2.5 and 4.1 in Part II. 37

The IPC was designed and is maintained by theObservatory of Sustainable Human Development(ODHD) of Mali, an institution financed by thegovernment and by donor agencies. The ODHDalso participates in monitoring strategic plans forpoverty reduction. As one ODHD officialexplained,74 a major methodological challengeposed by the creation of the index was locatinghigh-quality, statistically significant data brokendown at the municipal level, as well as being ableto update the data.75 Like the HDI (HumanDevelopment Index76), the IPC is a compositeindex based on a multidimensional concept ofpoverty. Without going too deeply into thetechnicalities of the methodology behind theIPC’s development, it is interesting to examinecertain aspects.

Designed to measure poverty of livingconditions in municipalities, the tool is based on acomparison of the relative levels of poverty inurban and rural municipalities (which are dividedinto poverty quintiles and which are thenanalysed), thus resulting in a regional and nationalclassification of all municipalities. Unlike the otherpoverty indices and analysis methods in Mali, theIPC uses collective (i.e., municipal-level), notindividual (i.e., household-level), data.

The methodology is based on the assumption‘that, in Mali, basic material needs are needsinvolving access to electricity and other basiccommunity facilities […] and that, at the municipallevel in terms of basic decentralised localgovernance, the main challenges of decentral-isation remain the provision of adequatecommunity facilities to counterbalance populationdevelopment issues, electrification with a view topromoting the development of economic activities,and resource mobilisation and the wise use ofavailable potential’ (MDSSPA, ODHD, UNDP 2006).

IPC variables and values are determined andproduced using automated methods of statisticalanalysis. The results are presented as mapsillustrating the level of poverty of the Malianmunicipalities in IPC terms. Once divided intopoverty groups, the different municipalities can bedefined in terms of occupancy, population density,availability and access to basic infrastructures andfacilities, and in terms of their respectiveeconomic development potential.

The ODHD has organised several workshops forfeedback on the results of this method at thenational and regional level and invited differentgroups of decentralisation and local-governmentactors to take part in the presentation anddiscussion of the results.

At the subregional seminar, participants’ interestin having access to tools and data allowing themto better assess and fight poverty at the municipallevel was evident from their questions. Althoughit was necessary to take the time to explain to allthe actors how to read the map and understandthe keys, the usefulness of the map-basedapproach for poverty monitoring and actionplanning was underlined several times.77 The maphas proven to be a powerful tool for participatoryanalysis, as it more effectively facilitates theinvolvement of different types of local-governmentactors and representatives of disadvantagedgroups.

This visual method, which must be updatedperiodically, remains relatively costly. Nevertheless,it promotes a spirit of healthy competition betweenmunicipalities at the national level and servesdecision makers as a tool for resource allocation –in spite of the fact that local-government actorshave difficulty accessing and interpreting the IPC’smethods of calculation and results. Mayorscriticised the fact that the assumptions andindicators are defined by researchers and do notsufficiently reflect the priorities, perceptions andconstraints of the local populations.

Based on the discussions during the subregionalworkshop, the Malian experience shows that itcan take years to develop and operationalise anationwide M&E tool that involves the localgovernment in collecting and analysing basicindicators. This slow development is a process offine-tuning that is part of a desire to assessgovernance more effectively, to implementevaluation tools that respect the principles ofgovernance and to find more-qualitative methodsthat are more firmly rooted in reality and bettersuited to the population as a whole. Moreover,the effectiveness of such an effort will depend onexisting capacities (primarily statistical), theinvolvement of technical-support structures formunicipalities and the capacities of the centralstate to gradually improve its own systems of

74- See 'Experience of creating a poverty index at the municipal level in Mali' by Traoré A. (ODHD) in FORANIM Consult(2006).

75- The first index published (MDSSPA, ODHD, UNDP 2003) relied heavily on data from the 1998 Recensement généralde la population de l'habitat (general housing population census), which enabled the collection of datadisaggregated down to the municipal level. An updated version was produced in 2006 (MDSSPA, ODHD, UNDP2006).

76- Using the HDI, all countries for which there are data can be classified according to their level of poverty.77- For more information, see case study 2.3 in Part II.38

39

capacities of stakeholders of the new localgovernment systems. This would enable them toassess the effectiveness of the new localgovernance systems, to learn about theirrespective roles and to analyse the impacts ofdecentralisation and political reform processes ontheir lives.

� Efforts to develop M&E capacity in aparticipatory way with local-level stakeholders ofdecentralisation processes are necessary andlaudable. Nevertheless, it is wise to involvenational authorities too in such initiatives, as theycan help to institutionalise approaches. Moreover,they can follow up on the many problemsemerging from local-level M&E exercises thatmust be addressed by national-level decisions.

� Development partners can achieve a lotthrough strategic alliances. Such alliances andcoordination of M&E approaches is important toprevent a proliferation of different tools. Too manytools and disparate initiatives could result inconfusion among stakeholders who have as yetlimited experience in local governance and putthe homogeneity of the political system at risk.

data collection and analysis. In this regard, thejoint annual reviews of performance indicators bygovernment and donors (primarily for theattribution of budget support) should be seen asan opportunity for mutual learning and for fine-tuning the monitoring system.

The experiences described leave no doubt that itis worthwhile to invest in the capacities of differentlocal actors to monitor and evaluate the outcomesof democratic decentralisation processes, localgovernance and municipal development.

Multi-stakeholder approaches involving aspectrum of local actors – such as localgovernment, civil society, the private sector andde-concentrated departments of the central state– in designing and testing innovative M&E tools,can have a number of positive effects beyondstrengthening M&E capacity. These includeamong others:

� building trust among local stakeholders withdifferent interests, thus reducing resistance todevolution;

� making local governance and service provisionmore efficient by improving procedures andmobilising citizen initiative and local resources;

� improving information flows between differentactors and levels of local government;

� sensitising citizens to their rights and their dutyto hold local representatives accountable.

The attentive reader will find a wealth of advicein the case studies. For their part, the authorswould like to indicate four recommendations:

� There is a lot of scope for donors and theirpartners to learn from existing tools for buildingM&E capacity at the local level. Moreover, thosetools often lend themselves to scaling-up andreplication in other country contexts. More effortsshould be made to document and disseminatethese tools, including challenges encountered inthe process of testing and utilisation.

� Too often, design of systems to monitor andevaluate decentralisation is led largely by thenational level, with insufficient account taken ofthe information needs of local government andother local-level stakeholders. Donors andnational authorities committed to democraticdecentralisation should invest more in the

PART II:

The case studies

42

Decentralisation and local government in WestAfrica are anchored in different traditions, spanningpre-colonial authorities, colonial administrations(mainly French and British) and post-independencedecentralisation and local government reformefforts. Since the early 1990s most countries inthis region have formulated new decentralisationpolicies aimed explicitly to promote democraticand more participatory forms of local governance.

Yet for many of these countries, the road of reformhas been bumpy. Decentralisation processes havebeen stop-and-go rather than following a linear path.This was perhaps to be expected, in view of thecomplexity and multidimensional character ofdecentralisation reforms. The francophone countriesof West Africa had particularly major reforms toundergo. Upon independence, local government inthese countries was confined to a small number ofurban municipalities, while most of the predominantlyrural population was administered by state delegates.

These rural residents had no right to vote and littleaccess to basic public services.

Since the early 1990s the situation has changed.Democratic decentralisation has been anchored inconstitutional laws and creation of hundreds of newlocal governments. For example, Mali aloneestablished more than 680 new rural municipalities.Free and pluralist local elections have been held andlocal governments have been made responsible forplanning, implementing, monitoring and assessingprogress in development at the sub-national level.The hope is that elected local governments will bemore accountable to citizens and more easilycontrolled than central state administrators.

Table 4 presents some basic information aboutdecentralisation and the nature of localgovernment in the five West African countries inwhich case studies were conducted.

CHAPTER 1.THE CONTEXT OF DECENTRALISATION AND LOCAL

GOVERNANCE IN WEST AFRICA

43

Table 4. Decentralisation and local government in West Africa (more-detailed information for each country can be found in Annex V)

Country

Main legal foundations of

democratic

decentralisation

Entities of local

governmentLocal elections

Benin

- Constitution of 1990 - Decentralisation laws (1993,enacted in 1999 and 2000)

- One tier of local governmentwith 77 rural and urbanmunicipalities- Special status for threelarge cities: Parakou, PortoNovo, Cotonou

- First municipal electionsheld in 2002/03

Cameroon

- Law on municipalorganisation (1974)- Law on conditions for theelection of municipalcouncillors (1992)- Constitutional law of 1996- Laws defining guidelines forfuture decentralisation policyand rules governing themunicipalities and regions(2004)

- Two tiers of localgovernment: 10 regions and362 municipalities- Special status for the urbancommunities of Douala andYaoundé

- First pluralist local electionsheld in 1996- Second pluralist municipalelections held in 2002 - Third pluralist municipalelections held in 2007- All mayors are elected, butsome big towns are managedby a nominated 'governmentdelegate' working under theauthority of the electedcouncil (i.e., the council'spresident)

Ghana

- Law on local government(1998)- Fourth Constitution of theRepublic (1992)- Local Government Act(1993)

- One tier of local governmentwith 138 rural and urbandistricts, including 124 districtassemblies, 10 municipalassemblies and 4metropolitan areas (Accra,Koumasi, Tamale and ShamaAshanta East)

- First local elections held in1993, followed by furtherelections in 1997, 2002 and2006- Members of the district,municipal or metropolitanassembly directly elected.They elect an executivecommittee from their ranks. Adistrict chief executiveappointed for a term of twoyears coordinates theexecutive

Mali

- Constitution of the ThirdRepublic (1991)- Law on local government(1993)- Local government Act (1996)

- Three tiers of localgovernment: 703 rural andurban municipalities, 49districts ('cercles') and 8regions - Special status for the capitalBamako (similar to a region)

- First local elections held in1998/99- Second local electionsconducted in 2004- Direct election of municipalcouncillors, who elect themayors. Indirect election ofcouncillors of higher tiers

Niger

- Constitution of 1999- Decentralisation law (2001)establishing localgovernment andadministrative territorialentities- Law on local government(2002) defining fundamentalprinciples of localgovernment

- Three tiers of localgovernment (foreseen): 8regions (including the capitalNiamey considered a regionwith a special status), 36departments, and 265 ruraland urban municipalities

- First local elections held in2004, municipal level only

Note: only those countries are featured in which case studies were conducted

44

CHAPTER 2. DEVELOPING THE CAPACITY TO ANALYSE AND MONITOR

LOCAL DEVELOPMENT AT THE MUNICIPAL LEVEL

2.1. Cameroon and Mali: Strategic planning and monitoringof municipal development

This study ‘Strategic planning and monitoring of municipal development’ has been preparedby a team of four authors (Jacques Tamini, Ibrahima Sylla, Markus Ischer et Christian Asanga) allworking for the Swiss Association for International Cooperation (Helvetas) in the field of municipaldevelopment in Cameroon or Mali (see Annex IV).

The study looks at an experiment conducted in two different contexts (Cameroon and Mali) usingmore or less the same strategies for the participatory drafting of municipal monographs andstrategic plans. These are planning tools which municipalities could subsequently use for evaluationsof their own performance, monitoring and evaluation systems and the democratic control ofmunicipal activities by citizens.

The authors show that applying the monographic study and strategic plan drafting process, astested by Helvetas in the two countries, continues to be a technically complex initiative and is costlyfor fledgling rural municipalities. They conclude that this is a powerful capacity building tool whichoffers opportunities for ‘learning by action’, for forging cooperation links with civil society and formaking a municipality more credible.

Moreover, thinking about the adjustments needed to allow municipalities to use the approachpresented without having to call on major external support and to play their roles as leaders inmobilising all the actors continues nevertheless to be a major challenge. Institutionalisation of theapproach may well be possible if this condition is met

45

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction 46

2.1.1. Methods of drawing up the monographic study and the strategic plan 462.1.1.1. The context in which the approach was used 462.1.1.2. What is a monographic study and a strategic plan? 472.1.1.3. Why does a municipality need a monographic study and a strategic

plan? 472.1.1.4. Key actors: their roles and responsibilities 482.1.1.5. Drafting the monographic study and strategic plan: what stages

have to be followed? 482.1.1.6. Content of a monographic study and a strategic plan 502.1.1.7. Costs 51

2.1.2. Application and replication of the drafting process for the monographicstudy and strategic plan 51

2.1.2.1. Achievements 512.1.2.2. Lessons learned 522.1.2.3. Challenges 522.1.2.4. Practical advice for replication 53

2.1.3. Conclusion and recommendations 53

Annex I : Acronyms 54Annex II : Bibliography 54Annex III : Resource persons, online documents and useful addresses 55

46

Decentralisation, which is now up and running inMali and Cameroon, has to be consolidated by thetransfer of certain powers and appropriateresources from the central government to local andregional authorities. The municipality, which is thebasic level of decentralisation, has administrativeand financial autonomy in managing local affairs. Itis responsible in particular for promotingdevelopment in the economic, social, health,educational, cultural and sports fields by drawingup, in a participatory way, its economic, social andcultural development plan (PDESC).

In order to put decentralisation into practice,local governments and their developmentpartners are looking for high-quality tools andapproaches through which local actors can playtheir roles to the full. Planning is an importantactivity for local governments as it creates a

reference framework that provides a startingpoint for the promotion of local development andhelps to ensure that municipal actors are working ina consistent and harmonious way. It was againstthis backdrop that the Swiss Association forInternational Cooperation (Helvetas) developed aplanning approach within its Council SupportProgramme (CSP) in Cameroon and its SupportProgramme for the Actors of Decentralisation(PAAD) in Mali.

This case study looks at the ways in whichHelvetas put its municipal planning approach intopractice in Cameroon and Mali, the lessonslearned from the tool's design, testing, use andreplication and its relevance as a tool for localcapacity building in the monitoring and evaluationof decentralisation and local governance.

INTRODUCTION

Over the last ten years, the citizens of a number of West African countries,like Cameroon and Mali, have been striving to ensure that decentralisation isactually implemented. Many of them are now trying it out. In thesecountries, decentralisation is a prime mover of development, democracy andgood governance at the local level. Decentralised bodies are better able tomeet the needs of the people and can defend local interests, enable peopleto participate in decision making and deliver more efficient basic services.

2.1.1. METHODS OF DRAWING UP THE MONOGRAPHIC STUDY

AND THE STRATEGIC PLAN

2.1.1.1. The context inwhich the approach wasused

Mali opted for a decentralised political systemwhen its constitution was amended in 1992, butdecentralisation actually came into force whenthe first municipal elections were held in 1999.Following these elections, decision-making andexecutive organs were set up for a term of fiveyears. Under the law, there are three levels oflocal government: municipalities (703), ‘cercles’(49), regions (8) and the District of Bamako, i.e., atotal of 761 local authorities.

Cameroon started down the path of decentral-isation in 1996 when its 1972 constitution wasamended. The first municipal elections were held in1996, and since then, the administrativeorganisation of the country has been as follows: 339municipalities, 56 departments and 10 provinces.

In the decentralised systems of Mali andCameroon, municipalities have legal personalityand management autonomy, possess decision-making (municipal councils) and executive (mayorand municipal administration) organs and can beindependently administered. The work of themunicipality takes place in the municipal councilunder the supervision of a state representative,which is the basic level for development planning.

47

Deconcentrated state services provide adviceand support for municipalities in their respectiveadministrative areas; however, devolution is aslow process: most state technical services haveyet to be organised at the municipal level, with theresult that there is still something of a time lag.

In Mali and Cameroon, municipal councils arelegally responsible for promoting development.Municipalities are therefore required to draw up adevelopment plan in consultation with all theactors of civil society. The first municipal planswere little more than wish lists, which took noaccount of municipalities' actual potential andpossibilities. In particular, municipalities could notalways call upon the human resources that theyneeded to carry out their tasks of independentadministration, delivery of local public servicesand promotion of local development.

After 30 years of central government, local civicparticipation, ownership and control do not as yetcome naturally. However, this is slowly changingwith support from the national governments andtheir partners.

2.1.1.2. What is amonographic study and astrategic plan?

A monographic study is a detailed study of aparticular subject. In our case, it is the definedgeographical area of the municipality. The studydescribes the features of the municipality at the timeat which it was drawn up: history, demographics,economy, natural resources, infrastructure, etc. Amonographic study therefore offers a snapshot ofthe municipality and is a reference point from whichfuture action can be planned.

The municipal strategic plan is the outcome of thestrategic planning process. It is a management toolthat can be used to decide on the action to be takenover the following five years. The aim of this plan is tohelp municipalities to carry out their work in a betterway, to channel their energies, to ensure that theyhave the same goals as their populace, to assess thewishes of the municipality and bring them into linewith various changes (institutional, political,environmental, etc.). The strategic plan helps todefine the remit, vision, values, goals, roles andresponsibilities of the municipality and sets out theinstruments through which they can be achieved.

General meeting in a rural municipality inCameroon

To summarise, these tools aim to achieve thefollowing:� make the municipal council more responsiblefor steering and owning the process;� draw up a full municipal diagnosis that enhancesknowledge of the municipality's potential;� establish a municipal statistical database;� make the most of local potential because moreis known about it;� ensure participation by all the municipal actors,thereby strengthening citizenship;

2.1.1.3. Why does amunicipality need amonographic study and astrategic plan?

The purpose of a municipality's monographicstudy and strategic plan is to improve people'sliving conditions.

The drafting process ultimately leads to greatermunicipal responsibility for managing projects gearedtowards reducing poverty. It increases communityparticipation in decision making. It promotescooperation between elected officers, communitiesand private and public institutions so that everyonebecomes involved in productive initiatives. All theactors (councils and communities) are involved insupplying reliable socio-economic data, andproblems can be analysed in a participatory way.

The monographic study and the strategic planare tools for monitoring municipal development.They may also document the basis from whichprovincial/regional master plans can be drafted.For municipal representatives (mayors andmunicipal councillors), possessing these twodocuments offers tangible proof that progress isbeing made with decentralisation.

� produce sectorial planning, i.e., planning bymunicipal working groups in order to bring theplan into line with state sectorial policies;� step up cooperation between technicalservices, the supervisory authority and themunicipality;� develop a team spirit within the municipal council.

2.1.1.4. Key actors: theirroles and responsibilities

The actors and their roles and responsibilities inthe two countries in which this approach wastested were as follows:� The supervisory authority plays asupervisory role, helps with data collection,makes secondary data available to municipalitiesand validates final documents.� The municipality is responsible for the wholeof the drafting process (organisation, planning andperformance) and acts as principal (contracting inconsultancy services). It also contributes financiallyto logistics (internal costs), provides data on themunicipality and validates information and reports.

48

In Cameroon, in order to step into theirresponsibility as principals, municipalities enteredinto contracts with service providers. In Mali,everyone's roles and responsibilities are set out ina tripartite contract: municipalities as principals,consultants as service providers working formunicipalities and Helvetas-PAAD as a monitoringorganisation.

� Communities participate actively in thevarious workshops and provide information.� Service providers (consultants) help themunicipality to organise planning, guide and

supervise the technical drafting process andproduce tools (workshop programmes, datacollection forms, questionnaires, etc.). They alsotrain municipal councillors in data collectiontechniques (Global Positioning System [GPS] andsocio-economic data), act as moderators duringworkshops, especially workshops to analysecommunity problems, and draft reports.

In Cameroon, service providers were recruitedby municipal officers from lists of consultantstrained by Helvetas. In Mali, service providerswere recruited through tendering procedures,then trained by Helvetas and made available tomunicipalities.

�The external support organisation offerstechnical assistance (manuals, tools, consultanttraining) and financial assistance (contributions tothe costs of the services provided by consultants,external expenses), helps to organise forums forexchanging ideas, mentors the drafting processand comes up with ideas to improve the processand the strategy.

In Cameroon, Helvetas paid a financial subsidyto municipalities to cover service providers' feesand other costs. In Mali, Helvetas paid serviceproviders directly and granted a subsidy tomunicipalities for the organisation of workshops.

2.1.1.5. Drafting themonographic study andstrategic plan: what stageshave to be followed?

After deciding to draw up a monographic studyand a strategic plan, municipalities work in stages(see diagram below). The process to draft themonographic study and the strategic plan maytake between three and five months, dependingon the size of the municipality and the humanresources available.

In Mali, for instance, the process took fourmonths in the municipality of Wassoulou Ballé (thelargest), and three months in Baya andTagandougou.

Working session in the municipality of Baya insouthern Mali

49

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eroon)

2.1.1.6. Content of amonographic study and astrategic plan

While the monographic study and the strategicplan are very different documents, they areclosely linked. If these two documents are to

50

serve their purpose and reach the minimumrequired standard, their content should bepresented as follows:

Table 1: Example of the table of contents of a monographic study

Global objective: for instance, successful poverty reduction in the municipality

1. Planning objective (one per council committee)

1.1 Specific objective Verifiable indicators Verification sources

1.1.1 Expected results

Table 2: Example of the table of contents of a strategic plan

1. Introduction (context, importance, methods)2. Administration, demography and sociology

2.1 Administrative structure2.2 Population origins (migratory movements)2.3 Sociology

3. Environment and land use 3.1 Climate3.2 Hydrology3.3 Soil 3.4 Natural resources 3.5 Ecological situation 3.6 Land use

4. Economy4.1 Primary sector 4.2 Secondary sector 4.3 Tertiary sector

5. Infrastructure5.1 Technical infrastructure5.2 Social infrastructure

6. Council activities 6.1 Councillors profile6.2 Strategy

7. Conclusions

Annexes: Diagrams/maps of the location of administrative units, villages and ethnic groups,population density, particular physical features, land use, physical and socio-economic infrastructure,towns, etc.

1. Introduction (context, importance, methods)2. Identification of problems and prioritization on village level3. Identification of problems and prioritization on council level4. Main lessons learned from the monographic study 5. Logical framework of the council strategic plan

Source: Helvetas 2005.

51

Description Approximate cost (XOF) Financing

Logistics: meals, accommodation and travel by participants 3 000 000 Municipality

Service providers 5 000 000 Helvetas

Total 8 000 000

Expected results Activities Deadline

6. Activities through which the expected results can be achieved

7. Hypotheses, potential and risks8. Budget (investment budget over more than five years, fundraising, etc.)9. Prospects (next stages: Annual Plan, Local Economic Development [LED])

Annexes: priority projects for the Ministry of Planning, Development Programming and Town andCountry Planning (MINEPAT).

2.1.2. APPLICATION AND REPLICATION OF THE DRAFTING PROCESS

FOR THE MONOGRAPHIC STUDY AND STRATEGIC PLAN

2.1.1.7. Costs

Table 3: The average costs of the process are as follows:

Source: Helvetas 2005.

Source: Calculations of the authors on the basis of figures provided by Helvetas 2006.

Following initial testing in Cameroon in 2001,many changes and adjustments have been made tothe process. This led in 2005 to the publication of abook on the strategy and the tools used. Between2001 and 2006, 16 municipalities in Cameroondrew up monographic studies and strategic planswith support from Helvetas. Following this testingperiod, the process could be replicated in otherregions in which decentralisation is taking place andwhere municipalities are responsible fordevelopment work.

The exercise was carried out for the first time inMali in 2006 in partnership with Helvetas-PAAD.Adaptations to the local context mainly involvedthe role of the key actors.

The process took place in three ruralmunicipalities in the ‘cercle’ of Yanfolila in the

South of the country: Wassoulou Ballé (53,978inhabitants with 34 villages, 23 municipalcouncillors), Baya (14,654 inhabitants with 14villages, 11 municipal councillors), Tagandougou(13,443 inhabitants with 7 villages, 11 municipalcouncillors). This was a multi-actor context wherethere was little experience of such matters.

2.1.2.1. Achievements

One of the main achievements is that thisparticipatory approach has helped to build thecapacity of communities. There is also bettercommunication between the various actors, whichhas helped to smooth decision making and thetransition to development work. The informationrequired for the monographic study provides areference point: action planned on the basis of thisreference point is therefore realistic.

2.1.2.2. Lessons learned

� As it is difficult to carry out the process in therainy season, the timescale of the initial stagesneeds to be thought out.

�Municipal councils may feel that the processtakes too long (an average of 26 working daysin the case of municipal councils in Mali);resources over and above the capacities of themunicipality may therefore be required.

� A mentor is needed to provide support(technical and financial) for the monographicstudy and strategic plan drafting process.

� Actors' contributions depend on their level ofeducation and degree of motivation.

� The approach is a multi-actor approach:weaknesses in one of the links of the chainmay delay the whole process.

� Visual information (maps) must be used as atool for development and not for arbitration. Inno way should the process be seen as astrategy for resolving disputes.

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Cameroon Mali

'Learning by action' helped municipalities to build theircapacity in leaps and bounds.

Since the monographic study and strategic planningexercise, cooperation has improved betweenmunicipalities, communities, private and publicinstitutions, organisations for external support and civilorganisations.

Data from the monographic study and strategic planmade it possible to set up a municipal information system(SIC) in Cameroon.

The design of the monographic study and strategic planfollows the structure of the regional master plan. The datacollected may therefore be aggregated to contribute toprovincial and national development plans.

Capabilities for collecting and analysing municipal datahave been improved through 'learning by action'.

The council now has important basic data for the municipality.

Team spirit has been improved in the municipal council.

The populace now knows more about the potential oftheir shared land.

The process was carried out in a participatory way,helping to step up participation by citizens.

Cooperative links between the municipality, technicalservices and the supervisory authority have beenimproved. This has made it possible to link the municipalplan with sectoral policies in a much better way.

In more detail:

2.1.2.3. Challenges

� Even though changes have been made,applying the drafting process poses a numberof challenges. It still needs to be fine-tuned toimprove performance and facilitate ownershipof the tool by municipalities.

� The degree of complexity and the resourcesentailed in implementing the tool mean thatexternal support is needed to ensure fullownership. Therefore either new modulesenabling less external support need to bedeveloped or a tried and tested supportmechanism needs to be set in place.

� Documentation (a guide) on the use of thecollection tools needs to be drafted to enablemunicipalities and service providers, wherenecessary, to carry out their work in a morestraightforward way.

� Using reference-situation analysis tools forstrategic planning (linking the two stages)often requires a high level of expertise, whichmunicipal councillors may not possess, asmany of them are illiterate. This stage needs tobe improved and well supervised if ownershipis to be successful.

� Participatory drafting of the monographicstudy and strategic plan by a whole range ofactors may expose latent conflicts. This is whythe process requires mutual learning andongoing adaptation so that the strategy canbe well controlled and the tools appropriatelyadapted to the context.

� Only the municipal council is responsible forfollowing through and owning the process.However, it might be better to open it up toother competent actors in order to ease theburden on the municipality.

� In Mali, the other municipalities taking part inthe programme are keen to start work on themonographic study and strategic plan. However,the average cost of XOF 8,000,000 is not withinthe reach of most rural municipalities. Supportfrom financing partners is therefore needed ifthe process is actually to take place.

� In Cameroon, there are plans to use themonographic studies and strategic plans to draftregional master plans and, possibly, nationaldevelopment plans. The process thereforeneeds to be institutionalised. The monographicstudy and strategic plan may be a way ofspeeding up the decentralisation process.

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2.1.3. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

2.1.2.4. Practical advicefor replication

Testing of this approach in two very differentcultural and environmental contexts (English-speaking municipalities in Cameroon and French-speaking municipalities in Mali) proved that thedrafting process of the monographic study andstrategic plan could be replicated. However,successful replication will require adjustments toimprove performance and bolster ownership ofthe process by municipalities.

If replication is to be effective, our main advice isthe following: � communication needs to be improved betweenthe various municipal actors;� a simpler training module needs to be devisedwith practical exercises and simulations;� tools need to be translated into local languagesso that better use can be made of them;� training needs to be organised for newly literatevillagers for optimum management of amunicipality's human resources and betterownership of the process by non-elected actors.

The monographic study and the strategic plan arecapacity-building tools offering opportunities for'learning by action'. Highly effective planning tools,they offer municipalities an opportunity to forgeeffective cooperative links with civil society andcan help municipalities to carry out their remit ofpromoting development and reducing poverty.Finally, the logical framework of these toolsfacilitates a system of evaluation and monitoring bythe actors themselves.

Implementing a monographic study and strategicplan provides a detailed overview of amunicipality's needs and potential. The informationis shared with all the community's actors. This kindof approach may well enable realistic planning andevaluation of municipal development projects.

Municipalities gain better knowledge of theirenvironment and needs, with the result that theirdemands and investment plans are more realistic.As their capacity improves, municipalities

become aware that completing the process givesthem more credibility and makes it easier forthem to approach and convince donors.

When the process has been run and theworkshops to present results/reports held, werecommend discussing measures to updatereference-situation data and to encouragemunicipalities to act as leaders in rallying all theactors. This would improve the tool's performance.

In Cameroon, the design of the monographicstudy and strategic plan followed the structure ofthe regional master plan. The information collectedcan therefore be put into provincial and nationaldevelopment plans. This is a weighty argumentfor generalised use throughout the country. It isparticularly realistic because testing in a differentarea was a success. The task of Helvetas is nowto convince the central government that this is theright approach, so that it can be institutionalised.

Cameroon

Belo Rural Council, Council SupportProgramme-Helvetas. 2004. Belo RuralCouncil Strategic Plan.

Belo Rural Council, Council SupportProgramme-Helvetas. 2004. CouncilSupport Programme, monographic studies,Belo Rural Council (2004), 56 p.

Council Support Programme-Helvetas.2005. Council Support Programme, Phase I2004-2006, Half Yearly Report 2005 (Januaryto June).

MATD, Nkor Council, Council SupportProgramme-Helvetas. 2005. CouncilSupport Programme, monographic studies,Nkor Council, 83 p.

MATD, Nkor Council, Council SupportProgramme-Helvetas. 2005. NkorCouncil, Strategic Plan 2006-2010, 123 p.

Constitution of the Republic of Cameroon

Law No 96-06 of 18 January 1996, to amendthe Constitution of 02 June 1972.

Law No 2004/17 of 22 July 2004, on theOrientation of Decentralisation.

Law No 2004/18 of 22 July 2004, to lay downRules applicable to Councils.

54

CSP Council Support Programme (Helvetas Cameroon)

GPS Global Positioning System

LED Local Economic Development

MINEPATMinistère de la Planification, de la Programmation du Développement et de l'Aménagement du Territoire/Ministry of Planning, Programming and Regional Development

PAADProgramme d'Appui aux Acteurs de la Décentralisation (Helvetas Mali)/Support Programme for theActors of Decentralisation (Helvetas Mali)

PDESC Plan de Développement Economique, Social et Culturel/Economic, Social and Cultural Development Plan

SIC Système d'Information sur les Communes/Municipal Information System

ANNEX I : ACRONYMS

ANNEX II : BIBLIOGRAPHY

Law No 2004/19 of 22 July 2004, to lay downRules applicable to Regions.

Mali

Helvetas. 2004. Profil de l'élu communal en2004http://www.helvetas-mali.org/programmes/Doc/Profil%20de%20l%27%E9lu%20communal%20en%202004.pdf

Helvetas. 2004. Profil de l'élu(e) de la zone PAAD http://www.helvetas-mali.org/programmes/elue.html

Helvetas. 2005. Femmes élues PAAD. http://www.helvetas-mali.org/programmes/Doc/Femmes%20%E9lues%20PAD.pdf

Constitution of the Republic of Mali, 1992.

Law No 93-008 of 11/12/1993, laying down theconditions for independent administration bylocal governments, as amended by Law No

96-056 of 16/10/1996.

Law No 95-034 of 12/04/1995, setting out alocal government code for the Republic ofMali, as amended by Law No 98-010 of15/16/1998 amended by Law No 98-066 of30/12/1998.

Decree No 95-210/P-RM of 30/05/1995, layingdown conditions for the appointment ofstate representatives in local governmentand their prerogatives.

Cameroon

Markus ISCHEREmail: [email protected]

Christian ASANGAEmail: [email protected]

Mali

Jacques TAMINIEmail: [email protected]

Ibrahima SYLLAEmail: [email protected]

Moussoulimoune Yehiya MAïGAEmail: [email protected]

Key documents online:

Helvetas Cameroon

Belo Rural Council, Council Support Programme-Helvetas. 2004. Belo Rural Council strategic plan.

http://www.helvetascameroon.org/Cameroon/global/ pdf/programme/csp/Strategic-Plan-Belo-Councel-2004.pdf

Belo Rural Council, Council Support Programme-Helvetas. 2004. Council Support Programme,monographic studies.

http://www.helvetascameroon.org/Cameroon/global/ pdf/programme/csp/Monographic Study-Belo-Councel-2004.pdf

Council Support Programme-Helvetas. 2005.Council Support Programme, Phase I, 2004-2006,Half Yearly Report 2005 (January to June).

http://www.helvetascameroon.org/Cameroon/global/ pdf/programme/csp/CSP-Half-Yearly-Report-2005.pdf

HELVETAS CAMEROON-CSP. Council Mono-graphic Study and Strategic Plan, Guidelines 2,Learning and Experience Sharing Series.

http://www.helvetascameroon.org/Cameroon/global/pdf/programme/csp/Monographic%20Study%20and%20Strategic%20Plan%20(MSSP)%20Guidelines.pdf

55

ANNEX III: RESOURCE PERSONS, ONLINE DOCUMENTS AND USEFUL

ADDRESSES

HELVETAS CAMEROON-CSP. MonographicStudies, Socio Economic Data Collection Forms.

http://www.helvetascameroon.org/Cameroon/global/pdf/programme/csp/MSSP%20Tool%204A%20Sample%20of%20Socio-Economic%20Data%20Collection %20Forms.pdf

HELVETAS CAMEROON-CSP. MonographicStudies, GPS Data Collection Forms.

http://www.helvetascameroon.org/Cameroon/global/pdf/programme/csp/MSSP%20Tool%204B%20Sample%20of%20GPS%20Data%20Collection%20Forms.pdf

Local Good Governance in Cameroon, Roles andResponsabilities of Councils and Partners. 2004.

http://www.helvetascameroon.org/Cameroon/global/ pdf/programme/cps/Roles-and-Responsabilities-of-Councillors-Manual-2004.pdf

MATD, Nkor Council, Council Support Programme-Helvetas. 2005. Council Support Programme,monographic studies.

http://www.helvetascameroon.org/Cameroon/global/pdf/programme/csp/MSSP%20Tool%206%20Sample%20of%20Monographic%20Study.pdf

MATD, Nkor Council, Council Support Pro-gramme-Helvetas. 2005. Nkor Council, StrategicPlan 2006-2010.

http://www.helvetascameroon.org/Cameroon/global/ pdf/programme/csp/MSSP-Tool-7-Sample-of-Strategic-Plan.pdf

Restricted tender document for contractingauthorities for the elaboration of MonographicStudy and five years Strategic Plan.

http://www.helvetascameroon.org/Cameroon/global/pdf/programme/cps/MSSP%20Tool%201%20Sample%20of%20MSSP%20Tender%20Document%20for%20Contracting%20Authorities.pdf

Helvetas Mali

Profil de l'élu communal en 2004.http://www.helvetas-mali.org/programmes/Doc/Profil%20de%20l%27%E9lu%20communal%20en%202004.pdf

Profil de l'élu(e) de la zone PAAD en 2004.http://www.helvetas-mali.org/programmes/elue.html

Femmes élues PAAD en 2005.http://www.helvetas-mali.org/programmes/Doc/Femmes%20%E9lues%20PAD.pdf

Useful addresses:

Helvetas Cameroon:

Commercial Avenue, P.O. Box 114, Bamenda Tel: (+237) 36 17 30Fax: (+237) 36 22 30Email: [email protected]: http://www.helvetascameroon.org

Helvetas Mali:

Quartier Hippodrome (Rue 254, Porte 416),BP 1635, BamakoTel : (+223) 221 09 64/65Fax: (+223) 221 93 16Email: [email protected]: http://www.helvetas-mali.org

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57

2.2. Niger: Planning and M&E in municipalities, focusingon poverty reduction

The authors of this study, ‘Planning and M&E in municipalities, focusing on poverty

reduction’ are Gaoussou Sène and Zeinabou Ouédraogo who have been closely involved indesigning and testing the tools described (see Annex IV).

They show how relatively recent democratic decentralisation and support measures by technicaland financial partners has led to the design and testing of a number of tools with local authorities.

A particularly innovative feature is the stress placed on encouraging the actors to think how theMillennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the National Poverty Reduction Strategy can be takeninto account in municipal planning and its monitoring and evaluation.

This experiment also shows the advantages of drawing on prior experience, such as certainelements of a self-evaluation tool for local authorities, already tested in Mali, and adapting it to theNigerien context of decentralisation and local governance.

However, like many approaches aiming to help citizens to take a more responsible attitude to theplanning, monitoring and evaluation of local development, the main challenge continues to be oneof achieving a nationally acknowledged tool that will be used throughout the country once the testphase has been completed.

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Introduction 59

2.2.1. Presentation and analysis of the guide 602.2.1.1. Decentralisation challenges: the need to agree on how to support

municipalities 602.2.1.2. Targeted objectives and actors 612.2.1.3. Basic assumptions and tools 622.2.1.4. Cost of producing a municipal development plan 672.2.1.5. Strengths and weaknesses of the approach 682.2.1.6. Building the capacity of the decentralisation actors and

strengthening the institutional framework 69

2.2.2. Ownership, sustainability and replication 70

2.2.3. Lessons learned 70

2.2.4. Conclusions and outlook 71

Annex I : Acronyms 72Annex II : Bibliography 72Annex III : Details of resource institutions and persons 73

TABLE OF CONTENTS

59

78- Of the 52 urban municipalities, 21 already existed before the reform.

In November 2004, the Nigerien government setup the new decision-making and executive bodiesfor the municipalities. The elected municipalcouncillors and ex-officio members of themunicipal council (traditional chiefs and MPs inthe National Assembly) were invited to electmayors and deputy mayors. Official inaugurationceremonies for the municipal councils were thenheld throughout the country. At the ceremonies,the State representatives described the mandateof the new municipal authorities as follows:

‘In being elected, your job now is to design, planand implement development measures inresponse to the priority needs of the people whoelected you.’

To bolster the government’s efforts, variousdevelopment partners are helping the municipalitiesto improve their operation and develop theircapacities in order to meet local people’sexpectations.

Since 1999, SNV-Niger has been providing supportfor the decentralisation process. It began by helpingthe central government to design and implementtools for the radical reform of the political andadministrative system, and then helped to improvetechnical capacities in some urban municipalities,such as municipality V at Niamey or Magaria in theZinder region. Once the new municipal bodiesstarted work, the number of SNV-Niger’s partnermunicipalities increased from 5 to 38.

Capacity building in these municipalities mainlyinvolved helping to set up and run the municipalbodies by organising training and discussion days

and also by providing on-the-spot support toimprove operations. Through these initialactivities, the SNV advisors and their partners hadidentified a real need for tools to plan, manage,monitor and evaluate municipal activities. This waswhere the idea arose to develop a municipalplanning and M&E guide, incorporating theMillennium Development Goals (MDGs) and theNational Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS), with aview to developing a decentralised municipalplanning system involving many different actors.

The approach developed in this guide is anattempt to respond to the many basic questionsabout municipal life. It also aims to help municipalcouncils with multi-annual planning so that theycan provide the services and products that meetlocal needs.

The approach adopted responds to the followingcurrent needs:� to inform/improve decision making at variouslevels;� to monitor the operation and performance ofthe municipal authorities;� to make the various actors accountable for theuse of resources;� to improve people’s familiarity with and under-standing of the concepts of MDGs/PRS and localgovernance;� to promote democratic control;� to establish a baseline as reference point;� to improve the way in which results are monitored.

What makes this guide different is its simplicityin relation to the concerns it deals with. It runs to30 pages, starting with performance self-evaluation and concluding with annual monitoring

INTRODUCTION

In Niger, the municipal elections in July 2004 marked an important step inthe lengthy process of reforms designed to install a decentralised political andadministrative system. At the end of this democratic decentralisationprocess, 265 municipalities were established (231 rural and 52 urban) as thebasic territorial units.78

No map of the new post-reform administrative territorial breakdown isavailable as yet, but should eventually make it easier to identify nationalpriority action areas under the new measures in the decentralisation process.

60

79- This term refers to the ‘services déconcentrés’, i.e. the representatives and staff of different sectoral ministrieswith a mandate for providing public services at the sub-national level.

and the final evaluation of realistic developmentmeasures, which all the municipal actors havebeen involved in planning. All of thesedevelopment measures refer to the MDG/PRSindicators at every stage of their planning andimplementation. Emphasis is placed on exchangesof information between the actors throughout theprocess.

This case study gives a simple presentation ofthe various stages and steps involved, from designto testing, and how this participatory approach toplanning and implementing developmentmeasures was put into practice.

In view of the problems encountered by theNigerien Government in carrying out decentralisationand the huge range of measures taken by thetechnical and financial partners (TFPs), SNV wasdetermined to develop a planning and M&E tool thateveryone recognised.

2.2.1.1. Decentralisationchallenges: the need toagree on how to supportmunicipalities

Problems in implementingdecentralisation

Niger is one of the poorest countries in the world,coming 177th out of 177 countries on the HumanDevelopment Index (HDI) in 2005. Successivecoups d’état have seriously undermined the socio-economic life of the country. The national confer-ence in 1991 marked the real starting point fordemocracy and decentralisation.

Prior to decentralisation, legislation was introducedthat laid down the conditions for the freeadministration of local government, along with theconditions and procedures for the election andoperation of the new municipalities. A massiveinformation and awareness campaign was organisedthroughout the country to explain this legislation, butit appears to remain poorly understood at themunicipal level. More workshops on the legislationcould improve people’s understanding of whatdecentralisation really involves. As matters stand,the various actors (decentralised technicaldepartments79, civil society, private operators andelected councillors) interpret the legislation as bestsuits them, as far as the redistribution of roles andresponsibilities is concerned.

2.2.1. PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF THE GUIDE

The State provided the municipalities with thefollowing start-up help:� former administrative buildings for use aspremises for the council and municipal executive;� office furniture;� help in getting the first municipal budgetadopted and implemented;� a very small start-up grant, most of which wasused for council and municipal executive runningcosts (mayor’s salary and costs of meetings).

In such circumstances, how could the legislationbe implemented and free administration achievedin practice? Once the new administrative systemwas put in place, the next urgent question washow to support the fledgling municipalities asthey took their first steps.

As the State could not afford to support themunicipalities itself, it turned to its technical andfinancial partners. These provided help, dependingon their interests and the areas in which theyoperated, either for the national institutionsresponsible for establishing and supporting themunicipalities or directly to the municipalitiesthemselves. However, this help was not evenlydistributed around the country. One year after theelections, while some municipalities werereceiving plenty of financial and technicalassistance, others were still wondering how theywere going to get their municipalities up andrunning! This led to a two-speed decentralisation,with some adequately funded municipalitiesworking well and others, with no partners and littlefunding, struggling to work at all.

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Growing demand from themunicipalities for support

The municipalities soon began to seekapproaches and tools for designing andimplementing local development measures. TheMinistry of Town and Country Planning andCommunity Development (MATDC), which isresponsible for designing such measures, did notdo enough to harmonise the support provided bythe various partners and to ensure that everyonetook ownership of the tools available. It left it tothe development agencies to take the initiative,each acting as it saw fit within its own area. TheMinistry confined itself to approving the resultssporadically achieved, once it had checked thatthey complied with the legislation.

In this institutional environment, there waspractically no consultation between developmentagencies or harmonisation of their activities.Different training modules were developed on thesame subjects and sometimes distributed in thesame municipalities. In the Zinder region, forinstance, SNV and the Community Action Program(CAP), launched by the government and the WorldBank, both distributed a training module for electedofficers and municipal actors on their roles andresponsibilities in Zinder municipality II and Niamey.The same thing happened with SNV and thePoverty Reduction Framework Programme/LocalDevelopment Support Programme (PCLCP/PADL), supported by the UNDP, in the municipalityof Bandé.

In order to try to rectify this lack of coherence,stop the support effort from being dissipated andpool activities and tools, SNV attempted to link upthe various partners involved with developmentsupport and local governance in the areas whereit operated. This produced encouraging results,such as the provision by the partnership betweenSNV and LUCOP-TA80 for training municipal actorsin some municipalities and the creation of theworking group ‘Making decentralisation work inZinder’, which has made it easier for differentdevelopment support and decentralisation actorsto exchange information81. These exchanges haveidentified a need for tools that enable nationalpoverty-reduction targets to be taken into accountin municipal planning.

80- The German assisted poverty reduction project in the Tahoua region.81- This group, under the guidance of SNV-Niger, has also proposed regional information days to raise the awareness

of MDGs/PRS in regard to regional projects, programmes and directorates, NGOs, associations and opinionleaders, elected councillors and traditional chiefs.

It was against this backdrop that SNV startedwork on a guide for municipal developmentplanning and monitoring/evaluation, whichincludes a tool for self-evaluation of performance.

2.2.1.2. Targetedobjectives and actors

Decentralisation in Niger is seen as a strategy toget ordinary people more involved in the processof poverty reduction. It has led to the introductionof elected municipal bodies and provides for localorganisations to be involved in identifying,planning, implementing and M&E of municipaldevelopment measures.

The tools proposed in the guide are consistentwith this idea of greater popular involvement.They are designed to:� give municipal actors greater capacity to evalu-ate their own performance as local actors ingovernment, development and poverty reduction;� build the capacity of these actors to managelocal affairs transparently and to be accountableto local people;� stimulate the interest of actors in civil society inthe work of their municipality and their new roleas both opposition to and partners of these newpublic entities;� give actors in civil society greater capacity toexercise this democratic control and to callmunicipal officers to account.

The guide for municipal development planningand monitoring/evaluation is intended for localactors, particularly:�municipal actors (elected and ex-officio councillors,municipal departments);� decentralised government departments (health,primary education, town planning, hydraulicengineering, etc.);� local actors in civil society and civil associationsand organisations (NGOs, groups, cooperatives,trade unions, etc.).

The guide aims to help these actors to have aharmonised view of their roles and responsibilitiesin municipal development. It promotes a moreparticipatory and realistic approach to planningmunicipal development. Initially, it enables thedevelopment of local tools to monitor, evaluateand reprogramme planned measures, and it thengoes on to establish a mechanism for participatorymonitoring and evaluation of the performance ofmunicipal authorities.

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The guide offers tried and tested tools for thedevelopment agencies who provide themunicipalities with help and support in their initialplanning and in monitoring their activities.

It offers the central government simple andeffective tools for planning and M&E of localdevel-opment, with the aim of promotingownership and in-depth exploitation of theMDGs/PRS at the municipal level.

2.2.1.3. Basicassumptions and tools

Basic assumptions

The design and use of this guide are based onthe assumption that planning municipaldevelopment is an opportunity for ordinary peopleto feel responsible for their own development interms of rights and duties to be observed. Thiscan help to trigger a move away from a lack oftransparency towards the transparent andsustainable management of local affairs.

In addition to planning tools, municipalities inNiger also need tools to monitor and evaluate theimplementation of local plans, since these willserve to strengthen democratic control.

Stages and tools

SNV-Niger’s ‘local governance’ team drew onexisting planning, monitoring and evaluation toolsfrom Niger and elsewhere in West Africa, such asthe self-evaluation tool for local governmentperformance in Mali82 and in Guinea-Bissau, theplanning guide in Mali and in Benin, and a numberof reports on their application. These tools werereviewed and summarised and the indicatorsused were reformulated to take greater accountof the gender dimension.

In addition, in order to take the idea of municipalself-evaluation further, SNV-Niger relied, inparticular, on one component of the Mali self-evaluation tool, focusing on how the municipalityis run and relations between the municipality andother local actors.

82- This experiment was also reported at the sub-regional seminar 'Building capacities for monitoring and evaluation ofdecentralisation and local governance in West Africa: exchange of experience and learning'. See MATCL/DNCT-SNV-Helvetas-PACT/GTZ (2004).

The Niger tool therefore focuses exclusively onhow the municipal authorities operate, particularlythe administrative operation of the municipalexecutive and the municipal council, and relationsbetween these two entities and the other actorsin municipal development.

The municipal planning guide incorporating theMDGs/PRS proposes dividing the planning andmonitoring/evaluation of municipal developmentinto four stages:

� Stage 1: assisted self-evaluation of the runningof the municipality;

� Stage 2: planning of municipal development,taking account of MDGs/PRS;

� Stage 3: monitoring the application of theannual programme of work, and reprogramming;

� Stage 4: evaluation of changes over a numberof years, and restarting the process.

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Stages Steps Actors Results

Assisted self-evaluation

of running of

municipality

� Decision by municipal council� Setting up of technical committee� Preparation of evaluation� Identification and invitation of

participants� Holding of workshop

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� Defining committees' mandate� Producing performance indicators� Drawing up of monitoring

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n

Evaluation of change

over a number of years

and restarting

the process

� Collecting data� Preparing evaluation methods� Identifying and inviting participants� Holding evaluation and

reprogramming workshop� Organising and executing

reprogramming

Municipal councilTechnical dptsAssociationsCooperativesTrade unionsGroupsLocal leadersResource persons Pr

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ss r

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on

the

bas

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f th

ele

sso

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lear

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Municipal development

planning taking account

of MDGs/PRS

� Preparation of technical committeeand planning approach

� Holding forums� Workshop to collate results of

forums� Planning workshop� Drafting of plan� Adoption of MDP by municipal

council

Municipal councilTechnical dptsAssociationsCooperativesTrade unionsGroupsLocal leadersResource persons

Mu

nic

ipal

dev

elo

pm

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Planning proposed in the guide

Stage 1: assisted self-evaluation ofrunning of municipality

This stage diagnoses how the municipalauthorities operate and identifies how they interactwith other actors in the municipality. It takes threeto four days.

All the different groups of actors attend to ensurethat each is equally well informed about its roleand responsibilities. This makes the subsequentplanning dynamic more effective.

Before this municipal planning process begins, amunicipal technical committee is set up, chaired bythe mayor and made up of legitimate representativesof the various socio-economic groups. Thecommittee must be approved by the municipalcouncil at the meeting when the process is launched.It prepares and leads the various steps involved in thedifferent stages of the planning process.

The self-evaluation workshop is a sort ofinformal debate in which a shared view isdeveloped of the legislation defining the roles and

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responsibilities of each type of actor and how theymight relate to the municipal bodies. Once thishas been clarified, the framework for assisted self-evaluation of internal organisation, administrativeand financial man-agement and the mobilisation ofresources is used to analyse the municipality’sperformance in these three fields, as well as toidentify the strengths and weaknesses of eachgroup of actors. Once the three groups formed forthe workshop (elected officers, decentralisedtechnical departments and civil society) have metagain for discussions, the consensus table orsummary of scores is used to collate the scoresawarded by the groups. This then highlights thepriority areas where the municipal actors need toimprove or need help. The three groups can thenput forward proposals for improving their ownperformance and make commitments to improvetheir contribution to the management of themunicipality and the implementation of thedevelopment measures.

At the end of this stage, a realistic, short-term actionplan is produced using the framework for a short-term action plan to implement priority measures andcontaining the support and consolidation measuresthat the municipality needs. This plan is designed tosolve the operational problems identified and issupported by all the actors, who know theirresponsibilities. The municipal council is responsiblefor implementing the plan.

Stage 2: municipal developmentplanning, taking account ofMDGs/PRS

This stage establishes to the extent to which themeasures taken by the municipality are helping toachieve the MDGs/PRS. It can take between 15and 25 days.

The planning phase begins in the municipalitywith a general presentation of the concepts of theMillennium Development Goals and the PovertyReduction Strategy in Niger. Subjects discussedwith the councillors and technical departmentsrepresenting various areas of activities include theorigin of the concepts, links with the developmentof Niger in general and of the municipality inparticular, etc.

One of the examples used relates to Goal 2 ofthe Millennium Development Goals: ‘thedeveloping countries must achieve universalprimary education by 2015’. A comparison ismade with the situation in the municipality (theproportion of children attending primary schoolusually varies between 40% and 60%). There isthen a discussion of how to increase the rate ofschool attendance in the municipality.

Using the framework for information/awarenessof the MDGs/PRS, the discussions look atquestions such as the following: Aren’t we allaffected by the MDGs/PRS? What practical stepsshould we take to help to achieve some of theMDG/PRS indicators? The meeting ends withstrong recommendations for analysing themunicipality’s development measures from thepoint of view of poverty reduction.

The technical committee is trained by thefacilitator in how to prepare and run the ‘fora’, whichare consultation meetings for the general public.

The fora are then held. The general public isinformed about the concepts of MDGs/PRS andidentifies the priority problems that they want to seeresolved using the table analysing the municipality’sproblems in relation to the MDGs/PRS.

Type of questions asked: Do the problemsraised come under the MDG goals? What level ofachievement of the goals is provided for in thePRS? What contribution can the municipalitymake? What local solutions can be proposedinvolving all the local actors?

The technical committee (which is made up ofresource persons who are very familiar with thevarious areas of activities or themes) then meetsand collates the results of the forums using thetable listing the municipality’s opportunities/potential. At this point, an assessment is made ofwhat the opportunities/potential are and whichpriority problems they could help to resolve. Then,using the analytical grid of data by theme, thecommittee classifies the solutions proposedunder a maximum of three or four themes linkedto the achievement of the MDGs/PRS.

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A planning workshop led by the technicalcommittee is then held, involving the municipalcouncil, the technical departments, three to fourrepresentatives from each forum, the partnerNGOs, resource persons, associations,cooperatives, groups from the municipality, and soon. The municipal planning matrix is then used toplan the main development strands over, at most,the next five years. The municipality undertakes totake practical steps to improve people’s livingconditions while at the same time helping toachieve certain MDG/PRS indicators. The municipalannual programme table then makes it easier toplan the municipality’s priority developmentmeasures over the next year, providing estimates ofthe overall costs of the activities, and thus making iteasier to approach the development partners.

Stage 3: monitoring/evaluation ofimplementation of annual actionprogramme and reprogramming

The participatory mechanism for the quarterly orannual monitoring of the implementation of theannual programme is explained to all the actors inthe municipality. The municipal council then has toset up monitoring committees for each themeselected at the planning stage. These committeeshave the job of ensuring that the prioritymeasures are being implemented and, ifnecessary, of reminding the municipal counciland all the actors in the municipality of thecommitments they made to implement theannual programme. The committees can alsomake practical suggestions about how to carryout some of the activities planned.

This stage is carried out using a guide that givesthe information needed, such as the tasks of amonitoring committee (drawing up simpleindicators and a timetable of meetings to monitorprogress in implementing the measures; issuingreminders and proposals, if necessary, forimplementing certain measures, etc.) and whoshould be on it (to ensure that it is open to officialsfrom the technical departments and civil societyorganisations). It also sets out working methods,such as how to produce minutes of meetings onwhich to base the final evaluation, etc.

Stage 4: evaluation of change over anumber of years and restarting theprocess

In this final stage, the measures taken and thosestill to be carried out can be evaluated, eitherevery year or at the end of the number of yearsdecided at the outset.

An analysis of the implementation of the municipaldevelopment plan and the progress made by themunicipal team during its term of office is given toall the local actors who have taken part. Everyonecan therefore be involved in identifying the reasonsfor successes and failures, and pathways can beproposed for restarting the process based on thelessons learned from this initial experience. Aworkshop for the assisted self-evaluation of themunicipality’s performance is held. It looks at theservices provided and the investments made aswell as the running of the municipality itself.

This particular step and work on the varioustools are currently ongoing.

Involvement of actors in designingand testing the guide

Local actors and the TFPs have been involved indesigning and testing the guide.

Local actors (municipal councillors,decentralised State technical departments,members of civil society, opinion leaders, aidorganisations and local people) have all beenactively and continuously involved in providing acritical analysis of the methods and tools usedduring the process.

The municipality of Danchiao in the Zinderregion, on the border between Niger and Nigeria,is a major trading area. The municipal actorstherefore proposed measuring the municipality’sperformance using indicators related to promotingthe export of local products.

Technical and financial partners contributedlittle to the design of this guide in the end, sincethey often already had a planning guide that theyfound satisfactory. They were, however,interested in some of the tools, such asinformation on the MDGs/PRS, assisted self-evaluation, etc.

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Since June 2005, the improved guide hascontinued to be tested in municipalities in Niger.

Eight of the SNV’s 11 partner municipalities in theZinder region have completed the self-evaluationof their municipality’s performance and are nowimplementing their short-term action plan. One ofthese municipalities has completed the entireplanning process and is currently setting up thethematic monitoring committees. Three of themunicipalities are at the stage of consulting localpeople (the forums). The municipality of Dantchiaois planning to send a member of its technicalcommittee to the neighbouring municipality ofDungass in order to help get the process started.

SNV-Niger is continuing to collect comments,assessments and proposed improvements to theplanning guide, particularly at informal meetingsin the municipalities. Once the guide has been inoperation for a year, SNV-Niger hopes to evaluateexperiences of using it.

Role of SNV advisors and externalmoderators

The approach described here requires themunicipality, as the authority in charge of municipaldevelopment, to steer the activities. However,because local actors have only limited experience,the municipalities need a facilitator/moderator toguide them through the various stages of theprocess. This moderator (currently SNV advisors,but eventually other people familiar with the tool)introduces the various parties to and trains them inusing the planning and monitoring/evaluation tools,prepares meetings, gives introductory talks on theMDGs/PRS and explains the roles of the municipalactors.

Up to now, SNV-Niger has performed the role offacilitator. Initially it helped to set up the steeringcommittee for the planning process and got itrunning. Then it supervised and guided theplanning activities and, finally, helped the partiesto evaluate the various stages of the test in orderto capitalise on experience and contributetowards finalising the tools.

Testing the guide and its tools

SNV-Niger began by testing the tool for self-evaluation of municipal performance in its partnermunicipality of Konni in the Tahoua region. A draftentitled ‘Municipal development planning toolsand method, taking account of the MDGs/PRS’was then produced.

Comments, particularly about the tool’s ability tomobilise municipal actors in the pursuit of commonobjectives, encouraged other SNV-Niger teams,especially those in Zinder, Maradi and Niamey, totest Stage 1 in one or two municipalities.

The draft guide was also distributed to SNVdecentralisation advisors in Mali and Burkina Fasofor critical analysis, comments and proposedimprovements. The reactions there enabled us toflesh out some of the stages and tools, theintended time-span, the proposed approach and,above all, the relative number of types of actorswho should be involved in the activities.

An internal evaluation meeting was held atwhich the different teams pooled theirobservations. The approach and tools used werediscussed and analysed, and an improved versionof the guide was produced, which now tookaccount of the need to bring the municipal actorsup to standard through self-evaluation of themunicipality’s performance.

The outcome of the consultations on the first draftcoincided with the signing of a cooperationagreement between SNV-World and UNDP for theachievement of the Millennium Development Goalsand the National Poverty Reduction Strategies inthe countries where they operate. The self-evaluation tool indicators were then revised to fitbetter with the MDG and PRS indicators.

An ex-post evaluation of the technical andmethodological support provided by SNV-Nigerand its partners was also conducted to find outwhether this helped the municipalities to operateefficiently and to provide local people with high-quality services. One of the recommendationsthat came out of this evaluation was thatmunicipalities should be given more help todevelop planning tools tailored towards povertyreduction, further reinforcing the idea that theguide needed to be improved.

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2.2.1.4. Cost of producinga municipal developmentplan

In order to give an idea of the costs involved inproducing a municipal development plan usingthe approach proposed in the guide, we havesummarised the costs incurred in the ruralmunicipality of Dantchiao in the Zinder region.This is currently the only municipality for whichSNV has sufficient data.

According to the 2001 general populationcensus, the rural municipality of Dantchiaocomprises 47 administrative villages, 39 hamletsand 31 tribes. At that time it had 41,430inhabitants and a surface area of 522 km2, givinga population density of around 79/km2.

It should be noted that the costs listed aremainly logistical expenses (hiring meeting rooms,transport, meals and accommodation forparticipants, etc.) relating to the organisation ofthe first two stages of the planning process: self-evaluation of municipal operation and drafting of amunicipal development plan, taking povertyreduction objectives into account. As the last twostages are long term, it is currently difficult toassess all the costs involved.

The cost of the technical assistance provided bythe SNV-Niger advisors is not included in thistable, but their involvement can be evaluated at25 person/days, broken down into 15 days of fieldwork and 10 days for preparing and helping tofinalise documents (reports and plan). In somemunicipalities, just one advisor was involved,helped by a local resource person with thenecessary skills. In others, two advisors wereneeded, so the number of days increased to 50.

Activities Number of days Number of persons Total cost in XOF

SELF-EVALUATION

Organising and holding workshop 5 40 500,000

Running technical committee 5 10 375,000

DRAFTING of MDP

Preparing technical committee workshop 2 10 150,000

Organising forums 14 40-60 1 925,000

Pooling and summarising data 2 10 150,000

Organising planning workshop 4 40 400,000

Drafting MDP 3 10 225,000

Approval of MDP by municipal council 2 30 300,000

Handing-over of MDP to communities 7 3 157,000

GRAND TOTAL 44 days 4,182,000

COST OF TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE

The overall cost of the process varies depending on the size of the municipality, the size of itspopulation, the number of forums organised, the number of members of the technical committee, etc.

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2.2.1.5. Strengths andweaknesses of theapproach

Strengths

� All users of the guide particularly welcomed theconstant reference made to the MDGs/PRSduring the main planning stages. With theimproved guide, all the measures decided uponare planned in such a way that they contributetowards achieving certain MDG/PRS indicators.

� Local people know more about the internationalundertakings that Niger has given in relation to thePoverty Reduction Strategy and the MillenniumDevelopment Goals, making them more willing toplay an active part in reducing poverty.

� The approach used by the guide requires localactors to be actively involved in the planningprocess. This then makes it easier to implementthe measures decided upon and helps toestablish a shared view of these actors’ rightsand responsibilities.

� The development of the municipality is nolonger solely in the hands of the municipalcouncil, but becomes the responsibility of all themunicipal actors through their representatives inthe thematic monitoring committees.

� Experience shows that setting up a technicalcommittee to support all stages of the planningand monitoring/evaluation process enables themunicipality to take responsibility for directing itsown development.

� The municipal development plan is seen as aunanimously accepted reference document forthe municipality, not just the municipal council,which all the municipal actors use. The localcontribution is stressed as being of primaryimportance; asking the TFPs for help in achievingpriority goals only comes later.

� The approach develops an atmosphere of trustbetween the municipal actors involved in theplanning process. The technical departments arebeginning to realise the need to overhaul theirformer practices, particularly developing andimplementing local measures without involvinglocal people.

Solidarity is undergoing a revival thanks to therenewal of trust between the parties involved (themunicipality’s executive and decision-makingbodies, government departments and localpeople). This is because the municipal bodieshave to be accountable for the measures takenand because efforts are made to find solutions tothe most urgent local problems throughconsultation and consensus.

� In some of the municipalities that followedthe process proposed in the guide, the issue ofmobilising municipal taxes and charges is nolonger a major concern. People in the municipalitywait for specific proposals from the municipalbodies and then make additional contributions ontop of their ordinary taxes. When asked why theydo this, they said, ‘Now we know where ourmoney is going. We can check how our money isbeing managed at any time. We really feelencouraged by what the local council is doing.’

� The approach proposed in the guide allows themonitoring committees the scope to developtools and methods that are appropriate for localsituations, making monitoring easier.

� Using local languages for presentations anddiscussions encourages as many people aspossible to take part and to make relevantproposals. Planning and discussing the tools inlocal languages also encouraged those concernedto get involved in the discussion of methods.

Weaknesses

The guide’s present weaknesses have to dowith the fact that it is still in development.

� In theory, implementing the planning approachproposed by the guide takes 45 days for eachmunicipality, spread over six to nine months. Inreality, the process takes longer. The timerequired for the planning stages is due to the factthat some of the steps are difficult to carry out ina country as poor as Niger. That is particularly trueof the collection of quantitative data on the variousthematic priorities chosen, which is necessary ifthe planning process is to be valid. It is thereforeessential to involve the technical departments inproviding more databases.

In the Tahoua region, for instance, the planningprocess was started in March 2005 in threemunicipalities. By May 2006 only one of the threehad completed the planning.

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� Some procedures, such as the setting up andoperation of the municipal steering committee,need further improvement. Experience has shownthat there is a rapid turnover of members,resulting in delays and bottlenecks. It shouldtherefore be ensured that members of thiscommittee are chosen because they are availableand committed rather than just representative.� The needs expressed by women at the publicconsultation days are not adequately reflected inthe final municipal development plan. The reasonappears to be that gender is not systematicallytaken into account in the second part of theguide. This must be rectified.� The municipal planning guide says nothingabout how to set about drafting the municipaldevelopment plan. Information on the broadoutlines to follow would make it easier to draft.Otherwise, even though the same approach isused, the quality of the final documents variesconsiderably.

2.2.1.6. Building thecapacity of thedecentralisation actorsand strengthening theinstitutional framework

Supporting the municipal actors involves puttingthem in touch with each other so that they eachknow their own roles and responsibilities and areready to join forces with others to work effectivelyand sustainably. Each stage of the proposedapproach and all the tools and methods, adapted tolocal requirements with the help of all the municipalactors, are designed to be capacity building, sincethe actors are the ones who carry them out:

� The assisted self-evaluation of themunicipality’s performance is a practicaltraining course for the municipal actors in whatthey need to do to play a responsible and effectivepart in the autonomous free administration anddevelopment of the municipality. The end result isa very short-term action plan (six months onaverage) to correct the deficiencies identified, notjust in the internal operation of the municipalcouncil, but also in its ongoing interaction with thetechnical departments, civil society and themunicipal leaders as part of successfuldevelopment management based on participation.

� The planning phase systematically refers tothe Millennium Development Goals and theobjectives of the National Poverty ReductionStrategy. This innovative aspect enables themunicipal actors to find out about and understandthese national objectives and to define municipaloptions so as to help to achieve some of them.

The process generates cooperation betweenmembers of the municipal council, the devolvedtechnical departments of the State and the actorsof civil society working on the ground in theirmunicipality. Experience has shown that theinteraction and cooperation developed during thisplanning and M&E process create confidence andovercome many prejudices. Rumours such as ‘thetechnical departments are doing their best to ignoreeverything we set out to do’, ‘since it was set upthere has been absolutely no transparency in howthe municipal council has run the municipality’ or‘the associations are refusing to work with themunicipal council’ are no longer heard in themunicipalities that have adopted the participatoryplanning suggested in the guide. The inter-community consultation days are ideal occasionsfor the mayor, the municipal council and localpeople to get on the same wavelength.

The mayor of one of the municipalities bore thisout with this example: ‘As part of the fight againstmalaria in my municipality, I banned people in thevillages from sowing in order to avoid mosquitoes,and I was accused of being a dictator. At the sixforums held in my municipality, four proposedbanning seed in the villages to prevent malaria, soI am definitely in tune with my local people.’

The approach also strengthens accountability. Allthe documents produced are public and madeavailable to local people, from initial design to finalevaluation and reprogramming. The committees areaware that they have a duty to disseminate theresults of their meetings regularly through local radio.

The guide tested by SNV has been welcomed byits partners. The MATDC often points mayors inthe direction of municipalities that have used it sothat they can learn from their experience, and theMinistry is currently hoping to draft a nationalmunicipal planning guide. SNV therefore needs towork on its arguments in favour of its guide toensure that it is included when experiences fromaround the country are collated.

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It should be easy for users to take ownership ofthis planning and monitoring/evaluation approachbecause all the actors concerned are involved andhave to face up to their responsibilities at everystage. Users thus feel motivated to do their bestin their role of directing the municipality’sdevelopment, in meetings both with the centralgovernment and with technical and financialpartners.

The extent to which the approach is used dependson how far municipal officers are prepared to takeownership of tools of democratic governance. Theguide tends to be used in proportion to theirorganisational and financial capacities, while thestages and tools tend to be used according to theinterest they generate and at a pace decided byeach municipality. This flexibility is another factorpromoting ownership of the guide.

SNV-Niger designed this approach in the hope thatit would be replicated in different environmentalcontexts, but it has as yet not yet been usedoutside the areas where it operates (38 of the 265

municipalities in Niger). Nevertheless, SNV iscurrently in talks with the Zinder and Tahouamanagement units of the Food Security Aidthrough Small-Scale Irrigation (AZAPI) and CAPwith a view to testing the guide’s approach in theirpartner municipalities. It is also planning to workwith CAP to support certain municipalities in theZinder region that do not have aid partners.

In line with developments in municipalities’needs, SNV-Niger has adapted the guide to allowscope for producing a short-term municipaldevelopment plan (maximum two years).

All of this has encouraged the SNV advisors topresent the guide, its approach and some of theresults obtained during testing at a preliminarymeeting with the MATDC and the supportpartners in the decentralisation process. Sincethen, as we saw earlier, the MATDC has decidedthat it would like to produce a reference municipalplanning guide. Defending ‘its guide’ to theMinistry is one of the challenges facing SNV.

2.2.2. OWNERSHIP, SUSTAINABILITY AND REPLICATION

2.2.3. LESSONS LEARNED

Experience with using this guide has taught usthe following lessons:

� Everyone has rights, responsibilities and rolesto play in the decentralisation process, particularlythe power to participate and the right to monitordecisions. But everyone needs to learn how tofind out about them and exercise them. Theparticipatory approach to planning andimplementing development measures is a way ofgradually achieving this.

� Improving the guide will require considerableinvolvement from the State if a municipalplanning guide is to be developed andstandardised at the national level. Developmentpartners must help the State here by sharing theirexperiences.

� Officials from decentralised governmentdepartments are not always prepared to acceptthe changes required by the process, which affectthe way they usually operate. More work needs

to be done with them if they are to besuccessfully included in the participatory process.The tools and methods used in this guide help todevelop a spirit of citizenship. Local people areinvolved in all the bodies preparing and carrying outthe work of drafting the MDP. They are representedin the thematic monitoring committees, and theyare, above all, made aware that it is their right andresponsibility to keep up to date with progress inimplementing the planned measures.

�With decentralisation, the normal administrativeand political way of doing things is reversed, withdecisions and action taken from the bottom uprather than from the top down. Those whoformerly wielded power are not always willing tomake this change.

� Most officials from the technical departmentswho took part in facilitating the planning processadmitted that they had never heard of theMDGs/PRS. A large-scale information campaign isneeded on these issues.

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� Some elected officers and civil actors pointedout that they were already working on the ideascovered by the MDGs/PRS, but the general publicsimply needed to realise this so that reference

data (quantitative and qualitative) on the changescould be collected and published. The SNV guide,therefore, also helps to raise awareness in thisarea.

2.2.4. CONCLUSIONS AND OUTLOOK

Test experiences with the municipaldevelopment planning guide, which takes accountof the Millennium Development Goals and thePoverty Reduction Strategy, have shown thatmunicipalities are capable of conducting theirdevelopment planning process realistically andsustainably. The approach and the tools used inthe guide enable communities to be consciouslyand responsibly involved in achieving certainMDG and PRS indicators.

The approach adopted is a response tomunicipalities’ concerns about how to put theirchosen development measures into practice. Thecomposition of the monitoring committees andthe way they operate guarantee that measuresare implemented transparently, thus respondingto the concerns of local people.

The different ways in which the guide has beenused, the comments and favourable assessmentsreceived, the changes currently being made and thegrowing demand from other structures to use theapproach have encouraged SNV-Niger to seek top-

level State involvement in order to ensure that themethods and tools are standardised nationally. Thearguments we have put forward in favour ofproducing a national tool are that the guide can beused on a much wider scale, thanks to the othertechnical and financial partners. In the medium term,the guide should be a tool in the future technical andfinancial support mechanism for municipalities inNiger (drawing on experience in Mali).

This document for participatory planning andmonitoring/evaluation of the design andimplementation of municipal development wouldbe easy to use outside the Nigerien context. Theapproach and tools involved could be used by anydevelopment actor working to combat poverty inAfrica or elsewhere.

In 2007, SNV is planning to involve its partners inproducing a new version of the guide, which willthen be regarded as the final product. This reviewwill take account of all the comments received fromthe various countries planning to use the guide as awhole or just individual components of it.

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Community Action Program. 2005. Guide deplanification communale.

European Union. 2001. Project Cycle Management:Integrated Approach and Logical Framework.46p. Brussels.

HCHRA/D. 2003. Recueil des textes sur ladécentralisation. 188p. Niamey: ImprimerieALBARKA.

MATCL/DNCT–DNAM–AFVP–SNV–PACT/GTZ. 2004. Guide pratique de gestion des archives

des collectivités territoriales. 63p. Bamako.Direction Nationale des Collectivités Terri-toriales.

MATCL/DNCT–SNV–Helvetas–PACT/GTZ.2004. Outil d’auto évaluation des performances

des collectivités territoriales. 60p. Bamako.Direction Nationale des CollectivitésTerritoriales.

AZAPIAppui à la Sécurité Alimentaire par la Petite Irrigation/Food Security Aid through Small-ScaleIrrigation

CAP Community Action Program

CSO Civil Society Organisation

DTD Decentralised Technical Departments

HDI Human Development Index

LUCOP-TA Lutte Contre la Pauvreté, région de Tahoua/Poverty Reduction, Tahoua Region

MATDCMinistère de l'Aménagement du Territoire et du Développement Communautaire/Ministry ofTown and Country Planning and Community Development

M&E Monitoring and Evaluation

MDGs Millennium Development Goals

MDP Municipal Development Programme

MID Ministère de l'Intérieur et de la Décentralisation/Ministry of the Interior and Decentralisation

NGO Non-Governmental Organisation

PCLCP/PADLProgramme Cadre de Lutte Contre la Pauvreté/Projet d'Appui au Développement local/Poverty Reduction Framework Programme/Local Development Support Programme

PRS Poverty Reduction Strategy

SNV Organisation Néerlandaise de Développement/Netherlands Development Organisation

UNDP United Nations Development Program

ANNEX I: ACRONYMS

ANNEX II: BIBLIOGRAPHY

PADL Mayayi and N’guigmi. 2005. Guideméthodologique pour l’élaboration du Plande Développement Communal (PDC), ONGKarkara. 28p. Niamey: Programme d'Appuiau Développement Local Maradi.

Republic of Benin. Mission de décentralisation.Guide pour la planification du développementcommunal. Cotonou: Ministère de l’Intérieur,de la Sécurité et de la Décentralisation.

Republic of Mali. 1997. La commune enquestion, Mali communication. 85p. Bamako:Republic of Mali, Mission de décentralisation.

Republic of Mali. 1999. Le guide de planificationdu développement communal. 54p. Bamako:Republic of Mali, Direction Nationale desCollectivités Territoriales.

Republic of Niger. 2002. Stratégie de réductionde la pauvreté. Niamey: Republic of Niger.

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Republic of Niger. 2003. Rapport national sur leprogrès vers les Objectifs du Millénaire pourle Développement. Niamey: Republic ofNiger.

SAGE. 2002. Le Guide d’élaboration et de miseen œuvre d’un Plan Communal deDéveloppement Vert Genre. 45p.Antananarivo: Service d’Appui à la Gestion del’Environnement, Madagascar.

SNV-Niger. 2005. Liens entre OMD-SRP etProgramme SNV-Niger. 16p. Niamey:Organisation Néerlandaise de Développement.

SNV/Cedelo/KIT. 2004. Decentralisation in Mali.Putting policy into practice. Bamako:Netherlands Development Organisation.

SNV-NigerBP 10110, NiameyTel.: (+227) 752 052/753 633.Email: [email protected]

Ibrahim OUSMANEEmail: [email protected]

Zeinabou OUÉDRAOGOEmail: [email protected]

Gaoussou SENETel.: (+227) 510 277Email: [email protected]

PADL/PCLCPBP 232, ZinderTel.: (+227) 512 296Email: [email protected]

MAGAGI LaouanEmail: [email protected]

ANNEX III: DETAILS OF RESOURCE INSTITUTIONS

AND PERSONS

CAP CR/ZinderBP 12946, ZinderTel.: (+227) 372 717/374 110

Ali MAHAMADOUEmail: [email protected]

UNICEFBureau de la zone de MaradiBP 270, Maradi

Mariama MOURIMAEmail: [email protected]

ASAPIBureau Zinder, BP 499, ZinderTel.: (+227) 510 654.Email: [email protected]

Boureima ADAMOUEmail: [email protected]

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2.3. Ghana: Experiences with district-based povertyprofiling, mapping and pro-poor planning as an M&E tool

This study ‘District-based poverty profiling, mapping and pro-poor planning as a monitoring

and evaluation tool’ has been prepared by Bruno B. Derry and Audrey Dorway (see Annex IV).

The case study describes a poverty mapping and profiling approach which has been jointlydeveloped and tested by the National Development Planning Commission of Ghana, the GermanTechnical Co-operation Agency (GTZ GmbH), the Ghana Poverty Reduction Programme of the SocialInvestment Fund and the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development. This approach hasbeen conceived for actors in local governance at the district level in the context of decentralisationand with a view to support the implementation of the countries poverty reduction strategy at thelocal level.

While this poverty mapping and profiling method was originally developed with a view to facilitatepro-poor planning and a better targeting of interventions to the poor, the authors argue it can alsoform the basis for monitoring and evaluating the effects and impacts district development plans aswell as other projects and programmes have on the poor.

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Introduction 76

2.3.1. Methodology 78

2.3.2. Presentation and analysis of the approach 782.3.2.1. The context of decentralisation and local governance 782.3.2.2. Purpose of and demand for the tool 792.3.2.3. The moderators and participants 812.3.2.4. Key elements of the tool 812.3.2.5. Sustainability and ownership 842.3.2.6. Challenges and lessons learned 842.3.2.7. Present use of the tool and the way forward 85

2.3.3. Conclusions 86

Annex I : Acronyms 87Annex II : Bibliography 88Annex III : Resource persons and useful links 89

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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In order to make the Ghana Poverty ReductionStrategy (GPRS I & II) more effective in addressingthe needs of the poor, the Ghanaian governmenthas been pursuing a number of programmes,including special presidential initiatives. Whilst thecomprehensive nature of these pro-poor policiesand programmes is the strength of the currentapproach to poverty reduction, it is also itsweakness, as the programmes are not sufficientlytargeted at the poor. Policies and programmesintended to help the poor cannot succeed unlessthe government and other stakeholders know whothe poor are, where they live and how they arelikely to respond to different growth strategies.Thus, providing information on the spatialheterogeneity of poverty can greatly assist anyonewishing to identify the poor and find out wherethey live and what causes their poverty.

Poverty is a multi-faceted problem that tends tovary considerably in terms of space. The pro-poortargeting of development initiatives is both apolitical and a technical procedure. The politicalprocess in Ghana often results in the packaging ofcomprehensive support measures that addressthe needs of the poor as identified and prioritisedby the government. When this political approachis pursued as a way of pro-poor programming, ittends to skew the responsibility for povertyreduction unduly towards the government,generating a recipient mentality among the poorand creating dependency in the community.

INTRODUCTION

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) brought poverty onto theglobal development agenda and encouraged all nations to renew theircommitment to the battle against poverty. As a result, governments anddevelopment agencies all over the world are now paying more attention thanever before to measures to improve the quality of life by reducing poverty.The need to formulate Poverty Reduction Strategies (PRS) also brought theissue of poverty to the fore in almost all socio-economic and political debatesin developing countries. The PRS process presents a range of challenges,from facilitating and managing effective participation to identifying policies forpro-poor growth. By making its PRS its main development policy instrument,the government of Ghana is displaying its commitment to poverty reductionand wealth creation, especially in rural areas.

The political approach has to be balanced with atechnical approach that seeks to address the rootcauses of poverty and strengthen the copingmechanisms of the poor. This technical approachstarts with indicators such as low income, poorhealth, unemployment, etc. However, it uses thesesymptoms as entry points towards understandingthe forces and factors that combine to keep peoplepoor. Thus, instead of addressing the symptoms asthe actual problems, the technical approach isinterested in the causes of poverty and how theyprevent the poor from breaking out of the mould.This is where the techniques of poverty profilingand poverty mapping come into play.

Basically, poverty profiling and mapping are a setof tools and procedures that enable developmentagents to identify the incidence and prevalence ofpoverty, locate the groups that are regarded aspoor, and describe and categorise them in socio-economic clusters as well as in geographicalterms. Poverty profiling and mapping can beperformed as a quantitative and computer-supported exercise that manipulates a socio-economic dataset obtained through a populationcensus or a carefully organised survey.

The project that is the subject of this paper usedan alternative, participatory form of povertyprofiling and mapping pivoted on a series ofguided dialogues, involving the poor themselvesand the agencies that supply services to them.

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This approach, based on a participatory dialogue,brings together quantitative data on poverty andthe poor, as well as qualitative information on howthe poor perceive themselves, what theyconsider as the causes of their poverty, and thecoping mechanisms they use in organising theproduction, distribution and consumption ofgoods and services. The result of thisparticipatory process is that both the poor andchange agents interested in helping to reducepoverty gain a better understanding of the forcesthat keep people poor, the minimum threshold ofsupport that could get the poor out of the povertytrap, and the technical and human resourcesneeded to initiate poverty reduction supportmeasures.

Acting in collaboration with the GhanaianMinistry of Local Government, Rural Developmentand the Environment (MLGRDE), the NationalDevelopment Planning Commission (NDPC) andthe Social Investment Fund (SIF), the GermanTechnical Cooperation Agency (GTZ) embarked ona nationwide project to compile poverty profilesand maps for all the country's 110 districts. Theaim was to help make the pro-poor targeting ofdevelopment initiatives more effective. Theparticipatory methodology for poverty profiling andmapping was first piloted in two districts and laterimplemented in 16 districts. In 2004, assistancewas given to the remaining 94 District Assembliesin preparing poverty profiles, maps and pro-poorprogrammes. The implementation process issummarised in Figure 1.

Preparation of a 'How-to-do Guide' to povertymapping and pro-poor programming

Pilot exercise in Kintampo and Atebubu districts

Consultations between SIF, GTZ, MLGRD and NDPCon poverty profiling, mapping and pro-poor

programming

Training of selected institutions in poverty profiling,mapping and pro-poor programming

Preparation of poverty profiles, maps and pro-poorprogrammes in 16 District Assemblies

Training of three representatives from each of the110 District Assemblies

Training of selected national and regionalstakeholders

Preparation of poverty profiles, maps and pro-poor programmes for 94 districts

1

2

5

4

3

6

7

8

Source: MLGRD, GTZ, Nkum Associates (2004).

Figure 1: Implementation - poverty profiles, maps and pro-poor approach

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The use of participatory methods is one of thecore elements of poverty profiling, mapping andprogramming. The methodology allows for grass-roots involvement and inputs from local civilservants. Another feature is that the symptoms ofpoverty are not addressed in designinginterventions. Instead, interventions stem fromidentifying the causes of poverty and how thesecombine to keep people poor. The approach usesplanning tools and procedures that are bothquantitative and qualitative. Another noteworthyaspect is the use of existing institutionalstructures for implementation purposes.

The district poverty-profiling and mappingtechnique consists of five steps that can becompleted in five or six days using existingtechnical expertise. The District Planning andCoordinating Units (DPCUs), NGOs/CSOs, private-sector actors and traditional authorities in the

district come together in a process lasting two orthree days to prepare a district profile and make apreliminary analysis of local pockets of poverty. Theprocess then goes into the poor areas identified inthe first step to engage assembly members, localcouncil staff and focus groups comprising women,young people, settler communities and otheridentifiable groups so as to validate, correct and/orrefine district-level perceptions and finalise thepoverty profiles and maps for the district.

Organised as a series of dialogues between thepoor, the poverty profiling and mapping processgenerates fairly accurate data on the povertysituation in a district and identifies the factors andforces that cause and maintain poverty. Theprocess also generates ideas for realistic target-group and gender-specific interventions that couldhelp alleviate poverty in the district in question.

2.3.1. METHODOLOGY

2.3.2. PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF THE APPROACH

2.3.2.1. The context ofdecentralisation and localgovernance

Although the Fourth Republican Constitution of1992 provides a broad framework for thegovernment's policy of decentralisation, the LocalGovernment Act of 1993 was enacted to devolveauthority, resources, competences and capacityfrom central government to lower administrativeand political structures and the communities. Thedecentralisation policy was intended both tostrengthen local government and to encouragecitizens to participate in governance and localdevelopment. The policy also sought to promotepopular participation and ownership of thedevelopment process, so that all are part of thedevelopment process, within the framework ofnational policy. The main features of the policyinclude:

� redefined roles, functions and structures ofinstitutions at various levels of government;

� the transfer of responsibility for 86 statutoryduties to local government bodies;� empowering District Assemblies as the primeadministrative, planning, development, budgeting,legislative and rating authorities in their areas ofjurisdiction;�modifying the criteria for district and sub-districtelections by removing literacy as a qualification forthose seeking to stand for election;� restructuring the allocation and transfer of devel-opment resources so that these are managed andcontrolled by the District Assemblies, in the formof discretionary funds placed at the disposal of thedistricts.

Salient features of Ghana's localgovernment system

The local government system introduced by the1988 legislative reforms is a four-tiered structure(see Figure 2), with a Regional CoordinatingCouncil (RCC) at the top, followed byMetropolitan, Municipal and District Assembliesand the Urban/Town/Area Councils. The UnitCommittees are at the base.

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There are ten regions, each headed by a RegionalMinister who is appointed by the President. Allregions have a Regional Coordinating Council(RCC), which consists of representatives of DistrictAssemblies (DA) and Traditional Authority (TA).

Each district (currently 138) has a DistrictAssembly consisting of elected and appointedmembers. Seventy per cent of the members areelected by the population, and the remaining 30per cent are appointed by the President. Of theseats reserved for appointees, 50% are intendedfor women. In spite of this, women account foronly a small proportion of District Assemblymembers - less than 10 per cent.

District Assemblies are headed by a District ChiefExecutive (DCE), who is nominated by thePresident. The DCE acts as the District head and thecentral government representative at district level.

Figure 2: Ghana's local government system

Regional Coordinating Council

MetropolitanAssembly

DistrictAssemblies

MunicipalAssemblies

Sub-Metropolitan

Councils

Town Councils Zonal Councils Urban/Town/Area Councils

Unit Committees

Source: Republic of Ghana (1988).

2.3.2.2. Purpose of anddemand for the tool

The poverty-profiling, mapping and pro-poorprogramming tool was developed to meet thedemand for a technical means of improving thetargeting of poverty reduction programmesdrafted under the Ghana Poverty ReductionStrategy (GPRS I). Finding ways to reduce povertyand inequity is a daunting challenge for local andnational authorities in Ghana. One importantaspect of this challenge is the spatial heterogeneityof poverty. District Assemblies and NGOs/CBOsin Ghana are asking for more and more geo-referenced information on the location of the poorand the magnitude of poverty so that they can setpriorities, target interventions, empower localcommunities and improve their understanding ofthe causes and effects of poverty.

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This tool was designed to strengthen thecapacity of district-level actors to design theirown poverty reduction programmes by taking abottom-up approach. The tool also provides anobjective basis to improve the targeting ofpoverty reduction programmes, and generateslocal data that can provide a baseline formonitoring and evaluation.

The principles underpinning the tool are basedon evidence that poor people tend to work veryhard, using their own coping mechanisms tosurvive and improve their lot. They remain poorbecause their efforts do not earn them enoughincome or enable them to gain better access tothose goods and services they require in order toescape from poverty. Therefore, if povertyreduction measures are to be effective, they mustfirst recognise and understand the barriers poorpeople need to overcome in order for their effortsin producing, distributing and consuming goodsand services to bring them more direct benefits.

Identifying spatial patterns of poverty usingmaps provides new insights into the causes ofpoverty. For example, do physical isolation andpoor agro-ecological resources prevent peoplefrom escaping from poverty? This in turn can affectthe type of interventions under consideration.

Poverty maps can be used to improve theallocation of resources. They can help theauthorities to decide where and how to targetanti-poverty programmes. Geographic targeting,as opposed to across-the-board interventions, hasbeen shown to be a useful means of maximisingcoverage, while minimising leakage to the non-poor. Geographic targeting at community levelcan help to make anti-poverty programmes moreeffective, for example by promoting subsidies inpoor communities and cost recovery in less poorareas.

Detailed information on the spatial distributionof the poor can also assist policy-makers,executive agencies and development partners indesigning socially and geographically targetedpro-poor policies and programmes. With moreand more attention being given to povertytargeting below the district level, detailed povertymaps should provide development planners witha powerful tool.

Poverty mapping should also help the DistrictAssemblies and the sub-district structures to takeaccount of the national and regional priorities setin the GPRS II with regard to programme design,development financing and the monitoring ofpoverty reduction indicators.

Stakeholders Needs and demands

National policy-makers� Good governance and general policy framework.� A yardstick for setting standards.� Information on main areas of deprivation.

NGOs � Assistance with targeting of interventions.

District administrators� Advice on resource allocation.� A means of justifying the allocation of interventions for poverty reduction.� A source of baseline data on the poverty situation in the district.

Development partners � Assistance with targeting of interventions.

Consultants � A source of baseline data on districts.

Communities� Assistance with monitoring the implementation of projects.� Assistance with questioning the allocation of resources.

Table 1: Key stakeholders and their needs

Source: MLGRD, GTZ, Nkum Associates (2004) .

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2.3.2.3. The moderatorsand participants

District-based poverty profiling, mapping andpro-poor planning was designed and implementedby the following actors.

The consultants engaged as facilitators to coachthe district teams were experts in developmentplanning and poverty reduction in Ghana. Theydrafted a training manual and performed a pilotprofiling and mapping exercise in two districts.They were then engaged to train trainers andprofessionals from four institutions, viz. KwameNkrumah University of Science and Technology(KNUST), the University of Development Studies

(UDS), the Institute of Local Government Studies(ILGS), and Ghana Institute of Management andPublic Administration (GIMPA). These trainerswere then tasked to lead the teams in the 16districts that were to prepare poverty profiles andmaps. The consultants were subsequently re-engaged to facilitate the up-scaling exercise in theremaining 94 districts.

The knowledge and skills of the participantsvaried from one district to another, depending onthe composition of the respective teams. Thiswas also reflected by the varied quality of theoutputs. Whereas high-quality work wasproduced in some districts, sub-standard reportswere received from other districts.

2.3.2.4. Key elements of the tool

Figure 3 summarises the key steps in the poverty profiling mapping and pro-poor programmingprocess.

Figure 3: Key steps in the poverty profiling and mapping process


Step 1:Preparation towards

District povertyprofiling

Step 2:District poverty

profiling

Step 3:Preparing district

poverty maps

Step 4:Design and

implementation ofPoverty Reduction

Programmes

Step 5:Designing a system

for monitoring &evaluation

The first of the five steps involves setting upand preparing a technical team to undertake theexercise. The district technical team consists ofstaff of the district administration and sectordepartments (i.e. the expanded DPCU), major

NGOs/CSOs operating in the district, traditionalcouncil members and major private-sectoroperators. The team is introduced to the principlesand concepts underlying participatory povertyprofiling and mapping. They are then assisted in

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procuring the necessary updated base maps andassembling data on the local poverty situation.This district-level data may include the results ofthe Core Welfare Indicator Questionnaires(CWIQ), relevant data from the latest census andstatistics from the Ghana Living StandardSurveys. The sector departments may use datafrom their district database and strategic plans.This is where the quantitative data and researchfindings from other poverty reduction or povertymapping initiatives in the district come in useful.

The second step in the process is preparing apoverty profile for the district. Since each districthas certain socio-economic and culturalcharacteristics that distinguish it from otherdistricts, the district profile seeks to capture thesepeculiarities along with other standard measuresof poverty. Some of the standard variables relateto access to health care, education, water andsanitation, credit, extension services and markets.Over and above these variables, other variablesused specifically by local people in describingtheir poverty status, as well as the perceptions ofservice-providers regarding the dimensions andmanifestations of poverty in the district, are thenidentified and recorded in the form of a simplematrix. This results in a poverty profile for thedistrict, showing the various target groups andgender-specific dimensions. The tool also allowseach of the target groups to indicate and specifythe variables which they use to describe theirpoverty, specify the causes of their poverty andshow the efficacy or otherwise of their respective

coping mechanisms. The district poverty profilewhich emanates from this step is a vividdescription (in quantitative and qualitative terms)of the extent, dimensions and causes of poverty,as well as the potential of and the copingmechanisms used by various groups of poorpeople.

The third step involves preparing district mapsand identifying pockets of poverty and areas thatare better endowed. The poverty data,perceptions, dimensions and manifestations ofpoverty are translated into maps showing thespatial distribution of the various dimensions ofpoverty in the district in question. This is done inthe form of thematic maps showing:

a) the spatial distribution of settlements bypopulation;

b) the location of infrastructure, services andfacilities;

c) the hierarchy of settlements in terms of servicecentres;

d) access to services and facilities;

e) volumes and centres of major production;

f) commodity flows and market outlets;

g) volumes of area/town council contributions todistrict assembly revenue.

These thematic maps are then converted intocomposite maps showing areas of deprivation(i.e. poverty pockets) and areas that are betterendowed. Figure 4 below is an example of acomposite poverty map.

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The fourth step involves designing pro-poordevelopment programmes. Strictly speaking, itmeans mapping out, in terms of sectoral andgeographical space, a number of potential pro-poor programmes that could address theproblems that the poor need to resolve. Due tothe multi-dimensional nature of poverty, a holisticapproach embracing all sectors needs to be takento the design of pro-poor or poverty reductionprogrammes. Yet this inter-sectoral, multi-departmental approach must be strategic in itsfocus and content. For this reason, the fourth stepin the poverty profiling and mapping processidentifies key areas of sectoral intervention atidentified nodal points that could address boththe immediate and the long-term causes ofpoverty in terms of prioritised sectors andgeographical space. The existing capacity (interms of infrastructure, human capital andfinancial resources) for performing pro-poorinterventions is also identified at this stage. This

leads to the delineation of possible strategicsupport measures for reducing poverty in thepoverty pockets, nodal points and definedsectors. The potential for economic growth andincome redistribution benefiting specific groupsof poor people is also brought together at thispoint.

The final step of the process involves clarifyingand benchmarking the indicators that could beused to measure the improvement in people'sliving standards. These indicators (along withnational and regionally consistent or standardpoverty variables) are then built into a simpleframework that enables the poor and theirservice-providers to track the level of changewhich is acceptable evidence of an improvementin their socio-economic well-being. A simplemonitoring and evaluation model can then bedesigned to track:

Figure 4: Composite poverty map for Kintampo District

1

56

2

7

3

4

NKORANZA DISTRICT

F O R E S T

R E S E R V E

F O R E S T

R E S E R V E

BENKROMBENKROM

KURAWURA AKURAKURAWURA AKURA

ALHASSAN AKURAALHASSAN AKURA

MPOE AKURAMPOE AKURA

KADELSOKADELSO

PORTORPORTOR

GULUMPEGULUMPE

KAWUMPEKAWUMPE

ATTA AKURAATTA AKURA

CHIRANDACHIRANDA

BAWALEBAWALE

BOSUAMABOSUAMA

OWEREOWEREYARAYARA

BONYONGABONYONGA

KANIANGEKANIANGE

DABAADABAA

KYINYAKYINYA

KAKAAKAKAA

NIAWANINIAWANI

DUMSODUMSO

ALIDU AKURAALIDU AKURA

OWENEWOHOOWENEWOHO

ANYIMAANYIMA

AJINAAJINA

AYORYAAYORYA

HYRESUHYRESU

SORASORA

SABULESABULE

NKWANTANKWANTA

OEDOED

HINOKROMHINOKROM

NORTHERN REGION

TECHIMAN DISTRICT

BLA

CK

BLACK

VOLTA

VOLTA

NANSRANANSRA

EBENEZEREBENEZER

NYAMEBERYERENYAMEBERYERE

FADU AKURAFADU AKURA

MAHAMA AKURAMAHAMA AKURA

SORONUASESORONUASE

MOSNIC AKURAMOSNIC AKURA

ANKORAANKORA

APESIKAAPESIKA

EMAEMA

AMPOMAAMPOMA

CHREHICHREHI

KRUTAKYNKRUTAKYN

AMONAAMONA

KOKUMAKOKUMA

PRAMPOSOPRAMPOSO

TWOBEUTTWOBEUT

F RO

M W

ENC

HI

SOLIBOISOLIBOI

ASANTEKWAASANTEKWA

ZONGOZONGO

PANINAMISAPANINAMISA

PAMDUPAMDU

KRABONSILKRABONSIL

BASATOKUMABASATOKUMA

PUMPUMANOPUMPUMANO

GAMBOIGAMBOI

NEW LONGORONEW LONGORO

KUNSOKUNSO

KWABIAKWABIAOFORIKROMOFORIKROM

TANFIANO N2TANFIANO N2

JEMA NKWANTAJEMA NKWANTA

AKURUMAAKURUMA

TAHIRU AKURATAHIRU AKURA

DAWADAWA N2DAWADAWA N2

DAWADAWA N1DAWADAWA N1

BANKAMABANKAMA

NTANKRONTANKRO

MAGOASFMAGOASF

ABOMABOM

ANUKYEKROMANUKYEKROM

NTARIBANNTARIBAN

BAMATWEBAMATWE

DABAA IIDABAA II

NYABEANYABEAWEILAWEILA

YABRASOYABRASOKINTAMFOKINTAMFO

NANTENANTE

Poverty Pocket 1

Relatively well-endowed

Poverty Pocket 2

Poverty Pocket 3

Poverty Pocket 4

Poverty Pocket 5

Poverty Pocket 6

Poverty Pocket 7

LEGENDDistrict Boundary

Area Council Boundary

Minor Trunk Road

Major Trunk Road

Feeder Road

1

2

3

4

5

6

7


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� the extent to which poverty has been reducedamong the various target groups and acrossgenders;� the reasons for success or failure;� the reactions of beneficiaries to programmeimplementation and outcomes; and� the lessons for future planning and policy-making.

2.3.2.5. Sustainability andownership

Ownership and a capacity for sustainablemanagement and repetition were created atvarious levels. At a local level, the exercise wasperformed by district teams consisting of technicalpersonnel and representatives of civil society andthe traditional authorities, with technical coachingfrom external facilitators. The training programmewas designed to involve the District CoordinatingDirectors, Planning Officers and Town and CountryPlanning Officers. The main purpose was to equiplocal authorities with the capacity they need inorder to prepare and implement local povertyreduction programmes. Essentially, the povertyprofiling and mapping project built capacity at adistrict level for analysing and understanding themanifestation of poverty, the coping strategies andmechanisms used by the poor and the appropriatetargeting of poverty reduction interventions. Theoutputs, as a result, were their own efforts and areowned by them.

At a national level, the role played by thecollaborating institutions was also vital to thesustainability of the exercise. Policy-level institutions,which are responsible for decentralisation and localgovernance, were active partners in the process.Their involvement commenced during the planningand design stages, through implementation tomonitoring and evaluation. Institutions such as theMinistry of Local Government and RuralDevelopment and the National DevelopmentPlanning Commission took part in the upscalingand implementation of the exercise nationwide.The NDPC integrated the poverty profiling modelinto the National Development Planning Guidelinesfor the 2006-2009 period. By this measure,sustainability has been created as the process will

feature in the medium-term development plans ofall 138 District Assemblies. While national policy-making institutions provided technical support,development partners such as the CanadianInternational Development Agency (CIDA) and theDanish International Development Agency(DANIDA) provided financial support.

Consultants played a vital role during theplanning stage, acted as facilitators for thetraining-the-trainers and orientation workshops forDistrict Administrators, and coached the districtteams during the upscaling to the 94 districts.

2.3.2.6. Challenges andlessons learned

Two major challenges were encountered. Thefirst was a matter of competing activities.Because of the numerous and uncoordinatedcapacity-building interventions taking place at alocal level, many District Planning CoordinationUnits and other departments were overloadedduring the period when the project was running.This resulted in competing demands on their timeand resources, resulting in interruptions in thework plan.

The second challenge related to local technicalcapacity which, in some cases, was not up to thetask. Although teams were formed in all districts,some members were transferred and othersresigned during the course of the project.Additionally, some districts lacked key personnelsuch as Town and Country Planning Officers whowere needed to perform the vital task ofpreparing accurate district maps.

Despite these problems, the project succeededin strengthening the capacity of the districttechnical teams, including representatives of localgovernment (District Assemblies), the traditionalauthority and civil society. The broad compositionof the technical teams also helped indocumenting local knowledge. A laudableoutcome is that the poverty profiles and mapswere used to design and implement targetedprogrammes for dealing with areas of deprivationin the districts in question.

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2.3.2.7. Present use ofthe tool and the wayforward

As already mentioned, the tool is intended toimprove the targeting of poverty reductionprogrammes at a district level. It is currently beingused mainly for the purpose for which it wasdesigned. Numerous district-based NGOs,

development partners and District Assemblyadministrators are using the output to target theirinterventions as shown in Table 2. However, themodel has great potential as a monitoring andevaluation tool thanks to the vast amount of district-specific data it generates. We recommend that apoverty mapping and profiling exercise be conductedin each district after five years. The current data andmaps will then provide a basis for analysing anychanges in the poverty situation during this period.

83- The National Development Planning Commission is an institution mandated by Articles 86 and 87 of Ghana's 1992Constitution to guide the formulation of development plans and monitor and evaluate the country's developmentefforts.

Table 2: Current use made of poverty profiling, mapping and pro-poor programmingoutput

Type of stakeholder Name of institution Focus of operations Use made of output

NATIONAL

POLICY-MAKER

National DevelopmentPlanning Commission83

1. Designing policies to guidethe country's developmente.g. GPRS I & II, NationalPlanning Guidelines etc.

2. As a participatorymonitoring and evaluationtool.

Tool incorporated intoPlanning Guidelines.

Tool incorporated intoDistrict M&E Guidelines.

NGOs

'KITE'

Promotion of cost-effectiveenergy services for agro-processing. Interventions focuson communities withoutelectricity.

Baseline information toassist in selectingcommunities for directintervention.

Assemblies of GodDevelopment AndRelief Services

Capacity-building programmefor selected groups; membersof the Ghana Association ofSocial Workers to be trained intargeting of poverty reductioninterventions at district level.

Information in reports willbe used to create awarenessamong members of theAssociation of methods fortargeting poverty reductionprogrammes.

DEVELOPMENT

PARTNERS

USAID: Trade andInvestment Programmefor a CompetitiveExport Economy

Nationwide programmewhich seeks to make Ghana'sprivate sector morecompetitive by creating anenabling environment andstrengthening the capacity ofthe private sector.

Baseline data for identifyingvulnerable areas, so thatinterventions can betargeted directly athouseholds in these areas.

World FoodProgramme

Supplementary FeedingHealth and NutritionEducation is one aspect ofthe WFP's programme inGhana. The idea is thatchildren and expectant andnursing mothers should beable to meet their nutritionalneeds under the GPRS. Thearea of operation consists ofthe regions in the north ofGhana.

Data used as baselineinformation in preparing thenext Country Strategy forthe WFP NutritionProgramme.

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There is inevitably a spatial dimension to welfareand poverty. Although the spatial distribution ofpoverty remains one of the oldest puzzles, it isalso a highly contemporary issue. The incidenceof poverty in a specific area may be attributed toa variety of lifestyle-related and environmentalfactors. The characteristics of the location,including socio-demographic and environmentaldata, are a valuable source of information inmoving down the road to poverty reduction.

The results of poverty profiling and mappingsuggest that there is considerable heterogeneityin poverty levels between and within districts inthe same communities. The exercise hasidentified areas in which the poor are heavilyconcentrated. The results also help to explain whycertain areas are poorer than others. If this type ofdetailed information is linked with other socio-economic and geographical data, it becomes evenmore useful in assisting efforts to target the poor.

Type of stakeholder Name of institution Focus of operations Use made of output

DEVELOPMENT

PARTNERS

Japanese InternationalCooperation Agency(JICA)

A consultant was engaged fora rural electrification projectin the Northern, Upper Eastand Upper West regions.

Reports used as a source ofbaseline data for conductinga socio-economic study inpreparation for a ruralelectrification project.

German Bank forReconstruction (KFW)Feeder Roads Project

Study for the construction offeeder roads in the Volta,Ashanti and Brong Ahaforegions.

The maps were of particularinterest, as a source ofinformation on existingfeeder roads. The reportswere used as a source ofdata for a socio-economicstudy paving the way for theproject.

European Union

A consultant was contractedfor a capacity-buildingprogramme for districteducation offices, with the aimof improving theirresponsiveness.

Review of district-specificdata from an educationalperspective.

CONSULTANTS

Kesse, Tagoe andAssociates

Contracted to prepare a landuse plan for selected areas inthe Greater Accra Region(GAR).

Baseline data on saltdeposits in the Dangmeareas of the GAR.

Consultants forAgricultural and RuralDevelopment Services(CARDS)

Contracted by EU Micro-Projects Programme.

Baseline information for thenext stage of the EU'sMicro-Projects Programme.

TRADITIONAL

AUTHORITIES

Asanteman Council ofAshanti Region

GoG/World Bank Projectsupported the AsantemanCouncil in a project aimed atpromoting the participation oftraditional authorities.

Baseline information forpreparing developmentplans for all local authoritiesin the Ashanti region.

2.3.3. CONCLUSIONS

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In conclusion, the poverty profiling and mappingtool helps to make the targeting of pro-poordevelopment interventions more effective, andprovides baseline information for monitoring and

evaluation. The maps are important tools foreffectively implementing poverty reductionprogrammes under the District Medium-TermDevelopment Plans for 2006-2009.

CARDS Consultants for Agricultural and Rural Development ServicesCBO Community-Based OrganisationCIDA Canadian International Development Agency CSO Civil Society OrganisationCWIQ Core Welfare Indicator QuestionnairesDA District Assembly DANIDA Danish International Development AgencyDBO District Budget OfficerDCD District Coordinating DirectorDCE District Chief Executive DPCU District Planning and Coordinating UnitDMTDP District Medium Term Development PlanDP Development partnerDPO District Planning OfficerGAR Greater Accra RegionGPRS I Ghana Poverty Reduction StrategyGPRS II Growth and Poverty Reduction StrategyGTZ German Technical Cooperation AgencyHIPC Heavily Indebted Poor CountriesILGS Institute of Local Government StudiesJICA Japanese International Cooperation AgencyKFW German Bank for Reconstruction KNUST Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology M&E Monitoring and EvaluationMDAs Ministries, departments and agenciesMDGs Millennium Development Goals MLGRDE Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and the EnvironmentNDPC National Development Planning CommissionNGO Non-governmental organisationPM&E Participatory monitoring and evaluationPRS Poverty Reduction StrategyRCC Regional Coordinating Council RPCU Regional Planning and Coordinating UnitsSIF Social Investment Fund TA Traditional authorityUSAID United States Agency for International Development

ANNEX I: ACRONYMS

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Alderman, H., et al. 2002. How Low Can YouGo? Combining Census and Survey Data forPoverty Mapping in South Africa, The WorldBank, Washington.

Baker, J. L., and M.E. Grosh. 1994. 'Measuringthe Effects of Geographic Targeting onPoverty Reduction.' Living StandardsMeasurement Study Working Paper. 99. TheWorld Bank, Washington, D.C.

Bigman, D., and H. Fofack. 2000. 'GeographicalTargeting for Poverty Alleviation: An Introductionto the Special Issue.' The World BankEconomic Review 14(1): 129-45.

Deaton, A. 1997. The Analysis of HouseholdSurveys: A Microeconometric Approach toDevelopment Policy. John Hopkins UniversityPress and the World Bank: Washington, D.C.

Deaton, A., and Z. Salman. 2002. 'Guidelinesfor Constructing Consumption Aggregatesfor Welfare Analysis.' LSMS Working Paper,135. The World Bank, Washington, D.C.

Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS I).2003. Government of Ghana, National Development

Planning Commission, Accra.

Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy(GPRS II). 2005. Government of Ghana, National

Development Planning Commission, Accra.

Henninger, N. and M. Snel. 2002. Where arethe Poor? Experiences with the Developmentand Use of Poverty Maps. World ResourcesInstitute (WRI) and UNEP/GRID-Arendal.WRI, Washington DC. Available at: http://population.wri.org

Mapping in South Africa. Journal of AfricanEconomies, Volume 11, Issue 3 (forthcoming).

Nkum Associates. 2005. Poverty ProfilingMapping and Pro-Poor Programming ExerciseReport on Coaching and Backstopping Exercisein 94 Districts. Accra.

Nkum Associates. 2004. How-To-Do-Guide onDistrict Poverty Profiling and Mapping. Accra.

Nkum Associates. 2003. Poverty ProfilingMapping and Pro Poor Programming ExerciseTraining Report.

Owusu, L. B., et al. 2005. Local Governanceand Poverty Alleviation in Africa. The Case ofGhana.

Republic of Kenya 2003. 'Geographic Dimensionsof well being in Kenya: Volume1 Where are thePoor: From Districts to Locations'.

VNG International. 2005. Logo South CountryProgramme Ghana 2005 - 2008. Fee basedService Provision for Local GovernmentBodies. The Hague.


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ANNEX III: RESOURCE PERSONS AND USEFUL LINKS

Resource persons:

Bruno B. Dery (NDPC)Email: [email protected]

Audrey Dorway (GTZ)Email: [email protected]

Useful links:

http://population.wri.org/

http://www.ecdpm.org/

http://www.snvmali.org/

http://europa.eu.int/comm/europeaid/evaluation/methods/pcm.htm

http://www.worldbank.org/poverty/strategies

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2.4. Mali: Geographical information systems (GIS) forthe development of rural municipalities

This study, ‘Geographical Information Systems (GIS) for the development of rural

municipalities’, has been prepared by Florence Dumont and Bakary Samaké (see Annex IV).

The authors describe and compare the approaches taken by SNV and PACT to their GIS, as wellas their own experience and that of their partners with these systems at both the regional andmunicipal level. Leaving aside overly complex technical details, the authors look at the challengesof designing, using and managing a GIS and the issues raised by access to information in thecontext of decentralisation and municipal development.

The focus is particularly on capacity building issues and the conditions needed for the ownershipand viability of these tools for collecting and storing data that can be processed in many ways andspatially analysed.

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Introduction 92

2.4.1. Methods for capitalising on these two GIS experiments 93

2.4.2. Description and analysis of GIS tools 932.4.2.1. Managing a municipal area without reference maps 942.4.2.2. Stages of development 942.4.2.3. Different objectives for the same goal: better knowledge and

understanding of spatial relationships for improved planning 942.4.2.4. Actors and partners in the design and use of the GIS 962.4.2.5. Hypotheses, problems, indicators and reference standards2.4.2.6. Procedures, formalisation, institutionalisation and links with

existing tools 972.4.2.7. Deciding how to use the system 972.4.2.8. Capacity building 982.4.2.9. Ownership, viability, adaptation and replication of the process 982.4.2.10. Results and lessons learned 99

2.4.3. Conclusions and prospects 100

Annex I : Acronyms 101Annex II : Bibliography 101Annex III: Resource persons, online documents and useful addresses 102

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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Conventional databases are often shrouded inanonymity, becoming the monopoly of theirmanagers, who see them as their personalproperty. Moreover, data are often difficult toexchange because they might not be codified onthe basis of standard statistical units.

Analysis and decision-making could be mucheasier with a geographical information system(GIS) — a geo-referenced database whosestatistical units are spatially located, making itpossible to carry out query by location and toconvert statistical information into maps. Butmost organisations do not know where to startand are reluctant to do so because of theexpertise and investment needed to create andmanage a GIS.

Although differing in some respects (such as theworking methods tested, the tools developed, the

INTRODUCTION

Everyone – non-governmental organisations (NGOs), researchers, donors,development organisations, authorities, local government – now collects datawithout always knowing how best to store them, how to process themeffectively and how to share them efficiently. The human and financialinvestment channelled into data collection may well come to naught,especially if any of these actors stop participating.

A wealth of data, but is it being properly used?

2.4.1. METHODS FOR CAPITALISING

ON THESE TWO GIS EXPERIMENTS

problems encountered, etc.), the experiencegained from the creation of the GIS of theNetherlands Development Organisation (SNV-Mali) and the Local Government SupportProgramme of German Technical Cooperation(PACT-GTZ) may well be able to ‘point the way’ fordevelopment organisations to take up thechallenge of creating a GIS. This would enablelocal governments to see how useful thesesystems are for analysis and decision-making.

This paper looks chiefly at the usefulness of thistool and its relevance to those who could benefitfrom it. It does not, however, look at the technicalaspects of these systems, which are oftencomplex. The GIS has to be seen as a tool that ismulti-scale (enabling changes of scale), multi-theme, and multi-user (an in-house tool ofdevelopment organisations, for example, or asupport tool for municipalities and ‘cercles’).

Two people responsible for designing GISdatabases, a geographer at SNV-Mali and acomputer scientist at PACT, compared theirworking methods, looking at how thinking wasprogressing with the teams involved, how thedatabases were evolving, what themes werebeing tackled, etc.

PACT has more experience with the use of thistool and is better able to analyse how successfulthe approach has been. It has a better overview ofthe problems that have been encountered and, byanalysing user demand for GIS products, they know

how users (i.e., local actors in decentralisation andlocal governance) perceive this GIS.

Despite having less experience, teams at SNVare increasingly of the view that the GIS databaseneeds to be enhanced.

Because it is highly technical in nature, themethods of capitalising on the GIS are not veryparticipative, nor does the type of designencourage participation, which could make itseem that these tools were being imposed fromabove. They are nevertheless meeting real needsand their usefulness has been rapidly appreciatedby all users.

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Interest in this kind of approach lies more in theuse, testing and ownership of GIS tools than inthe strategy for their creation and introduction.

What is interesting is how the results (i.e., theGIS products) are being used.

84- There are three tiers of local government in Mali: regions, ‘cercles’ and municipalities (communes). The rural andurban municipalities are the basic entity of local government.

2.4.2. DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS OF GIS TOOLS

Local authoritiesconcerned:84

PACT: 5 ‘cercles’, 97 municipalitiesSNV: 3 ‘cercles’, 41 municipalities

(Mali: 703 municipalities in total)

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Figure 1: Map of areas in which SNV and PACT are working in Mali

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2.4.2.1. Managing amunicipal area withoutreference maps

Dutch and German cooperation organisationsare supporting the national decentralisation policyin Mali, particularly through support for variousmunicipal advisory centres (CCCs). Work by SNV-Mali and GTZ’s Local Government SupportProgramme (PACT) is geared towards developingtools to help municipalities take on their newresponsibilities and to provide them with data onwhich they can base their decisions.

When we talk of decentralisation, we also meanland management and spatial planning at the locallevel. How can informed decision be made in theseareas if spatial relationships are disregarded? Toolssuch as the GIS had to be developed if it was to bepossible to draw up detailed reports, monitor thespatial outcomes of planning, observe effects andevaluate activities. If this information is produced inthe form of maps, it can be rapidly read,understood and remembered.

Broadening the use of maps seemed especially

important as most economic, social and culturaldevelopment plans (PDESCs) did not contain anyat all. Mapping using the computerised M&E tool(the OISE database) was a first attempt toprocess data in map form but is still at arudimentary stage and is showing its limits. Onlymaps pre-designed by the database creators canbe produced and users have no freedom tochoose frames.

SNV-Mali and PACT have therefore developedGIS tools in the areas in which they are working(see Figure 1) to assist municipalities and theirsupport structures: the present CCCs and theother organisations that will follow on from them.These tools can also be used by any developmentbody or organisation working at a municipal orinter-municipal level.

In addition to providing support fordecentralisation, the tools make it possible tofocus on other topics of work: sanitation, naturalresource management, rural economic develop-ment, etc. The fact that the same databasecontains multi-theme data also means that thesedata, which have previously been processedseparately, can be cross-referenced to producemore sophisticated analyses.

2.4.2.2. Stages ofdevelopment

The construction of SNV-Mali’s GIS tool hasbeen completed, and it is now at thedevelopment stage. Throughout this work, SNVcolleagues have thought about the indicators tobe included, have entertained new ideas in termsof expectations and are already looking atdevelopments related to new themes.

PACT’s GIS tool is at the stage where users canbegin to capitalise on the information provided. Inoperation since 2003, this GIS is essentially gearedtowards providing support for local governments.Since it was commissioned, the demand for GISproducts (paper or electronic maps) has increased,which indicates their relevance.

Both tools will reach maturity as they are used,as new data are included in the databases, as theexisting data are validated and as they arematched to the work priorities and needs of users.

2.4.2.3. Different objectivesfor the same goal: betterknowledge and understandingof spatial relationships forimproved planning

The GIS as a data-processing andanalysis tool for SNV-Mali and itspartners

The local governance team (LG) in Koulikoro waslooking for a tool that would enable it to makebetter use of the information collected forreference situations and to illustrate some of thefindings of the self-evaluation tool for localgovernment performance.85 The programmeteam for Rural Economic Development of theKoulikoro Region (DERK) was also keen to gain abetter visual knowledge of spatial relationships inregard to the economy and the naturalenvironment. Indicators were therefore developedaround three main themes86: decentralisation, ruraleconomic development and natural resourcemanagement. The impetus provided by DERK’sfinancing agency (the Embassy of the Netherlands,which is also supporting work in the health sector in

the region) genuinely helped the process to get offthe ground.

The GIS as a communication,planning and documentation tool forPACT

The decision to design a GIS tool came fromGTZ, which felt that such a tool could be veryuseful in achieving the results anticipated in thecontext of local government support.

The GIS has been developed as a multi-sector,interactive tool for documentation, knowledgemanagement, assistance with planning andspatial monitoring and evaluation of PACT’s workin the areas of municipal administration andmanagement, municipal development, naturalresource management and sanitation. It can beused to analyse and aggregate data, improvingthe presentation of documents produced by theprogramme and making them more readable. Andit is helping to provide PACT with a more visibleprofile on the internet.

The results obtained from the GIS, particularlythe descriptive municipal maps and maps of basicsocial infrastructures, are made available to localgovernments and used as information tools andplanning instruments at municipal workshops.This approach has also helped to improve thepresentation of documents on local areas, makingthem more readable.

In both cases, more is now known about localgovernments, and information that can be readilyanalysed is available to help them to makeinformed decisions.

2.4.2.4. Actors andpartners in the design anduse of the GIS

Technical designers and managers ofthe database

At SNV, a geographical consultant was broughtin to provide expert help with the varioustechnical issues involved in the database and itsdevelopment and monitoring. She worked withthe members of the ‘local governance’ and ‘ruraleconomic development’ teams to draw up the

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85- The Seminar on 'Building capacities for monitoring and evaluation of decentralisation and local governance in WestAfrica: exchange of experience and learning', Bamako, 17-18 May 2006, has provided an opportunity to capitaliseon these two experiences (see 'Municipalities in figures: needs and realities', as well as 'Assessment of localgovernment performance: experiences with a self-evaluation tool').

86- SNV tries, as far as possible, to develop synergies between its various programmes and those of other technicaland financial partners working in the same geographical area.

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indicators and the thresholds and standards to beincluded. The designer will manage the parentdatabase for its first two years.

At PACT, the GIS tool was designed withassistance from the cartography department ofthe Technical University of Berlin (TUB), whichalso monitored PACT’s work during the stages oftesting, adaptation and improvement. However,this is now part of PACT’s remit and the task of aMalian GIS computer scientist trained at TUB(who manages the Kati and Ségou databases). Atpresent, the use and development of the toolrequire only occasional support from TUB.

Data collectors

The statistical data for the SNV’s GIS werelargely taken from existing databases, especiallythe OISE database, and from the data producedby the tools used by SNV and its partners. An SNVadvisor, working with the technical services of theKoulikoro region and CCC advisors, verified andcollected data locally in order to supplement theGIS database.

The statistical data for PACT were collected byadvisors from the Kati CCC (working with electedmunicipal officers and devolved state services)and by the programme teams.

‘Validators’

For each database use, SNV drew on the criticalspirit of the members of the two teams (LG,DERK), of the CCC personnel and of the SNV-Mali’spartners and their knowledge of the area in order todetect any errors that might have slipped into thedatabase. This will help identify and correct gapswhen the users have ownership of the databaseand its products are being used with other partners.

At municipal validation workshops organised byPACT (especially those on the reference situations,the PDESCs and the natural resource managementaction plans), local actors were asked to comparetheir knowledge of the area with the mapsproduced from the GIS, following which appropriatecorrections were made to the database.

Users of the GIS databases: twodifferent practices

Users, including the SNV teams, personnel fromthe three CCCs (Banamba, Dioïla and Koulikoro)and, ultimately, from the ‘cercles’, municipalitiesand the regional chamber of agriculture, willcontrol and guide the use of the tool since theywill provide and select the data required to meettheir needs, and feed the system, with advice andassistance from an experienced person. As theywill have direct access to the database, they willbe able to use its full potential and will, inparticular, be able to carry out their own query bylocation. This is the tool’s strength. They will alsobe able to produce maps to meet their own needsor the needs of their partners.

This option requires substantial training andrefresher training. If ownership is to be successful,support from a person experienced in using theGIS will continue to be necessary for sometime.

In addition, a map library containing maps likelyto be of general interest will shortly come on line.

The GIS advisor from PACT, based in Bamako,retrieves information, analyses data and producesmaps for users in the ‘cercle’ of Kati. Based at thePACT office in Ségou, another advisor (who is anexperienced user and cartographer), assisted bythe GIS advisor in Bamako, carries out the samework for the ‘cercle’ of Ségou.

Local governments are indirect users of thePACT GIS and use the finished products in threeforms: electronic maps (the digital GIS, or ‘d-GIS’), paper maps (the analog GIS, ‘a-SIG’) andmaps published online (the internet GIS, ‘i-GIS’).

Users’ opinions and perceptions are assessedfrom what they say about the GIS products andthe formats of the maps produced. In the case ofthe a-GIS, the main focus was on whether theinformation contained on the maps actuallymatched the situation perceived in the field by theactors themselves. Comprehending the symbolsand colours used in the legends of the maps wasa further focus.

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Elected municipal officers are the right people tohelp to improve the tool because they have a verygood knowledge of their area. If the GIS resultsare to be used, especially at planning workshops,moderators and support personnel (PACT advisorsor service providers) have to be proficient inreading maps. If the symbols are appropriatelychosen, local actors merely need to be literate tobe able to use the results.

2.4.2.5. Hypotheses,problems, indicators andreference standards

Both organisations were of the view that theinformation needed to be made easier for peopleto analyse and remember and that data normallyanalysed separately needed to be linked in orderto improve understanding and to providemunicipalities with databases that they could usefor decision-making. The GIS tool, combiningconventional database software (Access®, forinstance) with mapping, therefore seemed ideal.

Two types of data are needed to build GISdatabases: cartographic and statistical. Both haveproblems. The problem raised by cartographicdata lay in the fact that municipal boundaries arenot yet physically fixed in Mali. While each villageknows to which municipality it belongs, theboundaries of the municipal area have yet to beexactly defined. The solution used during thedesign of the GIS tools was to use the mappingboundaries contained in the OISE database maps,as validated by the Ministry of TerritorialAdministration and Local Government (MATCL).However, local actors do not always agree withthe maps produced. Giving municipalities a‘tangible’ boundary may lead to protests. Fromthe point of view of statistics, the main problemslay in the reliability of data; in problems identifyingsources, dates and other information needed fordata analysis; and in the laborious work tostandardise computer files to enable them to beentered into the GIS databases.

As the initial objective was to draw up amunicipal overview, information was collected onbasic infrastructure in the fields of health,education, water, etc. These data were convertedinto descriptive and location maps:

- a map showing municipal divisions with allvillages;- a map of health areas;- a map showing the location of the communityhealth centre.

To enhance these analyses, thematic processingwas then carried out for various indicators andparameters.

As regards the theme of local governance, priorto the design of the database, the SNV teams haddecided to use the indicators of the PovertyReduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) and theMillennium Development Goals (MDGs), with theirassociated standards and thresholds. In the caseof rural economic development, standards of theFood and Agriculture Organisation of the UnitedNations (FAO) were applied. In this way,information can be retrieved from the databaseusing various criteria, such as compliance or non-compliance with the PRSP or MDG standards or,more simply, criteria of proximity, populationnumbers, etc. It can then be converted into mapsso that it is easier to read. Data for new indicatorswill be input in line with needs like the following:

- a map of villages not meeting the standard ofone water point per 400 inhabitants;- a map of municipalities whose municipal councildoes not hold the four mandatory meetings eachyear.

PACT’s GIS uses result indicators to supportcapacity building in the communities within itsarea of work:

- a map of land use;- a map of resource management;- a planning map.

No indicators were set in advance as they areincluded when there is a demand for them.

Both GIS tools are making it necessary todevelop and use allied tools and methods, forinstance:

� the Global Positioning System (GPS) in order tocorrect maps or include new localised data. AtPACT, the GIS officer, the CCC advisors and theprogramme team have carried out this kind ofwork, following preliminary training;� good practice in the formatting of Excel®spreadsheets;� helping local actors learn to read and understandmaps.

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2.4.2.6. Procedures,formalisation,institutionalisation andlinks with existing tools

These GIS tools are largely intended for municipal-ities and will ultimately be ‘fuelled’ by municipalities.One of their strengths is that it is easy to increasethe scale of a map from the level of a village to thelevel of a municipality, a number of municipalities, a‘cercle’, a number of ‘cercles’ (for instance the three‘cercles’ in which SNV works) or a region. This couldbe important in ensuring that municipal and regionaldevelopment plans are consistent. The fact that theGIS can aggregate data (i.e., taking village statisticsas a starting point for municipal, ‘cercle’ or regionalstatistics) should particularly be noted.Municipalities need to make the most of thisopportunity, which can force technical services toprovide statistical data at the village level.

In the case of SNV, the GIS is being formalisedand institutionalised. This will be furtherconsolidated when the tool is owned by themunicipalities and their partners in the field,whether national or international, in the context,for instance, of decentralised cooperation.

Both GIS tools have very strong links with theOISE monitoring and evaluation system becausethey use its coding for administrative entities(villages, municipalities, ‘cercles’ and regions)87.Data from OISE can therefore be readily input andprocessed in the GIS, which seems to bear out awillingness to share data nationally.

In the case of SNV’s GIS, there are also plans toprocess some of the data produced by othertools, such as the reference situation, the self-evaluation tool for local government performanceand the basic health-sector information systemfor municipalities88 (SIEC-S). The GIS will thereforecomplement other tools so that all the datacollected can be processed more efficiently.

87- This database re-uses the single identifier allocated to each administrative entity by the National Statistics andInformatics Directorate (DNSI) during general population censuses. This code makes it possible to exchange datareadily but is unfortunately only rarely used.

88- See the Seminar on 'Building capacities for monitoring and evaluation of decentralisation and local governance inWest Africa: exchange of experience and learning', Bamako, 17-18 May 2006.

2.4.2.7. Deciding how touse the system

Although the GIS is not a new tool, it has notbeen used to any great extent in developingcountries. TUB, PACT’s technical partner in thedesign of the GIS, had been trying it out forseveral years in the context of GTZ’s scientificprojects in China. TUB has also used it as aninteractive planning tool in projects to rebuild localgovernment in East Germany followingreunification. Since 2004, there has been three-way cooperation between TUB, PACT and theGTZ’s North Mali programme.

The SNV consultant had used the GIS at a nationallevel to produce the atlas of Mali’s population, ata regional level to help the regional assembly ofMopti to prepare its PDESC and at a ‘cercle’ levelfor the CCCs of Douentza and Mopti.

All these experiences mean that the GIS hasalready proved its worth as a decentralisationsupport tool at any administrative level in thedecentralised system.

The SNV’s primary maps, taken from the OISEdatabase maps for administrative entities andproduced for the natural environment by theInternational Crops Research Institute for theSemi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), was drawn up for thewhole Koulikoro region. Detailed cleaning andcorrecting was done and information on the three‘cercles’ in which SNV is working (Banamba,Dioïla, Koulikoro) was entered into the database.At present, the SNV teams, CCC advisors andpartners in the field (such as the regional chamberof agriculture of Koulikoro) are being trained touse the GIS database so that everyone canmaster the tool and use it to meet their needs. Itwill also be possible to validate the database atthis stage. These learning stages are veryimportant as they will enable everyone todiscover the tool’s potential and the problemsentailed in data entry. Initial training will befollowed by refresher training and more detailedthematic developments in keeping up with thedemand from users. The ultimate aim is formunicipalities themselves to be able to use andadd to the database.

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At PACT, the process started with a trial in the‘cercle’ of Kati. The GIS database was then extendedto other ‘cercles’ covered by the programme. In bothcases, primary maps were drawn up and satelliteimages and aerial photographs were included alongwith statistical data. PACT then carried out dataanalysis and processing and the results werepresented in three forms: electronically, on paperand on the internet. PACT now offers GIS productson demand in line with local needs.

Some advisors have also been trained to useGPS devices and to understand the notion ofglobal positioning (geographical coordinates,projections, etc.). Having to get used to using a‘sophisticated’ device was felt to be a test butwas ultimately considered to be an interestingexperience. The advisors are now regularly able tosupply the data collected during field trips.

The costs of the process are difficult to estimateas, in addition to the costs of purchasing computerequipment, software, imaging and map stocks,there was a major investment of time. However,when the system is up and running, data analysisand processing may be faster, providing high-quality products to support decision-making or tohelp municipalities to improve the documentationthey offer to their financial partners.

2.4.2.8. Capacity building

The GIS tool is helping to build the capacity oflocal governments. As municipal actors know moreabout their area, they are able to take decisions infull knowledge of the facts and to provide bettersupport for their arguments when talking to theirpartners. Moreover, GIS products are making localauthorities and their activities more visible.

The challenge of capacity building continues tobe one of harmonising GIS and statisticalproduction work. All those involved in localgovernance will nevertheless have to adopt goodpractices to ensure that usable, updated data areavailable for efficient planning and monitoring oftheir development work.

If this tool is well understood and if all thoseinvolved have ownership of it, it should change therelationships between technical departments andlocal governments. It should be noted that a degree

of synergy needs to be developed as regards theinformation needed for these databases and theiruse, if the GIS is to be a tool that is useful foreveryone, at all levels of decentralisation.

2.4.2.9. Ownership,viability, adaptation andreplication of the process

The approaches of SNV and PACT differ in regardto the actual users of the GIS. PACT does notconsider the computerised tool to be directlyusable by municipal actors. They will use only theproducts produced to meet their needs. Onlyspecialist personnel in charge of the GIS will usethe tool directly to produce maps. In contrast,SNV wants to make the tool directly available tousers (the regional chamber of agriculture ofKoulikoro, for instance), so that the full potential ofthe tool can be exploited. An approach of this kindobviously requires a major investment in initial andrefresher training, detailed thematic developmentand backup from someone with high-levelexperience of this kind of tool. In particular, guidesto operating and working methods and safeguardsto preserve the quality of the parent database willbe needed. A great deal of work will therefore berequired to support ownership in the followingways if the system is to be sustainable:

� GIS instruction manual: information on themetadata (table content) + methods ofconstructing indicators and the thresholds andstandards used;� user manual for a GIS database using MapInfo;� GIS database operating methods for basicusers;� guide to good practice in the formatting of dataspreadsheets;� module on statistical processing and mappingnotions, etc.

In the case of SNV, ownership of such a highlycomplex and technical tool by local actors is avery ambitious challenge.

In the case of PACT, it is not the computer toolitself but the GIS products that are to be owned.During the testing process, many advisors (PACTstaff, CCC advisors, service providers) receivedtraining from PACT so that the maps could beused specifically at municipal planning meetings.

PACT mentors in the field helped municipal actorsto understand the content of these maps and touse them in their daily work.

The dynamic and evolving nature of the GIS isone of its strengths. It is open to and is even‘greedy’ for data at different dates, enablingcomparisons. It is this ‘time dimension’ in practicethat makes it an interesting monitoring andevaluation tool. It is also easy to open the initialdatabase up to new themes and to include newgeographical areas.

If each organisation setting up a GIS were toobserve a few common rules, it would be possibleto join the pieces of the puzzle and obtain anoverall GIS for Mali that everyone could use.However, an overall GIS containing all existingstatistical data on the administrative entities of thecountry would seem to be a rather utopianconcept. It would be better to develop a platformfor concerted action and exchange using GIS tools,so that proper and updated maps from individualand thematic databases can be made available.This would give everyone the information that theyneed to construct a GIS in keeping with their needsand, as part of a shared process, either to pass onthe data that they have collected or the newprimary maps that they have digitized.

2.4.2.10. Results andlessons learned

Results

In the case of SNV, it is still too early to discussresults. Future users are nevertheless expecting agreat deal from this tool.

The PACT tool makes it possible to producethematic maps that CCC and PACT advisors can useat municipal development planning workshops. Italso provides maps that can be used for brochurespresenting information about each local authorityand providing information on municipalities forvisitors or potential partners (state departments,development organisations). It can be used to fleshout municipal PDESCs, reports on visits and studyreports. It can be used to draw up referencesituations for ‘cercles’. The PACT’s GIS products,moreover, provide much better knowledge of the

environment and are making municipalities morevisible. The tool also has an educational role to playin learning about municipal areas and municipalorganisation. The GIS computer tool can also beused to simulate different scenarios for a givenproblem, which may well facilitate decision-making.

In the ‘cercle’ of Macina, for instance, the GIS,by locating water points, the paths followed byanimals and pasturing zones, proved to be veryuseful when an agreement betweenmunicipalities was being drawn up. The jointformulation (by municipal actors, technicaldepartments and PACT) of an agro-pastoral mapof all the municipalities of the ‘cercle’ greatlyfacilitated decision-making. By enabling variousactors to compare and contrast their spatialperceptions, this exercise provided a climate inwhich farmers and pastoralists could worktogether, leading, in 2006, to a reduction ofconflicts (which had often ended in death)between farmers and stockbreeders.

Lessons learned

� In Malian society few maps are available and littleuse is made of them. If they are to be betterappreciated, their use needs to become morecommonplace. If schoolteachers were to usemaps of their municipality, children could learn toread them. These children are the citizens andpotential elected officials of tomorrow.

� It is still difficult to obtain integrated, up-to-dateprimary maps and correct computer files withreliable, dated statistics whose source is knownand whose statistical units are identified by acode that everyone recognises. All dataproducers therefore need to be encouraged toprovide instructions on the use of their databases.Geocoding that is accepted by everyone (such asDNSI’s village, municipality, ‘cercle’ and regioncodes) needs to be applied as a principle so thatdata are easier to exchange, and rules on dataformatting, especially in Excel® spreadsheets,need to be followed.

� Obtaining statistical data at a municipal level isno easy task in Mali. In some cases, the data areavailable only at ‘cercle’ level. Technicaldepartments need to be more closely involved tomake them more aware of this shortcoming andto take steps to remedy it.

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� Development of the GIS and the use of itsproducts are generating additional costs. Growingnumbers of maps and their distribution increasethe consumption of physical resources (ink,paper) as well as the human resources requiredfor such work. Some principles therefore need tobe applied: the use, wherever possible, ofcomputer files rather than paper printouts and theproduction of maps in black and white, which arenot just easier to copy but also cost less thancolour printouts.

�Maps can be used to support municipal or inter-municipal decision-making and planning, even in acountry where literacy is low. Training and localcapacity building is nevertheless a must if peopleare to learn how to read maps.

� Learning to use a GIS database is not enoughon its own: statistical processing abilities need tobe improved and technical notions aboutcartography taught. Otherwise, the database andits applications will have to be the preserve of a‘specialist’, which increases costs and decreasesmanagers’ and users’ autonomy.

2.4.3. CONCLUSIONS AND PROSPECTS

From the point of view of governance, it is asimportant to possess information as it is topossess power and financial resources. Goodsharing of information is a major step towardsgood governance, but it may not be to the taste ofpeople who derive their power from theinformation that they possess. Making informationmore democratic is therefore a challenge and agauge of transparency. The GIS, because it helpsinformation to be shared, may pave the way for adialogue among all the actors: local government/state, local government/civil society, as well asactors from the private sector.

As these two examples show, GIS tools can beused for municipal planning (particularly forPDESCs) and as a support for decision-making.Maps can be produced from the GIS, makingstatistics easier to understand and interpret. Queryby location also helps to improve spatial analysisand to provide a better knowledge of an area.Municipalities and their support structures cantherefore know more about their areas and betterunderstand how they are organised. They are thenin a better position to develop and manage them.

As these systems make it possible to draw upoverviews for different dates, the GIS may also bea tool for monitoring and evaluation. The mapsproduced illustrate what changes have actuallytaken place between two periods and are easierto analyse than statistical tables. The GIS thushelps elected officials and other local actors towork more effectively and to make decisions thatare more objective — and easier to justify to localpeople. Elected officials can use the maps to

demonstrate the impact of their policies, choicesand actions to local people. The GIS may also beused to underpin negotiations with national andregional authorities with a view to improving thelocation of basic infrastructures.

The cross-referencing that the GIS enables meansthat the data collected from other monitoring andevaluation tools can be better analysed. Municipaldata, processed in a more systematic way, becomemore readable and accessible. As the tool makes itpossible, moreover, to aggregate data to higherlevels (‘cercle’, region), it is making people aware ofthe problems inherent in the current statisticalsystem (i.e., the fact that data are rarely available atthe local level). The fact that basic data collection issuch a major task is, moreover, one of the reasonsmany people are reluctant to set up a GIS. The GIScould therefore, if it is felt to be useful, bring abouta ‘reform/revolution’ of the whole Malian statisticalsystem and could readily combine information at alevel that can realistically be managed. In practice,these tools help populations, through theirmunicipal representatives, to use statistics for theirown management purposes without having todepend on national or regional experts.

Setting up a platform for an exchange of GISexperiences could well be a further challenge.This would provide a forum for concerted actionand for sharing methods, allied tools, statisticaldata and primary maps. It could serve not just toavoid re-inventing the wheel but also for thedigitalization, verification and correction ofprimary maps or the standardisation of statistics.

101

Bassole, A., J. Brunner and D. Tunstall.2002.

GIS: supporting environmental planning andmanagement in West Africa. Report of theInformation Working Group for Africa.USAID/WRI. Available on-line:http://www.wri.org/pubs/pubs_description.cfm?pid=3146.

CTA. 1998. Geographical information systemsand remote sensing as tools for ruraldevelopment in sub-Saharan Africa.Wageningen, Netherlands: ACP-EU TechnicalCentre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation.

CCC Centre de Conseil Communal/Municipal Advisory Centre

DERKDéveloppement Économique Rural de la Région de Koulikoro/Rural Economic Development ofKoulikoro Region

DNCT Direction Nationale des Collectivités Territoriales/National Directorate for Local Government

DNSIDirection Nationale de la Statistique et de l'Informatique/National Statistics and InformaticsDirectorate

FAO Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations

GIS Geographical Information System

GPS Global Positioning System

GTZ Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit/German Technical Cooperation

ICRISAT International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics

LG Local Governance

MATCLMinistère de l'Administration Territoriale et des Collectivités Locales/Ministry of TerritorialAdministration and Local Government

MDG Millennium Development Goals


OISE Outil Informatisé de Suivi Évaluation/computerised monitoring-evaluation tool

PACT Programme d'Appui aux Collectivités Territoriales/Local Government Support Programme

PDESCPlan de Développement Économique, Social et Culturel/Economic, Social and Cultural DevelopmentPlan

PRSP Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper

SIEC-SSystème d'Information Essentielle pour la Commune dans le secteur de la Santé/Basic Health SectorInformation System for Municipalities

SNV Netherlands Development Organisation

TUB Technical University of Berlin

ANNEX I: ACRONYMS


LEDRA and FLASH. 2004. Atlas du Mali‘Population et gestion du territoire’. Rouen,France: Faculté des Langues et SciencesHumaines and Laboratoire d’Étude duDéveloppement des Régions Arides,Université de Rouen-France.

Mullon, C. and P. Boursier. 1992. Élémentspour une analyse critique des systèmesd’information géographique. Revue SIGAS,Vol. 2, No 2/1992: 152-172.

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Resource persons:

Florence DumontEmail : [email protected]

Bakary SamakéEmail : [email protected]

Links:

PACT’s GIS:http://www.tu-berlin.de/fb7/kartographie/projekte/mali/ mali.htm

SNV’s GIS (shortly):www.afribone.net.ml/spip-snv

ANNEX III: RESOURCE PERSONS, ONLINE DOCUMENTS

AND USEFUL ADDRESSES

Useful addresses:

PACT Badalabougou EstBP 100, Bamako, MaliTel: (+223) 223 62 63Fax: (+223) 223 38 05

SNVRue 17, porte 305 Badalabougou EstBP 2220 Bamako, MaliTel: (+223) 223 33 47 and 48Fax: (+223) 223 10 84

2.5. Mali: Municipalities in figures: needs and realities

This case study, 'Municipalities in figures: needs and realities', was prepared by ElsbetLodenstein and Ulrich Caspari, assisted by Florence Dumont (see Annex IV).

The authors compare two approaches to the participatory drafting of a municipal ReferenceSituation (RS) that were tested in the same region of Mali. These trials, run jointly by SNV andGTZ/PACT, are part and parcel of efforts to improve the municipal planning methods used in thelocal government support system of the Malian government and its financial and technical partners.

The study highlights the enormous challenges faced by local governments, which are increasinglyin need of statistical data in order to improve municipal planning, and thus pave the way for genuinemonitoring of local development. These challenges are also being faced by the various technicalpartners (development organisations, state technical departments and private service providers)who have to be able to adapt the services they offer to changes in demand from local government,and to assist with the replication of promising approaches.

103

104

Introduction 105

2.5.1. Methodology of stock-taking and assessment 107

2.5.2. Context, objectives and approach 1082.5.2.1. Decentralisation, devolution and municipal planning 1082.5.2.2. The area covered by the case study: the Koulikoro region 1082.5.2.3. Motivations and objectives 1092.5.2.4. The approach 110

2.5.3. Drawing up the Reference Situation 1112.5.3.1. Stages 1112.5.3.2. Strengths and weaknesses of the Reference Situation 1142.5.3.3. Relevance of the RS for planning and monitoring/evaluation 115

2.5.4. Impact of the approach on the capacities of actors andthe institutional environment 117

2.5.4.1. Capacity building and improving relations between actors 1172.5.4.2. Ownership and replication 118

2.5.5. Lessons learned 1192.5.5.1. Managing differing interests 1192.5.5.2. Finance or capacity building? 1192.5.5.3. Prerequisites 121

2.5.6. Conclusions and recommendations 122

Annex I : Acronyms 123Annex II : Stakeholders' recommendations on further progress with the RS 125Annex III : Bibliography 127Annex IV : Resource persons, documents and useful addresses 129

TABLE OF CONTENTS

105

89- In our case, the study provides a snapshot of the features of the municipality - history, demographics, economy,natural resources, infrastructure, etc. - that can be used as reference point for planning future action.

INTRODUCTION

Mr. Mayor, what is the area of your municipality, and how many people livethere? What indicators need to be taken into account if the health sector isto be successfully developed? To what extent are natural resources in yourmunicipality being exploited? With regard to education, do you want to builda new school or invest in maintaining the one you have?

Where can all this information be found and how can it be used to planmunicipal development?

Box 1: Place of the Reference Situation in the municipal planning process (2004/2005)

Decision by the municipal council

Creation of a steering committee

Drafting of a code of ethics

Drafting of the review of the previous PDESC

Drafting of the Reference SituationDefinition of planning policy

Information and awareness campaign

Village diagnosis

Consultation days / consultation between communities

Planning meeting

Drafting of the plan

Feedback on the plan

Validation of the plan

Presentation to population

Resource mobilisation

Monitoring mechanisms

Dissemination of the plan

Meeting with partners

Annual budgeting

1) Translation Box

2) Planning

3) Implementation

These questions, often connected with basicmunicipal services, are faced by the actors in localgovernance during municipal planning processes.The mayors and councillors then have to decidehow the problems of their area can be resolved.On what basis? They can draw on the policyguidelines of the municipal council, the technicalexpertise of local public service workers, and/orthe opinions of the local population. In mostcases, however, baseline data, guidelines, andother precise points of reference are not availablein Mali at the municipal level. Municipalities, whichare now responsible for their own development, donot have access to detailed studies (monographies)89,and sector information is aggregated at the higherlevel of the ‘cercle’ or the region.

One of the lessons learned from the shortcomingsof the first generation of Economic, Social andCultural Development Plans (PDESCs), dating from2001, was that the planning process needed to beimproved. A simple and pragmatic proposal wastherefore to draw up an inventory of the keyindicators of municipal development beforeembarking on any long-term planning. With thesupport of the Local Government SupportProgramme (PACT) of the German Agency forTechnical Cooperation (GTZ) and SNV NetherlandsDevelopment Organisation (SNV-Mali), 60 or somunicipalities in the Koulikoro region (in the ‘cercles’of Banamba, Dioïla, Kati and Koulikoro) drew up suchan inventory using the 'Reference Situation' (RS)drafting tool designed for this purpose (see Box 1).

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This experiment was conducted against thebackdrop of many challenges faced by all thesupport programmes involved in the administrativereform arising from decentralisation:

� the lack of financial and human resources onthe part of local government; � the transfer of a host of responsibilities fromthe state to local government, without theconcomitant transfer of the resources and meansneeded to exercise these new competencies;� the responsibility for designing, planning andimplementing development measures nowincumbent on local governments;90 and� parallel sector planning unconnected withmunicipal planning, and vice versa; and� the insufficient decentralisation of statetechnical departments.91

The RS tool was initially designed for municipalplanning. As matters stand, the trial describedcannot yet claim to be a tool for monitoring andevaluation. The tool, its method of use, and itstechnical aspects, are still being adapted andimproved. It has been validated locally, but hasbeen used only once as a reference document inthe limited context of an inventory of municipaldevelopment indicators. It is nevertheless usefulto present this tool and to discuss the challengesthat we and our partners faced in improving theplanning, and monitoring and evaluation, of

decentralisation and local governance in Mali. Wefeel that the best way to improve the RS tool,which is undoubtedly necessary, and to fuelthinking about future developments, is to sharethe knowledge and experience gained from theuse of this tool. The approach used to build localactors' capacities, and the lessons learned, mayalso provide food for thought for sub-regionalpartners keen to use similar tools.

This case study summarises the process bywhich the RSs were drawn up in the areascovered by SNV and PACT. Methods ofdocumenting and assessing the experiencesgained in the use of these RSs are brieflyreviewed in Chapter 2.5.1. The context, objectivesand approach of the RS are discussed in Chapter2.5.2. The stage-by-stage process by which theRS was drawn up is reviewed in Chapter 2.5.3.Technical issues are put to one side in Chapter2.5.4 which highlights the development ofcooperation between local government andtechnical departments in the process of drawingup the RS. The impact on local governmentcapacities for data collection and analysis is alsoexamined. The lessons to be learned from thisexperience are discussed in Chapter 2.5.5.Chapter 2.5.6 offers the actors involved somerecommendations and prospects for furtherprogress with the RS.

90- Law 93-008 setting out the conditions for the freedom of administration of local government, as amended by Law96-056 of 16 October 1996.

91- MATCL and UNDP (2005). p. 7.

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The stock-taking and assessment of theexperiences described in this case study tookplace over a period of two years. In this process,three main stages can be identified:

Stage 1- defining problems:

All of the support organisations involved in theNational Support Programme for LocalGovernment, and local governments themselves,identified several shortcomings in the firstgeneration of Economic, Social and CulturalDevelopment Plans (PDESCs). These includedlack of consistency in municipal plans, gaps in thestarting data and low-level links with nationalobjectives, PRSP indicators and the MDGs. Thesame findings were also set out in a nationalstudy of local planning in Mali conducted by theNational Local Government Directorate (DNCT) ofthe Ministry of Local Governance and TerritorialAdministration and by the Ministry of Planningand Regional Planning (MPAT).92

Stage 2- mobilising the available

knowledge:

Joint stock-taking and analysis with actors ingovernance took place chiefly through workingsessions at regional, ‘cercle’ and municipal levels. Awide range of actors were involved: local municipalplanning actors, decentralised state technicaldepartments, providers, municipal advisory centres(CCCs)93 and their support organisations (SNV andPACT).

Stage 3- drawing the strands together:

Thinking about the knowledge to be sharedstarted at the municipal level and continued at thenational level. At the local level, a panel of actors,representing cases of both successful andunsuccessful use of the tool, took part in a finalsurvey and in the working sessions. At thenational level, the core municipal planninggroup94organised a discussion of the tool'srelevance to other planning tools. Finally, at a sub-

regional seminar, 'Capacity building for monitoringand evaluation of decentralisation and localgovernance in West Africa: exchange of experienceand learning', the tool was compared with otherinitiatives and the lessons learned were fleshed out.

The broad lines of the whole process of stock-takingand analysis, as well as its results, were thereforeshared with local users: elected officers, town clerksand municipal workers from decentralised services.The CCCs, PACT and SNV drew up documents onthe key stages (see Annex IV).

In the case of the ‘cercle’ of Kati, an RS tool wasmodified in order to better meet the needs of thislevel of government. The points of view of usersin the ‘cercle’ of Kati have yet to be summarised.The views of national actors are also included,although they have yet to give their views onreplication and institutionalisation.

During the stock-taking andassessment process two mainproblems emerged:

� The first is connected with the inherentdynamics of the municipal planning process. TheRS tool was initially designed in practice to fill agap within a multi-stage planning process (seeBox 1). Analysis of the data collected wastherefore to be used as a starting point for furtherstages following on from the RS process. It wasdifficult, however, to pinpoint observations onthe process to draw up the RS within the localenvironment, where there are constraints on thetime and resources available for the planningprocess as a whole.� The second problem is connected with themethod of steering the approach and modificationof the RS tool by local planning actors and thestructures working with them. When local actorsfelt the tool to be incomplete or overly ambitious,they added or removed some indicators.While such adaptations to the local contextare understandable, they led to changes in thetrial variables, which ultimately made it difficultto compare the lessons learned.

92- PRECAGED (2004). 93- The role of the CCCs is to provide local government with advice on the drafting of the PDESCs and support plans

and to lead the local policy committee (CLO - Comité Local d’Orientation).94- The core municipal planning group of practitioners and decision makers was set up in 2002 to foster exchanges of

experiences in the context of decentralisation in Mali. The group includes representatives of support programmessuch as SNV (Koulikoro Local Governance programme), PACT, Decentralisation Support Programme in the KoulikoroRegion (PADK) and the National Local Government Directorate (DNCT), the National Coordination Unit (CCN),municipal advisory centres (CCCs), the central services of the Ministry of Planning and Territorial Development: theNational Territorial Development Directorate (DNAT), the National Population Directorate (DNP), the NationalPlanning and Development Directorate (DNPD), the National Statistics and Informatics Directorate (DNSI), and theNational Capacity Building Programme for Strategic Development Management (PRECAGED). PACT & SNV/EGLK(2004, 2005).

2.5.1. METHODOLOGY OF STOCK-TAKING AND ASSESSMENT

108

95- Local Governance and Decentralisation Programme (GOLDD) study, MATCL & UNDP (2005).96- Law 93-008 setting out the conditions for the freedom of administration of local government, as amended by Law

96-056 of 16 October 1996, and Law 95-034 establishing a local government code in the Republic of Mali, asamended by Law 98-066 of 30 December 1998.

97- MDRI (2000). For a summary of discussions of municipal planning in Mali, see also Nassire, M. (2001) inMATCL/DNCT (2001), p. 16-31.

98- DNATCT (2004).99- PACT (2004). 100- Calculated from OISE mapping.

2.5.2.1. Decentralisation,devolution and municipalplanning

Decentralised local government in Mali includes70 communes, 49 ‘cercles’, 8 regions and onedistrict, all of which have legal personality, financialautonomy and decision-making powers exercisedunder the supervision of a state representative.Local government prerogatives include freedom ofadministration and the gradual transfer of powers,particularly in the fields of education, health andwater. Although this transfer of powers shouldhave been accompanied by a concomitant transferof resources needed to exercise these powers,local authorities have not yet received them.

Very slow progress is being made withdevolution and increased decision-making powerson the part of local staff. The 2005 GOLDD95 studyshowed, among other things, that almost nodevolved state services are to be found atmunicipal level. Moreover, those services to befound at ‘cercle’ level are not really functional, asthey lack even the most basic operationalrequirements.

Local authorities have a mandate for planningand implementing development measures.96

When the first planning process was run (2000),the 684 new rural municipalities used themethodological guidelines disseminated byMATCL, their supervising ministry.97 Proposedimprovements to these very simple andcomprehensible national guidelines in 2004 tookthe form of a preliminary draft training module forCCC advisors on PDESC drafting.98 Unfortunately,

however, these proposals have never beenadopted. New national guidelines are not yetavailable, and ways of improving the secondmunicipal planning process, between 2004 and2005, were therefore left to the discretion andcapacity of local actors and support organisations.99

Between these two municipal planning periods,the institutional environment underwent far-reachingchanges. While the ministry supervising localgovernment was still competent when the firstgeneration of municipal plans was drawn up, it hadto share the steering of the second process with thecentral departments of the new Ministry of Planningand Territorial Development. Improvements to themunicipal planning process were not helped by thischanging institutional environment.

2.5.2.2. The area coveredby the case study: theKoulikoro region

The RS tool was designed and applied in 66 localauthorities of the Koulikoro region that had beentargeted by PACT and the SNV in the context oftheir support for decentralisation and localgovernance (see Box 2).

Consisting of seven ‘cercles’ and 108municipalities, the Koulikoro region covers an area100

of 90,677 km2. The urban municipality of Koulikorois the capital of the ‘cercle’ and the region. Bamako,the national capital with six urban municipalities,forms an enclave within the region and the specificadministrative entity of the District of Bamako.

2.5.2. CONTEXT, OBJECTIVES AND APPROACH

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With an estimated population of 1.7 million in2001101, the Koulikoro region covers four climaticzones, ranging from arid near to the Mauritanianborder in the north, to humid near the Guineanborder in the south. Some 80% of its multi-ethnicpopulation work in agriculture.

The problems faced by municipalities in obtainingadvisory support from technical departments andstatistical data on the municipality can be seen fromthe extent to which technical departments havebeen devolved in the region: 23 regional directorates(devolved state services) are represented in theregion's capital, 11 are to be found at ‘cercle’ leveland only five at municipal level, where theyrepresent the sub-sectors of agriculture andlivestock, nature conservation and health102.

2.5.2.3. Motivations andobjectives

SNV and PACT and their partners supported aparticipatory process to devise an RS tool. Theirinitial motivations and objectives were:

� to improve the municipal planning process;� to build the capacities of local actors inmunicipal data collection and analysis; and� to improve cooperation between the localactors involved in municipal planning and localtechnical departments.

101- DRPS Koulikoro (2003).102- MATCL and UNDP (2005), p. 37-38.103- Article 35 of the Local Government Code (Law 95-034) on working groups. In contrast to the working groups,

CPCs do not need the approval of the supervisory authority.

SNV led the CCCs of the ‘cercles’ ofBanamba, Dioïla and Koulikoro and thusassisted 41 municipalities and three‘cercle’ councils in the Koulikoro region. PACT, currently the support andassistance organisation for the CCC ofKati and its 37 municipalities, led theCCC up to 2005.Together, the two support programmesassisted these 78 municipalities indrawing up their municipal plans in 2000and 2004. PACT then extended the useof this tool to the ‘cercles’ of Ségou,Barouéli and Macina.

Box 2: Area of coverage of the RS tool

During the trial, we found that the approachcould be used to meet other objectives in thearea of decentralisation support:

� by demonstrating, in a pragmatic way, the linksbetween decentralisation (municipal planning)and the fight against poverty (use of PovertyReduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) andMillennium Development Goal (MDG) indicators);� by promoting long-term strategic planning;� by encouraging municipal actors to take a moreresponsible attitude towards data managementand monitoring and evaluation; and� by stepping up the introduction of basicservices and improving their operation.

Three sets of actors played an active part indeveloping the RS tool:

� support organisations - the municipal advisorycentres (CCCs), SNV and PACT - steered thedesign of the tool and provided backup for localgovernment; � the municipal steering committees (CPCs)applied the tool. Each CPC is a streamlined workinggroup that is not subject to any administrativeformalities103. Each CPC is chaired by a member ofthe municipal executive (the mayor or a deputymayor) and includes a municipal councillor, thetown clerk, representatives of local technicaldepartments (health, education, agriculture) and arepresentative of civil society. It can also call uponresource persons if specific expertise is needed.

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The CPC supervises municipal planning on behalfof the municipality, and facilitates ownership ofthe tools used by local actors. Its mandate isspecific and limited in time;� the users of the end product, the RSdocument, are the municipal council and staffand local technical departments at ‘cercle’level, the supervisory authority, the CCCs,support organisations, providers, members ofthe local policy committee (CLO),104 and the‘cercle’ council.

These actors wanted to take part in the processof drawing up the RS or to use the product fordifferent reasons:

� SNV and PACT wanted to try out newapproaches and to help in the design of planningtools;� for the CCCs, this was their conventional taskof support for local government as specified intheir remit;� local technical departments were aware that thetask of setting up municipal databases would betricky at all levels for all the actors involved in

104- See Decree 269/PM-RM of 8 June 2000 creating the National Policy Committee (CNO) on technical support forlocal government. The remit of the CLO at ‘cercle’ level is to draw up, steer, coordinate, monitor and evaluate thetechnical support needed for the implementation of local government development programmes in the ‘cercle’.The CLO is composed of the Prefect, one elected officer per municipality and the representative of the Chambersof Agriculture and Trade and may be extended to include technical services.

decentralisation. They were keen to take part in theprocess as technicians and as local governmentadvisors;� municipalities needed to make progress withthe planning process and to obtain a referencedocument (monograph); and� providers were keen to get to grips with a newworking tool.

2.5.2.4. The approach

The RS tool was devised in a multi-actorenvironment, in a context in which thestakeholders had little experience with the use ofmunicipal databases. For this reason, SNV andPACT opted for a learning and experimentationapproach through which the capacities of theactors could be strengthened and the tooladapted in line with the experience acquired.Ongoing thinking and the process of stock-takingand analysis made it possible gradually to improvethe tool and the process, and to plan thesubsequent stages.

111

105- The seven CCCs of the Koulikoro region formed a network to pool experiences in carrying out their remit. In 2004,they decided to draw up the data collection guide for the drafting of the RS.

106- PRECAGED (2001).107- Ministry of Planning and Territorial Development - National Statistics and Informatics Directorate: Malian Poverty

Assessment Survey (EMEP), Principal findings, Bamako, 2004.

2.5.3.1. Stages

The drafting of the RS took place in three stages: the design of the tool, the drafting of the municipalRS, and the use of the RS document (see Box 3). The three stages were structured as follows:

2.5.3. DRAWING UP THE REFERENCE SITUATION

Box 3: Drawing up the Reference Situation: the stages

Stage 2: Testing of the collection guide

Stage 3: Adaptation of the guide, drafting of the second version of the data collection guide Koulikoro CCC Network

Desig

n

Koulikoro CCCNetwork

LG (CP, SG),providers, CCC

Data collection guide for

the Reference Situation,

October 2004

Stage 4: Information, training and awareness-raising for municipal actors

Stage 5: Data collection

Stage 6: Data analysisDra

ftin

g

TD, LG, providers,CLO, CCC

TD, providers,CCC, CPC

Reference Situation available

for 66 municipalities and

3 ‘cercles’,

December 2004-March 2005

Stage 7: Inputting and compilation of data Providers, CCC,support orgs.

Use

Stage 8: Analysis and use of the RS for drafting the PDESC (Social, Economic and Cultural Development Plan)

LG (municipal council,municipal staff), CPC,

TD, NGOs,associations, CCC

2005-2009 PDESCs

Phase Stages Actors

involved

Outcome

Stage 1: Drafting of the first version of the RSdata collection guide

LG (CP, SG), TD,providers, CCC

Technicaldepartments (TD),

providers, CLO, CCC

Stage 1: Design of the RS data

collection guide

In order to draw up the RS data collection guide(stage 1), the CCC network of the Koulikororegion105, PACT and SNV drew on their ownexperiences of planning and data collection. TheRS was designed as a technical diagnostic toolwith conventional content. Advisors drew onMalian planning sectors and planning tools suchas the draft DNATCT guide (2004) and the guide

for the drafting of development schemes.106 Theyalso consulted sector programme indicators, theMalian Poverty Assessment Survey (EMEP)107,Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) andthe Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The first draft version of the RS tool included 40or so tables covering four development sectors(see Box 4). The source of the information wasgiven below each table. From the point of view ofthe types of information, the qualitative data were

112

on a par with quantitative data. This particularmethod made it possible to understand theproblems and potential of each sector, and tosupplement statistical information that was ofmediocre quality or not available.

This first draft version of the data collection toolwas adapted after trials (stage 2) in sixmunicipalities of the ‘cercles’ of Banamba,Koulikoro and Dioïla (SNV). In the ‘cercle’ of Kati,the tool was adapted by the supervisory authority,technical departments, mayors and town clerks ata two-day working session of the local policycommittee (CLO).

Box 4: Planning sectors and types ofinformation

Planning sectors:

� Human resources: population, health,education, political environment, voluntarysector, private sector � Rural economy: agriculture, livestock,fisheries, horticulture, forestry� Infrastructure and equipment : publicbuildings, roads, communications� Industry: crafts, commerce, industry,tourism

Types of information

� Statistical: demographics, election results,education, health, agricultural output andequipment, livestock, forestry, infrastructure, roads,energy, industry, craft sector, tourism, commerce� Qualitative data: socio-cultural fields,organisation of professional and agriculturalstructures, service providers and basicservices, natural resources management (use,potential, constraints), ecology. 'Gender'relations were described for each sector� Indicators (norms, standards, values):education, health, water, forestry, agriculture,livestock

The criteria for the choice of the trialmunicipalities were the number of villages theycontained, and their areas, so that the time andresources required could be evaluated andcompared. Local actors in the ‘cercle’ of Koulikorothen met at a workshop at which technicaldepartments, providers, NGOs, local authoritiesand municipal staff gave their views on the qualityof the tables. Internal consultations within SNVand PACT also made it possible to improve thecontent of some tables. A second version of thedata collection tool emerged from the trials andconsultations (stage 3). At present, the tool is stilla working document. The CCCs of the region arediscussing its content, as well as the process andthe roles and responsibilities of the variousactors, and the support they need. At the nationallevel, the tool has been presented and discussedat two meetings of the core planning group.

Stage 2: Drafting of the RS

In the ‘cercles’ of Banamba, Dioïla, Kati andKoulikoro, the CCCs organised a training courseon municipal planning, with a module on the useof the data collection guide when drawing up theRS. Town clerks, municipal officers and providersparticipated in this course. After this training, theCCCs in the ‘cercles’ of Dioïla and Kati providedmunicipalities with individual counselling andsupport, particularly at working sessions with thesteering committees.

In all the ‘cercles’, the local policy committeewas a very good vehicle for raising awarenessamong mayors and for monitoring how the stageswere progressing. At these CLO meetings theadministration (the Prefect) could be informedand persuaded to make technical departmentsavailable to the local authorities. In the ‘cercle’ ofKati, an additional meeting was held with electedofficers, technical departments and town clerks toconduct a mid-term review of the application ofthe tool.

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Following this stage of awareness raising,information and training (stage 4), the actual datacollection was launched. For this, SNV and PACTused different methods (see Box 5).

In both cases, the CCCs coordinated datacollection and analysis (stages 5 and 6). Theysystematically monitored the work of theproviders or CPCs, checked the extent to whichthe tables had been completed, and assessed theavailability and quality of the data collected. Theyidentified any gaps and worked with technicaldepartments and providers to make corrections sothat a satisfactory result could be achieved. Finally,they computerised the data (stage 7). Paperversions of the RS documents were then madeavailable to municipalities and the other actors.

Stage 3: Using the RS for municipal

planning

The municipal planning module made provisionfor the RS to be 'used' to draw up the PDESC.However, there were no standard methods foranalysing the RS, so that the CCCs, PACT andSNV had to try out various data analysis tools.Approaches then had to be developed to translatethe results of the analysis into policies, objectivesand indicators for the municipal council.

In general, the RS data were analysed before orduring municipal council planning meetings. Theanalysis took the form of a presentation of thequantitative and qualitative data by sector and sub-sector, followed by a discussion of their strengths,weaknesses and challenges. Interpretations ofdetails were validated, where necessary, bytechnical departments. Following the discussion,the participants drew up five-year global andspecific development objectives for each sector.These objectives were then compared withregional sector plans to check whether theobjectives set by the municipality were in keepingwith national development policy.

In the ‘cercle’ of Kati, the steering committeehad the task of analysing the data and proposingstrategic guidelines and policies. Members thenhad to explain these outcomes to the variousmunicipal councils at their planning meetings.

Box 5: Data collection approaches

SNV: a provider-based approach

One of the findings that emerged from the trials ofthe data collection guide was that the workloads oflocal authorities and CCCs, and their lack of humanand financial resources, could slow down theprocess of drawing up the RS and affect the qualityof the results. As a result, SNV asked a group ofproviders to collect these data. These providerscame from the Regional Coordination of NGOs inKoulikoro (CR-ONG), which brings together NGOs,researchers and private consultants, most ofwhom had considerable experience in the area ofdecentralisation and were aware of the realitiesfacing the municipalities. SNV set up a fund tocoordinate and organise their travel and forcentralising the data input process. The RSexercise was also intended to provide informationfor an SNV study of poverty in Koulikoro region.

These providers, often assisted by technicaldepartments and town clerks, began datacollection in those municipalities that possessedbasic registry data, old reports or other projectdocuments. To supplement these data, visitswere made to villages, community facilities andtechnical departments. After the municipal RSswere prepared, SNV drew up a summarydocument for the ‘cercle’ council.

PACT: 'learning from experience'

Limited financial resources and the desire tostrengthen cooperation between localgovernment and technical departments werefactors that ruled out a provider-based approach.PACT therefore used a different strategy forapplying the tool in the municipalities of the‘cercle’ of Kati.

In this ‘cercle’, the CLO had opted to make theCPC responsible for applying the RS tool. The taskof the CPC was to facilitate data collection and todraw up reports on and summaries of the workconducted. Two-thirds (25) of the 37municipalities of the ‘cercle’ of Kati drew up theirRS using the process steered by the CPC.

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Box 6: Examples of existing databases

2.5.3.2. Strengths andweaknesses of theReference Situation

Data accessibility and availability

Initial experiences with the diagnostic techniqueused to draw up the local government RSsprovided much food for thought on theaccessibility of statistical data at municipal and‘cercle’ levels.

From the point of view of data availability, data,indicators and standards with regard to basicsocial services (health, education, water) wereavailable at the higher levels (national and regional)of the respective central departments (see Box 6).

� the SIGMA II database of the water authorities;� National Statistics and Informatics Directoratedatabase;� Health Information System (SIS); � the Ministry of Public Health's DESAM (MalianHealth Development) database;� the 'school statistics in basic education'yearbook of the Ministry of Education's Planningand Statistics Unit, updated locally by theeducational support centres.

These are recent data, either aggregated to theregional, ‘cercle’ or former arrondissement level, orbroken down to the municipal level. However,these statistics are often not disseminated beyond‘cercle’ level. Paradoxically, they are not madeavailable to devolved state departments at ‘cercle’or municipal levels, whose main partners are localactors, even though they are the first link in thedata collection chain. It continues to be difficult formunicipalities to gain access to exhaustive data onthe environment, commerce, transport and naturalresources, forestry and fisheries.

Breaking down the data for many sectors isproblematic if the data are available only at ahigher administrative level (‘cercle’) or covergeographical entities other than the municipality(agricultural areas, health units, formerarrondissements, etc.). Data on the agricultureand livestock sub-sectors, for instance, are still

processed for the former arrondissements, whichinclude a number of municipalities. Although aninitial effort was made to 'municipalize' the datafor the RS, i.e. to make the data for all thedevelopment sectors available at municipal level,data breakdown continues to pose a challenge fortechnical departments in some cases.

This was not a problem for the ‘cercle’ RSs, asall technical departments are to be found at thislevel. Thus the ‘cercle’ RSs are more completethan the municipal ones.

The Reference Situation is available -

what next?

This first completed exercise provided a 2004inventory for the various municipalities, with rawdata. As the sources of the data were provided,updating the RS in the future should bestraightforward.

The RS document has been appreciated by theactors. Elected officers take the view that theyneed to keep an inventory of their municipalityand are convinced of its usefulness for planning.Even though some data are still not available, theyfeel that the RS is the reference tool for themunicipality. At the same time, it is felt that, in itscurrent form, the tool is too 'cumbersome'.Elected officers consider that too many tablesneed to be completed, and that some data are notvery relevant.

The use of the RS to draw up the 2004-2009economic, social and cultural development plans(PDESCs) took place in an improvised way asthere were no standard tools. There is still no RSuser guide that is accessible and comprehensibleto council and municipal staff. The stages of dataanalysis and translation into objectives need to beimproved to take account of the capacities andneeds of the various actors. It will then beimportant to examine whether the technicaldiagnoses (the RS) complement the participatoryvillage diagnoses for which elected officers arecalling. Moreover, specific analytical tools willneed to be developed if the RS is to be used formatters other than municipal planning, such as forsector planning and monitoring and evaluation.

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To date, therefore, the main task has been tosimplify the content and use of the RS tool incooperation with technical departments andmunicipalities.

2.5.3.3. Relevance of theRS for planning andmonitoring/evaluation

The initial objectives of the RS were, first, toprovide a 2004 inventory and, second, to improvethe PDESCs. The knowledge provided by theinventory, and its analysis and synthesis, wereintended to provide a basis for municipal councils'strategic policy making over five to ten years, andto enable monitoring and evaluation indicators to bedrawn up. The PDESCs would be more coherent asthey could take account of all the available data. Theextent to which these objectives were achieved isexamined below.

Planning municipal development

One of the main outcomes of the process is that66 communes now have a 2004 RS. The quality ofthe PDESCs has improved; the second-generation PDESCs, drawn up since 2004 usingthe municipal RS, reflect a better knowledge ofwhat is happening than those of the firstgeneration drawn up in 2000/2001.

First, development measures are betteridentified in many PDESCs. The first-generationPDESCs tended to present a list of infrastructureto be built (quantity), while the new ones containmeasures to improve the overall performance ofsectors through investments in human resourcesand equipment (quality).

Moreover, by comparing the figures within localgovernment areas it is possible to pinpoint areasthat are less 'well-off', and to gear measures tothose areas. For instance, the cattle vaccinationcoverage per agricultural area is now known fromthe RS, making it possible to target vaccinationmeasures rather than simply planning to 'increasevaccination levels in the municipality'.

Second, the level of investment in basic socialservices has increased. Now that elected officersare aware of the indicators and the causes of poor

social service performance, they are making moreof an effort (see Box 7). These sectors are also keyfields in which local government is required to makeconsiderable efforts to achieve the MDGs. Thus, theuse of the RS tool has made it possible to integratethe MDG framework into the PDESCs (see Box 8).

Box 7: Comparison of the 2001 and 2005PDESCs: investments in health andeducation

In the municipality of Dinandougou (‘cercle’ ofKoulikoro), the planned investment in health in2001 was XOF 20,783,673, compared with XOF74,325,000 in the new 2005 PDESC.In the municipality of Nyamina (‘cercle’ ofKoulikoro), the planned investment in health in2001 was XOF 21,630,000, compared with XOF81,600,000 in the 2005 PDESC.Also in Nyamina, the planned investment ineducation in 2001 was XOF 59,524,000, comparedwith XOF 168,615,000 in the 2005 PDESC.

Now that elected officers have access toinformation, they are better able to take action toassist neglected sectors, or to address problemsthat had previously been unknown or concealed. Forinstance, the municipal RS contains information onhuman resources, education, health, associationsand community life, migration, employment,working conditions in technical departments, anddispute settlement. As a result, many PDESCs nowinclude a wider range of activities involving capacitybuilding for local actors, awareness raising, andconsultation with and participation by associations inthe running of municipalities. The inclusion of'gender' has also made the PDESCs more coherent.The availability of data broken down by gender andinformation on the roles of men and women in thevarious sectors has meant that 'gender' is nowplaying a greater role in the activities planned.

Monitoring and evaluation of

municipal development

The RS tool has considerable potential formonitoring and evaluation. From the point of viewof basic municipal social services, objectives,standards and targets are now known, so thattrends in development indicators can bemonitored in the long term. This initial applicationof the tool offers some pointers for monitoringand evaluation:

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� First, in our experience with the RS, theindicators are seen in diagnostic rather than inprocess terms. However, the RS tool may beused for evaluation purposes after a period oftime. If so, the information contained in the RSwill need to be reviewed every three or five years,a comparative analysis carried out andconclusions drawn.� Second, the RS contains only a few specificmonitoring indicators108, except in the health,education, water, agriculture, forestry and livestocksectors. In practice, these performance indicatorsmay be monitored more regularly (every year). Aweakness of the tool at this stage is that it was notpossible to draw up numerical targets for eachindicator at the planning meetings.

108- Enabling the achievement of a standard, such as the number of inhabitants per modern water point (MWP). InMali, the standard for drinking water supplies in rural areas is one MWP per 400 inhabitants.

The tool may therefore have a part to play inmonitoring and evaluation, and may also be usedto monitor the MDG indicators (see Box 8). Atpresent, however, the frequency, methods andactors involved in updating the RS have meantthat the comparative analyses have not yet beendrawn up. Updating the RS is a prerequisite formonitoring and evaluation, but little support forthis is available, and as yet no guidelines ormethodology have been compiled.

Box 8: The Reference Situation and the MDGs

The MDG framework is at present a globalframework for development. Applying the RS toolmade it possible to take the first steps towardstranslating national goals into local goals by:

� raising awareness, through informationsheets and feedback from technical services,which helped to improve understanding ofnational policies (MDGs and PRSPs). TheMDGs are no longer seen as the 'business' ofthe national government or ideals to bediscussed at international conferences. Rather,the actors have been made aware that much ofthe work of local government is alreadyconnected with the MDGs and that thisframework may make it easier to draw uppolicies and help to flesh out goals; � integrating the MDG/PRSP indicators intothe RS, especially in the areas of education,water and health. An analysis of the currentsituation and comparisons with national andregional targets have made it possible formunicipalities to pinpoint what measureswould be needed to achieve them.

These initiatives led to PDESCs that were muchbetter geared to the fight against poverty sincethey:

� pinpointed the less advantaged areas ofmunicipalities and circles;� contained a greater commitment to basicsocial services, as reflected in increasedinvestments and measures to improve theways in which services are run; and� made it possible to monitor each municipality'sprogress towards achieving poverty reductiongoals.

The MDGs provided a general framework for theRS exercise. However, while the MDGs provide aframework for action, more detailed analysis bysector and by indicator is needed. This type of workis not possible at present as a result of the ways inwhich the PDESCs are drawn up. Moreover, theinclusion of a 'monitoring and evaluation' chapter inthe PDESCs, including the key indicators of the RS,may help with monitoring and evaluating the MDGsin relation to the specific needs of the municipality,the population and the local context.

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2.5.4.1. Capacity buildingand improving relationsbetween actors

From the local organisational and institutionalpoints of view, the RS drafting process had threeeffects:110

� increased interest in data management;� improved capacities for data collection andanalysis on the part of local government; and� improved cooperation between technicaldepartments and local government.

Shared interest in data management

The RS drafting process increased the interest inand demand for municipal data managementtools. All the actors were aware of the importanceof a single database amalgamating municipal data.The fact that local authorities put pressure ontechnical departments to make data available is agood example of this. At the same time, technicaldepartments understood the importance of databroken down to municipal level, not just becausesuch data were needed by municipalities, but alsofor their own planning and overall monitoring oftrends in each sector. All actors felt that the qualityof the data needed to be improved, and that theyneed to be kept up to date. The RS drafting stagetherefore became a key stage for any kind ofplanning or monitoring and evaluation.

Local government capacities for data

collection and analysis

Data collection capacities

The data collection process had little impact onthe capacity of elected officers and municipalexecutives, particularly in the SNV area where aprovider-based approach was chosen. Electedofficers tended to be passive actors. However, inall areas, town clerks mastered the approachneeded to draw up a municipal RS, i.e. thecollection of data, checking of survey records,compiling and drafting the document. The mayors

109- Source: surveys, working sessions and evaluations with local actors.110- 'Effects' = changes that can be directly or indirectly attributed to the design and drafting of the RS.111- Survey among mayors, March 2006, Dioïla.

2.5.4. IMPACT OF THE APPROACH ON THE CAPACITIES OF

ACTORS AND THE INSTITUTIONAL ENVIRONMENT109

tended to regard town clerks and technicaldepartments as 'RS technicians' and oftendelegated the tasks of data collection andupdating the RS to them.

Data analysis capacities

First, the RS drafting exercise gave elected officersa better knowledge of national policies. The PRSPsand MDGs were discussed and used in the analysisof the indicators, and were linked to national policiesand translated into local goals (see Box 8).

Second, elected officers felt that the RS hadhelped them decide on the main outlines of thePDESCs, especially in the education and healthsectors111. Discussions of the figures andinterpretation of the data were the most importantfactor. Elected officers therefore discovered thatstatistical data could enhance qualitative villagediagnoses. They found that the RS made it possibleto pinpoint shortcomings and opportunities thathad not been identified during participatorydiagnoses. Comparative analysis enhanced themunicipalities' overall knowledge of the situationand highlighted specific opportunities/issues in thevarious fields for which they are responsible.

Third, when analysing the data, local actorsdiscovered that it is difficult strictly to apply thesector and sub-sector classification. Theydiscovered the 'intersectoral' (see Box 9).

Box 9: The 'intersectoral' in the PDESCs

The 'human resources' sector of the RS givesfigures on school access to drinking water. Duringthe planning process other water-related issueswere included in the 'rural economy' and'infrastructure' sectors. The RS showed that therewere strong links between various sectors andthus encouraged an integrated and morecoherent understanding of development, aprinciple that was not applied in the first PDESCs.

Elected officers became aware that dataanalysis was not solely the work of technicians.

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Box 11: Examples of replication

One of the initial objectives of the planningprocess was to pave the way for a longer-termvision and to integrate the monitoring andevaluation indicators into the PDESCs. While theRS ought to foster such objectives, analytical toolsare still not good enough to enable forwardthinking or planning for a five- or ten-year period.Local government monitoring and evaluationcapacities have not been adequately strengthenedand additional work is needed by sector or sub-sector (see, for instance, SIEC, section 4.1.4.2).

Finally, as the approach focused on municipalplanning it did little to meet the capacity-buildingneeds of technical departments, even thoughthese were known.

Improved cooperation between

technical departments and local

authorities

Technical departments were not very involved in thedrafting and implementation of the first generation ofmunicipal plans. Often, they were invited only at thefinal stage, i.e. to the planning meeting. The draftingof the RS made it possible to involve technicaldepartments from the outset, and in particular fromthe data collection stage. As a result of a period ofinformation exchange, training and discussions in thelocal policy committees, most of the technicaldepartments undertook to provide and correct dataand indicators. The direct, intensive exchangesbetween technical departments and local authoritiesduring all the planning stages led to the developmentof mutual trust and a spirit of cooperation. Theplanning meetings became a real forum forconcerted action where technical departmentsexplained the indicators to elected officers andprovided advice for decision making. The concreteoutcome of this was improved cooperation. Localgovernments and technical departments now inviteone another to participate in joint activities such assector planning, preparing case files or implementingmunicipal projects (see Box 10).

112- SYNDEC is a working group formed by decentralisation support structures in the ‘cercle’ of Ségou. It was set upin 2004 to enable concerted action to support municipal planning in the 30 municipalities of this ‘cercle’. Itincludes ten or so support organisations, including the CCC and PACT. See Réseau SYNDEC, ‘cercle’ of Ségou(2005 a, b).

Local data and information management is nowmuch more open and transparent, and the variousactors are more aware of where to find data andhow to access it.

Finally, the negotiating skills of elected officershave been improved, leading to improveddialogue between local governments andtechnical departments. The result has been toreduce the information gap between them -elected officers now understand what thetechnical departments are saying - with the resultthat communication is now on an equal footing.

2.5.4.2. Ownership andreplication

It would seem that elected officers do not as yetown the process. All elected officers are callingfor technical support when the exercise isrepeated, even though data collection has beenmastered by town clerks and technicaldepartments. This is probably due to theproblems of data accessibility and the intensivenature of the collection work. Data interpretationand analysis require technical assistanceespecially if they are to be used for planning andfor monitoring and evaluation. It would bepreferable for assistance to be provided by theservice provider commissioned to carry out thedata collection and analysis for the first RS.

External assistance will also be needed when theapproach becomes more widely disseminated as aresult of its institutionalisation. In this case, technicaldepartments will have to be involved as the mainmentors for local actors. Some examples of thereplication of the RS tool are presented in Box 11.

Box 10: Using the RS for sector planning

At a meeting organised by the Kati educationauthority (17-19 November 2005), all themunicipalities of this ‘cercle’ played an active partin drafting municipal action plans for education byproviding the data from their RSs and the list ofactivities set out in their PDESCs.

The RS tool is being replicated in other ‘cercles’. Inthe PACT area, for instance, the members of theRéseau Synergie Décentralisation (SYNDEC)112

used the RS tool as a starting point for the draftingof municipal RSs. The tool was modified as thecollection of qualitative data has been abandonedin order to streamline the process. The modifiedtool was then used in the planning processes of11 municipalities of the neighbouring ‘cercle’ ofBarouéli.

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SNV has introduced a further municipal planningand monitoring and evaluation tool - the 'Systèmed'information essentielle de la commune' (SIEC,Essential Information System for the commune) -which can be seen as a continuation of the RS forthe health sector. Its aim is to improve the way inwhich municipal health service performance ismonitored. With a view to the transfer of skills,municipalities analyse problems, rank them andidentify monitoring indicators in order to evaluatethe impact of the proposed solutions. This

process is taking place in conjunction with theservices concerned and the community healthassociations.

For the purposes of their geographicalinformation system (GIS), PACT and SNV aretransferring some information from the RSs tomunicipal databases. The GIS can be used tocompile thematic maps and efficiently processand analyse the mass of information collected forall municipalities.113

113- The sub-regional seminar 'Building capacities for monitoring and evaluation of decentralisation and localgovernance in West Africa: exchange of experience and learning', Bamako, 17-18 May 2006, provided anopportunity to assess the SIEC and the GIS.


2.5.5.1. Managingdiffering interests

Managing such diverse actors and interests wasobviously difficult. While support from SNV andPACT helped to improve cooperation betweentechnical departments and local governments, itdid not manage to resolve some of the problemsresulting from their different points of view. Datamanagement is, in practice, a question of power.Those in possession of information are not alwayskeen to share it. If the RS is not to the liking oftechnical departments, associations and NGOs,they may not want to validate it. Both casesarose, raising problems from the point of view ofthe quality of the tool and its institutionalisation.

We learned that it is important to discuss dataaccessibility and quality with all stakeholders atthe outset. An ideal solution would be a databasethat all the actors contribute to, share, use and inparticular validate, and which is managed by astructure appointed by mutual agreement.

2.5.5.2. Finance orcapacity building?

In the area of organisational capacity building, akey assumption is that ownership andstrengthening of organisational capacities would beundermined when financing is made available forprojects. Another assumption was that a provider-based approach (SNV) would be more expensivethan a municipality-based approach (PACT).

With regard to these prior assumptions, duringthe assessment of the experiment, however, twofindings emerged:

� The two approaches had the same effects onthe capacities of elected officers and on improvedcooperation. In all municipalities ownership waslimited, and only town clerks were able toreplicate the exercise (chapter 2.5.4). The impactof the municipality-based approach (implementedand financed by the municipality) on capacitybuilding does not seem to be any greater. It wouldnevertheless be interesting to compare dataquality and the municipalities' satisfaction with theresults to gain a more detailed idea. We alsoconsider that factors such as leadership and thequality of external facilitation are just as important.� Contrary to our expectations, the provider-based approach did not prove to be much moreexpensive than the municipality-based approach(see Box 12). The total cost of an SNV RS wassome XOF 300,000 (EUR 458), compared withXOF 250,000 (EUR 380) for a PACT RS. As aresult, this cost, which had played a major part inthe choice of the strategy, is therefore not asimportant as had been assumed.

As the various options did not have the effectsenvisaged, it would therefore be more interestingto try to find out which option is preferred bymunicipalities, and which is most satisfactoryfrom the point of view of results.

The following figures only partly reflect the effortsof the stakeholders to facilitate the process, butgive an idea of the range of expenditures and thedifferent budget items to be considered.

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Factors Municipal RS (XOF) ‘Cercle’ RS (XOF)

Steering committee (operation) 50,000 200,000

Technical services (XOF 4,000/day) 75,000 75,000

Provider (data collection and processingof the document) 250,000 1,000,000

CCC advisor - -

Support structure - -

Mid-term meeting 25,000 75,000

Feedback workshop 100,000 150,000

Total cost per RS drawn up with aprovider 500,000 1,500,000

Total cost per RS drawn up withoutprovider 250,000 500,000

Item Costs in XOF (for 44 RS)

Data collection providers 8,000,000Providers (data processing) 500,000

Assistance from a CCC advisor at municipaloffices in order to help with analysis andsynthesis of the RS

2,640,000

CLO technical services and costs 2,200,000 approx. XOF 50,000/authority)Total for 44 RS 13,340,000Total cost per RS 300,000 XOF (458 EUR)

Box 12: Costs of drawing up a Reference Situation

SNV estimates the total expenditure to prepare the RS in 44 local authorities (41 municipalities andthree ‘cercle’ councils) to be:

PACT estimates the costs of the municipal/‘cercle’ RS as follows:

Costs of drawing up a ‘cercle’ RS

The municipal data have to be aggregated to the ‘cercle’ level, corrected and supplemented wherenecessary at feedback meetings with technical services.

SNV's experience (data collection at the ‘cercle’ level assisted by a provider using a tool in keepingwith this local government level) shows that the average costs are comparable with those of an RS.PACT's trials in the ‘cercle’ of Kati are estimated at some XOF 1,000,000 over a six-month period.

The time needed to draw up a municipal RS in the SNV area (with a provider) was 1 to 2 months. Inthe PACT area it took 2 months (with a provider) and 4 months (without a provider).

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2.5.5.3. Prerequisites

For the application of the tool and, in particular,when mentoring a multi-actor process, someconditions have to be met:

Specifying the roles of the actors

involved

Field experience has shown that the roles of localactors in data collection, the provision of theresources needed for the exercise and datamanagement needed to be better specified114. Civilsociety organisations and NGOs have informationthat can be put to use in data collection andinterpretation. Cooperation between municipalitiesand technical departments should be specified andformalised in a protocol. In Mali, this cooperation isset out in the laws and decrees ondecentralisation115, but it would be better to opt forlow-key administrative management of thiscooperation and to involve the local governmentsupervisory authority.

Considered choice of data and

indicators

For a reliable database, the choice of data andindicators required has to be shaped by theinformation that is available. A complicated databaseis difficult to manage, especially by local actors whoare not technicians. Consequently, needs have to bemet while taking account of the actual situation inthe field. For this reason, our advice is to focus onan inventory of existing data. When starting datacollection, the first step has to be for technical

114- Local actors need to be involved in any prior communication on data collection and in the compilation of the dataand its subsequent provision to the municipal steering committee and in the analysis of the data with thiscommittee.

115- Decree 96-084/P-RM on the conditions and methods under which devolved state services are supplied to localgovernment.

departments to draw up an inventory of the officialinformation available and to gain agreement on theapproach. Prior definitions of indicators should alsobe drawn up with technical departments.

Analysis of existing capacity

In order to avoid institutional problems from theoutset, the support organisations mentoring theapproach should make particular efforts to ensurecompliance with the principle of involvement ofthe local government supervisory authority (thePrefect) and the higher hierarchical level of localtechnical departments (the heads of unit oftechnical departments at the ‘cercle’ level and thedepartment responsible for planning).

Over and above municipal planning, externalmentoring is needed from the point of view ofcapacity building. We recommend a prior analysisof existing capacity, followed by drafting of aspecific capacity building strategy based on theresults of this analysis. On the basis of ourexperience, we recommend that the followingareas be included:

� communications and improving professionalrelations (lobbying, presentation, argument);� on-the-job mentoring/follow-up for local actors(elected officers, town clerks and technicaldepartments), possibly supplemented by targetedtraining. Mentoring of this type is needed todevelop expertise in local data management andanalysis; and� mentoring of the local government support andadvisory process for staff of technical departments.

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Since the process was started in 2004, theReference Situation has been discussed at local,regional and national levels. It has been discussedand sought out by elected officers, municipalstaff, doctors and municipal school staff, supportorganisations, planners, researchers, techniciansfrom technical departments, partners anddonors, etc.

The RS - referred to in this case study as a'technical diagnosis' 'review', 'database' or'reference document' - has been used to draw upmunicipal plans and development plans involvingtransfers of skills in the fields of education, healthand water. It is also starting to be used to managemunicipal equipment and resource mobilisationsince the RS inventories existing infrastructureand makes it possible to find out what aspectsneed to be taken into account for tax purposes.

The RS has become the only document of itskind in municipalities that includes a substantialamount of data on all development sectors. It isable to satisfy the information needs of a widerange of actors with different specific objectives.This outcome is encouraging, even though theinitial objectives were not all achieved.

The process of joint stock-taking, analysis andexchange made it possible to gather advice fromthe stakeholders on how the RS could beprogressed. We also took account of commentsand advice given at the sub-regional seminar inBamako on 17 and 18 May 2006.

The stakeholders are keen to improve the tooland the approach, the quality of the data collectedand the role of users. Representatives of localactors (decentralised technical departments,town clerks, CCC advisors, providers, NGOs andsupport organisations) put forward varioussuggestions after the municipal planningprocess,116 the most important of which were asfollows (for further details, see Annex II):

� developing an application manual for the RStool to provide the actors with better guidance;� streamlining the tool by eliminating informationthat is of no use for technical diagnosis and formonitoring and evaluating municipal development;

116- PACT (2006): the survey was conducted in December 2005 in 10 municipalities in the ‘cercles’ of Kati, Barouéliand Ségou with a working session in Koulikoro on 10 February 2006 organised by SNV.

2.5.6. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

� taking steps to break down data to municipallevel;�making data more reliable by conducting surveysand polls to flesh out the available data; and� envisaging the joint management of futuremunicipal databases by municipalities, under theresponsibility of mayors, and technical departments.

SNV and PACT recommendations concerned theregular use of the tool and monitoring of PRSPand MDG indicators. We have put forwardspecific measures for local actors, national actorsand the municipal advisory centres, and optionsfor improvement and consolidation (see Annex II).

The other case studies presented at the Bamakoseminar convinced us that the involvement oftechnical departments is paramount in ensuringthat the approach is actually applied, since localauthorities already have a full workload and theirtechnical capacities are not always adequate.

While exercises to draw up reference situations,monographs or poverty profiles (see the casestudies on Cameroon and Ghana) have played animportant, even essential, part in planning, theystill, as in the case of the RS, have to prove theirworth for monitoring and evaluation.

The monitoring and evaluation system of thenew European Union Support Programme forAdministrative Reform and Decentralisation(PARAD), under which budget support has beenprovided for the state reform and decentralisationprocess in Mali since 2006, drew our attention fortwo reasons. On one hand, this tool involvesspecific indicators from the point of view of skillstransferred. On the other, although theseindicators are few in number (four) they can beseen as an attempt to harmonise the monitoringand evaluation of municipal development. Asmunicipal performance will play an important partin gaining access to the local governmentinvestment fund, municipalities will have to focustheir efforts on the PARAD indicators.

This new context helped us to pinpoint whatpotential there was for the future of the RS in thelocal authorities concerned. First, the 2004 RSmay continue to be a reference document or

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inventory that covers all sectors of development.Ongoing updating and management arenecessary if the information needs of users are tobe met. Our wish to institutionalise technicaldiagnostics at the municipal level is underpinnedby the PARAD monitoring and evaluation system.Support from the CCCs and support organisationscould be concentrated on achieving the PARADindicators and possibly other indicators that theyor municipalities consider to be relevant. The aim,

as mentioned above (section 2.5.4.1), is to buildthe capacities of elected officers to carry outdetailed sector analyses, and to plan and monitorand evaluate basic services (see the example ofthe SIEC). This policy could at the same time helpto streamline the RS by focusing on some keyindicators. Experience of the RS in the Koulikororegion has undoubtedly created a climate in whichthese proposals could be put into practice.

ANNEX I: ACRONYMS

AMM Association des Municipalités du Mali/Association of Malian Municipalities

ANICTAgence Nationale d'Investissements des Collectivités Territoriales/National Agency for LocalGovernment Investment

CAP Centre d'Animation Pédagogique/Educational Support CentreCCC Centre de Conseil Communal/Municipal Advisory CentreCCN Cellule de Coordination Nationale/National Coordination UnitCLO Comité Local d'Orientation/Local Policy CommitteeCNO Comité National d'Orientation/National Policy CommitteeCPC Comité de Pilotage Communal/Municipal Steering CommitteeCP Comité de Pilotage/Steering CommitteeCR-ONG Coordination Régionale des ONG/Regional Coordination of NGOsCSO Civil Society OrganisationDED Deutscher Entwicklungsdienst/German Development Service DNAT Direction Nationale de l'Aménagement du Territoire/National Territorial Development Directorate

DNATCTDispositif National des Appuis Techniques aux Collectivités Territoriales/National System for TechnicalSupport for Local Government

DNCT Direction Nationale des Collectivités Territoriales/National Local Government Directorate DNP Direction Nationale de la Population/National Population DirectorateDNPD Direction Nationale de la Planification du Développement/National Development Planning DirectorateDNSI Direction Nationale de la Statistique et de l'Informatique/National Statistics and Informatics DirectorateDRPS Direction Régionale du Plan et de la Statistique/Regional Planning and Statistics Directorate

DRPSIAP

Direction Régionale du Plan, de la Statistique, de l'Informatique, de l'Aménagement du Territoire et dela Population/Regional Planning, Statistics, Informatics, Territorial Development and PopulationDirectorate

EMEP Enquête Malienne sur l'Evaluation de la Pauvreté (2001)/Malian Poverty Assessment Survey (2001)

GOLDDProgramme de Gouvernance locale, Décentralisation et Déconcentration/Local Governanceand Decentralisation Programme

GTZ Gesellschaft für technische Zusammenarbeit/German Agency for Technical CooperationLG Local Government

MATCLMinistère de l'Administration Territoriale et des Collectivités Locales/Ministry of TerritorialAdministration and Local Government

MDGs Millennium Development Goals

124

MDRIMission de Décentralisation et des Réformes Institutionnelles/Decentralisation and Institutional ReformMission

MPAT Ministère du Plan et de l'Aménagement du Territoire/Ministry of Planning and Territorial Development NGO Non-governmental organisation ODHD Observatoire du Développement Humain Durable/Observatory of Sustainable Human Development

OISE Outil Informatisé de Suivi Evaluation (base de données)/Computerised Monitoring/Evaluation Tool (database)

PACT Programme d'Appui aux Collectivités Territoriales/Local Government Support Programme

PADKProgramme d'Appui au Développement de la région de Koulikoro/Decentralisation Support Programmein the Koulikoro Region

PARADProgramme d'Appui à la Réforme Administrative et à la Décentralisation/Support Programme forAdministrative Reform and Decentralisation

PDESCPlan de Développement Economique Social et Culturel/Economic, Social and Cultural DevelopmentPlan

PNACTProgramme National d'Appui aux Collectivités Territoriales/National Support Programme for LocalGovernment

PNIR Programme National d'Infrastructures Rurales/National Rural Infrastructure Programme

PRECAGEDProgramme de Renforcement des Capacités nationales pour une Gestion stratégique duDéveloppement/National Capacity Building Programme for Strategic Development Management

PRSP Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper

REDLRéseau de Réflexion et d'Échanges sur le Développement Local/Local Development Think Tank andDiscussion Forum

RS Reference SituationSAD Schéma d'Aménagement et de Développement/Development Plan

SIECSystème d'Information Essentielle pour la Commune/System of Essential Information forMunicipalities

SIG Système d'Information Géographique/Geographical Information System

SIGMASystème Informatique de Gestion des ressources en eau au Mali/Computerised System for WaterResource Management in Mali

SIS Système d'Information Sanitaire/Health Information SystemSNV Organisation Néerlandaise de Développement/Netherlands Development OrganisationSYNDEC Réseau Synergie Décentralisation SYNergy DECentralisationUNDP United Nations Development Program

125

ANNEX II: STAKEHOLDERS' RECOMMENDATIONS ON FURTHER

PROGRESS WITH THE RS

SNV and PACTrecommendations onfurther progress with theRS

For local actors

In relation to the regular use of the tool and themonitoring of PRSP and MDG indicators, werecommend that elected officers, town clerks andCSOs:

� regularly update, for instance on an annualbasis, the RS document in order to provide anup-to-date picture and gradually to discoverother reliable sources of information;� carry out this updating and data analysiswork prior to the annual municipal programmereview and before the new annual programmeis drawn up;� regularly request the involvement oftechnical services in updating work in order toshow a long-term interest in the compilationand provision of municipal data; � share the updated documents with theactors involved and disseminate them onrequest;� refer, in the management of municipalbusiness, to the data collected in order to makedecision-making mechanisms transparent;� test the relevance of data on a daily basisand retain a critical spirit as regards thereliability of data;� compare each local government RS withthose of other municipalities or ‘cercles’, andshare analogies or disparities;� follow up, or even become involved in thediscussion of the fine-tuning of the PRSP andMDG indicators in order thereby to assess thepertinence of the municipality's ownindicators.

For national actors

With regard to the central, regional and localservices of decentralised state departments andthe provision of data at municipal level, werecommend:

� promoting long-term internal technicalcapacity building, down to the local level, forthe management of the data required by theremit of the respective service;� promoting the breakdown of data tomunicipal level and regular data updating;� giving local technical services access to thestatistics available at national level and trainingthem to process and interpret these data;� obtaining regular information on thestatistical services of the respective service.

For CCCs

With regard to the CCCs and their role asintermediaries between local government andtheir environment, we recommend:

� assisting, through practical examples andsimple exercises, local government to updateand interpret data, in particular town clerks,CPCs and working groups;� facilitating the dissemination of information(sector programmes, PRSPs, MDGs), initiatingdiscussions at the CLO level andstrengthening local government and technicalservice communication strategies;� organising exchanges between CCCs ondata management and successful cases (see'link with other tools');� attaching particular importance to buildingthe capacities of local actors in analysis andlong-term planning;� facilitating exchanges and sharing databetween technical services, local government,NGOs and local associations.

126

Options for improving andconsolidating the RS

Replication and improvement

� apply the RS in the ‘cercles’ of Ségou andBarouéli and apply the SIEC tool in the ‘cercle’of Dioïla (under way). A process of stock-takingand analysis is planned;� produce an RS user manual;� streamline the RS tool and break down thedata;� draw up RS documents at the circle leveland specify the role and content of the RS.

Institutionalisation

� at municipal level: specify how the RS issubsequently to be used in the planningprocess and improve the municipaldevelopment monitoring and evaluation systembased on the regular updating of the RS tool;� at ‘cercle’ level: reach a stage where thestructure (format, content) of the RS isfinalised so that it can be validated by thesupervisory authority and technicaldepartments (see the example of the ‘cercle’of Kati);� involve the Association of MalianMunicipalities (AMM) with their resourcecentres; � involve the ‘cercle’ councils in themanagement/ supervision of municipal databases;

� at regional and national levels: includemunicipal data management and thecontribution of the RS in discussions of themonitoring of PRSPs and MDGs.

Strengthen links with other tools

With a view to harmonisation at national level andlearning at sub-regional level, we have planned forregular exchanges with the organisations involvedin monitoring and evaluation that have drawn upsimilar or complementary tools:

� DNCT/CCN DNAT (National TerritorialDevelopment Directorate): PDESC draftingguide;� REDL Mali, SNV Niger, Benin (ANCB, GTZ,Helvetas), Burkina Faso (GTZ, MATD/DEP):self-evaluation tool for local governmentperformance;� DNAT: drafting guide for the DevelopmentScheme (SAD) at ‘cercle’ and regional levels;� local government/support organisations/treasury: municipal resource mobilisationstrategies;� GTZ, SNV Mali and other structures:geographical information system (GIS); � SNV Mali: Essential Information System forthe Commune (SIEC) - HEALTH;� CCN: Computerised Monitoring/EvaluationTool (OISE);� sector and ODHD databases.

127

ANNEX III: BIBLIOGRAPHY

CCC KATI & PACT. 2004. Formation des acteurs au développement du cercle de Kati sur laplanification communale. Cahier duParticipant. Centre de Conseil Communal deKati and PACT. Kati.

CCC SEGOU & PACT. 2005. Réseau SYNDECcercle de Ségou. Formation des membres duréseau et des partenaires en élaboration duPDESC. Centre de Conseil Communal deSégou and PACT. Ségou.

DNATCT. 2004. Module de formation surl'élaboration des PDESC. Draft à l'intentiondes conseillers CCC. Guide du facilitateur,élaboré par AGEFORE et BEFOR. Bamako.

DNCT. 2005. Projet de guide d'élaboration desPDESC suivant les secteurs de la DirectionNationale de la Planification et du Dévelop-pement. Interim report.

DRPS Koulikoro. 2003. Annuaire statistique,année 2001. Direction Régionale du Plan etde la Statistique, Région de Koulikoro.

European Commission. 2005. Programmed'Appui à la Réforme Administrative et de laDécentralisation - PARAD. Brussels.

General Assembly of the United Nations. 2000.Millennium Declaration. Resolution adoptedby the General Assembly at its 55th Session,item 60b of the agenda of 13 September2000. A/RES/55/2.

Loi 93-008 déterminant les conditions de la libreadministration des collectivités territoriales,modifiée par la loi 96-056 du 16/10/1996; loi 95-034 portant code des collectivités territorialesen République du Mali, modifiée par la loi 98-066 du 30/12/1998.

Loi 95-034 du 12/04/1995 portant code descollectivités territoriales en République duMali modifiée par la loi 98-010 du 15/06/1998et modifiée par la loi 98-066 du 30/12/1998.

MATCL/DNCT. 2001. Planification participativedans le cadre de la décentralisation en Afrique,Actes de l'atelier international de Ségou,confrontation des pratiques (étapes, méthodes,outils, mesures d'accompagnement, modalités)de mise en cohérence des divers niveaux deplanification du local au national. Bamako.

MATCL. 2005. Programme national d'appui auxcollectivites territoriales, Phase II, 2006-2010.Document de programme. Draft version.Bamako.

MATCL & PNUD. 2005. Rapport sur l'état deslieux de la déconcentration et le suiviévaluation de la décentralisation. Secrétariatdu MATCL et Programme de GouvernanceLocale, Décentralisation et Déconcentration(GOLDD). Bamako.

MDRI. 2000. Guide méthodologique de program-mation du développement communal.Méthodes et outils de programmation dudéveloppement communal. Mission deDécentralisation et des Réformes Institution-nelles. Bamako.

Ministère de l'économie et des finances &système des Nations Unies au Mali. 2004.

Rapport de suivi de la mise en œuvre desObjectifs du Millénaire pour le Dévelop-pement (OMD). Bamako.

Nassire, M. 2001. La problématique de laplanification participative dans le contexte dela décentralisation en Afrique. Le cas duMali. Dans MATCL/DNCT (2001): Planifica-tion participative dans le contexte de ladécentralisation en Afrique. Actes de l'atelierinternational de Ségou, du 25 au 28 juin2001, p. 16-31. - Bamako.

ODHD. 2004. Décentralisation et réduction de lapauvreté. Rapport national 2003 sur ledéveloppement humain durable au Mali.Ministère du Développement Social, de laSolidarité et des Personnes Agées, UNDP,Observatoire du Développement HumainDurable et de la Lutte contre la Pauvreté.Bamako.

PACT. 2004. Planification Communale, Leçonstirées de la Formation des Conseillers CCCde la Région de Ségou. Rapport des Co-Formateurs Dante, Gaoussou & Caspary,Hans-Ulrich, June 2004. Etudes PACT/Planification No 1. Exécution du module Plande Développement Economique Social etCulturel (PDESC) du programme national deformation des CCC 2003-2004 du DNATCT.Bamako.

128

PACT. 2006. Enquête Planification. Le processusde planification communale 2005 en zoned'intervention PACT. Capitalisation desexpériences du PACT. Étude PACT/ Plani-fication N° 3, par Gabriel Coulibaly, Foranim-Consult. Bamako.

PACT & EGLK/SNV. 2004. Groupe noyau'Planification Communale'. Compte rendu dela Rencontre No 5 du 28/10/2004. Bamako.

PACT & EGLK/SNV. 2005. Groupe noyau 'Plani-fication Communale'. Compte rendu de laRencontre No 6 du 03/05/2005. Bamako.

PRECAGED. 2001. Guide méthodologique d'éla-boration du schéma d'aménagement et dedéveloppement de cercle. Ministère del'Economie et des Finances, UNDP, Pro-gramme de Renforcement des CapacitésNationales pour une Gestion Stratégique duDéveloppement. Bamako.

PRECAGED. 2004. Étude sur la planification localeau Mali. Ministère du Plan et de l'Aména-gement du Territoire, UNDP, Programme deRenforcement des Capacités Nationales pourune Gestion Stratégique du Développement.Bamako.

PRIMATURE. 2003. Enquête nationale surl'évaluation de la pauvreté (EMEP) 2001.Rapport de synthèse, November 2003.Gouvernement du Mali, Ministère déléguéchargé du Plan, Direction Nationale de laStatistique et de l'Informatique, World Bank,Projet d'Appui aux Initiatives de Base (PAIB).Bamako.

République du Mali. 2002. CSLP Final. CadreStratégique de Lutte Contre la Pauvreté.Document préparé et adopté par le Gouver-nement du Mali le 29 mai 2002. Bamako.

République du Mali. 2004. Rapport de la deuxièmeannée de mise en œuvre du CSLP. Versionprovisoire du novembre 2004. Bamako.

Réseau SYNDEC cercle de Ségou. 2005a. Ladémarche d'élaboration des PDESC 2006 -2010 dans le cercle de Ségou. Tome 1,Rapport méthodologique. November 2005.Ségou.

Réseau SYNDEC cercle de Ségou. 2005b.Rapport d'évaluation externe du processusd'évaluation externe d'élaboration desPDESC 2006 - 2010 et du fonctionnement duréseau. December 2005. Ségou.

SNV Mali. 2004. L'annuaire statistique des collec-tivités territoriales: expérience du PDRK.

SNV Mali. 2004. Guide de Planification CommunaleOutils pour les acteurs locaux qui initient etpilotent le processus d'élaboration du Plande Développement Economique Social etCulturel (PDESC).

SNV Mali. 2005. Rapport Étape 1 de la planificationcommunale 2004, l'élaboration de la situationde référence des collectivités dans lescercles de Banamba, Koulikoro et Dioïla.

SNV Mali/KIT. 2005. Le Système d'InformationEssentielle pour la commune pour l'approchesuivi action dans le secteur Santé (SIEC-S),draft version.

SNV Mali/UNDP. 2005. Participation de la SociétéCivile dans le CSLP et les OMD au Mali -quelques éléments de bilan et perspectivespar Sonia Le Bay et Karounga Keita. Bamako.

129

Resource persons:

Elsbet LodensteinEmail: [email protected]

Ulrich CaspariEmail: [email protected]

Florence DumontEmail: [email protected]

Consultation documentson the RS:

■ Collection guide for the drafting of theReference Situation (CCC network, July 2004)

■ Reference Situation drafting guide (PACT)■ Collection guide for the drafting of the RS

(SNV, 2004 version)■ RS analysis tools (SNV Mali, October 2004)■ 41 RS of the communes of Koulikoro, Dioïla,

Banamba (available from SNV Koulikoro, CCCsand municipalities)

■ 3 RS for the ‘cercles’ of Koulikoro, Dioïla,Banamba

The documents are available from the SNV-Koulikoro and PACT offices (as electronic filesor printouts). The RS are also available from theCCC and authorities (see useful addresses).

Useful addresses:

PACT (Programme d'Appui auxCollectivités Territoriales)

BP.: 100, Bamako, MaliTel: (+223) 223 62 63Fax: (+223) 223 38 05

SNV-Koulikoro BP.: 20, Koulikoro, MaliTel: (+223) 226 24 71Fax: (+223) 226 20 92

ANNEX IV: RESOURCE PERSONS, DOCUMENTS


130

3.1. Mali: Assessment of local government performance:experiences with a self-evaluation tool

This study 'Assessment of local government performance: experiences with a self-evaluation

tool' has been prepared by Sonia Le Bay, in collaboration with Moussoulimoune Y. Maïga and OséTiénou (see Annex IV).

The authors (who have also played their part in designing, testing and promoting the use of aperformance self-evaluation tool) describe the various stages involved in developing this tool. In acontext of municipal ownership, and drawing on the publication of the tool and the proposedapproach (MATCL/DNCT-SNV-HELVETAS-PACT/GTZ, 2004), they highlight the important role thatmentoring plays in self-evaluation exercises and the potential pitfalls that users might encounter.They also examine the problems that the various stakeholders may come up against if they focussolely on performance-based results and disregard the wealth of communication before and afterthe exercises, which may well pave the way for shared responsibility and consensual decisions.

They show that a key factor in the success of a process of this kind, developed with and for localgovernment in Mali, has been the ongoing strategic alliances that have been forged between theMinistry for Territorial Administration and Local Government (MATCL) and various developmentorganisations working with municipalities.

The authors caution all those keen to develop this kind of tool that the path from design to large-scale use may be a long one fraught with problems. If an approach is to be participatory and drawon the support of a wide range of actors, the interests and opinions of the stakeholders(municipalities, civil society, the State, development partners, etc.), differing in some cases andoften changeable, have to be carefully managed over the long term.

At the same time, efforts to devise similar tools in neighbouring countries, encouraged by thepublication of the tool tested in Mali, show that these approaches have considerable potential forreplication. This is especially so because their aim is, in particular, to make it possible to pinpointthe effects of capacity building through the improved performance of local government.

CHAPTER 3. SELF-EVALUATION TOOLS FOR ASSESSING LOCAL

GOVERNMENT PERFORMANCE

131

Introduction 132

3.1.1. Methodology for stock-taking and analysis of the process 133

3.1.2. Presentation and analysis of the self-evaluation tool 1343.1.2.1. Working towards a common goal on monitoring and evaluation 1373.1.2.2. A key actor: the local government and its various components 1383.1.2.3. The option: self-evaluation 1393.1.2.4. Mentoring of the self-evaluation strategy: a necessity 140

3.1.3. Designing the tool and testing the approach 1403.1.3.1. Designing the tool 1403.1.3.2. Designing a method of use 1423.1.3.3. Testing and finalisation of the approach 142

3.1.4. Use and relevance of the approach 1443.1.4.1. Publication and dissemination of the self-evaluation tool 1443.1.4.2. The main effects of the approach 144

3.1.5. Ownership, sustainability and replication of the approach 1463.1.5.1. Signs of ownership 1463.1.5.2. Sustainability 1473.1.5.3. Examples of replication 149

3.1.6. Prospects 151

Annex I : Acronyms 152Annex II : Bibliography 153Annex III: Institutions and resource persons 156

TABLE OF CONTENTS

132

117- These public service providers represent and implement the policy of the central government at the sub-nationallevel. They are managed by their respective ministry.

118- Over and above their specific duties, governors, ‘préfets’, ‘sous-préfets’ and tax collectors ensure that laws,regulations, decisions and guidelines from central government are enforced.

In the late 1990s, the Malian governmentdevised a National Programme in Support of LocalGovernment (Programme national d'appui auxcollectivités territoriales) with the assistance ofdonors and development organisations (TFPs). Atthat time, decentralisation had just taken shape inthe form of 703 municipalities, 49 'cercles', 8regions and 1 district (Bamako). Ninety-sevenpercent of the municipalities had just been set upand a whole new generation of electedcouncillors were starting to learn their trade.

The aim of this national programme was to meetthe challenges likely to shape the success orfailure of decentralisation and, in particular, tobuild the capacity of municipalities to take on andperform their tasks. This included looking at therole of elected municipal councillors as primemovers of decentralisation, their capacity to rallythe various actors in municipalities around localdevelopment and to ensure that devolution ofcompetencies and resources to municipalitieswould take place.

The technical component of this programme,which has since been implemented, revolvesaround the support and training provided by thecentres de conseil communal (CCCs) (municipaladvisory centres) and private service providers. Italso relies on the decentralised State services(services déconcentrés), which are to assist themunic-ipalities and provide information to them117.

INTRODUCTION

For us, as elected officers, and for municipal staff in general, decentralisationand our mandate has meant that we spend our entire time in training. Wehave hardly any time to spend on municipal business…

(Statement by a mayor from the 'Cercle' of Banamba, Koulikoro region - Mali, 2001)

Local government performance: everyone's business,but who is responsible?

The National Programme in Support of LocalGovernment is intended to be temporary. It isexpected to build municipal capacity, chiefly inmunicipal administration and management, localplanning, and ownership. For this purpose, themunicipalities draw up a support plan stating theirspecific needs of assistance.

In 2001, the Direction Nationale des CollectivitésTerritoriales (DNCT - National Local GovernmentDirectorate) along with some developmentorganisations were keen to find a way to track theoutcome of capacity building with elected municipalcouncillors and municipal staff. Moreover, they wereinterested to see how the municipalities in differentenvironments were functioning and facing thechallenges of development. At the same time, themunicipalities were anxious to be operational and tobe able to meet the different expectations ofcitizens, the supervisory authority118 and the devel-opment organisations.

This led various actors involved in thedecentralisation process to pool their experienceand skills. They designed a participatory andeducational approach to performance self-assessment, which could provide answers to theirconcerns.

133

Figure 1: Title page of the guide on the localgovernment performance self-evaluation tool

While this seemed to be attempting theimpossible, it was a worthwhile challenge toundertake.

It was this challenge that finally led to thepublication of the 'Local Government PerformanceSelf-Evaluation Tool' in April 2004 (see Figure 1). Inthe following chapters, we would like to share ourexperience with designing, testing and replicatingthis tool with the various actors, in Africa andelsewhere, who are thinking about or taking stepsto build local capacity to monitor and evaluatedecentralisation and local governance.

If you can't stand smoke, you won't get anycharcoal.

(Peul proverb)119

119- The proverbs were collected by Sonia Le Bay.120- See C. Loquai and S. Le Bay (2005).121- The GIS experiment was presented at the sub-regional seminar 'Building capacities for monitoring and evaluation

of decentralisation and local governance in West Africa: exchange of experience and learning; Bamako 17-18 May2006. See Foranim Consult (2006). It was also used in the case study 'Mali, Geographical information systemsfor the development of rural municipalities'.

122- See preceding footnote.123- This relates in particular to the examples of replication in other countries: Niger, Benin and Burkina Faso. See

chapter 3.1.5. and Foranim Consult (2006).

3.1.1. METHODOLOGY FOR STOCK-TAKING

AND ANALYSIS OF THE PROCESS

During such a wide-ranging and complex multi-actor experiment, taking place over several years,documentation often builds up informally.Documents (such as personal notes, missionreports, minutes of meetings and workshops,information on instruments having similarobjectives, summaries of questionnaires carriedout during the test phase, comments gathered onpreliminary documents, photographs, etc.) arefiled away and often forgotten. This case studyoffers an excellent opportunity to draw on thisdocumentation and to look at certain issues inmore detail. It is then possible to :

� reconstruct the main stages of the process;� put the initial objectives and those actually achievedinto perspective, while attempting to take the pointsof view of the various stakeholders into account(bearing in mind that, in practice, users' initiativesmay well improve the approach over time);� compare the options chosen with the resultsactually obtained;� go beyond the lessons learned, to find out whatchallenges still exist, what avenues remain to beexplored and what strategies can be used to meetthese challenges, along with the potentialalliances that could help mobilise additional actors.

For this study, a guideline120 was distributed to anumber of volunteers, who had been involved indesigning and testing the self-evaluation tool, inorder to help them to jointly take stock, analyseand document their experiences with the authorsof this study. Their contributions were collated byone volunteer acting as a focal point. This mainauthor was also responsible for drawing up aninitial version of the information and analysis. Thiswas then sent to the initial contributors and tothree resource persons. Two of these resourcepersons had taken part in the design and use ofthe tool. The third was more 'external'; she was arecent user of the results obtained by localgovernments for the creation of a geographicalinformation system (GIS)121. Taking into accountthe comments received, the person acting as afocal point then drew up a second version fordiscussion at a sub-regional seminar122. Thisversion was then fleshed out with informationfrom exchanges in the plenary sessions andworkshops and from the informal discussionsbetween delegates from various backgrounds insix West African countries.123

134

It was mainly the staff of donor agencies anddevelopment organisations, who had worked onthe approach as a whole, who was involved in thedrafting stage, but it was possible to obtain adirect contribution from the various stakeholdersby taking account of the following:

� the information provided by user municipalitiesat the time of the self-evaluation exercises (late2005 and during 2006) and the discussions ofvarious ways of improving the strategy that hadtaken place with them;� discussions that took place throughout 2005and 2006 with the Direction Nationale des

Collectivités Territoriales (DNCT) and its Nationalcoordination unit for technical support for localgovernment (CCN), along with donor agenciesand development organisations, particularly themembers of the Réseau de Réflexion etd'Échanges sur le Développement Local (REDL).

This method of work was chosen as a result oflessons learned in previous exercises of jointstock taking and analysis. If such an exercise is tobe truly participatory, it has to be well managed. Itis not feasible to involve all those who haveparticipated in the design and testing of the self-evaluation tool or are users.

3.1.2. PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF THE SELF-EVALUATION TOOL

To help the various actors to capitalise on thisexperience and enable readers to betterunderstand the process of conceptualisation,testing and replication and its dynamics, we havedrawn up a summary table showing thetimeframe for the main stages, the measurestaken and the actors involved (see Table 1).

When the process was launched, none of theactors had any real idea of the time that theywould have to devote to it. Even now, it is difficultto provide figures for individuals or stakeholderorganisations because detailed records have not

been kept. Nobody imagined, however, thatalmost 30 months would pass between thedesign stage and the publication stage. Had theactors involved known that this would be thecase, it might well have undermined theirmotivation. In retrospect, a 'critical number' ofactors managed to retain enough motivation toovercome the challenges and achieve theobjective, perhaps even going beyond it.

The publication is a collective work, drawing oncontributions from those directly involved as wellas many others who provided support.

135

DE

SIG

N (

08/2

001-0

8/2

002)

TE

ST

(09-1

2/2

002)

Phases Stages Measures Actors

Pooling of concerns,

discussions/proposals,

decisions

Definition of roles:- process coordination- facilitation of the process and initiatives- technical contributions to the process- identification of stakeholders

Definition of basic principles (a tool for localgovernment), stages and a provisionaltimetable

Dissemination of the outline document:guide to the use of the tool for evaluatingmunicipal performance

Review of existing information:documentary search/forging of contacts

DNCT/CCNSNVDNCT/CCN, SNV, Helvetas, PACT/PRODILO-GTZ, CCC, REDL

idem

SNV with Helvetas, PACT/PRODILO-GTZ, CCC, REDL, DNCT/CCN

Same actors with other TFPs/CCCoperators

Devising the tool and its

method of use

- Outline proposals/thematic discussions,comments, adoption

- Proposals for the content of the tool(indicators) and its methods/discussions,comments, adoption

- Drafting of a provisional version of the tool(04/2002) and an outline of the methods fortesting it

- Collection of comments at a workshop onthe provisional version (05/2002)

- Meetings with potential users(explanations, discussions, comments)

- Feedback workshop (07/2002)

- Finalisation of the tool and the methodsfor testing it (08/2002)

DNCT/CCN, SNV, Helvetas,PACT/GTZ, représentatives CCC

idem

SNV

DNCT/CCN, SNV, Helvetas, PACT/GTZwith REDL, CCC, PTF, AMM,resource persons

CCC with the CLO and municipalities

DNCT/CCN, SNV, Helvetas,PACT/GTZ, CCC, REDLSNV

Testing of the self-

evaluation tool for local

government performance

(list of indicators +

methods)

- Drafting of the terms of reference for thetest + standardised tools (grid for verifyingthe relevance of the indicators andfeasibility of the tool + summary sheet ofthe test results + proposed outline fordrafting of the report) 09/2002- Testing on a representative sample ofmunicipalities: urban/suburban/rural,different sizes and geographical areas (09-11/2002)

SNV, CCN for CCC (SNV, Helvetas,PACT/GTZ advisors)

CCC with 3% of municipalities(elected officers, municipal staff,population, civil society andsupervisory authority)

Workshop to pool the

test results

- Drafting of terms of reference formoderation of the workshop and proposedprogramme (10/2002)- Workshop to pool the test results(11/2002): discussion of the generalsummary of results provided by the CCCs,proposals to improve the tool and itsmethods, validation of the results- Further development of the process andallocation of tasks:

� coordination� drafting� comments

SNV, DNCT/CCN with 'Foranim-Consult'

DNCT/CCN, SNV, Helvetas, PACT/GTZ,CCC, REDL, 'Foranim-Consult'

DNCT/CCNDNCT/CCN, SNVDNCT/CCN, SNV, Helvetas, PACT/GTZ

Table 1: Summary of the process

136

FIN

ALIS

AT

ION

20

03

Phases Stages Measures Actors

Drafting of the final

version of the tool and

its methods

- Draft version

- Final comments

- Drafting the final version

- Validation of the final version

- Drafting the preface

SNV/CCN

CCN/SNV, DNCT, Helvetas, PACT/GTZ

SNV/CCN

MATCL/DNCT

MATCL

PU

BLIC

AT

ION

01-0

4/2

004

Selection of service

provider and printing of

the document

Call for tenders (01/2004):- selection procedures and criteria forproviders (technical publishing specifications,number of copies to be printed/documentdistribution key, work to be performed,submission of bids, roles and responsibilitiesof actors, work schedule, etc.) and creationof a selection panel- financial package- technical follow-up

DNCT/CCN with SNV, Helvetas,PACT/GTZ

SNV, Helvetas/DDC, PACT/GTZSNV, DNCT with 'Communicances'

DIS

TR

IBU

TIO

N

07-1

2/2

004

Distribution of the

document to users,

potential mentors and

other interested parties

7000 copies distributed to:- direct users (60%)- potential mentor organisations offeringcounselling and support (20%)including 20% as stock to meet emergingneeds in Mali and the sub-region

DNCT/CCN with SNV, Helvetas,PACT/GTZ

US

E

01/2

005-t

o d

ate

Local government self-

evaluation exercise

- Local governments informed at CLOmeetings

- Mentoring services proposed

- Synergy between technical partners forjoint mentoring of local governmentexercises

- Local governments evaluate their ownperformance (17% had carried out theexercise once by 06/2006)

Regional monitoring officers of theCCN and CCC

CCC advisors, technical partners,service providersFor instance: PGP/National NGOs/SNV/CCC, PGP/National NGOs/Helvetas, CCC Network, etc.

Elected officers, municipal staff, localpopulace, civil society andsupervisory authority

RE

PLIC

AT

ION

01/2

005-t

o d

ate

Take-over/adaptation of

the local government

performance self-

evaluation tool: some

examples

- Mali: 2004 plan to monitor the effects offinancial support for local governments andto index their drawing rights (58% ofindicators taken from the tool)- Mali: since 2005, during 'municipaldiagnostics', leading to capacity buildingaction plans, 90% of the questions askedtaken from the tool (in 36% of localauthorities)- Niger (a): 2005, adaptation of the tool toinclude the MDGs (b)- Benin: underway, adaptation of the tool toinclude the MDGs (b)- Burkina Faso: in development (b)- Mali: 2006, national municipal competitionwith fields and indicators taken from the tool(64% of indicators used)

TFPs 'Decentralisation' Group, DNCT

By national NGOs, partners of thePGP

Planning Ministry, SNV

ANCB, Helvetas, GTZ, SNV, PNUD

MATD, GTZMATCL/DNCT

Source: Le Bay, S.(a). Experience shared at the 'sub-regional seminar',Bamako, 17-18/05/06.(b). Millennium Development Goals.

137

124- Specific objectives of the REDL: a) to share tools, documentation and information on support for implementingdecentralisation; b) to help to improve the tools and strategies devised by member organisations, to systematiseand to disseminate them; c) to analyse and share opinions on local development problems, concepts, approachesand strategies; d) to share lessons from field experiences with the authorities responsible for implementingdecentralisation. See http://www.snvmali.org/actus/redlinfo0606.pdf

125- For SNV, the programs included the Decentralisation Support Programme in the Koulikoro Region (PDRK), BamakoUrban Development Programme (PDUB), Development Support Programme for the Municipalities of Ménaka(PDCM). For Helvetas, they were the Decentralisation Support Programme (PAD); and for GTZ, the LocalGovernment Support Programme (PACT) and Local Initiative Promotion (PRODILO) project.

126- Everyone took part in the programme during the hours they would normally work for their own organisation, sothe specific costs incurred by the activity arose only from the test phase onwards.

3.1.2.1. Working towardsa common goal onmonitoring and evaluation

In early 2001, organisations that were involved inimplementing decentralisation and whichregularly pooled their experience, in the REDLNetwork124 and with the DNCT quickly becameaware that they were focusing on the sameproblem: ways of measuring the effects over timeof building the capacity of local government. TheDNCT was also trying to gauge these effects sothat the strategies being implemented nationallycould be fine-tuned.

As a result, the Netherlands DevelopmentOrganisation (SNV), Swiss Association forInternational Cooperation (Helvetas) and GermanTechnical Cooperation (GTZ) decided to share theirresults. They pooled their efforts and resources,and made the experience of their various advisors,working groups, programmes125 and CCCsthroughout Mali available to the DNCT. The DNCTwas already engaged in various time-consumingmatters, which took up a great deal of its humanand financial resources. This support meant inprinciple that it could make better progresspreparing a consensual and functioning approach.

This set-up itself entailed some challenges,especially with regard to the ability of the variouspartners to do the following:

� to find a shared, harmonious and efficient wayof working;� to draw up a time schedule for common actions andto follow it without holding up other commitmentselsewhere;� to mobilise the necessary resources (human,financial126 and physical) in a timely, flexible andconcerted way;� to share a common vision of the choices to bemade, including the approach, the methods,options to meet the targeted objectives, etc.;� to communicate regularly with one another andwith other TFPs in order to keep them informedabout the process, ask for their contributions, andprepare for the implementation phase of theapproach.

In consequence, from the very outset, theseorganisations had to work out a number of thingsin a participatory way (see Table 1, design stage),particularly the following:

� role sharing: process coordination by DNCT/CCN; process and initiative facilitation by SNV;technical contributions to the process by DNCT/CCN, SNV, Helvetas, GTZ, CCC, REDL;� adoption of common basic principles;� objectives to be achieved;� stakeholders, cooperation and sources ofinformation available;� an outline of the various stages of work to becarried out, a draft time schedule and monitoringmechanism, etc.

If you climb a baobab, you'll get more fruit, but ifyou stay on the ground you'll know when youare going home.

(Bambara proverb)

In retrospect, keeping to the schedule causedthe most problems, largely because:

� the people working on the strategy had heavyworkloads;� the work to be carried out was rather 'repetitive':discussions, production of a draft version ofdocuments, calls for comments/discussions,drafting a new version and so on;� the participatory approach required theorganisations involved to work together on aregular basis and to devote considerable amountsof time to cooperating with the other key actors,depending on their availability, etc.

However, over and above these factors, whichcomplicated the process, the managements ofthe various organisations always gave it priority,and some people worked on it throughout toensure its successful completion.

Aside from the real need for this tool, twofactors undoubtedly played a part:

� Donors and development organisations supportingdecentralisation and local governance were keento draw lessons from previous experiences. Therehad been considerable individual investment in thedesign of monitoring and evaluation tools that had

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ultimately been used for a short time only in theirown areas of action (as part of the implementationof a programme or project, for example) and byonly a few actors (almost solely by directpartners). The latter often felt that these toolshad been proposed/imposed from outside.� The DNCT felt that this was an opportunity tomake headway in harmonising monitoring andevaluation tools for local governance to makethem consistent. They also felt that coordinating amulti-actor process to design an approach (tooland methods) would help to build and consolidatestrategic alliances.

Following the years of relatively standardised train-ing, support and advice, it was important for the'supporters' to offer municipalities an opportunity toexamine their performance on a regular basis. Thiswould enable them to identify the specific technicalsupport that they still needed in order to carry outtheir duties and provide their populace with high-quality services. Analysing their situation would helpthem to progress to the point where they were notjust consumers of services but real partners able tonegotiate with the outside world. Following themunicipal elections in June 2004, where therenewal rate was 70%, these were increasinglyacute questions for the new municipal councils.

3.1.2.2. A key actor: thelocal government and itsvarious components

From the point of view of elected councillors,the CCC advisors responsible for supporting alarge number of municipalities could not alwaysreadily perceive their particular needs or helpthem to identify these needs in order to draw upa support plan.

In parallel, a multitude of 'supporters' (lacking anycoordination in some cases) were going frommunicipality to municipality, all offering training ofvariable quality without any particular concern forreal needs. Elected officers were also aware thatthey did not really know what their needs were - orcould not agree on them - because they lacked anytangible reference information. They also admittedthat rather than starting from actual observationwithin their municipality or any problem-solvingstrategy, they tended to refer to the titles of thetraining modules they had heard about.

127- This was confirmed in the study conducted by the DNCT/CCN in June 2003 (see Annex II).

In the space of two years, I have attended,together with other councillors, five trainingcourses on the subject 'what isdecentralisation?' In hindsight, I know what Ithink about the quality of these courses. . . . It isalways difficult, however, to talk about this issuewith the village chiefs, who do not understandthat things have changed. Even among thepeople, those who have had training do not wantto understand because that often suits them.

(Statement in 2001 by a mayor from the 'Cercle' of Bougouni,Sikasso Region, Mali)

Elected councillors, municipal staff, the populace,the supervisory authority, deconcentrated Stateservices and the CCCs became increasingly awarethat the 'training approach' did not provide all theanswers. The grievances and malfunctionsreported in different municipalities often haddifferent causes. Some were due to a lack ofcompetence or the resolve to carry out certaintasks, others seemed to be the result of poorcirculation of information, a lack of exchangesbetween the actors in decentral-isation and thelack of any common vision or shared objectives.127

Mayors were keen to take up any approach thatwould help them tackle these problems and putthem in a better position for discussions with thepopulace, the supervisory authority and the'actors' (donors, projects/programme, NGOs,CCCs, service providers, etc.).

The priority for the DNCT and its partners was toenable elected officers to take the lead within themonitoring and evaluation approach. The aim wasto respect the role of mayors as municipal leadersresponsible for the development and functioningof their municipalities, while enabling them to'lead' by working in synergy with other actors(municipal staff, the people, civil society -associations, groups, NGOs, private sector,service providers, etc. - supervisory authorities).The idea was to encourage them to play an activerole in analysis. At the same time, the initiative toanalyse the performance of their municipality hadto come from the mayors, if it was to be credible.

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Supervisoryauthority

Municipal staff

MUNICIPALITY

Civil societyPopulace

Elected councillors

Figure 2: Groups of actors at the municipal level

3.1.2.3. The option: self-evaluation

There were very few ways in which responsibilityfor a planned strategy on the part of local governmentin both urban and rural areas could be reconciled withthe many objectives targeted by the various groupsof actors. These included the following:

� verification by all the actors of the functionalnature of the municipality and its performance;� providing better information to the donors anddevelopment organisations and the electedcouncillors as a basis for better decision-making(in terms of steering);� providing better information to citizens in orderto improve their contribution to/understanding ofdecisions and participation in the implementationof these decisions;� promoting the notion of accountability amongelected councillors and of democratic controlamong citizens;� improving each actor's understanding of therole of other actors and the inter-relationshipsbetween these roles and their complementarynature;� building the analytical capacity of localgovernance, particularly with elected councillors;� learning about development and localgovernance, etc.

In theory, only two approaches were possible:

� Evaluation: which is a valuable tool for any kindof organisation. Its main purpose is to provide abasis for decision making following criticalexamination of a situation and the lessons learnedfrom previous experience. The evaluation periodgives the organisation an opportunity to gain

information, assess actual facts, ask questions,think about and try to project itself into the future,and to take decisions likely to improve thesituation.

� Self-evaluation: which, as experts agree, is oneof the best methods of evaluating the performanceof an organisation. Its particular feature is thatthe main actor is the organisation and its variouscomponents. In the present case, for example, thiswould be the elected officers of the municipalityand the various actors with whom they work.

In practice, it was obviously in the interests ofthe various stakeholders to use a self-evaluationapproach because it could, at one and the sametime, be all of the following:

� Tool for communication and thinking: amaximum number of actors can be made aware ofthe information available on the local governmentand take part in analysing it. They can ask eachother questions and exchange views on their ownexperiences. This helps to flesh out individual,necessarily partial, perceptions and may well leadto a more comprehensive overview of thesituation. It then becomes easier to analyse andfind answers to the main concerns of the moment.

� Learning: as the analysis and decision-makingcapacities of the municipality are gradually improved,the various actors agree to listen to and learn fromother people's views, and to pool their experiences.They may then raise new questions and find new andpossibly better angles of analysis. In this way, self-evaluation may also help build the municipality'scapacity for negotiation with the outside world sincethe municipality will become capable of independentlydeveloping areas of work more in keeping with itscontext and of calling for more targeted support.

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�Development process: greater responsibilityon the part of the municipality for critical thinking,internal negotiation and concerted decisionmaking means that the tasks of analysis,monitoring and guidance are carried out in a morecollective way. This is a way of 'consolidating' themunicipality from inside and encouragingperiodical self-appraisal among councillors, as wellas among other actors at the municipal level.

However, opting for self-evaluation requiredmunicipalities to have the capacity to steer theapproach and meant that elected officials had tobe willing to take firmer control of their future, ifthe exercise was not to be seen as beingimposed from outside.

3.1.2.4. Mentoring of theself-evaluation strategy:a necessity

The methodological choice for an approach ofself-evaluation meant that a critical point had tobe discussed in detail with elected officials: howtheir self-evaluation was to be led. Did they feelthat they had sufficient capacity to lead the exerciseand to implement the approach in a relativelyindependent way?

The ability to lead the exercise plays a veryimportant role and largely shapes the success ofthis kind of approach. While the context was verydifferent in different municipalities, fewcouncillors were educated or literate, manymayors and deputy mayors were still novicesfrom the point of view of running meetings suchas those of the executive or council. Many ofthose questioned nevertheless said that theywere willing to carry out the exercise bymobilising those councillors and municipal staffbest able to run meetings and speak in public (the'village leaders', for instance). Initially, they alsorelied on the support of the CCC advisors.

This issue of leadership remained on the tablefor several months, which explains why, in theinitial versions of the document, 'self-evaluation'long continued to be accompanied by the term'assisted'. This term disappeared only after thetest stage, when it became evident that localgovernments could, with practice and each attheir own pace, come up with the internalresources needed to lead the exercise.

128- See MATCL/DNCT-SNV-Helvetas-PACT/GTZ. 2004. Outil d'auto évaluation des performances des collectivitésterritoriales. Bamako: Ministère de l'Administration Territoriale et des Collectivités Locales, Part II.1: performanceevaluation indicators and fields.

129- In the case of the test, in particular, this included municipalities I and IV of the Bamako district, the municipalitiesof Moribabougou, Sanankoro Djitoumou ('Cercle' of Kati); Banamba, Benkadi ('Cercle' of Banamba); Dégnékoro,Kaladougou ('Cercle' of Dioïla); Sirakorola, Doumba ('Cercle' of Koulikoro); Tiémala Banimonotié, Danou ('Cercle'of Bougouni); Gouandiaka, Séré Moussa Ani Samou ('Cercle' of Yanfolila); Kébila, Ména ('Cercle' of Kolondiéba);Ménaka et Inékar ('Cercle' of Ménaka).

3.1.3. DESIGNING THE TOOL AND TESTING THE APPROACH

3.1.3.1. Designing the tool

A participatory approach involving theorganisations mentioned above and a sample ofthe main users was used to develop the 'localgovernment performance self-evaluation tool'(see Table 1).128

During the design and test phases, electedofficers from urban and rural municipalities indifferent areas of the country were consulted.They took part, as did the other groups of actors,in discussions led by the CCCs and in the self-evaluation exercises129. In parallel, a review ofwhat was already available was drawn up by othertechnical and financial partners (see CARE 2001and USAID/ARD 2000).

The objective was to design a tool that couldprovide every municipality that used it regularlywith the following information:

� how its competence was developing over time;� the fields in which the various actors encounteredproblems and the nature of these problems;� concerted solutions that could be used withdifferent groups of actors;� any external support required for majorimprovements, particularly in:

� management and decision-making capacity;� the quality of services, products andachievements;� the democratic process and good localgovernance;� strategies for popular participation (by menand women) and resource mobilisation;� leadership of local development.

The entire iterative process was carried out withan ongoing concern for the tool to be:� as complete as possible, while remaining'light', so that it could be readily used bymunicipalities at the lowest possible cost;

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� as targeted as possible, which made itnecessary to choose a small number of simpleand precise indicators, even if this meant thatchanges in laws and decrees would make somefine-tuning necessary at later stages;� as standard as possible, so that eachmunicipality could readily master the tool andcompare its results from one year to the next oreven compare its results with those of othermunicipalities;� as comprehensible as possible, in orderto minimise incorrect interpretations of itscontent and any sources of bias; it was decided, forthis reason, to include a section devoted toexplaining its various components.130

Fields: In terms of performance, the tool wasstructured around five main fields, which werewell documented (MATCL/DNCT 2003): 'internalorganisation', 'administrative and financialmanagement', 'resources mobilisation (financialand human)', 'local development planning andprogramming' and 'local government services,products and investments'.

Deciding on the indicators for each of the fieldsof competence to be evaluated and theassessment levels for each of these indicators ledto more lively exchanges between the variousstakeholders. A number of factors played a part inthis:

� the sensibilities (indicators) and ambitions(assessment levels) of each stakeholder;� changes in topical themes and concerns, overtime;� at the beginning of the process, the lack ofregular attendance of some stakeholders'representatives from one meeting to the next,which often meant that discussions were re-opened on points on which consensus hadpreviously been reached.

The moderators of the discussion were alwaysable to settle discussions by referring to the basicprinciples that had been adopted in a consensualway and to the texts of existing laws andregulations. Nevertheless, this situation helpsexplain why some people lost motivation duringthe process, as well as why the length of time itwould take was underestimated and how manydraft versions would be drawn up at the end ofthe various meetings.

130- See MATCL/DNCT-SNV-Helvetas-PACT/GTZ. 2004. Part II.2: explanation of fields.131- See MATCL/DNCT-SNV-Helvetas-PACT/GTZ (2004).132- Possible sources of verification are listed in Part II.2 of the guide (MATCL/DNCT-SNV-Helvetas-PACT/GTZ. 2004).

Indicators: Each of the five fields was ultimatelydefined by an average of six indicators (tangible,verifiable elements highlighting any changes thatmight take place), based on the main obligationslegally incumbent on municipalities and on someaspects of the operation of an 'ideal' municipality.

The tool contains a total of 33 indicators, whichcan be evaluated and monitored from one year tothe next. They were drawn up in keeping withvarious criteria so as to be

� circumscribed in time, even if thereference period might vary: the previous year,the current year or a specific time (for instance:the municipality has actively collected taxes andduties from the previous year; the municipality'sadministrative accounts clearly and correctlydescribe all the accounting transactions duringthe year);

� sensitive to change over time, from one refer-ence period to the next;

� measurable, in quantitative terms, referringto figures or rates (for instance: mean attendancerate of elected officers at sessions in the last year,number of ordinary sessions held during the lastyear); in qualitative terms, they were made easyto measure by devising four assessment levels

based on an increasing scale of values and onstandards (reference values) specified in theactive legislation (for instance: the municipalityhas not mobilised any additional resources/themunicipality has mobilised less than 25% of itsinvestment budget from donors and thepopulation/… between 25% and 50%…/…over50%…). To facilitate reviews for each field, eachassessment level was allocated a score whosemethod of calculation is explained in detail in PartIII of the guide on the self-evaluation tool;131

� reliable, in that the data are objectivelyverifiable;132

� user-friendly, because they have to be mean-ingful and understandable for the various groups

of actors involved.

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133- See MATCL/DNCT-SNV-Helvetas-PACT/GTZ. 2004. Part III: methods for the use of the local governmentperformance self-evaluation tool.

3.1.3.2. Designing a method of use

Optimum rate

= 1/yr

2. Conduct the

self-evaluation

(3 to 4 days)

3. Feedback from

the self-evaluation

(1/2 day)

4. Use of the results of

the self-evaluation

(ongoing)

1. Preparation for

the self-evaluation

(1 to 2 days)

Figure 3: Sample self-evaluation cycle

In order to act as a reference framework, themain stages of the approach were developed as anoutline when the approach was being designed.

Following the test phase, the content of eachstage was refined in order to provide 'methods' inkeeping with different contexts and to highlightsome points requiring the specific attention ofmayors and the people instructed by mayors tocarry out the process.133

The methods were intended to be educationaland appropriate for a target group of differentlevels working in different contexts. The aim wasto explain, propose and present alternatives thatmunicipalities could use from the outset or duringthe process without altering the approach orlosing its comparative element (changes inperformance from one year to the next).

3.1.3.3. Testing andfinalisation of theapproach

If you don't fight, you've fought well.(Bwa proverb)

The test phase, scheduled for a period of threemonths (see Table 1), was run by the CCCs with asample of volunteer local governments (3% of themunicipalities of Mali), assisted by advisors fromthe partner organisations.

The test phase brought various considerationsto light and these were analysed at a workshop.At this stage, a moderator who had not taken partin the drafting process was selected to help thepartner organisations to stand back sufficientlyand make the most of any lessons.

Salient points emerging from the test wererelated to the tool and, in particular, to methodsthat had intentionally been only slightly formalisedin the test version, so as not to curb any initiativesby the leaders of the self-evaluation exercise andtheir mentors.

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With regard to the tool, the following mainadjustments were proposed:

� reformulating indicators and definitions ofindicators and adjusting some assessment levelsto avoid any ambiguity or reluctance on the part ofusers;� specifying the timescale of some indicators ina more precise way;�modifying the list of indicators by group ofactors, depending on their pertinence in terms oftheir theoretical access to information.

With regard to the methodology, the mainproposals were related to the moderation andorganisation of the exercise, which largely shapeits success.

In respect to moderation, it was proposedthat people instructed by the mayor should takethe following steps:

� ensure that everyone is aware of his/her role ineach stage of the exercise, for instance:moderator, co-moderator, note-taker or evenprocess support and counselling (role playedinitially by the CCC advisors and the othertechnical and financial partners involved);� study the possibility of involving civil society, oreven staff from deconcentrated State services, inthe leadership team alongside municipal staff ormembers of the municipal executive;� translate some key words or concepts into thelocal language ahead of time, or even translatethe whole tool, depending on the public involved;

Internal organisation

Resources mobilisation(financial and human)

Local developmentplanning and programming

Local government services/products/investments

Admin. and financial management

Elect.councillors

CivilSociety

Sup.Auth.

PopulaceMunicipalstaff

MUNICIPALITY “X”: EVALUATION OF THE PERFORMANCE FIELDS BY THE DIFFERENT GROUPS OF ACTORS

FIELDS/GROUP OF ACTORS

Figure 4: Evaluation of the performance fields

� introduce indicators related to gender issueswith reference to the surrounding culture;� work in parallel with several groups of actors inorder to shorten the time needed for the exercise;� draw up a summary after interviews with eachgroup of actors so that the data can be verifiedand then analysed and fed back;� in rural municipalities, present the tool and theresults from each group of actors in a visual way inorder to facilitate feedback and proposals for action;� use the reference documents only as a lastresort for verification (of a score for an indicator)and discuss reasoned answers rather than thescores themselves (the score is the very laststage);� develop strategies to cope with peoplemonopolising the floor and having a stronginfluence on discussions;� prepare the feedback workshop well: present asummary of the various views of municipalperformance, and analyse it without calling intoquestion the answers given or seeking consensusat any cost;� help the actors to devise concrete proposals foraction and to share responsibility for carryingthem out.

For organising the exercise, the mayor should:

� issue advance invitations to take part in theself-evaluation and feedback to the variousgroups; ensure that these groups are properlyrepresented (in both quantitative and qualitativeterms) and that the same participants take partthroughout the self-evaluation process;

Source: Le Bay, S.

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3.1.4. USE AND RELEVANCE OF THE APPROACH

� respect the availability of the different groupsof actors, while not leaving more than a weekbetween the various self-evaluation andfeedback sessions;� submit the 'questionnaire' to the supervisoryauthority in advance, so that any responses fromthe supervisory authority (which might not beavailable to take part in the exercise in themunicipality) can be taken into account in thefeedback;� in the short term, set up an archiving system tofacilitate information searches (MATCL/DNCT-DNAM-AFVP-SNV-PACT/GTZ. 2004);� include the costs134 incurred by the exercise inthe municipal budget and ensure that all theactors are aware of the ways in which they aresupported;

� for the future, plan for any costs incurred inmentoring the exercise, with a view to regular useof the approach, bearing in mind that subsidisedCCC services are likely to come to an end.

All these points were taken into account whenthe tool was being finalised. This stage proved tobe rather long (see Table 1). Although testing didnot call the work carried out up to then intoquestion, having to make some final adjustments,after drafting several provisional versions, led to adegree of 'exhaustion'. In keeping with thedeadlines required by the tendering procedurecoordinated by the DNCT, the publication was notavailable until April 2004-more than two and a halfyears after the launch of the process.

134- This depends largely on the number of villages/fractions of nomadic tribes making up the municipality, its area,the level of participation that the mayor wants and the length of the exercise. The cost varies on average fromXOF 50,000 to 500,000 (EUR 1 = XOF 656). The main costs are elected officers' fees, transport, participants'meals, and communication costs in connection with the exercise. Travel by the supervisory authority may entailadditional costs.

As municipal elections were scheduled for June2004, just after publication of the tool, the MATCLdecided to postpone distribution until the newteams were in office. The DNCT sent eachmunicipality a 'mayor's toolkit' that contained allthe reference and guidance documents thatcouncillors and municipal staff would need inorder to perform their duties properly. The CCCsand other potential mentors for the exercise alsoreceived several copies of the publication.

This tool was only one of the many instrumentsin the toolkit, so it was necessary to raiseawareness of the tool among people other thanthe CCC advisors and municipalities that hadplayed a part in its design and testing, especiallyas some municipal teams had not been re-elected.

3.1.4.2. The main effectsof the approach

Over time, there has been a perceptibleimprovement in municipal competencies. Whilesome effects were predicted and expected, otherswere not.

Participants in the exercise learned more fromthe discussions of the indicators than from thechoice of a level and the ultimate score. Eventhough some people's initial instinct, at theoutset, was to try to set a level, they found itdifficult to persuade the others if they could not

While the test bore out most of the hypothesesconnected with the self-evaluation approach, itseffects became more evident after 2005 when itwas used on a larger scale. In June 2006, 17% ofthe municipalities had carried out the exercise atleast once.

If camels spent the day gossiping about theircalluses, they wouldn't get round to eating.

(Tamashek proverb)

3.1.4.1. Publication anddissemination of the self-evaluation tool

The publication, with a preface by the Ministerfor Territorial Administration and LocalGovernment, symbolised a common endeavour. Itreflected the completion of a participatory designprocess. At the same time, it meant that some ofthe people who had worked on the tool up thispoint chose to stand down.

However, in the view of the initiators of theprocess, it was more necessary than ever to take afresh look at new challenges over and above thoseovercome since August 2001. A new 'building site'was facing them: designing a support system forthe use of the tool. The aim was to present it tousers nationally and, depending on demand, tosupport municipal actors as they carried out theirfirst self-evaluation exercises.

145

Percentage 2005Percentage 2006

Figure 5: Comparison of performance by field for sample municipality

Source: Le Bay, S.

come up with any cogent arguments. Building anargument together and comparing points ofview was a way for participants to come to abetter understanding of their own role andthe roles of other participants within themunicipality.

As a result of a number of problems that myassociation has encountered, I now know that Ican negotiate some matters with the mayor.

(Statement in 02/2006 by the chairwoman of an association ofshea butter producers,

'Cercle' of Kati, Koulikoro Region, Mali)

As everyone has an opportunity to voice his orher opinion on various issues, the exercise helpsto develop a sense of constructive criticismand self-criticism. Everyone needs tounderstand the difference between being criticaland 'attacking' someone. While mayors are usedto comeback from political opponents, they areless willing to take criticism from municipal staff.In practice, they are not used to employeesspeaking out on such issues, particularly in frontof third parties. It is therefore very important forthe moderators to manage exchanges during theexercise and to advise the various groups,encouraging them, for instance, to take theirconcerns to the mayor in a timely way and notjust bring them up during the exercise. In order topre-empt any negative points of which they areaware and which might be brought up, mayors areincreasingly likely to bring them up themselves.

The exercise helps users identify the mainstrengths and weaknesses of the municipality.When feedback is being given, presenting the mainperformance fields in a visual way helps analysisand enables comparison with the prior situation.Users can see whether or not the municipality iscarrying out its duties and providing the expectedservices, as well as the quality of these services.

Following the self-evaluation exercise, I wascontacted by a mayor who asked me to help him toput together his ANICT plan so that nobody couldsay that he had not respected the procedures.

(Statement by a CCC advisor,'Cercle' of Kati, Koulikoro Region, Mali, May 2006)

In all cases, the municipal exercises led tothe drafting of institutional andorganisational improvement plans. Whatmatters, when the results are fed back, is thepooling of ideas and the quality of discussionsamong the actors. This shapes the relevance ofthe measures to be planned and the participants'commitment to implementing them. This is alsothe time when these actors become aware thatthey must all perform their duties properly ifthe municipality is to be run properly.

In 2006, following the test phase of the self-evaluation tool, frameworks for consultationbetween municipalities and civil society werebeing set up in the local governments of theKoulikoro region so that any lack ofunderstanding could be permanently ironed out.

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3.1.5. OWNERSHIP, SUSTAINABILITY AND REPLICATION OF THE APPROACH

The results achieved and the outcome ofdiscussions made it easier for mayors to takedecisions. It was also easier for them toallocate responsibility for the implementationof these measures.

If a needle falls into a deep well, few will godown into it but many will look.

(Senoufo proverb)

In municipalities in which the exercise has beenrepeated, it is possible to evaluate capacity-building effects by comparing the measurestaken under the plan with any advances in thelevel of each field's indicators. This informationmay provide councillors with arguments on

which they can base their negotiations for aid-notjust from the CCCs but also from the donors anddevelopment organisations. As these exercisescontinue, municipalities also become better atanalysis.

The information on municipal life that isavailable to the actors is improved because agreat deal of information is provided on theoperation of the municipality (town hall,executive, working committees) and its relationswith other actors, even outside the municipality.Because every participant can ask questions, theelected officers are made aware that they areaccountable, not just from the point of view ofthe supervisory authority's checks on legality, butalso to the people.

135- The CLOs (Comités Locaux d'Orientation) are responsible for implementing the decentralisation process and fordefining, guiding, monitoring and evaluating the technical support offered to the local governments of 'cercles' inthe context of the National Programme in Support of Local Government.

Saying 'fire' doesn't cause one.

(Bozo proverb)

3.1.5.1. Signs of ownership

Given that municipalities have only recentlystarted to use the tool, it is more realistic to talkabout signs of ownership than of ownership perse. Some of the factors discussed below mayhelp facilitate ownership and ensure that it can besustained among the various stakeholders. It isencouraging to note that all the municipalities thatcarried out the exercise for the first time have sofar repeated it in the following year.

Municipalities freely choose to carry outthe self-evaluation exercise as there is noexternal 'pressure' (legislation, sanctions orincentives). It is up to the mayors to decide to runthe exercise, at the time that best suits them, andto channel whatever budget they want into it. Thislack of 'obligation' nevertheless makes thementoring process rather difficult. The CCCadvisors can freely decide whether to providemunicipalities with initial instruction, andmentoring depends on the pace of demand,which may lead some organisations to encouragetheir planning to be more consistent.

In some 'cercles', municipalities are alsodevising ways to facilitate the self-evaluationprocess and follow up the decisions towhich this process leads. For this purpose, thelocal guidance committees (CLO)135 are setting upsmall monitoring units that include mayors andstaff from decentralised technical services andexternal development partners.

Municipal leaders from various authorities inthe same 'cercle' are pooling their experienceand helping one another to prepare for self-evaluation exercises.

Mayors, together with the process moderators andmentors, generally tend to adapt the methods totheir own context and needs (municipal financialresources have a direct effect, for instance, onmethod options, as was discussed in section3.1.3.3.). Although provisions had already been madefor various alternatives, the mayors have not been atall reluctant to be creative in facilitating the exerciseor ensuring that its effects are more sustainable.

The tool is also being adapted in terms ofits indicators. Over and above the revisionsnecessitated by changes in legislation, thetendency is to fine-tune the list of indicatorsdepending on the groups of actors involved. This

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was already part and parcel of the approachbecause the representatives of the five groups ofactors (see Figure 2) do not have to give views onall the indicators. In practice, the issue is not somuch one of avoiding putting an unnecessaryburden on participants or of taking account oftheir main centres of interest, but rather avoidingthe representatives of a group having to admitthat they are unable to give an opinion on anindicator because they lack information.

Generally speaking, as the approach has beenpublished, some users are rather hesitant tochange any of it. Between one exercise and thenext, municipalities therefore take time for furtherdiscussion with the mentors of various indicatorsand the methods used in order to shape both theenvironment surrounding the self-evaluationexercise and the quality of the results obtained.

According to surveys among people who havetaken part at least once in a self-evaluationexercise, over half are able to explain themain stages, propose improvements to theapproach and also cite the measuresincluded in their plan. There is an ongoingdemand to translate the tool into the variouslanguages spoken in Mali. Mayors and leaderssee this as a necessity if all the participants are tounderstand the exercise and play a full part in it.The call for publication in the various languagescomes from those who are not literate in French.Discussions with users at the sub-regionalseminar 'Building capacities for monitoring andevaluation of decentralisation and localgovernance in West Africa: exchange ofexperience and learning' (Foranim Consult. 2006)bore out these trends, as did subsequentdiscussions, during field visits, with participantsfrom neighbouring countries and users fromsome municipalities close to the capital.

To a certain extent, the notion of ownership alsoneeds to be tackled from the point of view ofother local government levels, which were notinitially targeted. 'Cercle' councils, for instance,have already used the approach to measuretheir performance. These experiments bymunicipal councillors show that the list ofindicators needs to be specifically adapted to thislevel of government.

Is it also possible to speak of ownership bythe donors and development organisationsand the MATCL? Some trends might lead us tothink that the answer is 'yes'. In early 2004, forinstance, a working group was set up by thepartners of the Malian government to think abouta common list of indicators for measuring theeffects of the financial support channelled intolocal government. They used 58% of the tool'sindicators. Since 2005, most of the partner NGOsin the Shared Governance Programme (PGP) havebeen using 90% of the tool's indicators in 36% ofMalian municipalities to draw up municipalbaselines as a basis for capacity-building actionplans. In the same year, the TFPs in the variousregions of Mali forged relationships to train theirstaff to mentor this approach and to introducemunicipalities to performance self-evaluationpractices.

From the point of view of the MATCL, guidelineshave been issued to CCC advisors asking them torally round mentoring tasks for the self-evaluationexercise. During his various field visits, theMinistry's Decentralisation Advisor regularlyundertakes surveys among mayors andrepresentatives of the supervisory authority inorder to monitor how the process is being usedand what effects it is having in local governments.In 2006, in order to encourage a competitive spiritamong municipalities, the Ministry also devised anational competition in which their results for theperiod 2003 to mid-2006 were compared in threepriority areas (local democratic governance,promotion of local development and resourcemobilisation) with prizes for those obtaining thebest results. Sixty-four percent of the tool'sindicators were used for this purpose.

3.1.5.2. Sustainability

If a fisherman sells his boat for a camel, he hasmade some serious decisions.

(Songhai proverb)

There are still some unanswered questions asregards the sustainability of the approach;whether the value of the approach will stay thesame over time is another important issue.

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Monitoring of the use of the approach by thevarious stakeholders, and the surveys conducted,show that mentoring is extremely importantduring the initial exercises. In the newspecifications (2006) for each CCC operator, theannual self-evaluation exercise comes under theheading 'assistance with the operation of the localgovernment and its organs'. The winding up of theCCCs, scheduled for 2007, nevertheless raises thequestion of the availability and accessibility of thismentoring (particularly in regard to financing).136

Although many councillors may be re-elected in theforthcoming elections and, therefore, there may bea number of councillors available who have alreadybeen trained to lead the exercise, most mayorsbelieve that external counselling and advice duringthe exercise is valuable. Is this just a lack ofconfidence in their own ability to steer the processand lead the exercise? Only the future will tell.

Throughout Mali, increasing numbers of donorsand development organisations are joining forcesto play a technical and financial part in supportingthe system for mentoring the use of the tool.Various programmes have initiated partnerships tosupport this, along with the measures planned byvarious state organisations. It nevertheless takestime to provide coverage throughout the country.

Other complementary tools for use by localgovernments are being developed in parallel.For instance, since 2003 the donors anddevelopment organisations, in conjunction with theNational Directorate for the Archives of Mali(DNAM), have been helping the DNCT to design apractical guide for the management of localgovernment archives (MATCL/DNCT-DNAM-AFVP-SNV-PACT/GTZ. 2004) and the introduction of asystem for mentoring, monitoring and evaluatingmunicipal performance (DNCT-DNAM-SNV-PACT/GTZ. 2005). This has helped to flesh out the initialsystem by making it easier for municipalities toaccess basic data that they can use in their analysisand decision-making work137, not just during theexercise but also in their day-to-day operations.

Local governments that have adapted the toolduring successive exercises are asking how thechanges they have made are to be validated.Moreover, these changes are not beingcapitalised on. Most would like the State to take

136- Until 2007, the task of CCC operators is to prepare, implement and monitor the operation of the ServicesCommuns aux Collectivités Territoriales Cercles et Communes (SECOM - Common Services for LocalGovernment in 'Cercles' and Municipalities).

137- The chance of municipalities reaching a high performance level for indicator 18 ('the municipality has a file storageand archiving system') is then greatly improved.

138- The local government financing mechanism is administered by ANICT (National Local Government InvestmentAgency) and is based on certain weighting criteria (in 2006, for instance, population, rate of collection of theRegional and Local Development Tax, remoteness and poverty).

on this responsibility, especially in regard toindicators. Should the tool be standardised toensure that it always mirrors existing laws and toenable municipalities to compare their resultsfrom year to year and with one another? Orshould each municipality be free to develop itsown tool? Both options have pros and cons thatneed to be discussed by users and the tool'soriginal designers (chiefly MATCL/ DNCT).

The observation during exercises that users arein some cases very quick to introducechanges raises a number of questions. Forexample, there is the situation where mayorshave reduced the list of indicators for the variousgroups of actors involved. The main consequenceof all this fine-tuning will ultimately be that theresults obtained from year to year are no longercomparable. Would it not be useful to askwhether, in future, the best option would be toensure that all the groups are in a position toanswer the maximum number of questions? Inthe case of changes to methods, a list of thoseelements that absolutely have to be included toensure the quality/reliability of the resultsobtained should also be drawn up.

Over and above these thoughts about the use ofthe tool, which are likely to determine whether ornot it is sustainable, the results of exercises arecoming under increasing scrutiny. This notfrom the point of view of the action plans drawnup, but from the point of view of the scoresachieved, and it is coming from actors outside themunicipalities. This runs counter to the self-evaluation approach, where the results belong tothose carrying out the exercise. The main issue,often raised by both the TFPs and the State, isthat of connecting aid to local governmentperformance (overall performance or performancein specific fields). Municipalities that areperforming well would then have greater drawingrights.138 Such a development would make itnecessary for all Malian municipalities to carry outthe exercise and publish their scores. If this wereactually implemented, it might well introduce amajor bias during exercises and could, in the longrun, impede ownership of the approach by users.

These are developments that are not specific toMali. They are part and parcel of an ever-growing

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trend among the donors to introduce monitoringsystems for decentralisation and local governance inwhich the impact of financial aid is measured by acommon list of performance indicators. As theamount channelled into budgetary aid increases, anumber of networks and working groups areworking on this issue globally and are attemptingwhere possible to forge links with poverty-reductionstrategies (Arndt and Oman. 2006; Kaufmann, Kraayand Mastruzzi. 2006). In Mali, developments of thistype include, for instance, the introduction by theEuropean Union in 2006 (Foranim Consult 2006 andhttp://www.snvmali.org/ actus/paradeumali. pdf) ofa system that includes 12 indicators139, with amore comprehensive set of indicators togradually be developed so that the PovertyReduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) can also betaken into account. The aim is to be able tomonitor the institutional reform process in greaterdetail, as the indicators will make it possible toassess how the government is using its policyresources and whether interim results (decided ina concerted manner) have been achieved.140

3.1.5.3. Examples of replication

Listen carefully because everything speaks,everything talks, everything has something to tell us.

(Dogon proverb)

While, in the development area, a standard recipecovering all situations is no more than a mirage, 're-inventing the wheel' is still very common practice. Itis often due to a lack of information or a lack ofconfidence in the reliability of an existing tool orapproach. While no strategy to promote thereplication of the 'local government performanceself-evaluation tool' has actually been drawn up, itwould appear that the stakeholders, founders, usersand supporters of the process have helped todisseminate the information widely. This has led toa proliferation effect in West Africa (see Table 1).

Some factors have encouraged replication of theapproach. Many countries, in the midst ofdecentralisation, are looking for practical tools that canbe readily mastered and immediately put to use orwhich provide a starting point. Mali has much to offeras it is something of a pioneer in decentralisation andlocal governance. Growing numbers of exchange

visits by various groups (representatives of TFPs,State services, local government organisations, civilsociety, etc.) are helping to disseminate the practicescurrently being used. Donors and developmentorganisations are increasingly keen to capitalise onand share experiences between the differentcountries. This is also encouraging them, as in thepresent case, to contribute to publications paving theway for the large-scale dissemination of theseexperiences. The staff of aid organisations are alsoincreasingly mobile in the sub-region and are drawingon the experience acquired in order to adapt it todifferent contexts and types of demand.

Niger

An example of replication in Niger is discussedin the case study 'Planning and monitoring/evaluation in municipalities, focusing on povertyreduction' (SNV-Niger 2005a, b; Republic ofNiger/SNV-Niger 2005; Sadda 2006). Here,therefore, we shall discuss only some elementsby way of introduction.

Following a test phase run by SNV in 2005, inconjunction with Niger's devolved services andother partners, the tool is now being used on amuch wider scale. Now that alliances have beenforged with other TFPs, the aim is for the systemto be institutionalised by the Ministry of Territorialand Community Development (MATDC). Thissystem is modelled on processes that have beentried out in Mali and the lessons that have beenlearned about participatory planning of municipaldevelopment (MDRI. 2000) and self-evaluation oflocal government performance. These twoapproaches have been combined to provideanswers to the concerns of the municipalauthorities elected in 2004, who are required toundertake development measures and properlyperform their duties and the State's concerns toachieve the millennium development goals andpoverty-reduction strategy at the local level.141

The self-evaluation tool takes the same form asin Mali (33 indicators and four assessment levelsto which a score is allocated). Some adaptationshave been made, particularly in terms of the fields(three out of five concentrate on municipalfunctions) and the nature of the indicators (11have been taken up and the others have beenreformulated to take account of a particular

139- Six indicators are connected with decentralisation, three with the interdependence between decentralisation anddevolution and three with reform of the State. All come from various strategy documents providing a frameworkfor institutional reform. There has been agreement with the Malian authorities on the final list and the associatedreference values and targets, responsibility for data production and collection, verification sources, deadlines forproduction and possible revision mechanisms.

140- As the European Commission noted in its Communication 'Good governance and development' (20 October2003) 'developing appropriate processes to identify and agree upon governance-related indicators remains achallenge', especially in Mali, where the statistical apparatus leaves much to be desired.

141- This aim is also part of the partnership agreement signed in October 2004 by SNV World and the UNDP.

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context, specifically to include more gender-related points). From the point of view ofmethods, leadership of the exercise is the taskof previously trained resource persons(representatives appointed from different socio-economic strata), working within a municipaltechnical committee chaired by the mayor.

Benin

The example of replication in Benin is the result ofa general reaction by local governments to a UNDPreport evaluating their performance (UNDP 2004and http://www.snvmali.org/actus/beinnancb.pdf).In 2005, with a view to contesting the report'sfindings, the local governments commissionedthe National Association of Benin Municipalities(ANCB) to represent their points of view. TheANCB asked GTZ, Helvetas, SNV and UNDP tohelp mentor a process to design a reliableapproach and a tool that could measure progressin municipal performance, nationally. In addition,they wanted further support with the ongoingprocess of decentralisation by building theirmonitoring and evaluation capacity and findingways in which locally available resources could betransparently managed.

A steering group within the ANCB is workingwith the donors and development organisationsand has the task of validating each stageundertaken by the departmental associations. Thedesign process draws on the process used in Mali.Some fields have been adapted (four out of fivehave been included). The indicators are beingdevised, and training is planned for mentors, as isa system for centralising and analysing data.

The results will be disseminated at departmentaland national levels so that municipalities canbetter negotiate the support they need. Thinking isalready taking place about ways of managingpossible problems (competition betweenmunicipalities, for instance) and remedying them(by introducing a control mechanism for theinformation collected, for instance, especially inthe run-up to elections).

Burkina Faso

Burkina Faso is keen to steer the implementationof decentralisation in a more efficient way (seehttp://www.snvmali.org/actus/burkina.pdf). For thispurpose, the Ministry of Territorial Administrationand Decentralisation (MATD) is introducing amonitoring and evaluation system to steer theprocess in a more coherent way and to forge linkswith devolution, national policies on goodgovernance and poverty reduction, and thedevelopment of the legislative framework. Anational coordination unit, attached to the MATDGeneral Secretariat, is responsible for managementand works with a mixed committee, including Statebodies, TFPs, PRSP, etc.

In addition to monitoring general indicators andintroducing frameworks for concerted action,Burkina Faso plans to draw on Mali's experience tocarry out self-evaluations using specific indicators.The aim of this approach is to 'force the actors todraw on the resources available to them to find thebest possible solutions' by placing them in aposition to ask, 'what quality of performance dowe want to achieve to work towards the targetedeffects?'

At present, the actors of decentralisation aredrawing up criteria for quality and the desiredquality levels. This is based on their ownperceptions and is a first step towards improvingmunicipal performance. Although the approach isintended to promote self-management bymunicipalities, it is also expected to promote theconcerted inter-municipal action likely to raiseawareness and facilitate decision making.

These examples of the experiments that variousactors (development organisations, municipalassociations, the State) are involved in, show therelevance of the monitoring and evaluation needsbeing put forward. They also highlight theimportance of self-evaluation approaches whenmonitoring and evaluation systems that aim to makethe stakeholders permanently responsible areintroduced. There is little doubt that transparentborrowing from everyone's experience paves theway for rapid and more efficient reactions during thedesign and implementation of relevant approaches.

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The experience gained from self-evaluation oflocal government performance has a great deal ofpotential to open up prospects for those actorswho are keen to improve not only their monitoringand evaluation capacity but their effectiveness interms of local democracy and development. Overand above the replication experiments discussedhere, experience in Mali has also been a source ofinspiration for other actors working in similarsituations.

For example, in 2006, a number of private-sector actors endeavoured to promote economicdevelopment based on promising agriculturaloptions. They encouraged critical thinking by basiccooperatives about the operation of theirorganisations, the capacity they needed to buildand the measures to be taken by local producers'unions, in conjunction with their umbrellaorganisation. The Association of Professional RuralOrganisations (AOPP), with the support of theirtechnical partners, has developed a simple tool forthe self-evaluation of the management capacity ofbasic cooperatives, along with a set of methods(Traoré, Wenninck and Babin. 2006) enabling wide-ranging participation by the actors involved, aswell as collective learning through discussionsstructured around five management fields142, 18indicators and three assessment levels.

In late 2002, drawing on the experience gainedwith local government, SNV, like many othertechnical partners providing aid and advice for civilorganisations, was keen to work with theseorganisations to find more targeted ways ofbuilding their capacity. This led to the idea of theparticipatory design of a tool responding to theneeds of the various kinds of civil organisations -one that could measure their progress. One of thechallenges was that this strategy should meet thetechnical partners' concerns during the capacity-building period and also make it possible for the

142- The five fields are (1) governance and leadership, (2) social cohesion and understanding, (3) member services, (4)internal resources (human, financial and material) and (5) external relations.

143- The three main fields were (1) internal organisation (systems, structures, staff, etc.), (2) external relations withother actors and (3) services and products offered by the organisation. The five indicators included four 'standard'indicators and a 'specific' indicator in keeping with each type of civil organisations, its fields of action and itsparticular target groups.

144- In 2006, for instance, ANICT's management board decided that local governments' rate of mobilisation of internalresources should be a criterion for receiving financial aid.

3.1.6. Prospects

civil organisations themselves to monitor theprogress of their performance sustainably andindependently from any external actors. In early2004, this process led to the publication of a self-evaluation guide and tool (see SNV-MALI 2004,republished in 2006), focusing on three main fieldsand broken down into five indicators143, whichwere further broken down into five sub-indicatorsin the form of questions.

As these processes are designed and used, theyoffer an opportunity for democratic debatebetween groups of actors. They enable all theparticipants to improve their position and fine-tunetheir role. However, experience shows that, inaddition to the critical points discussed above,each actor has to keep an eye on changes in theoverall context of decentralisation. These changes,which often provide a starting point for freshexperiments, continue to have a major influencewhen the tools are being used. In multi-actorprocesses in which relationships are constantlychanging, steps need to be taken to ensure thatissues remain topical.

After a number of years of support, the tolerancethreshold for defects in local governmentperformance seems to be declining. The State,donors, development organisations and municipalassociations are placing increasing stress on bestpractice, especially in regard to accountability andcompliance with management procedures forpublic funds. Technical support is becoming moretargeted and its cost will, in the near future, bedirectly borne by local governments, and newcriteria are being developed144 to make access tofinancial aid (especially additional funds) moreselective. These factors, as well as the ongoingtransfer of competencies from the State to localauthorities, are laying firm foundations for theseauthorities to use tools that can help thembecome responsible for their own performance.

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AOPPAssociation des Organisations Professionnelles Paysannes/Association of Professional RuralOrganisations

AMM Association des Municipalités du Mali/Association of Malian MunicipalitiesANCB Association Nationale des Communes du Bénin/National Association of Benin Municipalities

ANICTAgence Nationale des Investissements des Collectivités Territoriales/National Local GovernmentInvestment Agency


CCNCellule de Coordination Nationale des Appuis Techniques aux Collectivités/National Coordination Unit forTechnical Support for Local Government

CLO Comité Local d'Orientation/Local Guidance CommitteeCommunicances Consultancy, communication and advertising agencyDNAM Direction Nationale des Archives du Mali/National Directorate for the Archives of MaliDNCT Direction Nationale des Collectivités Territoriales/National Directorate for Local GovernmentForanim Consult Training, leadership, consultancy officeGIS Geographical Information SystemGTZ German Technical Cooperation AgencyHelvetas Swiss Association for International CooperationKIT Royal Tropical Institute

MATCLMinistère de l'Administration Territoriale et des Collectivités Locales/Ministry of TerritorialAdministration and Local Government (Mali)

MATDMinistère de l'Administration Territoriale et de la Décentralisation / Ministry of TerritorialAdministration and Decentralisation (Burkina Faso)

MATDCMinistère de l'Aménagement du Territoire et du Développement Communautaire/Ministry of Territorial and Community Development (Niger)

MDG Millennium Development GoalsMSI Management Systems InternationalNGO Non-Governmental Organisation

PACTProgramme d'Appui aux Collectivités Territoriales de la GTZ/GTZ's Local Government SupportProgramme (followed on from PRODILO in 2002)

PADProgramme d'Appui à la Décentralisation d'Helvetas/Helvetas' Decentralisation SupportProgramme (became PAAD in 2005: Programme d'Appui aux Acteurs de la Décentralisation/SupportProgramme for the Actors of Decentralisation)

PARADProgramme d'Appui à la Réforme Administrative et à la Décentralisation/Support Programme forAdministrative Reform and Decentralisation (9th European Development Fund)

PDCMProgramme d'appui au Développement des Communes de Ménaka de la SNV/SNV's SupportProgramme for the Development of the Municipalities of Ménaka

PDRKProgramme d'Appui à la Décentralisation dans la Région de Koulikoro de la SNV/SNV's SupportProgramme for Decentralisation in the Koulikoro Region

PDUBProgramme de Développement Urbain de Bamako de la SNV/SNV's Programme for the UrbanDevelopment of Bamako

PGPProgramme Gouvernance Partagée/Shared Governance Programme (MSI/CARE/Save the Childrenconsortium financed by USAID)

PRODILOPromotion des Initiatives Locales de la GTZ/GTZ's Promotion of Local Initiatives (project closed inDecember 2001 and incorporated into PACT)

PRS Poverty Reduction StrategyPRSP Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper

REDLRéseau de Réflexion et d'Échanges sur le Développement Local/Local Development Reflectionand Discussion Network

SECOMServices Communs aux Collectivités Territoriales Cercles et Communes/Common Services for LocalGovernment in 'Cercles' and Municipalities

SNV Netherlands Development OrganisationTDRL Taxe de Développement Régional et Local/Regional and Local Development TaxTFPs Donors and Development OrganisationsUNDP United Nations Development Programme

ANNEX I: ACRONYMS

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BDPA-foranim Consult. 2002. Etude deconception du système de suivi évaluation duDispositif National d'Appui Technique auxCollectivités Territoriales. Bamako: ForanimConsult.

Bratton, M., M. Coulibaly and F. Machado.2000. Popular perceptions of good governance in Mali.

Afrobarometer Working Papers No 9.Available on-line:http://www.afrobarometer.org/papers/AfropaperNo9.pdf.

CARE International au Mali. 2001. ProjetPACOB: fiche d'efficacité des communes.Working document. Bamako: CAREInternational au Mali.

CCC. 2006. Réseau des CCC de la Région deKoulikoro. Expériences des CCC dans l'appuià l'application de l'auto évaluation desperformances des collectivités territoriales.CCC Bulletin July 2006: 2-3.

CCN. 2003. Guide du système de suivi évaluationdu Dispositif National d'Appui Technique auxCollectivités Territoriales. Document detravail des Chargés de Suivi régionaux.Bamako: Cellule de Coordination Nationaledes Appuis Techniques aux Collectivités.

Cho, W. 2004. Political institutions andsatisfaction with democracy in Sub-SaharanAfrica. Afrobarometer Working Papers No39. Available on-line:http://www.afrobarometer.org/papers/AfropaperNo39-2. pdf.

DNCT/CCN. 2003. Étude diagnostiqued'identification des besoins de formation desprincipaux acteurs de la décentralisation.Bamako: Direction Nationale des CollectivitésTerritoriales.


DNCT-DNAM-SNV-PACT/GTZ. 2005. Suivi etévaluation des performances des collectivitésterritoriales en matière de classement etd'archivage: exemple méthodologiquedéveloppé dans les communes des Cerclesde Koulikoro et de Barouéli. Workingdocument. Bamako: Direction Nationale desCollectivités Territoriales.

Foranim Consult. 2006. Rapport de l'ateliersous régional sur le renforcement descapacités pour le suivi et l'évaluation de ladécentralisation et de la gouvernance localeen Afrique Occidentale, Bamako 17-18/05/2006 (MATCL/ SNV-Mali/Réseau REDL/ECDPM). Available on-line:http://www.snvmali.org/actus/seminangl17182006.pdf.

Kaufmann, D., A. Kraay and M. Mastruzzi. 2006.Governance matters V: aggregate andindividual governance indicators for 1996-2005. Washington DC: The World Bank.Available on-line:http://www.worldbank.org/wbi/governance/fra/govmatters5-f.html.

Leclerc-Olive, M., S. Le Bay, A. Keita and M.Maiga. 2006. Participations et démocraties locales:

rendre visibles et lisibles les dynamiquesd'initiative et de responsabilité desorganisations et des populations. Guideméthodologique. Paris-Bamako: Fondationde France.http://www.fdf.org.

Loquai, C. and S. Le Bay. 2005. Buildingcapacities for monitoring and evaluatingdecentral-isation and local governance inWest Africa. Facilitating capitalisation andlearning: meth-odological guidance for thepreparation of case studies. Joint activitySNV/REDL-ECDPM. Bamako: NetherlandsDevelopment Organisation. Available on-line:http://www.snvmali.org/actus/guideenglish.pdf.

MATCL. 2001. Recueil des textes del'Administration Territoriale et Communale -Textes législatifs et réglementaires. Bamako:Ministère de l'Administration Territoriale etdes Collectivités Locales. http://www.matcl.gov.ml/default.asp.

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MATCL/DNCT-SNV-Helvetas-PACT/GTZ.2004. Outil d'auto évaluation des performances

des collectivités territoriales. Bamako:Ministère de l'Administration Territoriale etdes Collectivités Locales. Available on-line:http://www.snvmali.org/publications/outilautoeval. pdf.

MATCL-DDC/HELVETAS. 2002. La décentra-lisation au Mali - 50 questions réponses (2ndedition). Bamako: Ministère de l'Administra-tion Territoriale et des Collectivités Locales.

MDRI. 1997. Guide pratique d'installation d'unecommune. Bamako: Mali National Decen-tralisation Authority.

MDRI. 1998. Lois et décrets de la décentralisation.Bamako: Mali National DecentralisationAuthority.

MDRI. 1999. Guide pratique du Maire et desConseillers. Bamako: Mali National Decentral-isation Authority.

MDRI. 1999. Guide pratique d'administrationcommunale. Tome I Recueil de fichestechniques. Bamako: Mali National Decentral-isation Authority.

MDRI. 1999. Guide pratique d'administrationcommunale. Tome II Recueil de documentstype. Bamako: Mali National DecentralisationAuthority.

MDRI. 2000. Guide méthodologique deprogrammation du développement communal.Bamako: Mali National DecentralisationAuthority.

MDRI/HELVETAS. 1999. Manuel de formationde base des élu(e)s et professionnels.Bamako: Mali National DecentralisationAuthority.

Republic of Niger-SNV-Niger. 2005. Confé-rence régionale de Zinder 17-18 novembre2005. Un an d'appui au processus dedécentralisation et de gouvernance locale.Niamey: Government of Niger.

MATCL/DNCT. 2003. Lois et décrets de ladécentralisation (5th edition). Bamako:Ministère de l'Administration Territoriale etdes Collectivités Locales.

MATCL/DNCT. 2006. Annexe 'Formulaire departicipation'. In Règlement spécial du concoursentre les communes 2006. Working document.Bamako: Ministère de l'AdministrationTerritoriale et des Collectivités Locales.

MATCL/DNCT. 2006. Note explicative des critè-res d'évaluation du concours entre lescommunes 2006. Working document. Bama-ko: Ministère de l'Administration Territorialeet des Collectivités Locales.

MATCL/DNCT. 2006. Règlement spécial du concoursentre les communes 2006. Document detravail. Bamako: Ministère de l'AdministrationTerritoriale et des Collectivités Locales etannexe 'Formulaire de participation'.

MATCL/DNCT/CCN-SNV. 2002. Atelier méthodo-logique du test de l'outil d'évaluation assistée desperformances des collectivités: résultats desdiscussions et travaux en sous-groupes Bamako11-12/07/2002. Working document. Bamako:Ministère de l'Administration Territoriale et desCollectivités Locales.

MATCL/DNCT/CCN-SNV-Foranim Consult. 2002. Restitution des résultats du test et

finalisation de l'outil d'auto évaluationassistée des performances des collectivitésterritoriales, Bamako 26-27/11/2002. Workingdocument. Bamako: Ministère de l'Adminis-tration Territoriale et des CollectivitésLocales.

MATCL/DNCT-DNAM-AFVP-SNV-PACT/ GTZ.2004. Guide pratique de gestion des archives

descollectivités territoriales. Bamako: Minis-tère de l'Administration Territoriale et desCollectivités Locales. Available on-line:http://www.snvmali.org/publications/guidearchives.pdf.

MATCL/DNCT-Helvetas-SNV-PACT/GTZ. 2003.La décentralisation au Mali: maîtrise d'ouvrage.

t.1 réussir l'élaboration d'un plan de dévelop-pement communal [p. 27]; t.2 réussir laformulation d'un projet communal [p. 25]; t.3réussir la mise en oeuvre d'un projet communal[p. 34]. Bamako: Ministère de l'AdministrationTerritoriale et des Collectivités Locales.

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REDL. 2002. Contraintes liées aux pratiques del'unicité de caisse vécues par les communesrurales. Bamako: Réseau de Réflexion etd'Échanges sur le Développement Local.

Sadda, L. 2006. Commune urbaine de BirniN'Konni: laboratoire d'une planificationcommunale prenant en compte la SRP et lesOMD, dans Labary No 23. Publicationbimestrielle d'information de la SNV-Niger.Niamey: Netherlands DevelopmentOrganisation. pp. 6-7. Available on-line : http://www.snvniger.org/Brochures/labary.pdf.

SNV-MALI. 2001. Guide d'utilisation de l'outil d'ap-préciation des performances des communes.Working document. Bamako: NetherlandsDevelopment Organisation.

SNV-MALI. 2002. Outil d'auto évaluation assistéedes performances des collectivités territo-riales. Working document. Bamako: Nether-lands Development Organisation.

SNV-MALI. 2004 [republished in 2006]. Autoévaluation des performances des organisa-tions de la société civile. Tome 1: justificationet guide d'utilisation Bamako: NetherlandsDevelopment Organisation. Available on-line: http://www.snvmali.org/publications/ae_osctomb1. pdf.

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UNDP. 2004. Projet de mise en place d'unmécanisme de suivi de la gouvernance localeau Bénin: rapport national sur la gouvernancelocale dans 77 communes du Bénin, état deslieux. Cotonou: United Nations DevelopmentProgramme.

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Institution Forename and Name Telephone Email

MATCL Ibrahima SYLLA (+223) 222 42 12(+223) 222 42 67

DNCT Adama SISSOUMA (+223) 229 72 98 [email protected]

CCNCheick MohamedSAMAKE (+223) 223 72 97 [email protected]

SNV-Mali

Sonia LE BAY (+223) 223 33 47(+223) 223 33 48 [email protected]

Bakary COULIBALY (+223) 226 24 71 [email protected]

HELVETAS (PAAD)MoussoulimouneYéhiya MAÏGA (+223) 265 10 39 [email protected]

PACT/GTZ Dirk BETKE (+223) 223 62 63 [email protected]

PGP Youssouf KONE (+223) 229 72 07 [email protected]

CARE Boubacar COULIBALY (+223) 292 11 90 [email protected]

CCC

Osé TIENOU (+223) 227 23 46 [email protected]

Mamoudou DIABATE (+223) 227 23 46 [email protected]

Mme KEITA HawaSABE (+223) 226 26 19 [email protected]

Cheikné SIDIBE (+223) 225 60 89 [email protected]

Rhaly AG MOSSA (+223) 281 00 04 [email protected]

FORANIM-Consult Gabriel COULIBALY (+223) 224 13 52(+223) 224 17 34 [email protected]

ANNEX III: INSTITUTIONS AND RESOURCE PERSONS

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4.1. Mali: Towards a basic health-sector informationsystem for municipal actors (SIEC-S)

This study, ‘Towards a basic health-sector information system for municipal actors’, hasbeen prepared by Jurrien Toonen, Dramane Dao and Thea Hilhorst (see Annex IV).

This study capitalises on the experiences of an action-research project to test a tool for monitoringand managing basic information on public health at a decentralised level. The approach taken by thisresearch project was to provide a basic package of information for the various key public-healthactors at local government level (including elected officers, community health associations andtechnical departments). This project is known as the ‘Système d’Information Essentielle pour laCommune dans le secteur de Santé’ (SIEC-S) (Basic Health-Sector Information for Municipalities).

The authors show that joint collection, sharing and analysis of health information and indicatorsmay help to enhance cooperation between the actors concerned and improve their understandingof public-health challenges and therefore their capacity for action. It is for this reason that thisresearch project is also a very practical experiment that paves the way for the transfer of health-sector powers to local governments.

CHAPTER 4. STRENGTHENING CITIZENS’ CONTROL AND LOCAL

STAKEHOLDERS’ CAPACITY TO MONITOR THE DELIVERY OF

DECENTRALISED SERVICES

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Introduction 159

4.1.1. Background 1594.1.1.1. National decentralisation policy 1594.1.1.2. Health-sector policy 1604.1.1.3. Transfer of powers 160

4.1.2. Approach used in the action-research project 1614.1.2.1. Actors4.1.2.2. Phases involved in building an effective partnership 161

4.1.3. Information as a prerequisite for active involvement 1624.1.3.1. The national health-information system 1624.1.3.2. Municipal councils’ growing need for health data 1634.1.3.3. Monitoring micro-planning and performance contracts 163

4.1.4. The SIEC-S: starting point and structure 1644.1.4.1. Approach used 1644.1.4.2. Criteria for choosing SIEC-S indicators 1654.1.4.3. Local actors’ understanding of indicators 1664.1.4.4. Presentation and analysis of information 1674.1.4.5. Stages involved in the SIEC-S 168


Annex I : Acronyms 171Annex II : Bibliography 171Annex III : Resource persons, online documents and useful addresses 172Annex IV : Basic indicators 173

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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After the municipalities were established in1999, the way in which public health wasorganised institutionally was completelyoverhauled. The municipalities are nowresponsible for certain basic services, whichmeans that roles and responsibilities must beredefined, particularly between local government,the Ministry of Health and the community healthassociations. As municipal representatives are tobe increasingly involved in health management, itis becoming essential for everyone to haveaccess to appropriate information on prioritiesand to be able to monitor progress, so that theyare in a position to take informed decisions.

This report describes our experience developing aminimum health-information package to enable localgovernment and the community health associations(ASACOs) to assume their new responsibilities andto be actively involved in managing public health.Known as the ‘Système d’Information Essentiellepour la Commune dans le secteur de la Santé’

INTRODUCTION

In Mali, health indicators are still at worrying levels, and the public sector’sperformance in supplying basic services has to improve if poverty is to bereduced. The challenge for the various actors involved with health at themunicipal level is to work effectively together in order to provide public-healthservices that are tailored to local needs, including those of the mostvulnerable groups.

4.1.1. BACKGROUND

(SIEC-S-Basic Health-Sector Information System forMunicipalities), this package is based on datacollected by the Ministry of Health. It aims toprovide municipalities and ASACOs with access todata from the National Health Information System(SNIS). SIEC-S is not so much about introducing anew data-collection system, as it is about buildingon existing health services.

The SIEC-S forms part of a programme ofactivities and tools developed to support thetransfer of responsibilities from ministries invarious sectors to local government. The wholeapproach is designed to improve coordination andcooperation between the various actors.

We will begin by describing the general context,the action-research project itself and theproblems associated with health information. Wewill then look at the approach developed for theSIEC-S, the first experiences of applying it in thefield and, finally, the lessons learned.

4.1.1.1. Nationaldecentralisation policy

The collapse of the one-party state and themilitary dictatorship in 1991 was a decisive turningpoint in Mali’s political development. Oneconsequence was that all the state institutionswere called into question. At the nationalconference in 1991, decentralisation was regardedas a strategic priority in the construction of thefuture Malian state and it was therefore enshrinedin the new Constitution. The process of devolvingpowers paved the way for a fundamental change

in relations between the state and ordinarycitizens and for bringing public services closer tothe people.

Framework Law No 93-008 lays down theconditions for the independent administration oflocal government through legislative andexecutive bodies. It provides for the introductionof four types of local government: municipalities(703), ‘cercles’ (49), regions (8) and the district ofBamako. These have no hierarchical relationshipand are managed by elected councils. Themunicipal elections in 1999 marked the start ofthe implementation of this institutional reform.

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145- The transfer of powers was automatic in the case of public records, among other things. Preparations fortransferring powers related to the management of natural resources and state-owned property are not yet veryadvanced.

The various local authorities then became theappropriate statutory areas for local developmentand are now responsible for developing andimplementing economic, social and culturaldevelopment programmes in their territory.

4.1.1.2. Health-sectorpolicy

In 1990, the Mali government adopted acomprehensive framework for action in the healthfield. This new policy is mainly based on thedevolution of certain responsibilities from theMinistry of Health to the ASACOs (which arelegally recognised entities authorised to recruitstaff, manage financial reserves and ownbuildings). In order to increase the area covered bythe health services, the Ministry of Health adopteda policy promoting the setting up of ASACOs andgiving them a greater role in mobilising resourcesand managing the community health centres(CSCOMs).

‘Le Programme de Développement Sanitaire etSocial’ (PRODESS - Health and Social DevelopmentProgramme) started in 1998, before the newadministrative divisions were in place, so itsplanning system and procedures did not take thenew local government responsibilities into account.Investment continued to be managed directly bythe Health Ministry’s administrative and financialdirectorate, including investments made on behalfof the municipalities, ‘cercles’ and regions. In 2004,the PRODESS was revised (PRODESS-II) to includethe responsibilities of local government. TheMinistry of Health is currently adapting the SNISindicators to provide the information needed byPRODESS II. For instance, special emphasis is nowbeing placed on quality of care from the users’point of view.

4.1.1.3. Transfer ofpowers

In June 2002, the government signed decreestransferring powers in the health, education andwater sectors145, spelling out the powers,resources, funding and assets to be transferredfrom the State to the local authorities. Themunicipalities can then delegate management tospecialised bodies such as the ASACOs.

Box 1: Activities resulting from the transferof powers in the health field to themunicipalities

� Developing and implementing the health-development plan;� Creating and maintaining infrastructure;� Issuing licences to set up community healthcentres;� Drawing up mutual assistance agreement withASACOs;� Funding ASACOs;� Recruiting staff;� Establishing initial turnover stock of essentialmedicines;� Combating the black-market trade inmedicines;�Providing health information, education andcommunication;� Implementing national policies and strategiesto prevent and combat disease;� Encouraging local support for social and healthobjectives.

The transfer of certain powers from the Ministryof Health to local government also offers thefollowing potential benefits:

� National resources (financial and human) in thehealth field can be allocated more appropriatelyand fairly if planning is based on local needs andif there are specific allocation criteria;� Health experts can concentrate on healthservices once the financial and administrativetasks involved in constructing and managing theinfrastructure have been transferred to localgovernment;� The involvement of local government makes iteasier to have an inter-sectoral approach to publichealth and better coordination with sectors suchas drinking water supply and sewage disposal,nutrition and education, and the prevention ofHIV/AIDS and other diseases;� The involvement and engagement of the munic-ipalities in public health could increase themobilisation of resources and encourage localsupport for prevention campaigns in the health field;� If local government and the ASACOs are moreactively involved in public-health decision-making,it could strengthen the idea of ‘accountability’between users and health services and thus bringabout an improvement in the quality of care.

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Progress is slow, however. During this phase, adegree of mistrust has arisen between thetechnical staff and the municipal authorities.Moves towards a more concrete transfer ofpowers are being held back by the negative viewsheld by some of the staff already ‘decentralised’by the Ministry of Health, stemming largely frombad experiences of this staff with this reformprocess and working with the ASACOs.

The Ministry departments in question also have anumber of reservations, mainly about the fact thatlocal government does not have the humanresources and technical capacity to cope with the

responsibilities that are to be transferred. However,as far as financial management is concerned, anumber of local authorities have provedthemselves capable of managing the fundingearmarked for infrastructure (ANICT, 2004).

Nevertheless, the Ministry of Health isincreasingly coming to realise the opportunity thatdecentralisation offers for implementing its policiesand strategies more effectively by involving newactors, and it is trying to harmonise them withdecentralisation policy. The decentralisationsupport unit in the Ministry has been working onthis since 2006.

4.1.2. APPROACH USED IN THE ACTION-RESEARCH PROJECT

The legislation on the transfer of powers doesnot make it clear how the various actors are towork together. Furthermore, if local governmentis to participate effectively, tools will be needed toallow non-specialists to take part in policydiscussions and to monitor the health system’sperformance.

This is why, since 2004, SNV-Mali and the RoyalTropical Institute (KIT) have been working with theactors involved to develop approaches andpractices that will make it easier to establisheffective local partnerships in the public-healthfield, which will improve the actors’ performanceand increase their empowerment (Hilhorst et al.,2005). This has involved a series of discussionsand exchanges of opinion and experiencebetween the key actors, linked to practical,functional proposals to ensure that activities arein line with resources.

4.1.2.1. Actors

In the rural environment, the Community HealthCentre, the ASACO and the municipality are themain actors involved in running public health, thoughsome municipalities also have non-governmentalorganisations (NGOs) working in this field. There arevery few private doctors working in rural areas andoften only traditional healers. Some pharmacies havebeen opened and itinerant salesmen sell medicineson the market. In towns, the private sector plays animportant role in providing health care.

Each of the actors has a relationship with theauthorities at the ‘cercle’, regional and centrallevel. The community health centre hashierarchical relations with the reference centre at‘cercle’ level. The ASACOs are organised as afederation at ‘cercle’, regional and national levels.The municipalities are represented in the ‘cercle’council, even though there is no hierarchical linkbetween the municipality and the ‘cercle’.

4.1.2.2. Phases involvedin building an effectivepartnership

The following phases are important for buildingeffective partnerships between the Ministry ofHealth, local government and the civil organisationsinvolved with the community health centres:

1. Establish a basis of trust between the variouspartners. This means, for instance, ensuring that allthe actors are equally well informed,particularly about decentralisation and health policy.

2. Accept that certain powers are to betransferred from the Ministry of Health to localgovernment, as required under the relevantlegislation, and develop effective workingrelationships.

3. Design a consultation framework thatencourages discussion and negotiation. Thiscan start off informally, but should subsequentlybe given a formal basis.

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Box 2: Tools produced during the action-research project

4.1.3. INFORMATION AS A PREREQUISITE FOR ACTIVE INVOLVEMENT

4. Help local government to have a betterunderstanding of public-health activities from amulti-sector point of view. The challenge is toimprove skills in municipalities so that councillorsand their staff can understand, monitor and, ifnecessary, act on performance indicators.

5. Identify activities that act as catalysts.Although establishing functional workingrelationships is a long-term process, it isimportant to begin with activities that arepriorities for all actors that are achievable in theshort term and that are unlikely to create conflictsof interest. In Mali this cooperation could startwith the organisation of immunisation campaignsand health activities funded by the municipality,before moving on to more complex and difficultissues, such as transferring responsibility forhealth-sector investment and human resources tolocal government, which is required by law.

6.Drawing up tripartite performance contractscould prove useful since discussing the contractscould enable the partners to define what theyexpect from each other.

7. Encourage greater empowerment at grass-roots level so that more weight and importanceis given to ordinary people, particularly the poor,thereby encouraging all actors to take account oflocal needs and customer satisfaction.

Our action-research project seeks to developapproaches and tools that are likely to promoteeffective cooperation. Relationships will bestudied and analysed as they develop andconclusions drawn about the problems andopportunities presented, along with possiblesolutions to them.

Information and communication

tools:� Health-policy information guide forcouncillors and their partners� Information guide for local actors ondecentralisation and the transfer of powers in thehealth field

Partnership tools:� Basic health-sector information systemfor municipalities� Annual micro-planning guide for healthmeasures in the municipality

4.1.3.1. The nationalhealth-information system

The Ministry of Health runs a national health-information system in order to monitor progresson the ‘minimum package of activities’ defined inthe PRODESS.

Data are collected regularly on the performance ofcommunity health centres as regards developmentsin their geographical accessibility, use of theirservices and their coverage. At village level, data arealso collected on certain things such as latrines,coverage of iodine-enriched salt, level of membershipof the ASACO, collection of contributions, monitoringof certain preventive medical consultations(immunisations, antenatal examinations) anddistribution of impregnated mosquito nets. Thecommunity health centre’s financial management,

management of stocks of medicine, proper holdingof meetings (including keeping of minutes), actionplans, fulfilment of commitments and communi-cation of results to beneficiaries are also regularlymonitored by the Ministry.

The main data-collection document is prepared atthe national level. In the community health centre,the data are collected by the nurse (who keeps acopy, in theory), forwarded to the ‘cercle’authorities and then on to higher levels, wherethey are collated and published in a regionalstatistical yearbook.

The ‘cercle’s’ health technicians use thesemunicipal data when they visit community healthcentres to assess progress on targets set atthe start of the year. The ASACO sometimesattends these quarterly inspections. The ASACOsand the municipalities also receive a copy of the

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quarterly reports, which are huge documents,containing extremely detailed information, andare very cumbersome to use.

Data in the National Health-Information Systemare fairly inaccessible for non-specialists in theform in which they are currently presented. More-over, municipal councillors have many other fieldsto deal with, with limited staff and resources. It istherefore much more efficient to concentrate onpriorities and to assemble a minimum package ofbasic information (the SIEC-S) that will allow themto understand and take decisions on public health.

Lastly, the SIEC-S can help the municipal councilto make the results of its support more tangibleand visible. Help in supplying health servicescould thus become just as visible as investmentsin build-ings and equipment.

4.1.3.2.Municipal councils’growing need for healthdata

It used to be the case that the ASACO had amutual-assistance agreement with the Ministryof Health for the running of the community healthcentre, but since the new local authorities wereset up, the ASACO now has to sign such anagreement with the mayor of its municipality. Upto now, however, councillors have generally failedto get to grips with the content of these mutual-assistance agreements, and their role oftenremains a passive one. Talks are currently beingheld about this, mainly involving the ASACOfederation (FENASCOM). A system like the SIEC-S could make it easier for all actors to play a moreactive part, since it takes account of thechallenges and substance of the commitmentsgiven and makes it easier to monitor progress.

The Ministry of Health is trying harder to be moredynamic in bringing municipal planning (in the formof Economic, Social and Cultural DevelopmentPlans - PDESCs) into line with the health-sectorprogramme at the ‘cercle’ level. The chairman of the‘cercle’ council already chairs meetings of thereference health-centre management council. Allmayors are members of this management councilbut their involvement is often passive because theydo not have access to the relevant information.

Clearly, if the municipal council is to have effectivedialogue with the Ministry of Health and if it is tohave greater responsibilities, it needs regularaccess to reliable information on the public-healthsituation in its own municipality. The localauthorities and the ASACOs have voiced this needat a number of meetings and workshops organisedas part of the action-research project. As a result,the municipal councils and ASACOs have beenincreasingly involved in the supervisory visits by the‘cercle’s’ health technicians. This has been a hugestep forward in strengthening partnership in thepublic-health field, showing once again just hownecessary it is for reliable and comprehensible datato be circulated regularly by all actors.

4.1.3.3. Monitoring micro-planning and performancecontracts

Micro-planning was introduced as part of theAccelerated Strategy for Child Survival and Devel-opment (SASDE), supported by UNICEF, in orderto encourage active involvement in improvingindicators within the community health centreareas. It is carried out every six months following ameeting to monitor community health centreactivities attended by all the relevant actors.

Micro-planning has become a national practice,but municipalities do not feel engaged in theprocess because they are not involved in many ofthe phases, most of which involve meetingsbetween the community health centre and thereference health centre. Some community healthcentres currently invite the municipal council toattend these meetings, but nothing is done to maketheir involvement more dynamic: councillors arenot prepared in advance about the state of play andthe factors involved, and there are no tools to helpthem to understand and therefore to participate.

One way of giving micro-planning greater weightis to follow it up by signing performancecontracts. The Ministry of Health is currentlydeveloping ‘standard’ contracts at various levels(municipality, ‘cercle’, region). Two types ofperformance contracts are planned: one betweenthe Ministry and local government, and the otherbetween the Ministry and NGOs. The contractsset out expectations and responsibilities and

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define the performance indicators to be used formonitoring purposes. This practice, which is amonitoring tool in itself, could also be used withthe SIEC-S.

During the action-research project, discussionswith the municipal actors (ASACOs, communityhealth centres, municipal councils) produced an

annual health micro-plan to be used as a referencefor the commitments undertaken by all theparties involved. The commitments are to be setout in a performance contract for theirimplementation. Supervisory meetings will be heldto monitor performance, attended by all the actorsconcerned, which is why the SIEC-S is important inthe process.

4.1.4.1. Approach used

The purpose of the SIEC-S is to enablerepresentatives of the municipal councils and theASACOs to monitor the state of public health, toidentify priorities for their municipality, to take anactive part in discussions with the Ministry of Healthand to monitor the progress of the communityhealth centres, micro-plans, performance contractsand mutual-assistance agreements. The SIEC-S alsoserves as a basis for dialogue in the context oftripartite cooperation.

The SIEC-S research project aims to develop anapproach that enables priority data to be selected

4.1.4.THE SIEC-S: STARTING POINT AND STRUCTURE

Box 3: Impact chain in a programme monitoring providing health services

Inputs Services

Process

Results Effects Impact

in a given municipality and presented in a formatthat local actors can understand. The SIEC-Smainly uses data from the existing SNIS and doesnot alter either the way in which informationcirculates within the Ministry of Health or themonitoring and advisory system. The Ministry ofHealth is fully involved in developing the SIEC-S.

The data provided by the SIEC-S should providea sound basis for identifying priorities when jointhealth plans are developed within the municipality.The SIEC-S should make it possible to manage themunicipal resources available (financial, humanand material) efficiently and effectively.

To illustrate the principle, let us take theexample of a programme to monitor diarrhoealdiseases in a municipality that has decided thatone of its priorities is to reduce infant mortality. Adiagram can be drawn up showing how differentelements interlink, and certain indicators relating

to inputs or services can then be identified, whichallow the performance of the system to bemonitored. Of course, other diseases alsocontribute to infant mortality, such as malaria,acute respiratory diseases, malnutrition, etc., andidentical diagrams can be drawn up for these.

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146- A municipality may have priorities that are not covered by the Ministry's regular monitoring system. Where thatis the case, new indicators must be developed, together with a system for collecting and analysing the data.

Box 4: Example of a programme to monitor diarrhoeal diseases

Indicators Examples

Input indicator

Resources invested in construction, information,education and communication (IEC)/trainingservices and activities

Activity indicator (process)Latrines, awareness-raising IEC, distribution of oralrehydration salts (ORS)

Service indicator Number of latrines, number of trained mothers,availability of ORS

Result indicatorIncidence of diarrhoea and number of dehydratedchildren

Effect indicator Proportion of children who have died of diarrhoea

Impact indicator Infant mortality rate

In 2005 a meeting was held with representativesof the municipalities and the ASACOs to definetheir information needs. The SNV/KIT technicalteam then used this as a basis for proposingindicators (see Annex IV for a full list), which wereadopted by the representatives after modification.Each pilot municipality and its ASACO, workingwith the health services, then selected theindicators that corresponded to their specificinformation needs from this list.146

A form for identifying and analysing the chosenindicators was then drawn up as a reference andthe following details were requested:

� information user;� type of indicator;� significance and use;� frequency of indicator;� method of calculating indicator;� classification (green, orange, red [see section4.1.4.5]).

4.1.4.2. Criteria forchoosing SIEC-Sindicators

It is essential for the SIEC-S to focus on a smallnumber of indicators for planning and monitoringthe performances of services in order to avoidoverwhelming users with a mass of data andcreating a system that is unwieldy in terms ofworkload and cost. It therefore needs to belimited to providing basic data with which to planservices and monitor their performance. Aprocedure is required that will first allow users toprioritise their information needs and then allowindicators to be selected on an informed basis.

The data provided by the SIEC-S must do thefollowing:

� satisfy municipalities’ information needs;inform municipalities about performances andresults in the health sector (quality andproductivity);� cover aspects of the sector that themunicipality can influence, and encourage it totake action;� enable the municipality to take decisions aboutthe joint management of the health sector on thebasis of reliable data;� be flexible in order to be able to fulfil thespecific needs of different municipalities.

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4.1.4.3. Local actors’understanding of indicators

The first challenge was to check whether all theactors involved understood the indicators, so wetested the SIEC-S in two municipalities in the‘cercle’ of Dioïla (Wacoro and Nangola).

In January 2006, we analysed to what extent localactors in the municipality of Wacoro understoodcertain SNIS indicators. Representatives from theMinistry of Health also attended these meetings.Our discussions with the municipal council and theASACO covered what the indicators meant, how toanalyse them and how they could be useful for themeasures to be taken. The test showed that theyunderstood the indicators very well, and once wehad overcome a few problems, some even wantedto go into them in more detail. Representativesfrom the Ministry of Health also attended thesemeetings.

Classification Field of interest Examples of indicators

Productivity and

quality of care

Principal diseasesUse of curative servicesExpanded programme on immunisation (EPI)Malaria

Coverage of preventive servicesImmunisation coverageAntenatal checksAssisted births

Health promotion

Accelerated Strategy for Child Survival andDevelopment (SASDE)Drinking water and latrines Vitamin A coverageFinancial coverage for AIDS sufferers

Perception of quality of services Reception given and respect shown by staff

ManagementManagement of financial andhuman resources and medicines

Community health centre operating accountsAverage cost per caseAverage cost per prescriptionStaff availability

Consultation

Operation of bodies involvedMembership rateProportion of women in ASACO decision-makingbodies

Involvement of villages inactivities of community healthcentre

Proportion of villages having benefited fromimmunisation campaigns

Box 5: Examples of Indicators

The first indicator considered was that forantenatal examinations (ANE), which play animportant role in reducing maternal mortality.Pregnant women are recommended to have threeANEs. The indicator was presented in a descriptiveform rather than as a percentage: ‘Out of 100women, 90 attended the community health centreonce for an antenatal check and 37 attended thecommunity health centre three times for antenatalchecks.’ The corresponding results were ANE-1:90% and ANE-3: 37%. The local actors clearlyunderstood this indicator.

The ANE-trend chart drawn up during thesupervisory visits is already up on the wall of oneof the community health centre offices. It waspresented to the local actors, but although theyunderstood the meaning of the ANE indicator andthe rates in their municipality, they were initiallyunable to interpret the chart. However, once theprinciples behind the graph and the chart wereexplained, it seemed that a whole new worldopened up before their eyes. One person said:

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‘We thought the pictures on the wall were meantto make the community health centre look nicer.We didn’t realise they were technical figures thatwe could understand.’

We immediately started a discussion about thegraph, the target for the municipality and theresults obtained. The participants concluded thatthe ANE-3 rate was too low. In analysing why thiswas the case, general explanations (not alwayscorrect) were first put forward, such as ‘thewomen are ashamed to let people see they arepregnant.’ In the end, more detailed explanationsadded substance to the debate. One of themunicipal councillors suggested that one problemmight be that husbands refused to let their wivesattend the examination. In that case, theparticipants themselves concluded, rather thanfocusing awareness-raising solely on women,men also needed to be made more aware, inorder to overcome the economic and socialproblems preventing women from deciding forthemselves. Clearly, only detailed analysis willgenerate relevant comments and suggestions.

The second indicator discussed with themunicipal actors was the rate of use of curativecare, which was 0.25% for Wacoro. This indicatorwas explained as ‘if everyone attends the centrejust once, the figure is 1, but a person may visitthe centre more than once.’ The participantsagreed that almost everyone in the municipalitywould fall ill at least once a year. So a figure ofless than one would mean that some patients didnot come to the community health centre, eitherbecause they sought treatment elsewhere orbecause they just stayed at home. A furtherdiscussion was then held about why this shouldbe: ‘Why not all villages are covered?’ ‘Who arethe other health-care providers?’ and ‘Whatshould be done to change this?’

The third indicator chosen was coverage ofimpregnated mosquito nets. In the municipality ofWacoro, 35% of the population have animpregnated net. This indicator was clear and theparticipants asked for more details: ‘Impregnatedmosquito nets for women or children?’

The municipal actors genuinely welcomed thisworking meeting. Because relevant indicatorswere presented in a comprehensible form, theywere able to analyse them on the basis of results.This gave them a better understanding of theproblem and made it easier for them to identifyappropriate and feasible measures. The chairmanof the mayors’ association said: ‘This is great. It’sjust what we needed. Now we can get a betteridea of the state of health in our municipality. Before,we thought we were making good progressbecause we weren’t analysing the figuresproperly, but now we can also find out where theproblems lie.’

The Ministry of Health representatives alsowelcomed the discussions and realised that evenunspecialised and sometimes illiterate actors canfollow data provided by the SNIS. This should getmunicipalities more involved in tackling healthproblems — if the indicators are clearly explainedand presented in an appropriate way. They thusrealised the importance of the SIEC-S and itsusefulness for the Ministry.

4.1.4.4. Presentation andanalysis of information

The second challenge was to develop a way ofpresenting the data to make them accessible andcomprehensible to local actors (municipalities andASACOs), who were not health specialists.

It is important to take account of the municipalcouncils’ objectives and the way they communicatewith local people. First of all, the language usedmust not be technical. Since councillors areelected for five years and usually seek re-election, a five-yearly presentation usually suitsthem best, particularly if it means that, at electiontime, they can show local people what has beendone and what results have been achieved. Theyare primarily interested in the results, not how thevalue of the indicators has been calculated. Inaddition, since many of them are illiterate, it isvital to present the information in visual form.

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In order to be able to estimate the value of anindicator, it is important to compare it with figuresfrom previous years for the community healthcentre concerned and/or the results forneighbouring centres (see Figure 1). Such acomparison allows the municipal council and theASACO to judge the results for their communityhealth centre. The actors can choose from threeoptions for comparing the data collected in theirmunicipality:

� compare indicators for the municipality withthe average for the ‘cercle’;� compare indicators for the municipality withthe national or regional norm;� compare indicators for the municipality with atarget set when the SIEC-S started.

Figure 1: Sample graphs comparing data on antenatal checks

120

100

80

60

40

20

0

ANE coverage compared with 100% target

J J JF M MA A S O N D

2004

2005

CSCOM 6

CSCOM 5

CSCOM 2

CSCOM 7

CSCOM 4

CSCOM 8

0 20 40 60 30 100 %

Coverage: antenatal examination

4.1.4.5. Stages involvedin the SIEC-S

The starting point for the SIEC-S is a tripartiteagreement between the municipal council, theASACO and the Ministry of Health in which theyidentify priorities, choose indicators anddetermine the ‘standards for comparison’.

Before beginning to put together the SIEC-S, aninformation and training meeting in the locallanguage is held with all the participants and withrepresentatives of the other local associationsworking in the public-health field. The participantsmust first understand the objectives andprinciples of the monitoring system and themeaning of the list of indicators. They need to knowhow to measure and interpret the graphs.

169

Special forms have been developed for the SIEC-S (see Figure 2).

147- During the action-research project we worked with some SIS officers to make this information easier to readrather than merely providing a table full of figures. Their first reaction was usually to be doubtful andunenthusiastic. However, when they saw at the meetings how much their work was appreciated and the effectit had on the quality of the discussions, they recognised the importance of this type of presentation.

148- As we said earlier, quarterly inspections of the community health centres form a regular part of the monitoringsystem.

The indicator form must be filled in every threemonths by representatives of the municipalcouncil and the ASACO on the basis of theinformation supplied by the community healthcentre’s technical team. It is filled in colour, eithergreen, orange or red, depending on the target setwhen the SIEC-S starts. These colours or ‘trafficlights’ mean the following:� green: when the results are as desired;� orange: when the results suggest lessprogress than anticipated;� red: when the results are declining or negative.

The data needed for the indicators chosen aresupplied by the community health centre’stechnical team and are among the data alreadycollected for the SNIS. With the ASACO’s helpthey are calculated and recorded on special formsand given to the mayor. The municipal and ASACOrepresentatives then analyse the data and decidewhich colour to give for each indicator. Then,before the ‘cercle’ team arrives for its inspection,they fill in the tables with the appropriate colours.The indicators are also presented in graph form by

the munic-ipality’s medical officer, helped (ifnecessary) by the ‘cercle’s’ health-informationsystem (SIS) officer.147

The results of the SIEC-S and the graphs arepresented and discussed during the Ministry ofHealth supervisory visit148. It is important for the‘cercle’ officials to check, by asking detailedquestions, that the municipal actors haveunderstood the significance of the results. Theycan only take appropriate measures once theyhave understood the source of the problems. Atthe end of this joint analysis, an action plan isdrawn up, including how responsibilities aredivided, and progress is checked at the next visit.

The results of the SIEC-S are also used at munic-ipal planning meetings. With the SIEC-S, it ispossible to evaluate work carried out in the public-health field and the results obtained. It provides abasis for the municipality’s annual planning. Thecouncil can also use the SIEC-S to show localpeople what the municipality is doing about publichealth and what it has achieved.

Figure 2: Sample SIEC-S form for a municipality

Field of

interestIndicator

Year

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4

use of curative services

percentage of cases referred:

➞ from the village to the communityhealth centre

➞ from the community health centre tothe reference health centref

exacerbation of an EPI-preventabledisease

proportion of sick children

- acute respiratory infections

- diarrhoeal syndromes

pri

nci

pal

dis

ease

s

170

The approach for drawing up the SIEC-S is nowfixed, and parts of it have been tested in twomunicipalities. Training in using the guide is to beprovided during 2006. Although the provision offunding to complete the testing is behindschedule, it will be applied in other municipalitiesin order to validate the approach.

To their great surprise, the municipalrepresentatives have proved quite skilful inunderstanding and analysing the indicators,discussing their significance with the devolveddepartments and identifying priority measures tobe taken. They have shown enthusiasm for takingpart in these activities. This shows that municipalcouncils have little involvement in public healthnot because they are not interested, but becausethey have not known how to talk about it.

The great strength of the SIEC-S is that it doesnot involve setting up a new data-collectionsystem, since it uses only information alreadycollected and available from the communityhealth centre. What is new is the way in whichinformation is made accessible to local peopleand officers in the municipality, and the SIS officercan play an important part in supervising thecommunity health centre’s technical team andlocal actors.

The SIEC-S allows non-specialists, includingthose who are illiterate, to take part indiscussions on health-system results, progress


and the reasons for failures or successes. Localactors and the Ministry of Health have welcomedthe practical approach of the SIEC-S andrecognised its importance for bolstering publichealth in municipalities. Setting up a basicinformation system for municipalities in this fieldcould make it easier to create similar systems inother sectors, such as education, for instance.

One effect of the SIEC-S is that discussions be-tween municipalities, ASACOs and thedecentralised Ministry of Health departments areno longer limited to health funding, as they usedto be. Now, they also look at ‘public health’. TheSIEC-S makes it easier to analyse and talk aboutthe current situation, priorities, progress madeand work to be done in the health field, and it thusencourages the various stakeholders to discussand work together. The joint analysis encouragesthe actors to pool ideas in seeking solutions anddiscussing how tasks should be distributed.

The SIEC-S thus helps to improve consultationand increase mutual trust, because each partneris better informed. Experience has shown thatactively involving local actors in monitoring can bean important way of improving cooperation in thehealth sector and system performance at thelocal level.

To be continued…

171

ANICT. 2004. FICT 2001-2003, rapport de find’exercice. Bamako: Agence Nationaled’Investissements des CollectivitésTerritoriales (ANICT).

ANE Antenatal Examination

ANICTAgence Nationale d'Investissements des Collectivités Territoriales/National Agency for LocalGovernment Investment

ASACO Association de Santé Communautaire/Community Health Association

CSCOM Centre de Santé Communautaire/Community Health Centre

EPI Expanded Programme on Immunisation

FENASCOMFédération Nationale des Associations de Santé Communautaire/National Federation of CommunityHealth Associations

HIV/AIDS Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome

IEC Information, Education and Communication

KIT Royal Tropical Institute


ORS Oral Rehydration Salts

PDESCPlan de Développement Social, Économique et Culturel/Economic, Social and Cultural DevelopmentPlan

PRODESS Programme de Développement Sanitaire et Social/Health and Social Development Programme

SASDE Accelerated Strategy for Child Survival and Development

SIEC-SSystème d'Information Essentielle pour la Commune dans le secteur de la Santé/BasicHealth-Sector Information System for Municipalities

SIS Système d'Information Sanitaire/Health-Information System

SNIS Système National d'Information Sanitaire/National Health-Information System

SNV Netherlands Development Organisation

ANNEX I: ACRONYMS


Hilhorst, T., D. Bagayoko, D. Dao, E. Lodensteinand J. Toonen. 2005. Dynamiser la

santé communale - construire des partena-riats efficaces dans l’espace communal pouraméliorer la qualité des services de santé.Bamako: Netherlands Development Organi-sation (SNV) and Royal Tropical Institute (KIT).

172

Resource persons:

Jurrien Toonen (KIT)Email : [email protected]

Thea Hilhorst (KIT)Email : [email protected]

Dramane Dao (SNV)Email : [email protected]

Documents and links forconsultation:

Hilhorst, T., D. Bagayoko, D. Dao, E.Lodenstein and J. Toonen. 2005

Building effective partnership for improvedbasic social services delivery in Mali. Bama-ko: Netherlands Development Organisation(SNV) and Royal Tropical Institute (KIT). 30p.Available on-line(http://www.snvmali.org/publications/brochuresant_eng.pdf)

ANNEX III: RESOURCE PERSONS, ONLINE DOCUMENTS


Online resources:

www.kit.nlwww.snvmali.org

Useful addresses:

Royal Tropical InstituteMauritskade 63, AmsterdamBP. 950011090 HA Amsterdam, NetherlandsTel: (+31) 20 5688 272Fax: (+31) 20 5688 286

SNV-KoulikoroBP. 20, Koulikoro, MaliTel: (+223) 226 24 71Fax: (+223) 226 20 92

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ANNEX IV: BASIC INDICATORS

Classification Field of interest IndicatorsQuarterly

monitoring

Annual

monitoring

Productivity

and quality of

care

Principal diseases

Use of curative services x

% of cases referred x

Priority diseases x

Number HIV-positive (prevalence) x

Coverage ofpreventive services

Immunisation coverage (<1 year fullyimmunised)

x

Antenatal examination x

Family planning x

Proportion of children malnourished x

Health promotion

Integrated advanced immunisation strategycarried out in X% of villages in the area

x

Coverage: drinking water x

Coverage: latrines x

Coverage: impregnated mosquito nets x

Perception of qualityof services

Reception given and respect shown by staff

Management

Management offinancial, materialand humanresources

Operating account: medical treatment x

Operating account: essential generic medicines x

Average cost per prescription x

Staff availability for treatment x

Condition of buildings, equipment and transport x

Consultation

Operation of bodiesinvolved

Involvement of bodies in consultation meetings x

Compliance with regulations and internal rules x

Villages' participationin activities ofcommunity healthcentre

Proportion of villages that took part inimmunisation campaigns

x

Proportion of villages regularly represented incommunity health centre management

x

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4.2. Benin: Public control in the education sector, pilotphase of the participatory local impact monitoringmethodology (SILP)

This study, 'Public control in the education sector: the pilot phase of the participatory local

monitoring methodology (SILP)', has been prepared by a team of three authors: Anne Floquet,Roch Mongbo and Silke Woltermann (see Annex IV).

The authors describe their experience of the test phase of a pilot SILP scheme for the primary-education sector. This scheme involved 15 schools in three municipalities of the department ofAtakora where development indicators are at very low levels.

This trial is part and parcel of the poverty reduction strategy (PRS) and decentralisation in Benin.It came about because, using quantitative evaluations of the implementation of policies to alleviatepoverty, it is not always possible to identify all the barriers that block the proper operation ofdecentralised public services. The SILP is intended therefore to provide supplementary informationon factors that might cause problems, and on appropriate corrective measures.

For this purpose, the SILP follows an iterative process of consultation and exchange, involvingsector actors at a number of levels (municipal, departmental, national) and various groups of actors(citizens, local government representatives, state services, parents' associations, centralinstitutions, development partners, etc.). The stress is on two aspects of the public spending cycle:tracing the resources allocated and evaluating service quality, which are jointly reviewed by publicand community service users and suppliers, using their own criteria.

175

Introduction 176

4.2.1. Methodology 177

4.2.2. Presentation and analysis of the approach 1784.2.2.1. The SILP in the context of decentralisation 1784.2.2.2. Reasons, objectives and demand for the SILP approach 1794.2.2.3. The choice of the education sector 1794.2.2.4. The main principles of Participatory Local Impact Monitoring 1804.2.2.5. Stages of the SILP strategy pilot phase 1824.2.2.6. After the pilot phase 183

4.2.3. Conclusions 185

Annex I : Acronyms 186Annex II : Bibliography 186Annex III : Resource persons and useful addresses 187

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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Most West African countries have a povertyreduction strategy (PRS) in which policyprogrammes are set out for priority sectors,particularly social sectors.

Most social services in the areas of basiceducation, drinking-water supplies and publichealth are offered at a municipal level.Decentralisation means that the powers relatedto these services are, in principle, transferred tomunicipalities. It is therefore essential fordecentralisation to function properly if poverty-reduction strategies are to be implemented.

Assessments of the implementation of PRS andthe degree of decentralisation of social sectorsoften take a quantitative approach. They are basedon household surveys and statistics on the newsocial infrastructure for the various services(schools, water points, health centres), but do notexamine whether this infrastructure is actuallyfunctional. Often, local populations make onlylow-level use of the new infrastructure or theyrefuse to use it. The data provided by theseassessments do not make it possible to ascertainwhy this should be the case. Generally,circumstances or factors that financing bodieshave failed to take into account have preventedthe proper use of the resources that have alreadybeen allocated in these sectors. As a result, theseassessments often mean that resources areshifted to sectors that appear more promising.

In this context, a participatory local impactmonitoring methodology (SILP) (suivi d'impactlocal participatif) makes it possible to obtain furtherinformation that can help to pinpoint the causes ofgood or bad public-service performance. It ishoped that this case study will provide a model formunicipalities that want to find out more about theperformance and quality of their services - andwhether the local populace consider them to beuseful. The monitoring and evaluation departmentsof the ministries concerned could also use thismodel to adapt and improve their sector strategies,including, of course, their plans for decentralisationand devolution of the services offered. Over andabove these sector ministries, the bodiesresponsible for PRS monitoring and evaluationcould obtain information to improve andsupplement their analyses. Finally, developmentpartners could draw on this strategy to underpin orstrengthen an approach of this kind in their areas ofsupport and advice.

The pilot SILP approach was tested in the areaof primary education, since this is one of thepriority sectors in Benin's PRS. This sector candraw on resources from the Initiative for theHeavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC), a debt-relief initiative. Expenditures in this sector wereanalysed for 15 schools. SILP workshops wereheld, during which participants evaluated thequality of the services provided by their schoolsand drew up action plans. The SILP team ledthese workshops and monitored the action plansas they were put into practice.

INTRODUCTION

One of the objectives of decentralisation is to enable the state and itsdepartments to meet the needs of the population better, while at the sametime, respecting the principle of 'subsidiarity', i.e., delegating responsibilitiesand the performance of tasks to the lowest possible level. However, eventhe level closest to citizens has to ensure that the services it offers are of highquality and in keeping with users' needs.

177

The SILP is a multi-level approach: it involves themunicipal and national level. Activities take placewith school stakeholders at both levels. At thecommunity level data on school services isproduced in an interactive way. Statistics arecollected, information is shared and analysed andfeedback provided at the municipal, departmentaland national level.

It also involves different structures at variouslevels, the bodies responsible for monitoring andevaluating the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper(PRSP) and the schools. At the national level, thereis a SILP Steering Committee answerable to theObservatoire de Changement Social (OCS)(Observatory of Social Change). The OCS is one ofthe two bodies responsible for PRSP monitoringand evaluation, alongside the Permanent Secretariatof the Commission Nationale pour leDéveloppement et la Lutte contre la Pauvreté(CNDLP) (National Development and PovertyReduction Commission). The Commission'smembers include representatives of the CNDLP'sPermanent Secretariat, the Ministry of Primary andSecondary Education (MEPS), the technical andfinancial partners (TFPs) involved in the commonfund for building the capacity for PRSP monitoringand evaluation, the Fédération Nationale desAssociations de Parents d'Élèves (FNAPE) (NationalFederation of Parents of Schoolchildren) and civilsociety (including World Education, a non-governmental organisation). The FIDESPRA Institute(Forum International pour le Développement etl'Échange de Savoir et de Savoir-faire au Serviced'une Promotion Rurale Auto Entretenue/International Forum for Development andExchanges of Knowledge and Expertise promotingSelf-Sustaining Rural Development), whichundertook the SILP pilot phase, is also a member.

The strategy has been piloted in 15 schools of theAtakora department in the north of Benin. Thisdepartment was chosen because it was laggingbehind in terms of school attendance rates,something that the various actors in the educationsector are attempting to rectify. The schools selectedreflect a wide range of educational performance inthe department, ranging from schools that are very

well off, accessible and performing well todisadvantaged schools that are isolated and notperforming well. These characterisations werevalidated at departmental level at a workshopbringing together representatives of the variousschool stakeholders, where the choice of pilotschools was decided by consensus.

Each of the school communities chosen in thisway was analysed to evaluate the performance ofits schools. At the outset, the SILP strategyfacilitators identified the various types of actorsusing the school, concerned about the schooland/or having an opinion on its services. Thisinevitably led to three groups: 'pupils', 'teachers'and 'parents'. Distinctions were made within eachof these groups, including 'permanent teachers','supply teachers' or 'community teachers'.Moreover, students dropping out of school or notattending school, parents who were not membersof the parents' association (APE) (Association desParents d'Élèves) and women selling foodstuffsclose to schools were also taken into account.Open or semi-structured interviews conductedwith a number of people from each group enabledthe team to draw up an initial picture of thesevarious actors' perceptions of the schools and ofexisting problems and opinions.

'Interface workshops' were then organised.Initially, the SILP strategy facilitators encouragedthe different stakeholders of the community toevaluate their school by conducting interviews inhomogeneous groups. The groups then sharedtheir conclusions with the other groups usingscoring grids for school performance. The openquestion that provided a starting point for thisevaluation was 'what do you like or dislike aboutyour school?' A number of aspects wereevaluated: infrastructure, teaching staff, parents,school performance in relation to criteria otherthan children's educational results, quality andavailability of teaching materials, etc. It was verydifficult to explain these assessments to all theparticipants as there was a risk of conflict whenpeople became aware that others were criticisingthem and felt that these criticisms wereunjustified or exaggerated.

4.2.1. METHODOLOGY

178

However, this is only one aspect of the SILPstrat-egy, in which group evaluation is combinedwith concerted planning of remedial measures,with local actors in the areas of action for whichthey are responsible. In this instance, mayorsreleased school grounds or provided support forthe construction of school buildings, the head ofthe school district improved the allocation ofteaching materials within the limits of what wasavailable, parents' associations undertook toperform their advisory and consultative role in thearea of school management, pupils improvedtheir attitudes toward their work, teachersundertook to be more assiduous and parentsworked with teachers and undertook bettersupervision of their children at home.

Some time after this, a further collectiveassessment workshop made it possible to measurethe progress that had been made and to plan newmeasures, since a lack of supervision often meantthat some of these undertakings had come tonothing. This was the role of the facilitators.

In parallel with its work with communities, theSILP team analysed the public resources allocatedto schools (teachers, infrastructure, furnishings,teaching materials, operating subsidies, etc.) fromthe source to the beneficiaries. This made it

possible to evaluate allocation and planningmethods, as well as the routes through whichthese resources passed.

Various documents were produced as the SILPprocess took place, in particular, workshop reports, abrochure on the SILP strategy (Floquet and Mongbo2006), and an article. A final report on the testing ofthis monitoring strategy, and a training manual isbeing prepared. The trial of this new strategy wascovered by the media through broadcasts on localradio stations and articles in the press. The variousdocuments produced before and during the trial ofthe SILP strategy have all been validated at amunicipal-level seminar, by representatives of thevarious groups of actors. A national validationworkshop has also been organised withrepresentatives of MEPS, the Prefect of Atakora,mayors and representatives of civil society.

Put together by consultants from FIDESPRA andthe German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) expertresponsible for the SILP, this study draws onthese various documents. Bearing in mind timeconstraints and the geographical dispersion of theactors, it has not been possible for everyoneinvolved to participate in its production; however,this study contains only information that hasalready been validated by all those involved.

4.2.2. PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF THE APPROACH

4.2.2.1. The SILP in thecontext of decentralisation

Much of the power for delivering and managingsocial services has been transferred fromministries to local government as part of thedecentralisation process in Benin.

Basic education is a service where power is shared:some tasks continue to be the responsibility ofMEPS, while others have been transferred to themunicipalities. The construction of primary schools isnow the task of municipalities, for instance, whileteachers' pay and supervision is the task of theMinistry. Locally, the parents' organisations co-manage the schools, together with the school board,which is a devolved service of the Ministry. The SILPis able to provide a picture of the quality of

decentralisation in a municipality, creating at thesame time a space in which democracy can beeffectively exercised, at least in the educational field.

The information produced locally through the SILPis then forwarded nationally. This makes it possibleto adapt national policies and programmes to theneeds of municipalities and local users. In parallel,the SILP strategy encourages better transfer ofinformation from the national and departmentallevels to municipalities. For instance, publishingplanned transfers of resources from the national ordepartmental level to municipalities and schoolsmakes it possible for the information to circulateproperly and ensures greater transparency in whatresources are available. The SILP can then be usedto monitor how the provisions on decentralisationare being implemented and to make anyadjustments that may be needed.

4.2.2.2. Reasons,objectives and demandfor the SILP approach

Why launch a SILP pilot programme? Thefollowing reasons should help readers tounderstand the overall rationale.

A first PRSP for the period 2003-2005 was drawnup for Benin. A second PRSP is currently beingprepared. In parallel, budgetary reforms have beenimplemented in priority sectors: social sectors(such as health, water, education) and others suchas agriculture. These reforms have made itpossible to strengthen medium-term budgetaryplanning and to introduce planned budgets. Theseare helping to consolidate the link between thebudgetary procedure and development planninggeared towards poverty reduction.

Benin's PRSP includes a number of monitoringand evaluation instruments such as the impactmonitoring system. The involvement of civil actorsis one of the requirements of the PRSP design,implementation and M&E process. However, noinstrument to ensure this was proposed in thePRSP and monitoring and the M&E bodies lackappropriate methods.

The development of result indicators is animportant advance from the point of view ofmonitoring the performance of sector strategies.The impact on poverty is measured by surveys ofhousehold living standards and by monitoringvarious poverty indicators. However, on its own,this system is obviously not enough to providepolicymakers with information and to explain whyan increase in resources does not always bringabout positive changes in the indicators of results,effects and impact. Even though the resourcesallocated to social sectors have been increased,some poverty indicators (such as standards ofliving in rural environments, maternal and infantmortality and the number of children reaching therequired level at the end of primary education)have not improved.

The central ministries that decide on finance anddevelopment policies and the development partnerswere therefore keen to set up a participatorysystem to monitor public action in the key sectors ofthe fight against poverty. The OCS, responsible for

coordinating PRSP monitoring operations on behalfof the CNDLP, is supervising the development andinstitutional consolidation of this kind of system.

The various civil actors in Benin have oftenpointed out that the participatory element of thePRSP process exists only on paper; however,there had been no direct demand from schoolcommunities for an M&E instrument such as theSILP, largely because they were unaware thatsuch a strategy existed. Municipal authoritieswere not just unaware of its existence, but wereendeavouring to find out how the powerstransferred to them by decentralisation couldactually be exercised. Once they had beeninformed, some schools took an interest in thisapproach and decided to take part in the exercise.

It is in this context of strengthening PRSPmonitoring and evaluation that GTZ, thePermanent Secretariat of the CNDLP and the OCSstarted to devise a participatory strategy tomonitor local impact in order to help PRSPmonitoring and eval-uation. The World Bank helpedto design the strategy and financed the pilotphase. In developing the strategy, GTZ drew on itsexperience of strategies that had been developedand tested outside of Benin, particularly 'KenyaParticipatory Impact Monitoring' (KePIM) and'Qualitative Impact Monitoring in Malawi' (QIM).

Although the SILP was initially intended toprovide information for PRSP monitoring bodies,it also provides interesting information on theimplementation and effects of decentralisation.By evaluating users' perceptions of schooloperation and performance, it provides an overallsnapshot of this sector of decentralisation. Thesedata can also be made available to all the actors inthe public service in question, with the result thatlocal governance in this sector becomes moretransparent.

4.2.2.3. The choice of theeducation sector

A strategy enabling the measurement of a publicsector's performance and the monitoring ofallocated resources was presented at a seminar in2004. The primary-education sector was chosenfor an experimental trial since its budget was atthat time being increased from less than 3% of

179

180

Benin's gross domestic product (GDP) to over 4%,and it was also receiving additional resources fromBenin's external debt relief (HIPC)149.

In Benin's PRS, primary education is a prioritysector, the aim being to achieve 'primaryeducation for all by 2015'. It therefore seemed aparticularly good time to find out whether theadditional resources being channelled into thissector were improving school performance. Withthe agreement of the Ministry of Primary andSecondary Education, GTZ and the World Bankdecided to invest in this SILP pilot project.

A team of researchers developed and tested theSILP method in 15 schools in three municipalitiesthe Atakora department, where developmentindicators are poor. The team came fromFIDESPRA, a research and action institute of theUniversity of Abomey-Calavi, and was assisted by alocal consultancy office (CARP International) basedin the department. The researchers presented theirfindings to a steering committee, chaired by the

OCS and made up of various representatives fromthe education sector, the development partnersand the institutions responsible for drawing up,implementing and monitoring the PRSP.

4.2.2.4. The mainprinciples of ParticipatoryLocal Impact Monitoring

There are various ways in which citizens canmonitor public spending: through independentanalyses of the national budget by groups of civil-society actors at the beginning of the budgetarycycle, for instance, with an independent review ofpublic spending at the end of the cycle (Diagram1). Another option is to involve citizens (especiallythe users of a public service such as a school orhealth centre) directly in drawing up the budgetsof public bodies, at municipal level, for instance.The SILP focuses on two aspects of the publicspending cycle: tracing the resources allocatedand evaluating quality of service.

149- Actions financed by HIPC resources are generally known as 'social measures'.

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Tracing public spending

The SILP monitors how the public andcommunity resources earmarked for the servicein question are being allocated in order toascertain whether they are reaching theirbeneficiaries and are being properly used. Thiskind of tracking makes it possible to locate anyproblems and to decide on corrective measures.The kinds of problems that arise may be due tothe fact that resources are not being allocatedwhere they should be or that resources are not inkeeping with needs. They may also be due to alack of cash forecasting and to delays in thepayment of aid.

Diagram 1: Budgetary cycle, public monitoring approaches and the approachesdeveloped for the SILP

Independent policyanalysis

Independent auditby civil society

Participatorybudget

Evaluation ofpublic-service

performance byusers

Joint managementof public services

Tracing of publicspending

Independentbudget analysis

Analysis and reviewof policies- and public spending

Planning/Formulation- of a strategy- of a budget framework

Establishing objectives

Evaluation- of performanceof service quality

Audit

Resource mobilisation andallocationPreparation and vote onbudget

Monitoring of execution- monitoring of activities- monitoring of accounts

Budget execution- transfer of funds- allocation of staff


Key : Budgetary cycle stages

Stages of public monitoringof public spending

Budgetary cycle stages

Budgetary cycle

Community evaluation of public-service performance

The SILP enables public and community serviceusers and suppliers to develop their ownevaluation criteria to evaluate the quality of theservices in their locality; in this case, their primaryand secondary schools.

A particular feature of the SILP approach is that itis not just limited to pinpointing deficits, but alsotries to correct them by helping actors to identifyand plan corrective measures. In this way, theSILP is an iterative approach combining evaluation,planning, implementation and monitoring ofmeasures (Diagrams 1 and 2).

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4.2.2.5. Stages of theSILP strategy pilot phase

Information workshops were held in Februaryand June 2004 in Natitingou in the north of Beninin order to explain the objectives of the SILP to allthe actors involved in the school system atdepartmental and municipal level. These actorsincluded representatives of the schooladministration, teachers, members of parents'associations, municipal elected officers andrepresentatives of NGOs. The purpose of theseinformation workshops was to encourage them tosupport the strategy and to pinpoint schools in arange of different situations that could be used asa sample. Parents' representatives, teachers andmembers of the school administration then chosefive schools per municipality, on the basis ofvarious criteria: school attendance, rate ofachievement of the Certificate of PrimaryEducation (CEP), whether or not the school had allsix grades, isolation, quality of infrastructure, etc.

In March 2005, at the beginning of the newacademic year (which was disturbed by socialunrest), the SILP team held interviews in theschools selected with each group of local actorsin order to collect their opinions of their schooland to identify any conflicts that might flare upduring the workshops.

In May and June 2005, evaluation andplanning workshops were organised in eachschool. Community evaluation based on simplequestions had led each interest group in theschool community (pupils, children not attendingschool, parents, APE representatives, teachers,canteen workers, parents who were not APEmembers) to discuss the school.

This discussion was guided by a moderator in orderto draw up a list of criteria for evaluating schoolperformance. The moderator then formulated eachcriterion in as neutral a way as possible and thegroup evaluated each of these using a four-point

Diagram 2: Interaction of monitoring and action plans in the context of the SILP

Concerted diagnosis of

school services

Drafting of action plan 1

Resource mobilisation andimplementation of action

plan 1

Monitoring of the use ofresources and progress

evaluation

Drafting of action plan 2


...

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scoring grid, as follows:

Excellent 100Good 75Acceptable 50Poor 25

These criteria and their scores were thenhanded out and discussed in a plenary meeting.While there was unanimous agreement aboutsome scores, in other cases different groups gavevery different scores. The average scores werethen colour-coded:

Excellent >75 GreenGood 50 - 75 YellowAcceptable 25 - 50 OrangePoor < 25 Red

All the scores were then put into a matrix inorder to provide an overall view of schools andcriteria at a time 't'.

In addition to evaluation criteria linked to nationalnorms and standards (as regards infrastructure ornumber of teachers per school, for instance), thelocal actors wanted to include other indicators,which, in their view, related to factors that had abearing on the performance of their school: forinstance, reading and writing skills of pupils in themiddle grade, the sociability of children attendingschool, the type of men and women produced(lazy or not), teachers' punctuality and socialintegration, the type of canteen and the quality ofits management, whether or not the school wastransparently managed, etc.

During the second day of the workshop,participants split into thematic groups and drew upproposals for corrective measures, along with a planand a list of the people responsible. These proposalswere amended and validated in the plenary meeting.The team of facilitators helped to convert this planinto a time schedule for each group of actors to makeit easier for them to monitor its implementation. Theparents' association was responsible for distributingthe results to all the parents in a village or district.

The action plan was launched locally and theteam of facilitators monitored it on a regular basis(between July and September). Members of theparents' association and the school administration

carried out the various measures concerningschool administration or the municipality. InAugust 2005, actors from the 15 schools andelected municipal officers attended a mid-termevaluation workshop.

In July 2005, the results of the trial werepresented to the MEPS: analysis of planningmethods and resource allocation in the educationsector, monitoring of the resources allocated to the15 schools (tracing of public expenditure) and themain results of the initial evaluation workshops.

In December 2005 and January 2006, therewere radio broadcasts and press reports on anumber of 'successful' cases, i.e., case historiesof schools that had made progress as a result ofthe strategy.

In January 2006, six months after the initialevaluation, a second workshop was held in eachschool in order to score the criteria again, analyseprogress and adjust the action plan.

In April 2006, the pilot phase was evaluated andstrategy discussions were held at a nationalvalidation workshop.

4.2.2.6. After the pilotphase

The pilot phase raised the question of whether asystem of the SILP type could be developed on alarger scale, leading to improved performance andproviding information for policy decisions whosebenefits would outweigh any additional costs. Toanswer this question, the lessons learned fromthe pilot phase from the point of view of capacitybuilding, ownership and viability of the approachhad to be analysed.

The SILP strategy can be sustainable only if theactors involved actually own it. The capacity ofthe main actors has to be strengthened if theyare to do more than simply support the strategy.Using such a strategy is in the immediate interestof the parents' associations, for instance, and theycould be its institutional supporters, ensuring thatit is implemented and promoting its results. If theyare to play this role, however, both localandnational capacity needs to be strengthened.

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It would be very beneficial to involve NGOs work-ing in the field of basic education. They could play amajor role in facilitating the SILP process; however,their capacity also needs to be strengthened ifappropriate methods and instruments are to beavailable. Involving NGOs could also have a majorimpact on the costs of the strategy.

The strategy also has some weaknesses.Unless it is properly supervised, it may bringlatent conflicts to a head without providing anopportunity to transform them into constructivediscussion. While the SILP builds self-correctivestrategies among actors at all the levels, it mayalso lead to more covert strategies to circumventor exclude actors, possibly even within the APEs.External support for the process therefore has tobe kept up, even though the need for this supportmay tail off in schools that are already working onthe SILP.

Again, as regards ownership, the pilot phaseshowed that the SILP tends to be naturallydisseminated. Schools that were not selectedasked participating schools about the strategy sothat they could implement it as well. It would beinteresting to learn the results of this, butunfortunately, the pilot-phase team did not havethe resources to monitor it.

A number of factors obviously have an impact onthe costs of the strategy. The first and mostobvious is the number of schools involved. Costsper school also vary and, indeed, decrease as thenumber of participating schools increases, since,once trained, the SILP team members can workin several schools. Other factors, such as the paceof work of the SILP (yearly, two-yearly), therotation and location of schools, among otherthings, also have an impact on costs.

Mentoring and workshop organisation, whichmake public spending more efficient, entail coststhat are not offset by additional benefits as theyare in income-generating sectors, such as health.Financing therefore has to be envisaged at thehighest level and included in the PRS budget. Atthe same time, efforts need to be made to reducethe costs of facilitation by training a core of localpeople who are as close as possible to theschools involved. NGOs could, for instance,recruit skills from among the Coordinations des

Associations des Parents d'Élèves (CO-APE)(Coordination Units of Parents' Associations) andretired teachers.

Even though, after only a few months, it is stilltoo early to measure the effects of the SILP inquantitative terms, it would appear that thestrategy has had a direct effect on the efficiencyof public spending, by improving the roles playedby the most important actors (teachers andparents, as well as pupils) and by establishingself-corrective mechanisms. The SILP thus helpsto mobilise local resources (whose real value israrely appreciated and whose extent andimportance are often disregarded by nationalplanners) as well as the external resourcesprovided by the state and the developmentpartners, paving the way for better overallmanagement of these resources.

It would also seem that the strategy tends todisseminate itself and bring about changes inlocal practices, especially if there is good mediasupport and successful cases are well publicised.The SILP does not, therefore, have to be runevery year in every school to generate self-corrective effects.

If the SILP is to make the resources channelledinto basic education more efficient, theinformation gathered locally does not just have tobe forwarded nationally (to the MEPS), but alsohas to be put into the system to provide a basisfor decisions on national education policy.Information-forwarding mechanisms thereforeneed to be promoted, and the bodies involved atthe national level, such as the national federationof APEs and NGOs, need to be strengthened.

In order to foster information-forwardingmechanisms, taking the system already in placeas a starting point, action needs to be taken in thefollowing areas:

� the school hierarchy and its monitoring system;� the PRSP participatory monitoring system(departmental monitoring committees);� municipal monitoring systems;� the APEs and their umbrella organisations,which have a key role to play as supervisors andinstigators; if they are to take up this role, theyneed reliable information relating to all levels.

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A number of solutions have been envisaged toextend the scale of sector and poverty-reductionstrategies:

� choosing a random sample of schools from theentire country;� identifying municipalities from among all thecountry's municipalities and selecting a numberof schools in each municipality (extension of thecurrent strategy to other departments);� locating various contrasting situations, such asa rural department and a large town (minimalistsolution).

The total size of the sample also depends on thepriority objectives, i.e., whether the aim is to'inform' the poverty-reduction strategy or to couplemunicipal planning with school planning and tobring about self-corrective mechanisms at all levelsof the school system. In the first case, a smallersample, reflecting differing school and economicsituations, may be enough, while in the secondcase, all municipalities have to be covered and allthe schools in a municipality have to be able toforward their action plans (with a view to equity) to

be prioritised and aggregated at the municipallevel. In the third case, the number of schools permunicipality has to pave the way for the changes ofpractice that natural dissemination brings about inall the other schools throughout the country.

Finally, the OCS has decided, in conjunction withthe Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education,to extend the sample gradually. Schools takingpart in the pilot phase will continue to participateto provide in-depth knowledge of the SILP. Otherschools from other departments will also bechosen. The OCS is aiming to achieve arepresentative sample of schools for monitoringand evaluation in the context of the PRSP.

Concerning decentralisation, the SILP is importantbecause it is both an instrument of public scrutinyand a monitoring tool that central government canuse to monitor how decentralisation is progressing.Further discussion is needed in the Ministry of theInterior, Public Security and Local Government(MISPCL), which is responsible for steering thedecentralisation process.

4.2.3. CONCLUSIONS

The initial results of the SILP show that aninstrument of this kind can help to make publicservices more efficient, by improving knowledgeof strong and weak points in the efficient use offinancial resources on the one hand, and on theother hand, by mobilising local actors. Theattractiveness of this strategy to the institutionsconcerned can be seen from the way in which ittends to disseminate itself.

However, if the SILP is to become an instrumentserving PRSP monitoring and evaluation, as wellas a valid instrument of public scrutiny, civilorganisations, such as the APEs and NGOs, needto be involved as closely as possible. Capacitybuilding is necessary for these organisations sothat they can play their role effectively. The costissue must be considered in regard to the SILP'ssustainability, so various options for reducing

costs (such as involving NGOs and building thecapacity of parents' associations) need to beexplored.

The Ministry of Primary and SecondaryEducation is now in favour of this approach and nolonger sees it as a method of control.Reservations of this kind are quite normalbecause the approach is novel and raises fearsbecause the results that it might have areuncertain. Moreover, the change of governmentand the ministry team have helped to improveownership. These are all favourable factors, buthow the Ministry will use the informationprovided by the SILP and how civil organisationscould be involved in planning to extend theprocess from the local to the national level andthen implementing it, remains to be seen.

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Floquet A. and R.L. Mongbo. 2006. Suivid'Impact Local Participatif - SILP: manueld'application dans le secteur de l'éducationprimaire. Cotonou: FIDESPRA.

Floquet A., R.L. Mongbo, P. Tohinlo, C.Eteka, and F. Dossouhoui. 2006.Contrôle Citoyen dans le secteur d'éducationau Bénin: résultats et analyses d'une phasepilote de Suivi d'Impact Local Participatif.Working document. Cotonou: FIDESPRA.

ANNEX I: ACRONYMS

APE Association des Parents d'Élèves / Parents' Association

CCSRATCellule de Concertation et Suivi de la Réforme de l'Administration Territoriale/Consultation andMonitoring Unit for Reform of the Territorial Administration

CEP Certificat d'Études Primaires/Certificate of Primary Education

CNDLPCommission Nationale pour le Développement et la Lutte contre la Pauvreté/National Development and PovertyReduction Commission

CO-APE Coordination des Associations de Parents d'Élèves/Coordination Unit of Parents' Associations

FIDESPRA

Forum International pour le Développement et l'Échange de Savoir et de Savoir-faire au Service d'unePromotion Rurale Auto Entretenue / International Forum for Development and Exchanges of Knowledge andExpertise Promoting Self-Sustaining Rural Development

FNAPE Fédération Nationale des Associations de Parents d'Élèves/National Federation of Parents' AssociationsGDP Gross Domestic ProductGTZ German Technical CooperationHIPC Highly Indebted Poor CountriesKePIM Kenya Participatory Impact MonitoringMEPS Ministère des Enseignements Primaire et Secondaire/Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education

MISPCLMinistère de l'Intérieur, de la Sécurité Publique et des Collectivités Locales/Ministry of the Interior,Public Security and Local Government

NGO Non-Governmental OrganisationOCS Observatoire de Changement Social/Observatory of Social ChangePDC Plan de Développement Communal/Municipal Development PlanPRS Poverty Reduction StrategyPRSP Poverty Reduction Strategy PaperQIM Qualitative Impact Monitoring (Malawi)SILP Suivi d'Impact Local Participatif/Participatory Local Impact Monitoring MethodologySP Secrétariat Permanent/Permanent SecretariatTFP Technical and Financial Partners


Floquet A., R.L. Mongbo, P. Tohinlo, C.Eteka, and F. Dossouhoui. 2006. Suivid'Impact Local Participatif (SILP), unedémarche citoyenne. Brochure. Cotonou:FIDESPRA.

GTZ Benin. October 2005. Good practicesheet: making poverty reduction strategieswork. Implementation of the monitoring andcoordination mechanism (OCS) for the BeninPRSP. http://www.gtz.de/de/dokumente/en-prs-gps-benin-2005.pdf.

187

Resource persons:

Anne Floquet, FIDESPRAEmail: [email protected]

Roch Mongbo, FIDESPRAEmail: [email protected]

Silke Woltermann, GTZ-BeninEmail: [email protected]

ANNEX III: RESOURCE PERSONS AND USEFUL ADDRESSES

Useful addresses:

FIDESPRACampus d'Abomey Calavi, Faculté desSciences Agronomiques01 BP 526 Cotonou, BeninTel: (+229) 21 30 41 39Email: [email protected]

GTZ BeninDecentralisation and MunicipalDevelopment ProgrammeGTZ Offices08 BP 1132 Tri Postal, Cotonou, BeninTel: (+229) 21 30 45 08Email: [email protected]

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5.1. Mali: Participatory monitoring and evaluation as ameans of empowering local government in the region ofMopti

This study case, 'Participatory monitoring and evaluation as a means of empowering local

government in the region of Mopti', describes and analyses the initial stages of design andtesting of a participatory monitoring and evaluation system for the PACOB (Support Programme forMunicipalities and Grassroots Organisations) of CARE International in Mali. This programmefocuses on natural resource management and local governance in a region that, according topoverty surveys and maps, is one of the most disadvantaged in the country.

The study has been prepared by a team of four authors (Abdoul K. Coulibaly, Rokia Diarra Konaré,Mamadou Y. Keïta et Ahmed Ag Aboubacrine) working for CARE International, all of whom havebeen closely involved in the design and testing of this new participatory approach to monitoring andevaluation (see Annex IV).

This approach was developed and tested as a result of the process of reflection and learningtaking place within CARE International, with a view to 'making the organisation more responsibleto communities, particularly the most vulnerable'. The new approach has therefore been designedand tested in the context of PACOB, bringing together a wide range of different actors involved inresource management and new governance structures at various levels: village, rural municipality,subregion (or ‘cercle’), region. These actors are also the protagonists of the new ascendingmonitoring and evaluation system intended to meet both CARE's needs and the need for bettersystems of information and accountability in Mali's new local governance structures.

CHAPTER 5. OPENING EXTERNAL M&E SYSTEMS TO LOCAL

PERCEPTIONS

189

Introduction 190

5.1.1. Participatory monitoring and evaluation: strategic considerations 1915.1.1.1. What is participatory monitoring and evaluation? 1915.1.1.2. How can PM&E be implemented in projects? 192

5.1.2. Design and implementation of the PM&E system by PACOB 1945.1.2.1. PACOB (Support Programme for Municipalities and Grassroots

Organisations) 1945.1.2.2. Participatory planning as the foundation of the PM&E system 1955.1.2.3. Joint development of a PM&E plan 1955.1.2.4. Design of data-collection tools 1965.1.2.5. Ascending structure of new PM&E system and roles of actors 196

5.1.3. Early experiences and lessons learned 199

5.1.4. Conclusion and prospects 199

Annex I : Acronyms 200Annex II : Extract from PACOB PM&E plan 201Annex III : Extract from guide for developing participatory collection tools 202Annex IV : Bibliography 202Annex V : Resource persons, online documents and useful addresses 203

TABLE OF CONTENTS

190

The limitations of such approaches soon becameclear when they failed to produce the expectedresults: much of the infrastructure created quicklyfell into disrepair through lack of maintenance, andalthough awareness campaigns helped to improveknowledge, they did not really change behaviour. Itbecame apparent over time that any achievementsin such a context would never produce lastingresults because the communities involved couldnot really take ownership of the approaches used.

All of this begged the question of whether adevelopment programme can really be effective ifit does not involve the 'beneficiary' communitiesin every stage of its cycle (design,implementation and monitoring/evaluation). Andwho are development projects really for? Shouldthe 'beneficiaries' not be placed at the heart ofthe project, so that they can define their ownpriorities and be involved in developingmechanisms for monitoring and evaluation?

It was in this context that, in 2003, CAREInternational, as part of its process of ongoinglearning, introduced six programme principlesthat were to guide all its future activities. Theprinciples make CARE more responsible tocommunities, particularly the most vulnerable, byplacing them at the heart of all its operations andgiving them genuine decision-making power inprogramme design, implementation, monitoringand evaluation. In order to put these programmeprinciples into practice, CARE International in Mali(CARE Mali) evaluated all its programmes forcompliance with them. The study showed that

communities had little involvement in monitoringand evaluation systems, mainly playing a passiverole as providers of data and having no realdecision-making power. Armed with thesefindings, CARE Mali, in its December 2004 reviewof its long-term strategic plan, made it a priority toimplement a participatory system for monitoringand evaluation that would give genuine decision-making power to communities in designing,monitoring and evaluating its programmes.

CARE Mali's Programme d'Appui auxCommunes et Organisations de Base (PACOB -Support Programme for Municipalities andGrassroots Organisations), then in its early stages,was chosen to test an integrated system ofparticipatory monitoring and evaluation (PM&E).This was based on the interest shown in thisapproach by its financial partner (CARE Norwayand the Norwegian Government), local councillors,civil society and the technical departments in theregion of Mopti, all of which had been heavilyinvolved in designing the programme.

This case study describes and analyses the firststeps taken in designing and testing the PACOBPM&E system. We start with a description of themethods used to design the approach and thenmove on to the approach itself and the problemsencountered during the testing. Although it hasbeen running for barely a year, our experienceshould enable other organisations working in thegovernance field to benefit from the early lessonslearned.

INTRODUCTION

For a long time now the approaches used in development have tended tokeep the beneficiaries (the communities involved) at arm's length. The veryterm 'beneficiary' implies a passive recipient rather than an actor. For yearsthe Western model has been imposed on the very different realities ofcountries in the South, with development theorists and programmedesigners assuming that these countries needed to go through the samestages as the West in order to 'develop'.

191

Before the PACOB PM&E approach wasdesigned and tested, CARE Mali held strategicdiscussions on the features of the approach, theproblems it would present and its effects on theorganisational structure of the programmes. Theidea was first to harmonise how CARE Mali'sproject staff and partners understood the conceptof PM&E, and then to identify strategies throughwhich it could be put into practice in the PACOBprogramme and, eventually, to extend its use toall CARE Mali programmes. A discussionworkshop was held from 11 to 15 April 2005,bringing together staff from the various CAREMali projects as well as certain local150 andinternational151 partner organisations.

The main aim of the workshop was to:� gain a clear understanding of PM&E fromCARE International's previous experience ofmonitoring and evaluation in various contexts;� operationalise the application of PM&E inprojects;� develop a methodological approach to PM&Ethat would involve all actors, by defining phasesof implementation within a given project.

5.1.1.1. What isparticipatory monitoringand evaluation?

According to Professor Deep N. Pandey (1998),'PM&E is a shared process of problem-solvingthrough the generation and use of knowledge. It is aprocess which leads to collective action by involvingall levels of users in shared decision-making.'

The author thus views PM&E as an horizontalprocess between the project team and the'beneficiaries', who are regarded as actors ratherthan just recipients.

Guijt and Gaventa (1998) consider PM&E to bebased on four key principles:� participation, which means opening up theprocess to include those most directly affectedby the project and agreeing to analyse datatogether;

150- Cellule d'Appui aux Initiatives de Développement (CAID) (Development Initiatives Support Unit), Action Recherchepour le Développement des initiatives Locales (ARDIL) (Research Project for the Development of LocalInitiatives).

151- Management Systems International (MSI) and Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (CRWRC).

5.1.1. PARTICIPATORY MONITORING AND EVALUATION:STRATEGIC CONSIDERATIONS

� negotiation, to reach agreement about whatwill be monitored and evaluated, and how andwhen the data will be collected and analysed;� learning, as the basis for subsequentimprovement and corrective action;� flexibility, since the roles and skills ofstakeholders and the external environmentchange over time.

Both these views are very much in line withCARE International's programme principles, withthe result that systems give 'beneficiaries'genuine decision-making power. As one of CAREInternational's programme principles states: 'weseek to be held accountable to poor andmarginalised people whose rights are denied. . . .'

There are thus a number of aspects of PM&E thatare different from the traditional monitoring andevaluation previously applied by CARE Mali: the roleof the beneficiaries, the measurement of resultsand the approach used, as shown in Table 1.

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It should be stressed that this was not CAREMali's first experiment with PM&E, but previousattempts had had certain limitations when it cameto actually involving communities throughout theprocess. The idea then had been to encouragecommunities to implement their own monitoringand evaluation system separate from the projectsystem, which did not put them at the heart ofthe decision making. There were also no real linksbetween their system and the project system forrecording results, effects and impact.

The present experiment is particularly importantbecause the process of decentralisation in Mali,under which local government has powers ofindependent management, offers an opportunityto institutionalise an integrated PM&E approachinvolving all the actors.

5.1.1.2. How can PM&E beimplemented in projects?

The workshop laid the foundation for a new approachto PM&E for CARE Mali. The approach aimed first tomake project staff aware of how their practices andattitudes affected 'beneficiaries'. The second stagewas to identify problems in implementing PM&E, todefine their ideal PM&E and, depending on that, to

FieldTraditional monitoring and

evaluationParticipatory monitoring and evaluation

Who plans and directs theprocess?

The directors responsible for theproject and/or outside experts

Local people, project staff, project directorsand other partners with the help of afacilitator

Role of the mainbeneficiaries?

Solely to provide informationFormulating and adapting methods,collecting and analysing data, sharingresults and translating them into action

How are the resultsmeasured?

Using quantitative indicators, oftendefined externally

Using indicators, many of themqualitative, defined by the actorsthemselves

Approach Predefined, rigid Flexible

Table 1: Comparison of traditional and participatory monitoring and evaluation

Source: Guijt and Gaventa (1998).

Box 1: Introspection exercise

examine the roles that each of the stakeholders in theprocess wanted to play.

Introspection exercise focusing onpractices and attitudes

At the workshop the participants consideredcertain questions (see Box 1), which made themrealise that their own attitudes (internal barriers)tended to restrict PM&E. The discussions oftenshowed that there was a tendency to takedecisions on behalf of communities in order toobtain instant results, and to underestimate theabilities of the communities.

1. How do I regard my opinion or convictioncompared with those of other people?

2. Do I communicate my thoughts to others? DoI listen to other people? Or do I assume that Iknow what is best for other people?

3. Do I consider other people's ideas and opinionsto be as important as my own?

4. Do I acknowledge that when I have to take adecision or action, another stakeholder coulddo it instead?

5. Am I aware that I tend to forget to involve otherpeople, simply because I am in a hurry?

Source: CARE Mali (2005a).

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Identifying problems with PM&E

Those taking part in the workshop then identifiedvarious problems with PM&E at all stages of aproject cycle. Prejudices about communities'

abilities, the desire for instant results and thefinancial partners' demands were all factors whichemerged as limiting the effective participation of'beneficiaries' (see Table 2).

Level

Problems with PM&E

DesignMonitoring and

implementationEvaluation

Financialpartners

� Short submission deadlines ofcalls for tender� Predefined objectives and

target/fields of calls for tender� Limited amount of money� Monitoring/evaluation systems

predefined and non-participatory�Targets and areas already

defined� Short project duration imposed

� Limited financialenvelope for monitoringand evaluation

� Limited time: instantresults wanted� Sophisticated methods

required for reliable results� Participation involves high

costs

Communities

� Difficulty of representing alltarget groups� Illiteracy� Self-exclusion� Lack of project design skills� Not enough money to contribute

to project budget

� Not available duringproject schedule�Time taken up with

involvement� Not much involvement in

development of tools� Inability to use

monitoring tools

� Illiteracy� Unavailability� No self-critical ability

Project staff

� Skills of 'beneficiaries'underestimated� Feeling of knowing more about

'beneficiaries' problems thanthey do themselves� Limited time to reply to calls for

tender� Always seeking to keep the

financial partner happy, to thedetriment of the 'beneficiaries'

� Staff focus on achievingproject results in a shorttime (project duration)� Perception of PM&E (not

supported by actorsinvolved)� Unilateral financial

management

� Overwork leading to stress� Not enough capacity to

direct the approach� Resistance to change of

approach� Prejudices about

communities

Other types ofconstraints

� Baseline: national policies andstrategies not always designedto be participatory� Councillors' political allegiances

lead to differences of opinionthat are not always constructive

� External actors do notsupport validity of PM&E� Other actors involved do

not apply PM&E

Table 2: Problems with PM&E in a project cycle

Source: CARE Mali (2005a).

Finding a solution to these problems is achallenge for the PACOB programme, which, as

we said earlier, is testing the integrated approachto participatory monitoring and evaluation.

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Three months after the discussion workshop,work started on designing a PM&E system forPACOB on the basis of the workshoprecommendations.

5.1.2.1. PACOB (SupportProgramme forMunicipalities andGrassroots Organisations)

PACOB is funded jointly by the NorwegianGovernment (NORAD) and CARE Norway, andwas devised with the involvement of localcouncillors, technical departments and civilsociety representatives in the region of Mopti. Itis based on the experiences and lessons learnedbetween 2000 and 2004 from an earlierprogramme of governance and support formunicipalities in the ‘cercles’ of Koro and Bankass(the Koro and Bankass Municipalities SupportProgramme - PACKOB).

Objectives

The overall aim of PACOB is as follows: 'byDecember 2009, the elected municipalrepresentatives and natural resources userorganisations from twelve municipalities willintroduce sustainable systems for themanagement of natural resources, thus helping toimprove living conditions, particularly for the mostvulnerable people, in the ‘cercles’ of Koro, Bankass,Bandiagara and Djenné, in the region of Mopti.'

PACOB thus responds to four priorities in theMali Government's Poverty Reduction StrategyPaper (PRSP):� good governance;� promoting broad public involvement;� human development and access to basic socialservices;� helping to develop production sectors andinfrastructure.

Area covered

PACOB, which was launched in January 2005, isprimarily concerned with issues related to thedecentralised management of natural resourcesin the region of Mopti, and, more specifically, in12 rural municipalities in the ‘cercles’ of Koro,Bankass, Bandiagara and Djenné.

The Mopti region, in central Mali, covers an area of79,017 km2 and is one of the most denselypopulated areas of the country, with an estimated1,720,918 inhabitants in 2004152. The main ethnicgroups are the Peulh, Dogon, Songhai, Bambara,Bozo and Somono. According to the PRSP, theMopti region has one of the highest poverty indexesin the country, with more than three-quarters of itspopulation living below the poverty line.

Theory

PACOB is based on the idea that involvingcommunities in planning, implementing anddesigning the system for project monitoring andevaluation will give them real decision-makingpower and achieve more sustainable results. Thereis every indication that local governance will onlybecome efficient if the grassroots developmentactors become genuine partners in any operationsaffecting them.

Actors and stakeholders

PACOB is being carried out by CARE Mali inpartnership with three local NGOs. Each of theseis responsible for implementing the programmein one of the ‘cercles’ in the area covered:Association malienne d'Initiatives et d'actionspour le Développement (AID-Mali) in the ‘cercles’of Bankass and Koro, Yama Giribolo Tumo (Yag-Tu)in the ‘cercle’ of Bandiagara, and Association pourl'Appui au Développement Intégré (AADI) inDjenné.

152- Projection by the Direction Nationale de la Statistique et de l'Informatique (DNSI, National Statistics andInformatics Directorate) based on data from the 1998 General Population and Housing Census.

5.1.2. DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PM&E

SYSTEM BY PACOB

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5.1.2.2. Participatoryplanning as thefoundation of the PM&Esystem

The approach for carrying out PACOB involvedselecting three municipalities in each ‘cercle’,giving a total of 12 partner municipalities. Thesewere selected in cooperation with the ComitéLocal d'Orientation (CLO), the local steeringcommittee, which includes all the mayors of themunicipalities in a ‘cercle’, the president of the‘cercle’ council and representatives of theChambers of Agriculture and Trade. It is chaired bythe ‘préfet’153 and meets every three months. Thevarious municipalities in the four target ‘cercles’competed with each other in a tenderingprocedure in which they had to demonstrate agenuine desire to establish natural resourcesmanagement (NRM) as a priority.

Once the partner municipalities had beenselected, a workshop to validate the logicalframework was organised in July 2005 withelected officers. The aim was to involve localactors in all phases of the implementation of theproject. A total of 34 people attended, including20 municipal councillors154. At the workshop, theactors were given training in how to develop alogical framework, along with outcome, effectand impact indicators. They then, themselves,defined indicators for each objective in the logicalframework.

Finally, during the first week of August 2005, thePACOB steering team (made up of staff fromCARE Mali and the three local NGOs) met tocapitalise on the lessons learned from this firsttraining session, finalise the logical frameworkand, last, develop a method for drawing up thePM&E plan.

5.1.2.3. Jointdevelopment of a PM&Eplan

A monitoring and evaluation plan is a tool thatfleshes out the logical framework by definingmethods, coherent planning and responsibilitiesin the monitoring and evaluation of a project. Itanswers the following questions for eachindicator: What tools should be used to collect thedata? What will the collection method be? Whowill be responsible for collection and how often?Who will analyse the data and how will theinformation be used?

Following validation of the programme's logicalframework, it was decided to organise workshops ineach participating ‘cercle’ in order to define thePM&E plans. These workshops brought togethermunicipal councillors, the natural resources userorganisations (NRUO), the Mousow ka Jiguiya Ton(MJT)155 , i.e. women's savings-and-loan groups, andthe technical departments and State administrationfrom the PACOB target villages and municipalities(see Table 3). The meetings were held in the locallanguages by staff of the local NGOs.

153- The ‘préfet’ is an appointed government officer who represents the central administration at the level of the‘cercle’.

154- It should be pointed out that the project's target organisations were not involved in this phase of reviewing thelogical framework because the project had not yet finalised the process for selecting partner organisations.

155- MJT or 'hope for women' is an empowering savings-and-loan mechanism that CARE Mali has been running since2000, based on a similar experiment in Niger.

Table 3: Number and categories of workshop participants

‘Cercle’

TYPE OF PARTICIPANT

Total participantsTotal female

participantsCouncillors/

municipal staff

Civil society

(NRUO, MJT)

Administration

and technical

departments

Bandiagara 5 11 7 23 6

Bankass 10 12 6 28 6

Koro 11 9 8 28 7

Djenné 8 21 7 36 4

Total 34 53 28 115 23

Source: CARE Mali (2005b).

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156- The ‘sous-préfet’ is a local representative of the government.

Box 2: Phases in the development of thePACOB PM&E system

The PM&E plans that were developed place thecommunities at the heart of the monitoring andevaluation process. Responsibility for collectingand analysing data, which used to lie with CAREand the local NGOs, has now been transferred tothe communities (see Annex II: Extract from thePM&E plan).

After these workshops, the PACOB steeringteam met to harmonise the products from thefour workshops and to produce a final PM&Eplanning document.

5.1.2.4. Design of data-collection tools

The next phase involved developing data-collection tools for each indicator in the logicalframework. In order to do this, the team organisedmini-workshops in each ‘cercle’ betweenDecember 2005 and January 2006 to get thecommunities themselves to develop these tools.

One of the main challenges for a successfulmonitoring and evaluation system is still how toensure that the quality of the project is continuallyimproved by the use of the data. Each stakeholderneeds to see his or her interests taken intoaccount through the data collected, which is whyemphasis was placed on ensuring that theinformation was, first and foremost, useful for thegrassroots actors, thus enabling them to takesteps to make improvements. The PACOB steeringteam developed a guide to help those running theworkshops at which the data-collection tools weredesigned (see Annex III: Extract from guide).

Bandiagara, Djenné, Bankass and Koro, with thetarget communities.

26 to 28 September 2005: consolidationworkshop, incorporation of products from fourworkshops into a final PM&E plan and definitionof operating methods for implementation.

Phase 3: Design and testing of data

collection tools

December 2005 to January 2006: series of mini-workshops to develop data-collection tools foreach indicator in the logical framework.

5.1.2.5. Ascendingstructure of new PM&Esystem and roles of actors

The partnership with the communities ispyramidal in form, rather than hierarchical, goingfrom the village to the region via themunicipalities and ‘cercles’.

The actors at the village level are the leadersof the MJT, the village agents, the NRUO and thecommunity relays.

At the municipal level, they are theenvironment committee and the ‘sous-préfet’.156

At the level of each of the four ‘cercles’, an adhoc committee was set up comprising one councillorfrom each municipality, the ‘cercle’ technicaldepartments, the ‘préfet’, the ‘cercle’ council, theChamber of Agriculture and representatives of thewomen's NRUOs and the MJT groups.

At the regional level, there is a committeecomprising a development advisor, members of theRéseau Gestion Durable des RessourcesNaturelles en 5ème région (GDRN5 - NaturalResources Sustainable Management Network,Region 5), the Direction Régionale de laConservation de la Nature (DRCN - Regional NatureConservation Directorate), the four ‘cercle préfets’,the ‘cercle’ council presidents, the regionalassembly president, the regional monitoring officerand the 12 mayors from the programme area.

Box 3 and Figure 1 explain the roles andresponsibilities of each stakeholder in the system.

Phase 1: Validation of logical framework

14 to 15 July 2005: workshop with electedofficers to validate the logical framework, trainingin how to develop a logical framework and itsindicators.

3 August 2005: final review of the logicalframework.

Phase 2: Joint development of a PM&E plan

5 August to 16 September 2005: workshops todevelop a PM&E plan in the ‘cercles’ of

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Box 3: Role of the various actors implementing the PM&E

VILLAGE LEVEL

Group leaders and village agents:

� collect data from MJT groups and forward them to relays;� analyse data with the help of the Community Development Assistant (CDA);� attend six-monthly general 'programme assessment' meetings with relays and NRUOs;� share data collected with MJT groups.

Natural Resources User Organisations:

� NRUO chairpersons/secretaries are responsible for collecting data and forwarding them to relays;� analyse data with the help of the CDA;� attend six-monthly general 'programme assessment' meetings with relays and NRUOs;� share data collected with NRUOs in the village.

Relays:

� centralise and analyse data from NRUOs and MJT groups in each village;� fill in village monitoring/evaluation sheets;� organise six-monthly 'programme assessment' meetings with MJT and NRUO leaders to evaluateindicator levels;� share monitoring/evaluation data with MJTs and NRUOs to encourage them to emulate NRM activities;� pass monitoring/evaluation data (indicator levels, monitoring of project activities, lessons learned,recommendations) on to the municipality's Environment Committee.

MUNICIPAL LEVEL

Environment Committee:

� compile data supplied by the various relays;� fill in municipality's monitoring/evaluation sheets;� organise six-monthly 'programme assessment' workshops involving relays from each village, themunicipal technical departments, the ‘sous-préfet’ and representatives of the NRUOs and MJTs;� pass monitoring/evaluation data on to ‘cercle’ level.

‘Sous-préfet’:

� attend six-monthly 'programme assessment' workshops.

‘CERCLE’ LEVEL

Ad Hoc PM&E Committee:

This comprises one councillor for each municipality, the ‘cercle’ technical departments, the ‘préfet’,the ‘cercle’ council, the Chamber of Agriculture and representatives of the NRUOs and MJTs. TheCommittee is appointed by the CLO to give it credibility. Its role is to:� centralise data from the ‘cercle’s’ three partner municipalities;� organise the 'programme assessment' workshops for the ‘cercle’;� pass monitoring/evaluation data (indicator levels, monitoring of project activities, lessons learned,recommendations) on to the regional level;� take part in defining the methods and developing the research tools for the project;� return monitoring/evaluation reports to the CLO.

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Figure 1: Circulation of information among PACOB stakeholders in the PM&E system

REGIONAL LEVEL

Regional Committee:

This comprises a development advisor, the GDRN5, the Regional Nature Conservation Directorate,the four ‘préfets’, the ‘cercle’ council presidents, the president of the regional assembly, the regionalmonitoring officer and the 12 mayors. The Committee meets once a year.

Its role is to:� centralise data from the four ‘cercles’;� organise an annual data-consolidation workshop;� pass monitoring/evaluation data (indicator levels, monitoring of project activities, lessons learned,recommendations) on to the Comité Régional d'Orientation (CRO - Regional Policy Committee) andthe national level.

Region(CRO)

‘Cercle’(CLO)

PM&E RegionalCommittee

Ad Hoc PM&E Committee

PACOB generalmonitoring and

evaluation report

CLO/PACOBmonitoring and

evaluation report

Municipalassessment and

planningworkshop

‘Sous-préfet’

Centralise all data onenvironmental

measures

EnvironmentCommittee

Municipalmonitoring sheet

Village generalassessment and

planning meeting

MJT leaders andvillage agents

NRUOmanagement

committee

Relays

Village monitoringsheet

Responsible forcollecting, analysingand returning data

Key :

Advice and support links

Information forwarded to decision-making bodies

Decision-making body responsible for planning and data analysis

Monitoring and evaluation tools/reports

Local NGOs: CDA

Local NGOs:supervisors

CARE:PACOB advisors

Local NGOs:supervisors and CDA

Villa

ge

Mu

nic

ipali

ty‘C

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le’

Reg

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The process of implementing PM&E was notentirely problem-free. Each time a problem arose,the steering team tried to come up withappropriate solutions.

The main problem had to do with the manydifferent languages and dialects spoken in theareas covered which did not always make it easyfor participants to interact and required time fortranslation. As a solution to this, all of thedocumentation was translated into three mainlanguages (Dogon, Peulh and Bambara), and atmeetings, the participants were divided intogroups according to the language spoken.

Another problem stemmed from the differentlevels of education among the participants, whichmeant that some tended to be 'leaders' andothers 'followers'. The solution here was to dividethe participants into groups on the same level, sothat everyone's point of view could be heard.

A further problem was that the various bodieswere not always represented by the same peopleat different meetings, and the people attendinggenerally did not report back to their grassrootsgroup. Given that there was no effective reportingsystem anyway, this was an obstacle to thedevelopment of the process. The team emphasisedthe need to report back to the grassroots,systematically encouraging participants to do thiswhen they returned to their villages.

Finally, the number of women taking partremained low, which meant that one of the mostdisadvantaged groups was underrepresented.

5.1.3. EARLY EXPERIENCES AND LESSONS LEARNED

5.1.4. CONCLUSION AND PROSPECTS

The approach is currently still being tested, butfrom the very first phases, it was clear that thecommunities involved wholeheartedly supportedthe process. The next step will be to carry out the

grassroots survey and analyse the results. One ofthe main challenges is still how to put the plan forcirculating information into practice, involving'beneficiaries' in collecting and analysing the data.

The following lessons may be learned from allthis:

� PM&E is an effective way of transferring skills,but time and patience are required to put it intopractice;

� participants need to be given plenty of time toabsorb the information they receive;

� it is vital to choose able participants fromamong the 'beneficiaries' if the process is to besuccessful;

� illiteracy is an obstacle to the participantstaking ownership of the different monitoring/evaluation tools;

� translating the tools (logical framework,monitoring and evaluation plan, facilitation guide,etc.) into local languages leads to greatercommunity involvement and encourages morerapid ownership;

� the participants linguistic diversity means thatmore time is needed because multiple translationsare required;

� the commitment of the steering team is a keyfactor in the successful operation of PM&E. Theteam has to take the PM&E philosophy on boardand apply it in practice in everything it does.PM&E needs to be clearly separated from earlier,less participatory, methods of managing projects.

200

AADIAssociation pour l'Appui au Développement Intégré/Association for Supporting IntegratedDevelopment

AID-MaliAssociation malienne d'Initiatives et d'actions pour le Développement au Mali/Malian Association ofInitiatives and Action for the Development of Mali

ARDILAction Recherche pour le Développement des Initiatives Locales/Research Project for theDevelopment of Local Initiatives

CAID Cellule d'Appui aux Initiatives de Développement/Development Initiatives Support UnitCDA Community Development AssistantCLO Comité Local d'Orientation/Local Steering CommitteeCRO Comité Régional d'Orientation/Regional Policy CommitteeCRWRC Christian Reformed World Relief Committee

DNSIDirection Nationale de la Statistique et de l'Informatique/National Statistics and InformaticsDirectorate

DRCN Direction Régionale de la Conservation de la Nature/Regional Nature Conservation DirectorateFAO United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation

GDRN5Réseau Gestion Durable des Ressources Naturelles en 5ème région/Natural Resources SustainableManagement Network, Region 5

ISD Institute of Development StudiesME Monitoring and EvaluationMJT Mousow ka Jiguiya Ton (women's savings-and-loan groups)MSI Management Systems InternationalNORAD Norwegian Agency for Development CooperationNRM Natural Resources ManagementNRUO Natural Resources User Organisation

PACKOB

Programme d'Accompagnement des Communes et Organisations de Base dans le cercle de Koro etBankass/Support Programme for Municipalities and Grassroots Organisations in the ‘Cercle’ of Koro andBankass

PACOBProgramme d'Accompagnement des Communes et Organisations de Base/Support Programme forMunicipalities and Grassroots Organisations

PM&E Participatory Monitoring and EvaluationPRSP Poverty Reduction Strategy PaperRGPH Recensement Général de la Population et de l'Habitat/General Population and Housing CensusYap-Tu Yama Giribolo Tumo

ANNEX I: ACRONYMS

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ANNEX II: EXTRACT FROM PACOB PM&E PLAN

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202

Campilan, D., Drechsel, P. and D. Jöcker.2002.Méthodes pour le suivi évaluation et sonadaptation à l'agriculture urbaine etpériurbaine. 11p.: Resources Centres onUrban Agriculture and Food Security (RUAF).Available online:http://www.ruaf.org/files/econf2_discussionpaper_topic5_fr.doc.

CARE Mali. 2005a. Rapport de l'atelier sur leSEP. Bamako: CARE Mali.

CARE Mali. 2005b. Plan de suivi évaluation dePACOB. Bamako: CARE Mali.

ANNEX III: EXTRACT FROM GUIDE FOR DEVELOPING PARTICIPATORY

COLLECTION TOOLS

Information required Name of tool Key questions (*) Collection method

Analysis of

usefulness of data

for grassroots actors

Number of womencarrying outincome-generatingactivities inenvironmentalprotection

Natural resourcesmanagement sheetfor women

1. How many womenin your organisationare carrying outincome-generatingactivities?

2. List the differentincome-generatingactivities carried outby members of yourorganisation.

3. How do theseincome-generatingactivities protect theenvironment?

Interviewer: MJTleader

Interviewees:members of MJTgroups.

Frequency: six-monthly

Have data for takingdecisions on how tocorrect income-generating activities

(*) These key questions will be included in a better-structured collection tool at a later stage.

ANNEX IV: BIBLIOGRAPHY

FAO. 1992. The community's toolbox: the ideas,methods and tools for participatoryassessment, monitoring and evaluation incommunity forestry. Rome: Food andAgriculture Organisation of the UnitedNations.

Guijt, I. and J. Gaventa. 1998. Participatorymonitoring and evaluation: learning fromchange. IDS Policy Briefing n°12. Brighton:Institute of Development Studies. Availableonline:http://www.smallstock.info/reference/IDS/policy_brief_12.pdf.

Pandey, D. N. 1998. Joint resource management.New Delhi and Udaipur: Himanshu Publishers.

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Resource persons:

Abdoul Karim CoulibalyEmail: [email protected]

Rokia Diarra KonaréEmail: [email protected]

Mamadou Yoro KeïtaEmail: [email protected]

Ahmed Ag AboubacrineE-mail: [email protected]

ANNEX V: RESOURCE PERSONS, ONLINE DOCUMENTS


Online resources:

www.care.org

Useful addresses:

CARE International au MaliKorofina Nord, Rue 110, Porte 368BP 1766, Bamako, MaliTel.: (+223) 224 22 62Fax: (+223) 224 75 32

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5.2. Mali: Public perceptions as a barometer of localgovernance

This case study 'Public perceptions as a barometer of local governance' has been prepared bya team coordinated by Fatou Cissé from the Norwegian Church Aid (NCA) (see Annex IV).

The study describes an experiment to analyse public perceptions of local governance in northernMali. As well as being an institutional, organisational and operational audit of the implementation ofdecentralisation and participation by civil society in local governance, this analysis helped NCA toplan activities for vulnerable social groups more strategically, by highlighting their perceptions oflocal governance.

Bearing in mind the very few surveys on local governance themes that have been conductedamong electors in West Africa and current thinking about barometers of governance, theexperiment described in the study makes an interesting contribution to the debate.

205

Introduction 206

5.2.1. Context and background 208

5.2.2. Research approach 209

5.2.3. Existing documentation 210

5.2.4. Development of in situ research tools 210

5.2.5. Data collection in the field 212

5.2.6. Data processing and drafting of project report 214

5.2.7. Lessons learned 214


Annex I : Acronyms 218Annex II : Bibliography 219Annex III : Resource persons and useful addresses 220

TABLE OF CONTENTS

206

The future of the democratic process in Mali nowdepends on sustainable development and theacquisition of governance skills at the local level.

In terms of monitoring/evaluation, localgovernance can be analysed by looking atdevelopments in the system itself and in thedecision-making, policy-making and resourcedistribution mechanisms. Similarly, local people's

INTRODUCTION

Following the crisis in public administration and the traditional models ofservice provision, Mali has moved from an administrative and political systembased on centralised power and run by government actors (who plan andimplement development policies and strategies) to a system that encouragesresponsible governance. In this highly participatory system, society ismanaged on the basis of growing interaction, negotiation and partnershipbetween all the relevant public and private actors and civil society.

access to basic services is an indicator of the abilityof elected officers to manage their municipalities.

The ability of people to stimulate governmentaction to satisfy their interests and needs, whichis the very cornerstone of 'people power', can beassessed at the most decentralised level from theperceptions that individuals have as users ofpublic services.

People power is the ability of people to stimulate government action to satisfy theirpractical needs and strategic interests.

People's practical needs:

In terms of satisfaction, practical needs areanalysed and may be satisfied in the shortterm. They vary, depending on theindividual, and tend to be day-to-dayneeds: food, water, housing, income,health, etc. They can be satisfied byspecific measures: help with production,water supply, health infrastructure, etc.They are expressed in terms of 'access toresources and services'.

Satisfying basic needs can improve livingconditions and does not usually involvechanges in existing roles and socialrelationships. It is a condition for takingstrategic interests into account.

People's strategic interests:

In terms of determining policy, strategicinterests are long-term. They have to dowith the fact that people are subject tovulnerability, poverty, a lack of resourcesand education, etc. They can be satisfiedby a strategy of creating capacities,raising awareness, training, greater self-confidence, strengthening organisations.They are expressed in terms of 'access toand controlling resources and benefits'.

Satisfying strategic interests enables thebeneficiary individuals/organisations tobecome development actors, and canimprove the overall social situation. It leadsto greater involvement in public life andfairer involvement in decision-makingbodies. It is a condition for fair and sustainabledevelopment.

Figure 1: The concept of people power or empowerment

207

The indicators most commonly used formonitoring/evaluating decentralisation in Mali aredesigned to inform stakeholders about theoutcomes of current policies, strategies, projectsand programmes. As a result, the systems andmechanisms used pay little attention to:�whether people are exercising their fundamentalrole of 'stimulating government action';� people's perception of the extent to which theirneeds and interests are being taken into accountby the bodies steering, coordinating andimplementing government action and social,economic and cultural development locally;

� how people assess the protection, defence andeffectiveness of their rights to be involved in localgovernance and development activities;� people's opinion of the relevance, viability andsustainability of the governance and developmentapproaches applied locally by public and privateactors.

The indicators commonly used are suitable foranalysing people's understanding of the processbut need to be fleshed out to give a better pictureof the development of people power.

157- The tools referred to here were presented at the 'Sub-regional seminar on building capacities for monitoring andevaluation of decentralisation and local governance in West Africa: exchange of experience and learning', Bamako,17-18 May 2006.

Box1: Examples of the most commonly used indicators in Mali in the field of localgovernance and decentralisation157

The monitoring and evaluation system of the Programme in Support for Administrative Reform andDecentralisation (PARAD) financed by the European Union (EU), relates only to the following type ofindicators: the quantitative measurement of public services and products, compliance with theregulations for government action (both local and central government), the degree to which the localgovernment apparatus has been strengthened, the rate of transfer of resources from the State tolocal government and, last, the establishment of structures that could help to improve themobilisation of internal resources in local government.

The indicators used in the Self-Assessment Tool for Local Government Performance, developed bythe National Local Government Directorate (DNCT), with the help of SNV (Netherlands DevelopmentOrganisation), PACT/GTZ (Local Government Support Programme/German Technical CooperationAgency) and Helvetas (Swiss Association for International Cooperation), to assess measures to makedecentralisation in Mali more effective, are designed to measure the impact of strengthening thecapacities of elected councillors and municipal personnel and the way in which municipalities operate(tasks, services to be provided for local people, development challenges). Measurements are takenin five performance fields: 1) internal organisation; 2) administrative and financial management;3) mobilisation of resources; 4) local development planning and programming; and 5) local governmentservices, products and developments.

The Computerised Monitoring and Evaluation Tool (OISE) of the National Programme in Support ofLocal Government provides information on technical support for local government, maps and keystatistics (population, availability of basic social services). It identifies local government developments,partners and service providers, as well as offering a series of products for operational research in thisfield: reports/studies, programming, planning, implementation and monitoring/evaluation of localgovernance and decentralisation activities, and local government planning, management anddevelopment documents.

208

A pilot study of users' perceptions ofdecentralisation carried out by the NorwegianChurch Aid (AEN) and its partners provides anopportunity to enhance the monitoring/evaluationof local governance, in that:� it creates the conditions for correctly identifyingthe measures and instruments adopted by localgovernment in response to the aspirations of alllocal people;� it offers a better understanding of the effectsand impact of the approaches adopted;� it could allow the development of 'comprehensive'approaches incorporating all the stakeholders andsubjects to be covered by the monitoring/evaluation.

158- For a definition of the concept of 'empowerment' and the process of 'community empowerment', see Hawley E.and E. McWhirter, 1991, and Lackey, A.S., Burke. R, and M. Peterson, 1987.

In the following description of this pilot study, wewill begin by explaining the context andbackground to the research, before moving on todescribe the methods used and analysing therelevance, ownership, viability, suitability andreplication of the approach. This will be followed bythe main results of the research. The case studywill end with the researchers' conclusions and theprospects for other government actors in Mali andelsewhere to capitalise on the experience.

5.2.1. CONTEXT AND BACKGROUND

For over 20 years, AEN and its partners havebeen providing general support for theempowerment of vulnerable social groups (VSGs)in the northern regions of Mali. The aim hasalways been the following: 'Vulnerable socialgroups should devise and implement sustainablelocal measures in order to improve their quality oflife. Exploiting community potential is both usefuland equitable here.'

When it comes to local governance, AEN and itspartners talk about the idea of 'empowering'158

the VSGs. In other words, this involves givingpoor and vulnerable men and women the powerto secure and enjoy their basic social, economicand cultural rights, both as individuals and alsotaking the 'social and community perspective'into account. In this way empowermentcontributes to the development of the communitythrough the following:� attitudes and values (linked to individuals''community-mindedness');� capacities (including the knowledge and skillsof members of the community);� organisational structures (referring to thedevelopment of local organisations);� leadership (for individuals and organisations,'leadership' is the opportunity to use theirinitiative at the community level).

Community empowerment becomes a processas soon as synergy, cooperation, transparencyand the circulation of information, based onpotential assets, start to develop. It is the product

of collective participation in political actions andrequires people to be actively involved in order toensure that the redistribution of resources helpsall elements of the community. It is vital here toconsolidate strengths and assets that are oftenunrecognised and unused, particularly those ofthe VSGs (e.g., their position as majority voters,their ability to innovate and adapt, the relevance oftheir needs for development partners, and so on).

Under the current legislation in Mali, thestakeholders in local governance range fromordinary people to the highest political authoritiesand include bodies and structures for design, policy-making, coordination and implementation at alllevels, as well as technical and financial partners,both international agencies (multilateral, bilateraland organisations involved in decentralisedinternational cooperation) and national agencies.These stakeholders fall into a number of categories:public, private and/or civil society. They havesectoral and/or cross-sector responsibilities,particularly in the areas of the national poverty-reduction strategy, gender and development,HIV/AIDS and environmental protection.

With the establishment of the decentralisationpolicies and strategies, AEN and its traditionalpartners (community-based NGOs) realised thatthere were opportunities to add to their portfolioof programmes. Wishing to remain faithful to itstarget group while still taking on the sort of multi-and inter-sectoral projects and activities providedfor in the legislation, the 'AEN family' conducted

209

an exhaustive review of its mission, vision andstrategies. The result was a general policyframework for activities for the period 2005-2009,whose main objective was 'to open up scope foractors who can create the conditions for givingVSGs an important role, full participation andmeaningful involvement in the design, coordination,implementation and monitoring/evaluation ofpolicies, strategies and projects/programmes forlocal governance and sustainable social, economicand cultural development at local and sub-locallevels'.

Having resolved on this, AEN and its partnersbegan strategic planning for the projects andactivities to be carried out with elected officersand local government staff, state supervisory andtechnical departments, and service providers atthe local (municipal) and sub-local (neighbourhood,

village and fraction of nomadic tribes) level, incooperation with and for the benefit of VSGs andtheir organisations and groups.

AEN wanted to base its participatory planning ona body of information that would ensure that theapproaches adopted were sustainable and that theappropriate partners were chosen, so it commis-sioned a study on Civil society for responsiblegovernance in the regions of Timbuktu, Gao andKidal159. The general aim of the study, which wasput out to tender among the national researchinstitutes and consultancy agencies was 'to carryout a diagnostic study of the implementation ofdecentralisation and the state of governance inthe regions of Timbuktu, Gao and Kidal, and toput forward proposed measures for theestablishment of a multi-annual civil societyprogramme for responsible governance'.

159- CEDREF-Koni Expertise, 2005.

5.2.2. RESEARCH APPROACH

RESEARCH APPROACHDEVELOPMENT IS APROCESS

involving economic, social,cultural and political com-ponents. The research looks atsociety as a whole and isbased on the activeinvolvement of local people:

� rights explicitly taken intoaccount;� empowerment;� participation;� non-discrimination;� VSGs given specific consider-

ation.

PERCEPTIONSof

those with rights toknowledge and power

promoting theenjoyment of basic

rights to participate in,be involved in and

steer local governanceand local social,

economic and culturaldevelopment.

PERCEPTIONSof

those with duties topromote (and not toharm), acknowledge,take into account and

respect the basicrights of VSGs.

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK OF THE RESEARCH

Of the five proposals received in response to thecall for proposals, two were selected. The firstproposed an institutional, organisational andoperational audit of the implementation ofdecentralisation and an analytical study of theinvolvement of civil society. The second focused onstudying the VSGs' perceptions of governmentaction and analysing the strengths, weaknesses,

advantages and disadvantages of having the VSGsand their organisations fully involved in localgovernance and social, economic and culturaldevelopment.

Realising that the two proposals overlapped, thesponsors negotiated an approach that combinedboth.

210

In accordance with AEN's guiding principles thata general, human-rights-based approach shouldbe taken to development globally, the team ofresearchers, working with members of AEN,focused on two basic ideas:� Women and girls, marginalised young people,children, those suffering from and affected byHIV/AIDS and the organisations that these groupsset up are right-holders. Their practical andstrategic needs should be given greaterconsideration by local governance stakeholders. Ifthey are to be fully involved in local governance,they need to be put in a stronger position, but thishas been ignored up to now by the otherdecentralisation actors and their technical andfinancial partners.

� Local councillors, traditional chiefs, supervisoryand technical departments and organisationsinvolved in local development are duty-holders.They need to encourage the VSGs to be moreinvolved in local governance. The institutionalisationof their behaviour very much depends on theirownership and promotion of the strengths andpotential assets of the VSGs and their organisations.The current systems and mechanisms take littleaccount of the fact that the latter need to be put ina stronger position.

For the research to be successful, the team feltit necessary to begin by exploring the existingdocumentation on the monitoring and evaluationof governance. As with the country's otherdevelopment sectors, this documentation iswidely dispersed and largely unexploited. It isuncommon for the results of monitoring/evaluation projects and activities to be formallydistributed, which made the task very difficult.

The legislation and regulations covering theframework, system and mechanisms of localgovernance were collected and analysed in orderto establish the statutory framework for localgovernance. Data and documents on theimplementation of decentralisation were used toflesh out this assessment and to serve as abaseline for planning and preparing the in situinvestigations.

5.2.3. EXISTING DOCUMENTATION

5.2.4. DEVELOPMENT OF IN SITU RESEARCH TOOLS

The data in the OISE database (see figure on themost commonly used indicators) offer anopportunity to monitor/evaluate and researchgovernance, but delays in inputting data and thelimitations of the user applications made thisdatabase difficult to exploit.

In order to overcome these problems, the teamcalled on the services of documentation and data-processing experts, who were instructed toidentify, collect and exploit the sources available.The experts found numerous paradoxes andcontradictions in the data from the differentdocumentary sources, so they carried outtriangulations and checks on key data for the aidsand tools used in the in situ investigations.

The resources and time needed for this workaffected the timetable and scale of the research:the operations took longer and were moreexpensive than planned.

A set of 14 tools, including questionnaires (withclosed and open questions), interview guides anddiscussion topics suitable for all the target

groups, was prepared for the field surveys. Table1 below summarises the survey target groupsand the topics discussed with each of them.

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Targets Perceptions of interviewees

Local people

- roles and responsibilities of stakeholders: councillors, supervisory and technicaldepartments, traditional chiefs, civil society organisations (CSOs), local people;

- impact of decentralisation on quality of life;- relevance, availability and accessibility of services and products depending on local

people's personal and professional needs;- quality of consultation and information provided by councillors for local people;- degree to which councillors take local people's opinions into account;- degree to which councillors find out about local people's interests;- level of political activism of men/women/young people/traditional chiefs/CSOs;- effects/impact of decentralisation on quantity and quality of services;- evolution of information given to people on their rights and duties;- identification of structures/persons able to solve local people's problems;- local government's capacity to provide a sustainable local response in the field of social,

economic and cultural development;- local people's access to education, health, water and public records;- accessibility and relevance of local people's means of redress if dissatisfied;- change in cost of living since decentralisation;- relevance and applicability of tax policies;- change in income-generating opportunities since decentralisation;- equal opportunities for men and women to be involved in local governance;- degree of involvement of young people in managing local government;- measures and steps to be taken to promote the greater involvement of vulnerable social

groups in local governance.

Officers from civil

society organisations

- roles and responsibilities of stakeholders: councillors, supervisory and technicaldepartments, traditional chiefs, CSOs, local people;

- review of instruments and documents governing the operation of the organisation,its activities and its relations with the other local governance actors;

- assessment of the organisation's involvement in consultation bodies;- self-evaluation of the organisation's institutional, organisational and operational capacities;- organisation's assessment of governance.

Target actors who are

members of civil society

organisations


- democracy of organisation's governance;- organisation's institutional, organisational and operational capacities;- organisation's ability to respond to members'/local people's practical and strategic needs

(depending on the organisation's mission);- members' assessment of decision-making process and members' involvement;- expectations of organisation's members.

Mayors and key personnel


- review of instruments and documents governing the operation of the organisation,its activities and its relations with the other local governance actors;

- assessment of stakeholders' involvement in local governance;- self-evaluation of the structure's institutional, organisational and operational capacities;- greater involvement of VSGs in local governance: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities

and problems.

Presidents of the

councils at the level of

‘cercles’ and

key personnel

Presidents of the

regional assemblies and

key personnel

Prefects and key personnel

Sub-prefects and key

personnel

Tax collectors

Technical departments

at ‘cercle’ level

Devolved departments

at regional level

Table 1: Target Groups and Topics

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Three teams (two for the Timbuktu region alone,because of its size, and one for the regions of Gaoand Kidal) were set up for the field work, eachheaded by a survey specialist familiar withnorthern Mali. All of the data were collected overa two-week period.

The research was carried out on four levels: in thethree main towns of the regions, in the main townsof seven “cercles”, in 18 municipalities and in 54communities (i.e. in towns with a population of over5,000 and of under 5,000, and in villages, hamletsand fractions of nomadic tribes) chosen at random.In order to ensure a representative sample of thevarious social groups, in line with the project criteria,the teams collected the perceptions of a number ofgroups at each of these levels, particularly fromtraditional chiefs, those responsible for relationswith the administration160, young men, youngwomen, female members of farmers' organisationsand female members of other CSOs.

For the survey, the CSOs were broken down intofour groups in line with the European Union'sapproach in the mission to identify supportmeasures for civil society161: � The first group is Class 1 CSOs: basicorganisations, often fairly informal, funded frommembers' contributions (women's and youngpeople's organisations, etc.).�The second group is Class 2 CSOs, made up offormally recognised, more structured actors.

160- They are often the most highly educated in the locality and are appointed by local people as someone who can'understand and make themselves understood'.

161- Floridi, Corellla et al., 2004.

Municipal advisory

centres (CCCs) and

those responsible for

monitoring

- knowledge of stakeholders' roles and responsibilities in local governance;- representativeness of local governance bodies and structures;- relevance and democratic nature of instruments of local governance bodies and structures;- greater involvement of local people and their organisations in local governance: strengths,

weaknesses, opportunities and problems.

Those in charge of

projects/programmes

- knowledge of stakeholders' roles and responsibilities in local governance;- representativeness of local governance bodies and structures;- relevance and democratic nature of instruments of local governance bodies and structures;- greater involvement of local people and their organisations: strengths, weaknesses,

opportunities and problems.

5.2.5. DATA COLLECTION IN THE FIELD

These may have different types of missions, suchas protecting and defending local people's rightsand interests, seeking to secure members'interests (trade unions, trade associations) orcontributing to sustainable development (serviceproviders in the development field).� The third is Class 3 CSOs, known as umbrellaorganisations. These are made up of groups oforganisations joining forces around a particularissue and/or in a geographical area. Their basicmission is to coordinate and strengthen theirmembers.� The fourth group is Class 4 CSOs, known asorganisations of umbrella organisations. Theseare designed as consultation forums in order topresent a united front when dealing with sharedexternal problems. There is almost no formalstructure and relations between the actors arealso often very informal.

The field teams thus met 266 members of thepublic (including 127 women and 156 young people),83 CSO officers, 63 people from groups of targetactors belonging to a CSO, 28 elected officers, 43actors from devolved State departments, 8 advisorsfrom municipal advisory centres (CCCs) or regionalmonitoring officers from the technicaldecentralisation monitoring system, and 7 peopleresponsible for local, regional or national projects/programmes in support of decentralisation and localgovernance.

213

The general conditions, size of area covered anddistances between locations in the north of Malipresented serious logistical problems for the in situinvestigations. In order to deal with this, the teamidentified interviewers with experience of the area.To prevent any 'familiarity' from skewing theresults (particularly those of the questionnaires andopen discussions), the aids and tools contained anumber of repetitions, allowing the information tobe cross-checked. This made the system morecumbersome, which in turn affected the timetableand scale of the research.

As well as these logistical challenges, the teamsencountered problems inherent in the originality ofthe approach, which was not understood by theinterviewees. Women, for instance, were reluctantto share their opinions, particularly with maleinterviewers. Some found the exercise 'too

personal' and others could not see how theirperceptions might be useful for devisingdevelopment strategies. Some actors (electedcouncillors, staff of the supervisory and technicaldepartments) were easily able to quote thestatutory definitions of the roles and responsibilitiesof the various stakeholders, but when it came tosharing their thoughts on the actual level of skillsand ability of the actors concerned, many werereluctant to do so, either because they were afraidof overstepping the mark, or because they fearedthat the research results would not be objective.

The research had a strategic objective: theresults were to be used for future planning byAEN and its partners. Despite this, theresearchers did not have the impression thatthose interviewed tried to give 'tactical' replies inorder to have favourable treatment in future.

Target groups Timbuktu Gao Kidal Total

Civil society 310 73 29 412

General public 181 62 23 266

CSOs 66 11 6 83

Target actors who are members of CSOs 63 0 0 63

Elected officers 17 7 4 28

Mayors 12 4 2 18

“Cercle” council chairmen 4 2 1 7

Regional assembly chairmen 1 1 1 3

Decentralised State departments 26 10 7 43

Prefects 4 2 1 7

Sub-prefects 9 2 2 13

Tax collectors 3 1 1 5

Technical departments at “cercle” level 9 3 0 12

Decentralised departments at regional level 1 1 2 4

CCC advisors and monitoring officers 4 3 1 8

Development projects and programmes 1 2 4 7

Total 354 92 44 490

Table 2: Survey Sample by Region

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With the help of data-processing and statisticsspecialists, the documentary data and fieldsurveys were processed using Statistical Packagefor the Social Sciences (SPSS) and Excelsoftware. The following subject classifications andcross-checks were applied:� stakeholders' knowledge of the statutoryframework;� stakeholders' actions and perceptions andduty-holders' skills and abilities, taking account ofthe general situation and specific regional factorsin local governance;� participation and cooperation between localgovernance actors (generally and by region);� general results, effects and impact ofdecentralisation (generally and by region);� presentation of civil society, local people andorganisations (generally and by region);� participation and involvement of civil society inlocal governance (generally and by region);

5.2.6. DATA PROCESSING AND DRAFTING

OF PROJECT REPORT


� perceptions, capacities and political, institutional,organisational and operational skills of thoseholding rights in local governance;� strengths, weaknesses, opportunities andproblems of civil society for empowering VSGs inlocal governance.

Two analysts (one in governance and the other ininstitutional and organisational development) drewup the project report on the basis of all the resultsobtained. The report contains an assessment ofprogress in decentralisation in the northern regions,a study of the actors' perceptions, together withgeneral strategic recommendations for improvingthe work done by AEN's partners, and a logicalframework for strategies designed to empowervulnerable social groups, particularly women andyoung people.

Special skills and measures areneeded to collect perceptions that falloutside the usual statistical field.

Interviewers needed additional training becauseof the innovative work involved in measuringactors' perceptions, opinions and assessments.

The interviewees, particularly women and thosein government departments, were accustomed to'standard' data being collected on governance anddecentralisation and were reluctant to reveal theirown personal perceptions. In order to reduce thisbias, the field team leaders organised preparatorymeetings with senior figures from the surveylocations before the interviewers arrived. In thisway, they were able to ask for their help inensuring that the research went smoothly. Theinterviewers were also given documentsguaranteeing the confidentiality of the informationobtained. If there were major problems, theycould ask their team leader for help.

As with the other problems encountered, thesemeasures, though helpful, generated additionaldelays and costs.

The final product is complex anddifficult to summarise because of thewide range of subjects covered.

The terms of reference of the study cover 15specific objectives and eight expected outcomeslinked to three main products: an assessment ofthe current state of local governance, a study ofthe perceptions of the actors involved, andrecommendations and proposals for planningactivities. The final product is thus highly complexand difficult to use, both for those whocommissioned it and for the actors andstakeholders.

In order to make the results easier to understandand summarise, the sponsors organised a'handover' workshop bringing together the actorsand stakeholders directly and indirectly involved in

215

the research. These included national and localrepresentatives of government departments,organisations working in development (international,national and local) and CSOs (international, nationaland local). A delegation of right-holders and duty-holders from each of the areas where AEN operatesalso attended the workshop.

There are three ways in which the outcomes ofthe study could usefully have been distributed:� by developing tools to promote anddisseminate the methods used, in order toencourage the inclusion of the perceptions,opinions and assessments of governance actorsin the overall monitoring/ evaluation mechanism;� by summarising the main conclusions of thestudy to make them accessible to the actors andstakeholders directly or indirectly involved in theresearch;� by producing a general summary and specificsummaries (by region, type of actor, etc.), thusmaking the information accessible to the variouslocal actors and stakeholders for them to exploit.

The study shows thatdecentralisation is now established innorthern Mali, but…

Generally speaking, the results of the audit showthat decentralisation is becoming established innorthern Mali; however, it is regrettable that thepoor level of skills and capacities of the duty-holders and the strong influence of socio-culturaltraditions restrict the full involvement of all theactors, particularly in the region of Kidal.

In terms of representation, local government inthe area barely reflects the social breakdown ofthe electorate, since women occupy very few ofthe decision-making posts.

As in other regions of the country, the localauthorities in the north have poor levels of institutional,organisational and operational skills and capacities.

Meetings are not held regularly. There areinconsistencies in planning and budgeting. Theimplementation rate is usually low, and the overallrate of mobilisation of internal resources is amongthe lowest in the country. The transfer of powersand resources from the State to local government isproving problematic in the area, particularly in theregion of Kidal. The rate of devolution of governmentdepartments is low, particularly in the same region.

The technical support provided by theMunicipal Advisory Centres (CCC),responsible for strengthening localgovernment capacity has broughtimprovements, but also imbalances.

The technical support provided by these centreshas been focused on improving the operatingskills and capacities of the decision-makingbodies and structures and their staff.

There have been some improvements in the threeregions as regards the drafting of the administrativeaccount, the award of contracts, operating ascontracting authorities and administrativecorrespondence. This has also led to improvedrelations between the supervisory departments,elected officers and their staff.

However, these improvements have had a majorimpact on the overall governance dynamic, withtechnical service providers and civil society nowout of step with the capacities of the electedofficers. Support is therefore needed to bringthese actors up to speed.

The arrival of the Support Programme forAdministrative Reform and Decentralisation isencouraging a more integrated, fairer and morebalanced approach in strengthening technical andfinancial capacities. This programme is designedto help all actors, both duty-holders and right-holders, to be better able to assume their rolesand responsibilities in decentralisation.

The work done by the NationalAgency for Local GovernmentInvestment (ANICT) and the othertechnical and financial partners isimportant in many ways.

A significant amount of infrastructure has beenconstructed thanks to outside technical and financialsupport. Local people see this infrastructure as aconcrete expression of the idea of 'decentralisation'.

More than 60% of the people interviewed saidthat, in their eyes, this investment was evidence ofchange. They felt that investment in buildings(whether functional or not) was a guarantee that,sooner or later, the services they were supposed tohouse would be provided. They also felt that thesebuildings were an important step towards givingpeople general access to the services they need.

216

For the other actors, the relevance, viability andsustainability of these investments were a cause forconcern, particularly in view of the number ofbuildings that were barely functional or notfunctional because there were not enough staffand/or material and financial resources to run them.

It is vitally important that the services advocatedshould actually be provided as soon as possible.

The traditional chiefs' dissatisfactionand local people's customs are asource of risk.

Apart from the traditional chiefs, all of the actorsare moving towards responsible local governance.So, while all the other actors are seeking to enjoytheir statutory prerogatives, the traditional chiefs,unhappy with the role they have been given underthe legislation, are trying to find ways to exercisegreater influence.

This dissatisfaction and people's currentbehaviour are a threat to peace and stability in thearea, particularly in the region of Kidal, where thetraditional chiefs are most noticeably dissatisfiedand local people are most likely to turn to them toresolve their problems. These findings need to bediscussed in greater detail to consider whatmeasures should be taken.

Over 52% of the people surveyed turned first totheir traditional chiefs for problems to do withcitizenship. Only 3% would seek a legal remedyfrom the supervisory authorities, which areresponsible for compliance with the law underthe current legislation.

Some CSOs have ethical leaningsthat undermine their legitimatecontribution.

An analysis of the perceptions of representatives ofClass 2 and 3 organisations suggests that theseorganisations are easily diverted from their role ofhelping civil society to be more involved in localgovernance, in order to focus on the socio-economicobjectives of their promoters and members.

According to the results of the surveys, officersfrom these organisations classify their roles asfollows:� creating income-generating activities for theirmembers and the organisation;

� mobilising funding for projects/programmes tobe carried out by their members;� and only thirdly providing technical support andadvice for elected officers and traditional chiefs.

None of the 60 or more officers interviewedregarded themselves as having a role inpromoting the involvement of civil society in localgovernance. Fewer than 10% of the CSOgoverning bodies interviewed felt that they had arole in promoting, protecting or defending localpeople's rights and interests, even if that wastheoretically one of their tasks.

Over 75% of the members from Class 2 and 3organisation interviewed (whose mission includedprotecting, defending or promoting local people orparticipating in sustainable development) focusedinstead on satisfying the needs of their members,who made their membership and payment of theircontributions conditional on having their needsmet.

These responses from the structured civilsociety organisations, whose stated mission is todefend, promote and/or protect local people'sneeds and interests, indicate a risk that theirlegitimate role is being compromised. Conflicts ofinterest could delay the strengthening of localpeople's capacity to stimulate government actionin response to their real aspirations and needs.

Perceptions of equal opportunities formen and women in governance areworrying.

Overall, people think that women are involved inpolitics.

Over 90% of the sample thought that womenwere politically active simply because they tookpart in elections.

However, an analysis of the composition ofmunicipal councils indicates that there are almostno women in political posts.

Women account for fewer than 3% of allmunicipal councillors in the area. More than 75%of municipal councils do not have a single femalecouncillor.

217


Curiously, 73% of the women surveyed said thatthey have the same opportunities as men and asmuch chance as men of being elected in northernMali.

The heads of the decision-making bodies did notsee this paradox, and felt that women were wellrepresented.

More than 80% of the heads of the decision-making bodies thought that their respectivebodies were a 'good' or 'perfect' reflection of thesociety they represented.

These findings raise some worrying questions.First, what will the stakeholders have to do tocontribute more to the national 'gender anddevelopment' objectives? Next, do the stakeholders'statements reflect the internalisation of certaininequalities? Last, do the women in question have adifferent concept of equal opportunities from thatused in 'gender and development', or are they hidingtheir real perceptions for fear of socio-cultural, socio-economic or other reprisals?

The methods used and the results obtained inthis study on civil society for responsiblegovernance in the regions of Timbuktu, Gao andKidal provide an overview of the dynamicsbetween the various actors.

The methods used measured the following:� the extent to which governance is beingimplemented in the area, by evaluating thedevelopment of the institutional, organisationaland operational capacities of the duty-holders;� the extent to which local people are takingownership of and effectively pursuing their role ofencouraging local governance to meet their needsand interests, by analysing the perceptions,opinions and assessments of local governanceactors.

Including an analysis of perceptions couldpotentially improve the current system formonitoring/evaluating local governance. If the toolsand aids used (particularly indicators) took accountof the perceptions, opinions and assessments ofthe actors involved, the duty-holders would bebetter equipped to ensure that the approachesadopted for governance and development wererelevant, viable and sustainable. Local peoplewould thus be making a greater contribution tonational construction.

The project report has been widely disseminatedsince the national 'handover' workshop. AEN ispreparing local workshops to deliver the results,and is to publish a version for a wider readership.

AEN has opted to strengthen the capacities ofright-holders and duty-holders and is holding talkson how to make governance a cross-sectortheme in its main areas of intervention.

Initially the emphasis will be on getting womenmore involved in public life. Work has started on aproject designed to increase the rate of womenvoting and standing as candidates in the threeregions of northern Mali. AEN and its partnershave begun a process with Women in Law andDevelopment in Africa (WILDAF), which is alreadycarrying out a similar programme in the south ofthe country, funded by the European Union. Inparallel with this, AEN is a stakeholder in aninitiative by SNV-Mali to develop a joint actionprogramme between development organisationsand State structures in order to encouragewomen to take part in the 2007 presidential andparliamentary elections and the 2009 municipalelections.

218

ANNEX I: ACRONYMS

AEN Aide de l'Église Norvégienne/Norwegian Church Aid

ANICTAgence Nationale d'Investissement des Collectivités Territoriales/National Agency for LocalGovernment Investment


CEDREFCentre d'Études, de Documentation, de Recherches Et de Formation/Study, Documentation, Researchand Training Centre

CSO Civil Society OrganisationDNCT Direction Nationale des Collectivités Territoriales/National Local Government DirectorateEU European UnionHelvetas Swiss Association for International CooperationHIV/AIDS Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency SyndromeNGO Non-Governmental OrganisationOISE Outil Informatisé de Suivi Évaluation/Computerised Monitoring and Evaluation Tool

PACT/GTZProgramme d'Appui aux Collectivités Territoriales (Local Government Support Programme)/Gesellschaftfür Technische Zusammenarbeit (German Technical Cooperation Agency)

PARADProgramme d'Appui à la Réforme Administrative et à la Décentralisation/Support Programme forAdministrative Reform and Decentralisation

SNV Organisation Néerlandaise de Développement/Netherlands Development OrganisationSPSS Statistical Package for the Social SciencesUNDP United Nations Development ProgrammeVSG Vulnerable Social GroupWILDAF Women In Law and Development in Africa

219

AEN. 2005. Code de financement AEN/OADS(document de travail). Bamako: Aide del'Église Norvégienne.

AEN. 1984-2005. Documents de projets etprogrammes sur le suivi évaluation à l'AEN(document de travail). Bamako: Aide del'Église Norvégienne.

AEN. 2004. Plan quinquennal AEN 2005-2009.Bamako: Aide de l'Église Norvégienne.

Brun, O. and O. Sy. 2003. Document de référencepour l'appui du PNUD à la gouvernancedémocratique et locale au Mali (2003-2007).Bamako: United Nations DevelopmentProgram.

CEDREF-KONI Expertise. 2005. Etude sur lasociété civile pour une gouvernanceresponsable dans les régions de Tombouctou,Gao et Kidal, rapport final (document de travail).Bamako: Centre d'Études, de Documentation,de Recherches Et de Formation.

CERCA. 2002. Rapport final sur la société civileau Mali, tome 1 analyse des résultats(document de travail).

Cornwall, J.R. and B. Perlman. 1990.Organizational entrepreneurship. Burr Ridge,IL: Richard D. Irwin Inc.

Direction Nationale des CollectivitésTerritoriales. 2003. Rapport d'étude diagnostique

pour l'élaboration d'un schéma nationalopérationnel de transfert des compétenceset des ressources de l'État aux collectivitésterritoriales. Bamako: Direction Nationaledes Collectivités Territoriales.

Floridi, M. et al. 2004. Rapport final de la missiond'identification des mesures d'accom-pagnement de la société civile au Mali (Projet9 ACP MLI 01). Bamako: European Union.

Gibson, C.H. 1991. A concept analysis ofempowerment. Journal of Advanced Nursing,16:354-361.


Hawley, E. and E. McWhirter. 1991.Empowerment in counselling. Journal ofCounselling and Development, 69:222-227.

Katz, R. 1984. Empowerment and Synergy.Prevention in Human Services, 3:201-226.

Lackey, A. S., Burke, R. and M. Peterson.1987. Healthy communities: The goal ofcommunity development, Journal of theCommunity Development Society, 18:2, 1-17

MATCL-SNV-Helvetas-PACT/GTZ. 2004. Outild'auto évaluation des performances descollectivités territoriales. Bamako: Ministèrede l'Administration Territoriale et desCollectivités Locales.

Ministère de la Santé, des Personnes Agéeset de la Solidarité. 1998. Programme de Dévelop-

pement Sanitaire et Sociale (PRODESS)1998-2002, MSPAS. Bamako: Ministère de laSanté, des Personnes Agées et de laSolidarité.

Ministère de l'Éducation Nationale. 1998.Programme décennal de Développement del'Éducation (PRODEC). Bamako: Ministèrede l'Éducation Nationale.

Programme d'Appui à la Réforme Adminis-trative et à la Décentralisation. 2005.Cadre,

dispositif et mécanismes de suivi évaluationdu PARAD. Bamako: Programme d'Appui à laRéforme Administrative et à la Décentra-lisation.

Projet Gouvernance Locale Déconcen-tration Décentralisation. 2005. Rapport d'étude

sur l'état des lieux de la déconcentration auMali. Bamako: Projet Gouvernance LocaleDéconcentration Décentralisation.

Rappaport, J., Hess R. and C. Swift (Eds)1984. Studies in empowerment: Steps toward

understanding and action. New York: TheHayworth Press.

220

Zimmerman, M.A. 1990. Taking aim onempowerment research: On the distinctionbetween individual and psychologicalconcepts. American Journal of Psychology,18:169-177.

Government of Mali. 1993. Constitution de laRépublique du Mali. Bamako: Government ofMali.

Ordonnance n° 41/1959/PCG sur les associations.

Loi n° 93-008 du 11/02/1993 déterminant lesconditions de la libre administration descollectivités territoriales, modifiée par la loin° 96-056 du 16 /10/1996.

Loi n° 95-034 du 12/04/1995 portant code descollectivités territoriales en République duMali, modifiée par la loi n° 98-010 du15/06/1998 puis modifiée par la loi n° 98-066du 30/12/1998, déterminant les attributionset les ressources des différents niveaux decollectivités.

Loi n° 0044 du 07/07/2000 déterminant lesressources fiscales des communes, descercles et des régions.

Loi n° 00-042 du 07/07/2000 et décret 00-386/P-RM du 10/08/2000 portant créationde l'Agence Nationale d'Investissement desCollectivités Territoriales (ANICT) et fixantson organisation et son fonctionnement.

Décret n° 05-268 P-RM de 1999 instituant lescomités régionaux et locaux de planificationdu développement.

Décret n° 00-269/PM-RM du 08/06/2000arrêté n° 2301/MATCL-SG du 26/07/2000.

décision n° 001/DNCT du 22/08/2000, portantcréation du Comité National d'Orientation(CNO) des appuis techniques aux collectivitésterritoriales, fixant l'organisation et lesmodalités de fonctionnement du CNO et duCentre de Conseil Communal (CCC).

ANNEX III: RESOURCE PERSONS AND USEFUL ADDRESSES

Resource persons:

Fatoumata Cissé (AEN)Email: [email protected]

Stéphanie Diakité (independent consultant)Email : [email protected]

Hallassy Sidibé (independent consultant)Email: [email protected]

Useful addresses:

Aide de l'Eglise NorvégienneBP 8031 Badalabougou, Bamako, MaliTel.: (+223) 222 51 50Fax.: (+223) 222 62 74Email: [email protected]

CEDREF (Centre d'Études, deDocumentation, de Recherches Et deFormation)

Email: [email protected]

Koni Expertise (Consultancy Agency)Email: [email protected]

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5.3. Mali: Evaluating the impact of decentralisation

This study, 'Evaluating the impact of decentralisation', has been prepared by Djoumé Sylla andHamidou Ongoïba on behalf of the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) (see AnnexIV).

The authors describe UNCDF work analysing the impact of the decentralisation process in theTimbuktu region of northern Mali. The UNCDF has been working to support decentralisation andlocal governance in this area since the 1990s, with very specific objectives of poverty reduction. Itwas within the framework of the project and a broader UNCDF initiative that the UNCDF and itspartners in northern Mali decided to design a conceptual framework for and then to analyse theimpact of decentralisation on various dimensions of poverty.

As the study shows, methods were a real challenge, bearing in mind the scarcity of statistical dataon local development and the lack of any reference situation.

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Introduction 223

5.3.1. Description of the region of Timbuktu 224

5.3.2. Conceptual framework of the local development programme 224

5.3.3. Framework for analysing the impact of decentralisation on povertyreduction 225

5.3.4. Impact of socio-economic investment on poverty reductionat the local level 226

5.3.4.1. Food security 2275.3.4.2. Covering drinking-water needs 2275.3.4.3. Evaluation of the impact of action on poverty 228

5.3.5. National impact of project action 229

5.3.6. Conclusion 229

Annex I : Acronyms 230Annex II : Bibliography 231Annex III : Resource persons, online documents and useful addresses 231

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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162- Local government, community civil organisations, devolved services.163- Sylla, D. (1999).164- UNDP (2003).165- For further details of the concept of poverty of living conditions and the calculation of poverty thresholds, see

PRSP (2002).166- Bonfiglioli, A. (2004a).

According to the PRSP, poverty is a widespreadphenomenon that, while afflicting rural areas inparticular, is increasingly to be found in largertowns as a result of a deteriorating labour marketand migratory movement.

In the area of institutional development, a keyaim is, among other things, to build institutionalcapacity so that public affairs are bettermanaged. This is to be done by implementingdecentralisation, strengthening the rule of lawand reforming public service.

Against this background, it is possible to assessthe extent to which immediate goals (effects) anddevelopment goals (impact) have been met. Bymonitoring and evaluating the effects and impactof decentralisation on poverty, the following canbe achieved:

� At a local level, action can be steered to helppoor populations better.� At the national level, the country's authoritiescan capitalise on locally successful initiatives andreplicate them on a larger scale through well-informed policies, strategies and programmes.

If the impact of decentralisation on poverty is tobe monitored and evaluated, three key conceptshave to be taken into account:

�Decentralisation is an administrative systemin which roles and responsibilities are shared bythe state and local government, with the state(which then has a supervisory role) transferring

INTRODUCTION

Alleviating poverty is a priority of the Malian government, according to thePoverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP), a reference document on Mali'sdevelopment policy for the period 2002-2006. The PRSP goal is to reducepoverty from 63.8% to 47.5% by maintaining the growth of the grossdomestic product at an average rate of 6.7% between 2002 and 2006 andby implementing a coherent set of measures.

These measures are to be implemented in the areas of institutionaldevelopment, improved governance and participation by all stakeholders162 inthe areas of sustainable human development, as well as better access tobasic socio-economic services, infrastructure development and support forproduction sectors.

powers and resources to local government (whichhas actual responsibility) with a view to localdevelopment.163

� The impact of a measure can be defined as theset of changes that it may initiate or bring about -changes that would not take place without it.164

�Poverty takes three forms: poverty of livingconditions or mass poverty is the first. This isreflected by a situation in which people lack waterand electricity, education, health, employment,housing, etc. The relative poverty levels given inthe introduction refer to this dimension.165 Thesecond is monetary poverty, where people lackincome, which is reflected by insufficientconsumption. The third is a poverty of potentialwhere people lack capital (access to land, credit,equipment, etc.) and power.

Nowadays, poverty tends to be defined lessnarrowly in terms of a lack of income and materialdeprivation, but in a more subtle, multi-dimensional and qualitative way, including accessto and control of production resources, humandeprivation, a lack of resources for action andpower and, last, insecurity.166

The consensus currently emerging within devel-opment organisations is that democraticgovernance paves the way for sustainabledevelopment and poverty reduction. Localgovernments, through their institutions and theknowledge that local elected officers have of theirareas, have a paramount role to play in this new

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The UNCDF has been working in the north ofMali since 1983 in partnership with the UnitedNations Development Program (UNDP).

The region of Timbuktu has an area of 497,926 km2

and accounts for 40% of the territory of Mali. It hasfive ‘cercles’: Timbuktu, Diré, Gourma Rharous,Niafounké and Goundam. It is made up of 52municipalities (49 rural and three urban), 528villages and 343 nomadic factions. According to

5.3.1. DESCRIPTION OF THE REGION OF TIMBUKTU

5.3.2. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK OF THE LOCAL

DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME

projections based on data from the 1998 nationalcensus, the region's population is around 550,000,approximately 5% of the Malian population.Approximately 80% of this population lives alongthe river, where there are greater economicopportunities, chiefly farming and stockbreeding ina fragile and vulnerable environment. The averagenumber of people per household is 9.2, and povertylevels are among the highest in the country.

When the local development programme wasbeing designed, one of the main hypotheses wasthat there is a very close link between badgovernance, along with a lack of capacity andresponsibility on the part of local actors, and anyform of poverty. As a multi-dimensionalphenomenon (political, economic, social andcultural), poverty requires an appropriate response,and good local governance with better managementof natural resources seems to be one of the ways inwhich access to basic infrastructure and publicservices can be improved in a sustainable way. Thisline of thinking has had a strong influence on theUNCDF programme in Mali, which works in thefollowing areas:� institutional development to demonstratehow important local institutions are in improvingthe roles and powers of local institutional actorsand, as these actors become responsible for allaspects of local development, in helping toestablish standards for their individual andcollective action;

�capacity building to enable local institutionalactors to take on the new responsibilitiesincumbent upon them as a result ofdecentralisation, including information, awarenessraising and training initiatives for all stakeholders(local elected officers, community leaders,managers of devolved technical services, etc.);� financing local development to enable localgovernments to gain access to the financialresources that they are required to manage inaccordance with the principles of good governance.Projects call upon the local development fund (LDF)through which resources can be allocated tosupport decentralised planning and deliver a basicsocio-economic infrastructure and public services(health, education, transport, markets, etc.). TheLDF may also include a component for financingactivities geared towards improving naturalresource management and environmentalgovernance systems;

paradigm as a result of their geographical andpolitical proximity to their populations.

This article looks at the conceptual framework ofthe United Nations Capital Development Fund(UNCDF) for local development action, theanalytical model used to monitor and evaluate theimpact of decentralisation on poverty and theimpact achieved at various levels.

167- UNCDF is a multilateral international organisation and donor, set up in 1966 by Resolution 2186 of the UnitedNations General Assembly for small-scale investment in the poorest (least-developed) countries.

In drafting this work, it was necessary to drawon the literature produced by the UNCDF167 on therole of local government in the fight againstpoverty, especially the various in-house andexternal evaluation reports on the SupportProgramme for Rural Municipalities in Timbuktu(PACR-T) and our personal experience of theseissues. It is intended for specialists with aninterest in the problems of supporting local ruralgovernments, with a particular interest inmonitoring and evaluation.

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�delivering basic services and infrastructure,on the grounds that improved local infrastructureand service delivery are key components of anystrategy to reduce poverty and that localinstitutions are best placed to realise the localinfrastructure. Local leaders may well be morereactive to local problems with which they arefamiliar and where they are, at the same time,more accountable for their actions, and where theinstitutions to which they belong are in principlepermanent, have legal capacity and can reachlocal populations more readily.

In its approach to local governance, the UNCDFalso emphasises the desired impact ofdecentralisation policies, along with the objectiveof pilot programme replication by governments orother donors so that the impact of suchprogrammes is wider ranging. The conceptualframework of these projects is very much shapedby the complexity of poverty. They have beencarried out in partnership with the UNDP, theGovernment of Mali, the Belgian Survival Fund,Luxembourg and the United Nations Volunteers(UNV) programme.

As a result of the mechanisms and approachesdescribed above, all of UNCDF's local developmentprogrammes (LDPs) are geared towards achievingthe following specific results:�combating poverty to help achieve the UnitedNations Millennium Development Goals, throughsocial and economic infrastructure, and public andcommunity investment in keeping with thewishes of local populations, and natural resourcemanagement;� involving civil society more closely inpinpointing development priorities by promotingstructured dialogue with local elected officers;�making local investment schemes moreefficient, reactive and transparent by developingparticipatory local planning, budgeting andimplementation procedures;�building the capacity of local governments andcommunity institutions in order to promotetransparent local institutional mechanismsinvolving civil society;� locating and implementing innovative pilotinitiatives in the field of decentralised publicinvestment, which may subsequently be used toshape national policy or provide the basis forinstitutional reforms, or which may be replicated.

5.3.3. FRAMEWORK FOR ANALYSING THE IMPACT OF

DECENTRALISATION ON POVERTY REDUCTION

Measuring the impact of decentralisation onpoverty reduction is a 'path strewn with pitfalls'because, among other things, situations with andwithout decentralisation have to be comparedand measures connected with decentralisationhave to be separated out from action in othersectors.

The PACR-T analysis model differentiates be-tween direct and indirect impact:� Direct impact is assessed at the institutionallevel in the broad sense, among the internationaldonor community, national governments, localgovernments and rural communities. It isreflected by the creation of an environment (local,institutional, etc.) favourable to decentralisationand local development.� Indirect impact can be seen at an individual(household) and collective (public service) levelthrough the provision of services that meetdemands.

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168- CCP/PACR-T and PAVD/Timbuktu (2003).

Our focus here is on the impact of socio-economic investment because the dimension ofpoverty most widely experienced in the Timbukturegion is precisely one of gaining access to basicsocio-economic services. In order to analyse thisquestion, the PACR-T team conducted an internalevaluation based on the indicators of the project'slogical framework; this was followed, in March2004, by an independent impact evaluation.

The main constraint that we encountered duringthis exercise was the mediocre quality of theinformation available on the referencesituation. In practice, some data were notavailable largely because statistical informationwas not broken down to the municipal level. Toremedy this situation, the project team tried out anew qualitative surveying approach based on'method consensus'168 so that beneficiaries'perceptions of the programme's impact onpoverty could be assessed in a participatory way.

The other constraint we encountered wassociological in nature. In most case studies,there is no tradition of measuring the quantities ofproducts obtained. For instance, the volume of

5.3.4. IMPACT OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC INVESTMENT

ON POVERTY REDUCTION AT THE LOCAL LEVEL

Box 1: Framework for analysing the impact of decentralisation on poverty, as used by theUNCDF

Practical innovations Direct impacts Expected results of institutionalreforms: more capacities

UNCDF

Local

Development

Unit

International community and donors:policy, design, programming,replication

National Government: political, legaland regulatory framework

Local governments: policy, community-based planning, budgeting,implementation

Rural communities: planning,implementation, monitoring

Infrastructure and services: end result

Impact on poverty indicators:

- reduction of food dependence- improved levels of literacy- access to drinking water- access to education- greater household income

water supplied by a well or a borehole is notnormally measured. Similarly, in types of farmingfor own consumption, agricultural output and(even less) yield, tend not to be estimated. In thepastoral field, products are largely for ownconsumption with the result that, in most cases,their quantities are not measured. Moreover,births and deaths are not systematically reported,making it difficult to draw up reliable statistics onwhich an impact evaluation can draw.

In order, therefore, to evaluate the impact ofaction in supplying drinking-water, the evaluator hasto cross-reference data on the functionalinfrastructure of drinking water, with data onpeople's access to this water and data on satisfyingthe need for drinking water, according to thestandard of 18 litres of water per day per inhabitant.If there are no reliable data on births and deaths,i.e., on population numbers, it is impossible tomake a reliable assessment on the impact ameasure has had in terms of meeting the standard.

Most local government investment in thecontext of PACR-T comes under the heading offood security and access to drinking water.

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In the village of Amaragoungou in the municipalityof Séréré, the husking machine has helped toreduce the distances that women normally had totravel to mill or husk cereals, which was usually tovillages located over 5 km away.

�The number of pastoral boreholes providedwill have an impact on food security because theyincrease the viability of large expanses ofpastureland that had not previously been possibleto use. The availability of better pasture willimprove reproduction conditions for livestock andtherefore increase the number of animals. Asthese animals will be better fed, they will alsoproduce larger quantities of higher quality meatand dairy products. This new infrastructure seemslikely to have an impact on the lifestyles ofnomadic stockbreeders because they will nothave to travel so far to find water and pasture.

5.3.4.2. Coveringdrinking-water needs

Well boring accounts for a substantial proportionof the development programmes run by theUNCDF. These wells account for 47% of the 55projects on infrastructure and equipment set inmotion to help those communities considered bythe people themselves (method consensus) to bethe poorest. This highlights the importance ofsatisfying the needs for drinking water in thesecommunities. In most cases, these wells are forboth domestic and pastoral use. In 84.5% of cases(i.e., 22 out of 26 wells), they are the only sourceof drinking water for the beneficiary communities.

These achievements have already had aperceptible impact. The wells have made itpossible to improve the state of health of thelocal people and to reduce the mortality rate.Consuming water from ponds and the river causeddisease, in particular infant diarrhoea. In manycases, the people themselves were of the viewthat the decrease in water-related diseases wasdue to water from the recently bored wells. Anaside regarding issues of safety is that boring wellsin pond beds, after the surface waters had driedup, frequently led to fatal accidents. Well deliveryis therefore limiting this dangerous activity.

Method consensus makes it possible to

define perceptions of poverty from the point

of view of beneficiaries: methods of use

Local perceptions are used to rank the villagesand wards of each municipality, from the poorestto the least poor. Within each municipality, thevarious communities are then divided into threepoverty classes: the poorest 25%, intermediate50% and the least poor 25%.

Participation by the various communities in theplanning process and the use of municipalinvestment funds for each community are thenanalysed to identify which of the three classeshas received the most investment.

For the purposes of this work, 14 of the 27municipalities covered by the project werechosen at random: three in the ‘cercle’ ofTimbuktu, five in the ‘cercle’ of Gourma Rharousand six in the ‘cercle’ of Diré.

5.3.4.1. Food security

A great deal of equipment and infrastructure hasbeen installed in the villages and wards where thepoorest communities are. This infrastructure ishelping to improve food security. Even though thisinvestment has not as yet brought about significantchanges in beneficiaries' living conditions, theseconditions nevertheless seem set to improve:�Controlled submersion works will ensureagricultural output for families.� Irrigated village-perimeter developmentsand motor-pump equipment have been financedby municipalities at the request of the poorestcommunities. These developments will placesome agricultural production on a secure footing.

Even though the newly developed area seemsderisory at present - a meagre 20 hectares for twovillages with over 2000 inhabitants - this representsa major investment for the poorest communities.

�Municipalities have provided four mills andhusking machines for the poorest femalepopulation. This equipment is intended to lessenthe manual work involved in milling cereals andhusking paddy rice. Beneficiaries have confirmedthat this equipment has helped to alleviatedomestic tasks.

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Percentage of people surveyed whothought that their total householdincome had increased since the startof the project

62,3%

Percentage of people surveyed whothought that the food security of theirhousehold had improved since thestart of the project

72,5%

The wells have also made it possible to reducethe distance people had to travel to find water.This means that they are expending lessenergy and saving time that can be used forother activities.

In the 21 villages and other areas that had nosource of drinking water before the municipalwells were bored, water collection was a genuineconcern for women in the Songhai villages andmen in the nomadic factions. The averagedistance travelled to find water was 7 km.

These developments are helping to makenomadic populations more sedentary. Becausea lack of pasture and water was leading to cattlelosses, many nomadic factions were trying tosettle on their traditional lands. Those groupsconsidered to be the poorest - and benefitingfrom the initial wells - have already started tobecome more sedentary. In the PACR-T area, fiveof the poorest nomadic fractions are in theprocess of settling because a well has beenfinanced by their municipalities. If they becomemore sedentary, they should be able to diversifytheir economic activities and send children(especially girls) to school, which will play animportant part in reducing poverty.

The environmental impact of wells can alsobe seen. The increase in the number of wells hasmade it possible to ease the pressure aroundwater points where over-pasturing was leading todegradation of the natural environment. Access tonew, previously unused pastures is now possible.In the short term, there is every chance thatnatural vegetation could grow again in the oldanimal-transit areas.

From an environmental point of view,however, traditional extraction methods (large-diameter wells) are major consumers of wood forthe production of the forks. In view of the numberof such wells, this practice has an adverse impacton this already fragile ecosystem. The developmentof new modern hydraulic structures may thereforebe a way of combating deforestation.

A large-diameter well requires about 10 large-diameter tree trunks, which are rare in this pre-desert zone.

Installing hydraulic structures has already had animpact on land disputes. There has been aremarkable drop in the number of conflictsaround water points as there is less pressure oneach well. However, the provision of viable newpasture zones is currently raising a problem withland ownership. Areas that had not been openlycoveted in the past are now being claimed bydifferent nomadic factions, once they have beenimproved by a well, and the resulting conflicts areoften bloody.

5.3.4.3. Evaluation of theimpact of action onpoverty

An independent evaluation was conducted inMarch 2004 and, to some extent, bears out theeffects described above. The purpose of thisevaluation was to assess the impact of action by theproject on poverty and policies and the replicationand sustainability of measures. The evaluationmethod combined quantitative techniques(household survey) and qualitative techniques (bytarget actor group, key informers). The methodsused nevertheless had their limits: as the evaluatorsassessed the success of the project on its ownmerits and focused on municipalities benefitingfrom PACR-T action, they were unable to comparethe effects on poverty between these areas andother areas outside the scope of PACR-T action.

The household survey covered a sample of 200households, made up of 5 to 7 people. The totalpopulation of the “cercles” involved is 250,000.

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169- Bonfiglioli, A. (2003) p. 49.

5.3.5. National impact of project action

As regards impact from empowerment, thesurvey findings show a high level of participationin decision making and project choices among allsocial strata and, in particular, among women.

Attending meetings, however, does not necessarilyentail genuine participation in decision making. In

almost half of the cases, households reported thatdecisions had been taken by traditional chiefs.Moreover, local representatives had been elected inonly 20% of the cases; in most cases, they had beenappointed by village chiefs or local PACR-Tmanagers.

Nationally, the PACR-T pilot experiment has hada positive effect on, among other things, theprocedures used to implement the localgovernment investment fund administered by theNational Agency for Local Government Investment(ANICT), especially as regards control ofinvestment by municipalities, distribution criteriafor investment funds and methods of paymentfrom the public exchequer.

Control of investment by municipalities

Among PACR-T's action procedures, an innovationfrom the point of view of the financing ofinvestment was to make municipalities responsiblefor all stages of the work. ANICT subsequentlyused this same procedure nationally for all localgovernments.

Distribution criteria for investmentfunds

In an attempt to distribute its investment funds(local government [FICT] and special investmentfunds [FSI]) in an equitable way among thevarious municipalities, PACR-T used two criteriathat were subsequently used by ANICT:demographic size and degree of remoteness.

Methods of payment of investmentfunds from the public exchequer

PACR-T successfully tested the method of payingmunicipal investment funds via regional paymentoffices and public exchequer offices. Thismechanism was also taken up by ANICT to payentrepreneurs for their services on receipt ofpayment orders from local government authorisingofficers.

The monitoring and evaluation of a programme isa key stage in any development process. For theUNCDF, the quality of monitoring and evaluationdepends on a number of preliminary measures,which include a reliable reference situation whenwork is started, establishing a participatoryframework for planning and programming,introducing participatory monitoring and evaluationtools, conducting a mid-term evaluation andevaluating impact within scheduled deadlines.

As there is not as yet any clear and convincing proofof a linear relationship between decentralisation andpoverty169, monitoring and evaluation of supportprogrammes for decentralised authorities are crucial

in order to ascertain whether there are functionallinks between these two processes - and what theselinks may be.

In our experience, three lessons are worthhighlighting, i.e.:

�However pertinent the framework and themonitoring and evaluation tools of a project,measuring its impact on poverty depends on theavailability and quality of locally generated basicinformation (sector and multi-sector) and onaccess to this information within a reasonabletime. Failing that, a method consensus may be analternative, although the information collectedmight not be completely reliable.

5.3.6. Conclusion

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ANNEX I: ACRONYMS

ANICTAgence Nationale d'Investissement des Collectivités Territoriales/National Agency for LocalGovernment Investment

FICT Fonds d'Investissement des Collectivités Territoriales/Local Government Investment FundFSI Fonds Spécial d'Investissement/Special Investment FundLDF Local Development FundLDP Local Development Programme

PACR-TProjet d'Appui aux Communes Rurales de Tombouctou/Support Programme for Rural Municipalities inTimbuktu

PAVDProjet d'Appui des Volontaires des Nations Unies à la Décentralisation/United Nations VolunteersDecentralisation Support Programme

PRSP Poverty Reduction Strategy PaperUNCDF United Nations Capital Development FundUNDP United Nations Development ProgramUNV United Nations Volunteers

�Evaluation of a measure's impact on povertyshould not be limited to the areas covered by thatmeasure. If it is possible to compare the resultswith those of another area, the performance orlimits of the measure can be analysed or, at least,bearing in mind that few areas receive nosupport, seen in relative terms.� In most cases, in a precarious and poor areasuch as northern Mali, there is a strongcorrelation between the delivery of servicesmeeting the needs of local populations and thereduction of conflicts within and betweencommunities.

At present, work to monitor and evaluate theimpact of decentralisation on poverty reductionseems to be the concern of only researchers anddonors. This kind of work nevertheless enablescritical interpretation and is therefore a way oflooking with hindsight at the basic hypothesesunderpinning the approaches on whichdevelopment work is based. If decision makers indeveloping countries were to make monitoringand evaluation into a systematic managementpractice, the living conditions of poor populationswould undoubtedly benefit.

Our advice to decision makers, therefore, is thatmonitoring and evaluation should be used as alearning tool, paving the way for participatory andstrategic management of development. Althoughthis may be problematic for national authoritiescoping with the various pressures of day-to-daymanagement, a process of this kind could begradually introduced on a limited scale in a pilotproject (one or two public services) so that itsstrengths and weaknesses can be assessed.

The UNCDF is in the process of forgingsystematic links between the lessons learnedfrom evaluations and the design of newmeasures, with the participation of the nationalauthorities of the countries being aided so thattheir overall control of this process can beimproved.

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Bonfiglioli, A. 2003. Empowering the poor.United Nations Capital Development Fund.

Bonfiglioli, A. 2004a. Capitalisation desexperiences des PACR (T/M) au Mali[Capitalising on PACR (T/M) experiences inMali]. United Nations Capital DevelopmentFund.

Bonfiglioli, A. 2004b. Lands of the poor: localenvironmental governance and thedecentralised management of naturalresources. United Nations CapitalDevelopment Fund.

CCP/PACR-T and PAVD/Timbuktu. 2003; Lamaîtrise d'ouvrage communale et le ciblagedes communautés les plus pauvres[Municipal responsibility and the targeting ofthe poorest communities]. Bamako: Cellulede Coordination du Projet, Projet d'Appui auxCommunes Rurales de Tombouctou.


MINISTRY OF ECONOMY AND FINANCE.2002. Poverty reduction strategy paper2002-2006. Bamako: Government of Mali.

PRSP. 2002. PRSP document. Bamako:Government of Mali.

Sylla, D. 1999. La perception des acteurs locauxdu processus de décentralisation au Mali[Local actors' perceptions of thedecentralisation process in Mali]. Thesis.Louvain: Faculté Ouverte en PolitiqueÉconomique et Sociale - UniversitéCatholique de Louvain. 57p.

UNDP. 2003. Évaluation d'effet du processus dedécentralisation au Mali [Evaluation of theeffect of decentralisation in Mali]. UnitedNations Development Program.

Resource persons:

Djoumé SyllaEmail: [email protected]

Hamidou OngoïbaEmail: [email protected]

Documents and links forconsultation:

Online resources:

www.uncdf.orgwww.undp.org

ANNEX III: RESOURCE PERSONS, ONLINE DOCUMENTS AND

USEFUL ADDRESSES

Useful addresses:

United Nations Capital Development Fund(UNCDF)

Bamako, Mali.Tel: (+223) 222 01 81Fax: (+223) 222 62 98

United Nations Development Program(UNDP)

Bamako, Mali.Tel.: (+223) 222 01 81Fax: (+223) 222 62 98

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CONCLUSION: LESSONS LEARNED AND CHALLENGES

The case studies and exchange of experiencesbrought forward a wealth of lessons learned. Thefollowing were particularly in evidence:

Joint design and testingof tools needs time.

Designing and testing M&E tools that involvedifferent actors in decentralisation at the national,regional and local levels takes time. Whenworking with councillors and local civil societyactors who have little or no experience with M&Etools, they need to be allowed time to learn howto identify, discuss and interpret indicators andstatistics. This is a key aspect of capacity buildingfor M&E of decentralisation and local governance.Furthermore, many cases show that trust amongactors and working procedures are not builtovernight. In multi-ethnic and multi-lingualcontexts, time for translations is also required.Otherwise the various stakeholders involved indesigning and testing a tool could feeluncomfortable interacting and articulating theirviewpoints.

Identification and fine-tuning of indicators is aprocess.

This holds true to some extent for most M&Eexercises. But it is particularly relevant for theexperiences described in this brief.Decentralisation and local governance have aprocess dimension. It is therefore unrealistic totry to define too many indicators at the start of atest-run of a specific M&E tool. Even onceformalised, it is important that a tool retain someflexibility for fine-tuning, if necessary evenchanging indicators to reflect the dynamic natureof reform processes. For instance, a newlyestablished municipality may initially choose tofocus performance self-evaluation on keyfunctions, financial and resource management,running the registry office and mastering the

process of development planning. Later, as moreresponsibilities and resources are devolved,performance self-evaluation may come to includeactive fields as well, such as natural resourcemanagement, promotion of local economicdevelopment and provisioning of basic services(e.g., health, education, water). New indicatorswould then need to be defined and tested forassessing performance in these fields.

Strategic alliances havebenefits.

A number of our case studies emphasise theimportance of strategic alliances between donors,development agencies, local government actorsand central authorities in testing and replicatingM&E tools for local governments. Undoubtedly, anapproach that is jointly tested, used in a variety oflocal contexts and validated by the centralgovernment will be better suited for broad,nationwide dissemination and institutionalisationthan a small initiative tested in just a few localitiesby only one actor. Strategic alliances can pay off interms of time as well, as they allow testing a toolsimultaneously in different parts of a country andpooling of financial and human resources ofdifferent agencies and institutions.

There are challengesinvolved in managing thedynamics of multi-stakeholder processes.

As the case study on the performance self-evaluation tool in Mali illustrates, those engagingin multi-stakeholder exercises and strategicalliances when designing and testing M&E toolsshould be cautioned: the path from design towidespread use may be long and fraught withproblems. If an approach is to be participatory anddraw on the support of a wide range ofrepresentative actors, with different views andopinions, contributions have to be carefully

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managed. The assistance of an externalconsultant or resource person experienced inapplying such an approach is a valuable, if notnecessary, asset.

M&E results need to befollowed up.

Most of the approaches and tools describedprovide participants of the M&E exercises withnew insights on the performance and effects oflocal governance. These include not onlyinformation on positive changes and goodperformance, but also on things that went wrong,were only moderately productive or which needto be changed. Care has to be taken thatcorrective measures are firmly agreed andfollowed up. Otherwise, local actors’ interest andincentive to engage in M&E will fade. Besides, allof the stakeholder groups will be challenged toadapt their attitudes and ways of working so as todissolve any sources of misunderstandings ordistrust identified during M&E exercises.

M&E tools for use by stakeholders of localgovernance and decentralisation are bound toface many challenges. For instance, participantsmight not be used to working together and mighttherefore lack clarity on their respective roles,rights and duties. The following are – amongstothers – areas of challenges highlighted in thecase studies drawn upon:

Dealing with historicalexperiences andadministrative tradition.

After a long history of authoritarian rule, citizensof many West African countries are unused toposing questions about governance. In particular,the rural majority of the population still tends tobe barely informed of their rights and duties ascitizens. They are not aware of or are hesitant tomake use of options for holding their elected localrepresentatives accountable. Even those who areinformed about their rights, for example, to attendcouncil sessions which are open to the public,may not dare to attend or speak up if not explicitlyencouraged to do so. This reality has to be takeninto account when jointly designing M&E toolswith stakeholders of local governance.

Reducing cultural barriersto constructive criticism.

The case studies illustrate that cultural barriershave to be overcome when testing M&E tools.Initially, the participants of (self-) evaluationexercises in Mali were reluctant to voice criticismdirectly. At public meetings in particular, opencriticism was not considered culturallyappropriate. The design and use of M&E toolsshould gradually help actors to deal with suchhesitations, anchored as they are in culture andlocal custom. This also means that a toolsuccessfully tested in one municipality may notbe used in exactly the same way in another. Inthis regard, the assistance of a facilitator orexperienced user can help address culturalbarriers and create an atmosphere of trust.

Ensuring that design andutilisation of M&E tools isaffordable.

All of the methodological approaches and toolspresented in this brief have been promoted bydevelopment organisations or developed withtheir active support. Development organisationshave provided methodological advice and (co-)financed facilitators, meetings and necessarymaterials. In many cases, it is difficult to get a fairidea of the cost of the design and utilisation of theproposed M&E tools, including the ‘cost ofparticipation’. From the discussions at the regionalseminar it became clear that when designing atool too little attention has generally been given tothe cost of its continued utilisation by the localgovernment and other participating actors. Thechallenge is therefore to devise methodologiesthat can help local governments to upgrade theirM&E capacities and produce information at a costcommensurate to their financial capacities andthe availability of local stakeholders to engage ina joint M&E process.

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Achieving sustainability ofcapacity building efforts.

Sustainability has different dimensions in thecontext referred to here. One dimension iscertainly the above-mentioned financial one.Another is more institutional and linked to thecomplexity of the proposed methodologies andtools. Simple tools that are easily understood andapplied by actors with diverse educational andprofessional backgrounds lend themselves tomore sustainable use than complex tools. This isa clear lesson from the stocktaking exercise andrelated discussions. Another factor to enhancethe institutional sustainability of an M&E tool –apart from ownership of the methodology by localactors – is validation and efforts by centralauthorities to spread the use of a tool throughouta country. This can help to institutionalise an M&Eapproach that has proven successful and ensurethat local governments set aside or receive theresources necessary for continued capacitybuilding and use of the tool.

Avoidinginstrumentalisation oflocal M&E tools andcapacity.

After an M&E tool has been successfully used atthe local level, attention must be paid to makingcertain that utilisation continues to strengthen theM&E capacities of local governments andcontributes to local self-governance. As the casestudies show, a participatory process of M&E tooldesign and testing enables local governments togradually move towards conducting M&Eexercises on their own in a first phase. Then, in asecond phase, when local governments and otherstakeholders are employing the tool successfully,the central state, donors and developmentorganisations may become interested instandardising the information generated in locally

conducted M&E exercises with a view tocomparing data from different locations. Yet thiscan run counter to the objectives of strengtheningautonomous local M&E capacity and empoweringactors at the local level, even if this trend doeshelp meet new national M&E goals.

Contributing to thesharing of experienceswith capacity building formonitoring and evaluatingdecentralisation and localgovernance.

Describing and analysing the capitalisationprocess undertaken with different stakeholders inseveral West African countries — together withsharing the reflections and exchanges focusing onthe case studies — represents merely onepossible learning experience for actors committedto change. It can certainly be worthwhile to shareone’s experiences, to compare them with thoseof others, to seek other points of view and toreflect on the implications before continuing one’sactivities. No matter what category of actor webelong to, this process is directly related to ashared desire that leads us to improve ourpractices and those of others on the basis of ourexperiences and lessons learned. But, for anumber of reasons (some of which have beendiscussed above), it is not easy to buildknowledge that can be shared. Too often, this isstill viewed as ‘extra work’ (as it is seldomplanned or budgeted) and even as ‘undermining’,since – be it at the individual or group level – itrequires participants to challenge themselves andcall into question their practices and convictionsas other stakeholders look on. Hence, theimportance for all of us to consider devoting ourefforts to establishing a tradition of exchange — adynamic of sharing between actors indecentralisation and local government from amultilevel development perspective.

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ANNEXES

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ACCRM Association of Malian 'Cercle' and Regional AuthoritiesAfrEA African Evaluation AssociationAFVP Association of French VolunteersAMM Association of Malian MunicipalitiesANCB National Association of Benin MunicipalitiesANICT National Agency for Local Government InvestmentASACO Community Health AssociationCCC Municipal Advisory CentreCCN National Coordination Unit (for Technical Support for Local Government)CDI Commissariat for Institutional DevelopmentCDRA Community Development Resource AssociationCIDA Canadian International Development AgencyCIEDEL International Study Centre for Local DevelopmentCLE Country Led EvaluationCLO Local steering committeeDAC/CAD Development Assistance CommitteeDAF Financial and Administrative DirectorateDEC Delegation of the European CommissionDNCT National Directorate for Local Government DNSI National Statistics and Informatics DirectorateECDPM European Centre for Development Policy Management

FIDESPRAInternational Forum for Development and Exchanges of Knowledge and Expertise PromotingSelf-sustaining Rural Development

FORANIM

ConsultConsultancy office 'training, moderation of workshop, expertise'

GIS Geographical Information SystemGPRD/SIF Ghana Poverty Reduction Programme of the Social Investment Fund/Social Investment FundGTZ German Technical Cooperation HCC Higher Local Government CouncilHelvetas Swiss Association for International CooperationHDI Human Development IndexIDRC International Development Research CentreIPC Municipal Poverty Index (Indice de la Pauvreté Communale)KIT Royal Tropical InstituteMATCL Ministry of Territorial Administration and Local GovernmentMATD Ministry of Territorial Administration and DecentralisationMDGs Millennium Development GoalsMDSSPA Ministry of Social Development, Solidarity and Older PeopleM&E Monitoring and Evaluation

MFPRERIMinistry of Public Service, State Reform and Institutional Relations (Ministère de la FonctionPublique, de la Réforme de l'État et des Relations avec les Institutions)

MLGRDE Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and the EnvironmentNCA Norwegian Church AidNDPC National Development Planning Commission of GhanaNGO Non-Governmental OrganisationNORAD Norwegian Agency for Development CooperationODHD Observatory of Sustainable Human DevelopmentOISE Computerised Monitoring and Evaluation Tool (database)

ANNEX I: ACRONYMS

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PAAD Support Programme for the Actors of Decentralisation PACR-T Support Programme for Rural Municipalities in TimbuktuPACT Local Government Support ProgrammePARAD Support Programme for Administrative Reform and DecentralisationPDESC Economic, Social and Cultural Development PlanPDI Institutional Development ProgrammePDM Municipal Development PartnershipPGP Shared Governance ProgrammePNACT National Support Programme for Local GovernmentPRSP Poverty Reduction Strategy PaperREDL Local Development Reflection and Discussion NetworkSIDA Swedish International Development AgencySIEC-S Basic Health Sector Information System for MunicipalitiesSILP Participatory Local Impact Monitoring MethodologySNV Netherlands Development OrganisationSUCO 'Solidarité, Union, Coopération' (Canadian NGO)UNCDF United Nations Capital Development FundUNDP United Nations Development ProgrammeUSAID United States Agency for International Development

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ANNEX III: GUIDE FOR THE PREPARATION OF CASE STUDIESSource : Loquai C., Le Bay S. (2005)

Chapter/section/issues to discuss and questions to reflect on Max. number of

pages

1. Introduction 1

�Try to attract the attention of the reader : e.g., start with a question or a strong statement.

Interest and relevance of the experience described and analysed in the case study

� Why do you think that the experience / approach presented in the case study is of relevance andinterest to actors of local governance in West Africa?

� Why do you want to share your experience?

� Who is the case study addressed to (target audience)?

Focus and scope of the case study

� Which questions / issues are you going to elaborate on?

� Which questions / issues of potential interest to the target audience are you not going to deal with,because of lack of data/time/room for analysis?

Structure

Briefly explain how you are going to proceed (order of questions / issues to be dealt with in thedifferent chapters)

2. Methodology 0.75

� How have you documented and analysed (capitalised) the experience described in the case study?

� How did you proceed (methodologically)? Who/Which actors have been involved in thecapitalisation exercise, i.e., in collecting information, analysing the experience with stakeholders,documenting the results of this analysis, preparing a draft and discussing it with stakeholdersinvolved in the capitalisation process, getting their feedback?

�To what extent does the case study reflect the different perspectives and experiences ofactors/stakeholders of decentralisation, involved in the experience you describe? How did you takeaccount of the views and perceptions of the 'end-users' of the approach to M&E you describe in thecase study?

�Think about illustrating different viewpoints and perceptions in boxes.

� Which sources of information could you draw on? (e.g.: reports, meeting documents, interviews,group discussions etc.)

� Which difficulties do you encounter in the process of capitalisation (e.g.: lack of documentedinformation on specific questions, including the perspectives of different actors, mobilisingstakeholders and resource persons for a capitalisation of experiences)

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pages

3. Presentation and analysis of the approach 7

a) Notes on the context (cf. the point annex « country context below) 1

� In which decentralisation/local governance context has the approach been developed/applied?

Please, limit yourself to the most important characteristics and of the decentralisation process and local,i.e., to those necessary to understand the case study (do not elaborate on the history of decentralisationetc., more detailed information can be placed in the annex 'country context')

� What other factors have had an important influence on the approach?

Feel free to visualise information on the political and administrative context. More detailed information relating to the context of decentralisation should be featured in the annex ofyour case study or in the country overviews.

b) Motives, objectives and demand for the approach

� Why/for what purpose has the approach originally been developed (conception phase)?

� On whose demand/initiative? In response to whose needs?

� What purposes does the approach serve now?

M&E approaches are designed for a specific purpose or even for several purposes, such as

� improving decision making� promoting democratic control� building capacities for self-evaluation with actors of local governance� facilitating learning (on specific aspects of local governance/development) � tracing and assessing effects and impacts of decentralisation processes/activities of localgovernment� accounting to central government/donors/citizens for use of resources

The different actors involved in the process of designing and testing an approach may have differentviews on purposes/objectives.

The relative importance of the different purposes/functions of an M&E -approach may also change inthe course of time.

Moreover, an M&E approach may also generate positive side-effects that are worthwhile mentioning(e.g., strengthening collaboration and dialogue between different actors of local governance, improvinglocal statistics, sensitising officials/citizens on specific issues of local governance/development, etc.).

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pages

c) Actors, stakeholders, users and moderators

� Which actors/stakeholders of local governance have been involved in:� conceptualising the M&E approach?� testing it?� adapting or improving it?

� What have been their respective motives for participation and roles?

� Who is in the drivers' seat? Who controls the approach? (see also the point on ownership below)

� Who benefits from the information and analysis generated by this M&E approach? For whom hasthe approach been developed? Who are the users? How have they been involved in the design andtesting of the approach?

� Does the approach rely on moderators/facilitators? What is their role?

� What kind of knowledge and skills do local actors need in order to (a) contribute to thedevelopment of the approach; (b) to make use of the approach (its results)?

d) Assumptions, instruments, indicators and benchmarks

� Which are the underlying assumptions of the approach?

� Please, describe the main components and steps of the methodology of the approach.

� What kind of indicators and benchmarks does the approach rely on? (Which aspects of localgovernance do they refer to? Do they try to measure results (output/products and services), effects(outcome), or impact?

� Please, give examples of the different types of indicators.

� How and by whom have these indicators/benchmarks been defined? How (frequently) are theymonitored and by whom? Who is involved in the collection, processing and analysis of data andthe restitution of findings? What are the feedback-loops?

e) Procedures, formalisation, institutionalisation and complementarities with existing

M&E instruments and systems

� At what level and how widely is the approach used?

�To what extent is the approach institutionalised? Which institutions/procedures does it rely on?What institutional innovations does the approach introduce? Please, visualise institutions, flows ofinformation, collaboration between different actors and stakeholders!

� Does the approach complement existing M&E devices/systems (e.g., systems at the national level,in neighbouring districts/municipalities)? Have links have been developed?

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pages

f) The process of developing and testing the approach

� Has the approach been newly developed or 'just' adapted to a new context?

� Please, describe the different stages in developing, testing and improving the approach. Whatchallenges and problems have been encountered? How have they addressed these challenges?

� What interesting insights and knowledge have the different actors/stakeholders gained in theprocess of developing and testing the approach? What have they learned?

� How have they made use of these experiences and this new knowledge in the practice of localgovernance?

� What human, financial and other resources went into developing and testing the approach? Whohas provided them?

� What kind of external assistance have development organisations/consultants provided in thecourse of the conceptual and test phase? What has been their role?

g) Capacity building, political and administrative culture (see the methodological note)

� Please, discuss the objectives and effects of the M&E approach with regard to the different aspectsof capacity building listed (classification of approaches).

� How does the approach contribute to strengthening local capacities? What are the challenges instrengthening the capacities of different actors of local governance?

� How and to what extent does the M&E approach you present aim to change political andadministrative culture?

h) Ownership, sustainability, adaptation and replication of the approach

Ownership

� Who has the intellectual ownership of the approach? Who « controls » the related knowledge andskills?

� How can the users of the approach take ownership of the approach? Is the approach accessible toall those interested in using it and in what form? Are their guides/toolkits, training courses,possibilities to be trained on the job and how accessible are they to the potential users?

Sustainability

Here, the term sustainability does not refer to the « conservation » of instruments/approaches thatmight have proven useful at a given time. It rather refers to the capacity of adaptation, the institutionalsustainability especially with regard to its resource requirements/cost.

� Will the users of the approach be able to adapt the approach to their changing needs and thedynamics of the process of decentralisation and local governance?

� Will they be able to mobilise the necessary skills, develop the required organisational capacitiesand take over the costs? Do they have an interest/incentive to continue using the approach?

Replication

� Has the approach been designed with a view to replication?

� Has it already been replicated? If so, please give examples.

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In order to help the participants of the seminarand the reader of the case studies to understandthe context of decentralisation and localgovernance in each country, we propose to groupinformation from the same country in an overview

paper. This paper should providing basicinformation on the process and state of art of thedecentralisation process in this country. Wewould therefore like to ask one team per countryto provide us with the following information:


pages

i) The results of the approach and lessons learned

� What use has been made of the information/findings generated?

� What has changed due to the fact that the M&E approach has been tested/is being used?

� What lessons have the different stakeholders of the approach learned in the process?

� What are the strengths and weaknesses of the M&E approach you are presenting and relatedprocesses?

� What advise would you give to colleagues/organisations/local governments who want to engage ina similar exercise?

4. Conclusions and perspectives 0,75

� Summarise the most important points, lessons learned and messages you want to get across

� Provide recommendations to policy makers at the national and local level and other actors ofdecentralisation (civil society, private sector, NGOs, development agencies, donors)

� Give an outlook on challenges or potential of the approach, e.g., with regard to necessaryadaptations or institutionalisation of the approach, replication in other locations, use of thedata/insights generated etc.

References 1

� Bibliographic references: Literature and other material you used for preparing the case study(documents, pedagogical material, protocols, guides, maps, legal texts, newspaper articles, radioprogrammes etc.). Please, quote references as proposed in the style-guide!

� List of interviews/discussions.

� Contact details of institutions/resource persons (facilitators, key stakeholders) who have agood knowledge of the approach and are willing to provide further information to interestedreaders upon request).

Annex to the « country-chapters » Max. Pages

1.The context of decentralisation and local government:

� 1 table with information on the sequencing of the process (e.g., featuring dates of key policydecisions, the approval of important legal texts, municipal elections etc.)

� 1 scheme visualising the local government system and the relations between different actors oflocal governance

2. Further reading

� bibliographic references to other approaches for M&E of decentralisation and local governancethan the ones described in the case studies (e.g., tools/systems for monitoring effects and impactsof decentralisation at the macro-level, approaches used by other organisations).

2-3

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ANNEX IV: BRIEF BIOGRAPHIES OF CASE-STUDY AUTHORS

(IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER)

Ag Aboubacrine Ahmed is now working as monitoring and evaluation coordinator with CAREInternational in Burundi. He is a statistician specialising in decision-making aids. He was CARE’sregional monitoring and evaluation coordinator in Mali up to 2005.

Asanga Christian has substantial experience in the area of forestry and natural resource inCameroon. He has helped to develop a number of local governance projects (currently for Helvetas -Swiss Association for International Cooperation) and to place national decentralisation and participatorynatural resource management policies on an operational footing.

Caspari Ulrich has worked for the German Development Service (DED) in Mali. Until mid 2006, hewas a DED technical advisor on local planning to the Local Government Support Programme (PACT) ofthe German Technical Cooperation (GTZ). He is currently working for this organisation in Benin.

Cissé Fatou is currently working for the Norwegian Church Aid (NCA). She has a postgraduatediploma in modern literature and works as an adviser for the NCA’s National Programme withresponsibility for the ‘Civil Society for Responsible Governance’ and ‘Education in the northern regionsof Mali’ programmes. Since 1987, she has been highly involved in project design, monitoring andevaluation and has taken part in a number of studies conducted chiefly in the northern regions of Mali.

Coulibaly Abdoul Karim, a statistician and demographer by training, is currently the coordinator ofCARE International’s monitoring and evaluation unit in Mali. He has wide-ranging experience in thefield of monitoring and evaluation and is the author of various publications on project evaluation andsocio-demographic studies.

Dao Dramane has a degree in finance and accounting and is an adviser at the NetherlandsDevelopment Organisation (SNV-Mali), responsible for the issues raised by the transfer of powers andresources to local authorities. In the past he has worked for various health organisations: as an SNVadviser to the Regional Directorates for Health and Social Development in the context of Mali’s Healthand Social Development Programme (PRODESS) and as a manager of a number of local and regionalhealth programmes for government departments.

Dery Bruno B. is a Deputy Director with the National Development Planning Commission of Ghana.He currently heads the decentralised M&E Division and is directly responsible for developing theDistrict M&E Framework. He had previously done research and development work with internationalorganisations in several countries.

Diarra Konaré Rokia is currently head of the Support Programme for Municipalities and GrassrootsOrganisations (PACOB) of CARE International in Mali. A biologist by training, she has a wide range ofexperience in the development field in decentralisation, micro-finance and participatory approaches.

Dorway Audrey is a development practitioner who is employed with the German TechnicalCooperation (GTZ) as a development planning specialist. She has experience relating to the localgovernment system in Ghana, and was a team member responsible for the nationwideimplementation of the poverty profiling, mapping and pro-poor programming exercise.

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Dumont Florence is a tropical geographer (University of Rouen, France) and has been working forsome years as a freelance consultant in Mali. Specialising in the creation of Geographical InformationSystems and backup for their users, she is currently assisting the SNV and its partners with the designand use of a GIS for the Koulikoro region. In the Mopti region, she is also assisting the regionalassembly and the team of an NGO, the New East Foundation (NEF), in this same field.

Floquet Anne, an agronomist by training, with a doctorate in agro-economics (University ofHohenheim, Germany), is a researcher. She has many years of experience in Africa. At present, she isworking in Benin with FIDESPRA (International Forum for Development and Exchanges of Knowledgeand Expertise Promoting Self-sustaining Rural Development). She is responsible for designing andimplementing the SILP (Participatory Local Impact Monitoring Methodology) and for various researchand development programmes, promoting public control and research into poverty.

Hilhorst Thea is working for the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) at the economic development section.She has specialised for a number of years in rural decentralisation and local governance. Shecoordinates action-research projects throughout West Africa for SNV. In particular, she initiated theproject to develop tools facilitating partnership work in the area of public health, along with a potentialstrategy to promote synergies between projects in municipal areas.

Ischer Markus has been a Helvetas (Swiss Association for International Cooperation) teamcoordinator in various African countries. He is currently working in western Cameroon on a programmesupporting decentralisation, build municipal capacity and managing knowledge.

Keïta Mamadou Yoro is a statistician and regional coordinator of monitoring and evaluation for CAREInternational in Mali. Currently working on PACOB (Support Programme for Municipalities andGrassroots Organisations), he has worked for many years in the monitoring and evaluation field.

Le Bay Sonia, a tropical geographer by training, is an adviser on local governance, planning,monitoring and evaluation at the SNV in Mali. During the twenty-odd years she has been working inWest Africa, she has helped to design several participatory monitoring and evaluation systems and toimplement development programmes under bilateral cooperation arrangements and for internationalnon-governmental organisations such as the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ), the Swiss Agencyfor Development and Cooperation (SDC), the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), theWorld Conservation Union (IUCN), CARE International, etc.

Lodenstein Elsbet is a sociologist and SNV advisor. Currently based in Ghana, she is among othersresponsible for documenting and assessing experiences in planning, local resource mobilisation andhealth service financing. From 2002 to 2005, she worked in Mali in the field of municipal planning,monitoring and evaluation, and the decentralised management of health services. She has contributedto a variety of publications examining the problems of decentralisation and the health sector.

Maïga Moussoulimoune Y. is an economist and adviser to the Support Programme for the Actorsof Decentralisation (PAAD) of the Swiss Association for International Cooperation (Helvetas) in Mali.He is responsible for capacity building among the elected officers and staff of municipalities.Previously, he occupied various senior posts in the area of adult training at GTZ (German TechnicalCooperation) and the Centre for Audio-visual Production Services (CESPA).

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Mongbo Roch, an agronomist by training with a doctorate in socio-anthropology (University ofWageningen, Netherlands), is a researcher and lecturer at the Faculty of Agronomic Sciences of theUniversity of Abomey-Calavi in Benin. In 1990, with colleagues, he set up FIDESPRA as an institutionfor adult education and practical research (International Forum for Development and Exchanges ofKnowledge and Expertise Promoting Self-sustaining Rural Development). He is currently FIDESPRA’scoordinator. He has been taking part in pilot schemes for public control of public action at both the localand national level.

Ongoïba Hamidou, an agricultural engineer and holder of a postgraduate diploma in developmentstudies from the University of Geneva, was the coordinator of the Support Programme for RuralMunicipalities in Timbuktu (PACR-T), a joint UNCDF, UNDP and Government of Mali project. At present,he is working as a UNCDF consultant and resource person in the field of local governance in West,Central and East Africa.

Ouédraogo Zeinabou, who has a business management diploma, is based in Niamey and iscurrently responsible for gender mainstreaming and the promotion of women’s rights and women’sleadership in the fields of decentralisation and local governance at the SNV.

Samaké Bakary, who holds a doctorate in agricultural engineering (Martin Luther Halle-Wittenbergand Leipzig Universities, Germany), is an agricultural computer scientist specialising in statistics anddatabase analysis and management. Following training in cartography and GIS at the Institute of Urbanand Regional Planning of the Technical University of Berlin, Germany, he has been managing the GISof the Local Government Support Programme (PACT) of German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) in Malisince 2003.

Sène Gaoussou, who has a Master’s degree in psycho-sociology, has been based in Zinder for thelast three years and offers support for governmental, non-governmental and private-sectororganisations in the fields of decentralisation and local governance. During a previous posting in Mali,he helped, on behalf of SNV and as an independent consultant, with the design of several supporttools for local authorities and contributed to a number of publications.

Sylla Djoumé, a socio-economist by training, is currently local development adviser at the UNCDFregional office in Dakar. Previously in Mali, he was a programme manager at UNCDF, a director of theNGO ‘Association d’Appui à l’Auto Développement Communautaire’ (AADeC) and adviser to theMinistry of Territorial Administration and Local Government (MATCL).

Sylla Ibrahima, planner, manages a consultancy office in Mali specialising in administrative andfinancial management, evaluation, training of the actors of decentralisation and organisation ofworkshops. Previously, he coordinated a decentralisation support programme in southern Mali forHelvetas (Swiss Association for International Cooperation) for six years.

Tamini Jacques, agricultural engineer, is currently an adviser for Helvetas (Swiss Association forInternational Cooperation). Specialist of southern Mali, he is responsible for forging links between theactors of decentralisation and for supporting consistent development policies at municipal and locallevel. Previously, he was a research assistant and project manager for national bodies.

Tiénou Osé is an economist and has been working in local development for fifteen years in Mali. Heruns a municipal advisory centre that provides advice and support for local governments. Previously,he was head of the monitoring and evaluation division of GTZ’s project, Promotion of Local Initiatives(PRODILO), and has worked as a consultant for a number of organisations (the Micro-DevelopmentProgramme of the Canadian International Development Agency and Plan International).

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Toonen Jurrien is a doctor working for the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT), in Amsterdam, coordinatinga number of health-systems development projects and activities. These include institutional aspects,human resources, financing of health, monitoring and evaluation, and community participation. Since1992, he has contributed to the development of the public-health sector in Mali, in particular when anational policy on human resources was being drawn up and the national health programme(PRODESS-I) was being evaluated.

Woltermann Silke, doctor of economic sciences, is responsible for the strands of local finance andsupport for the monitoring and evaluation structures of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP)within the Decentralisation Support and Municipal Development Programme of German TechnicalCooperation (GTZ) in Benin. In this context, she is helping the Observatory of Social Change (OCS) todevelop and use the SILP (Participatory Local Impact Monitoring Methodology).

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- Benin 254- Cameroon 258- Ghana 261- Mali 264- Niger 268

ANNEX V: COUNTRY OVERVIEWS

254

Decentralisation and localgovernance

As in the rest of West Africa, the first stepstowards decentralisation date back to the colonialperiod and the communes de plein exercice(CPEs), i.e. municipalities with full rights170, butfinancial and administrative decision-makingpowers continued to be vested in the authoritiesof the central state. From 1960 onwards, whenthere was national sovereignty, there was acertain willingness to break from the excessivecentralism. It was however only relatively late thatthe decentralisation laws were actually applied,even though governments were fairly keen tobreak away from excessive centralism.

Shaped by Marxist-Leninist policies, theadministrative divisions and the 1981 reform171

based on democratic centralism did not enabledecentralisation to make much progress. Althoughthe State created provinces and districts, it keptcontrol of them through the organs of the singleparty. However, new social and professional stratastarted to exercise power during this period, andlocal organisations were able to democraticallyappoint their representatives to power, from thevillage or city district to the Revolutionary NationalAssembly.

Democratic decentralisation

Starting in 1990, the National Conference openedup an era of democratic transition. The principle ofadministrative decentralisation as a system of

territorial administration was adopted and includedin the constitution.172 The power of the executivewas counter-balanced by a presidential-typesystem along with such institutions as the NationalAssembly, Constitutional Court, Supreme Court,etc. However, the draft decentralisation laws drawnup in 1993 were not enacted until January 1999173

and March 2000.174 Decentralisation policy was notreally put into practice until the local and municipalelections of December 2002 and January 2003 andthe legislative elections of March 2003, followed bythe installation of municipal councils.

Local government and territorialadministration

The aim of decentralisation is to make populationsmore responsible for managing their own localaffairs, thereby consolidating grass-roots democracyand promoting sustainable development. Theconstitution enshrines the freedom of councilselected by universal suffrage to administer localgovernments and, in their turn, to elect the majorand deputy mayors.175 There is no provision withinthese councils for the representation of civil societyor traditional leaders. Power can be exercised onlyby those who are democratically elected. Themunicipality has a legal personality and budgetaryautonomy, but it is supervised by the 'préfet' (staterepresentative at the level of departments), whohas the right of prior scrutiny of the legality of themost important council measures and who canbring them in line with State measures.

170- Law 55-1489 of 18 November 1955 on municipal reorganisation in French West Africa, covering the CPEs of Porto-Novo, Cotonou, Ouidah, Abomey and Parakou.

171- Law 81-009 of 10 October 1981.172- Adopted on 11 December 1990.173- Law 97-028 of 15 January 1999 organising the administration of the Republic of Benin; Law 97-029 of 15 January

1999 organising municipalities in the Republic of Benin; Law 98-005 of 15 January 1999 organising municipalitieswith special status and Law 98-007 of 15 January 1999 setting out a financial system for municipalities in theRepublic of Benin.

174- Law 98-006 of 9 March 2000 setting out a local and municipal electoral system in the Republic of Benin.175- Articles 150 and 151 of the Constitution.

OVERVIEW: BENIN

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176- Framework Law 98-030 of 12 February 1999 on the environment in the Republic of Benin.177- Created by Decree 97-254 of 23 May 1997.178- Public administrative establishment created by Decree 97-272 of 9 June 1997.

Administrative

breakdown

Local

government

Administrative

divisionDeliberating body Executive body

Deconcentrated

supervisory

authority

12 departmentsa XDepartmental

Consultation andCoordination Committee

'Préfet'

77 municipalitiesb X Municipal Council Mayor 'Préfet'

546 districts('arrondissements')

X District Council District Chief

3,828 villages X Village Council Village Chief

neighbourhoods ('quartiers')

XNeighbourhood

Council Neighbourhood

Chief

Table 1: Administrative and Territorial Organisation

The fields in which competence is transferred tomunicipalities in decentralisation are economicdevelopment, planning, housing, town planning,infrastructure, equipment, transport, environment,hygiene, sanitation, nursery and primary education,literacy, adult education, health, social and culturalactivities, commercial services and economic

investment. Municipalities with special status arealso responsible for general education, vocationaltraining, transport and traffic, security andcommunications. The law also requires municipalitiesto take account of environmental issues in thecontext of local development.176

Source: MDP. 2004. Decentralisation in Africa. Observatory on Decentralisation. Cotonou: MunicipalDevelopment Partnership.a. Administrative divisions without legal personality or financial autonomy (decentralised level).b. Including three municipalities with special status replacing 'sous-préfectures' and urban circumscriptions(cities of Cotonou, Porto-Novo and Parakou).

Implementing administrative reform

In Benin, decentralisation is part and parcel ofadministrative reform and is steered by theMinistry of the Interior, Public Security and LocalGovernment (MISPCL) with the assistance ofthree separate structures:� The Mission de Décentralisation (MD)(Decentralisation Mission)177 has been in operationsince June 1998. Answerable to the Ministry forTerritorial Administration, it is a joint ministerialthink-tank that makes proposals to thegovernment on drafting the legislative andregulatory framework. These proposals have beentranslated into a law on local government (codedes collectivités territoriales) and fed into reformpolicies and strategies. The MD has also designedadministrative and technical working tools for thenew local governments and steers joint ministerialaction.� The Maison des Collectivités Locales (MCL),the Local Government Centre178, has been inoperation since December 1997. Set up to preparethe way for municipalities and to support their

development, its main task is to enhance themanagement ability of municipalities throughtraining, the development of decision-making aidsand the steering of a municipal counselling andadvisory network.� The Direction Générale de l'AdministrationTerritoriale (DGAT) (Directorate General forTerritorial Administration) is a permanent body ofthe MISPCL. Its traditional role is to draw up theState's general policy on territorial administration. Itis now responsible for implementing the changestaking place within the central and decentralisedadministration. It has two technical directorates.The Direction de l'Administration de l'État (DAE),the State Administration Directorate, is responsiblefor questions relating to decentralisation andterritorial administration and is also responsible formunicipal supervision. The Direction desCollectivités Locales (DCL), the Local GovernmentDirectorate, works directly with municipalities andis responsible for questions relating todecentralised cooperation, local finance andtransfers of powers to municipalities.

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All these bodies meet regularly within theCellule de Concertation et du Suivi de la Réformede l'Administration Territoriale (CCSRAT), theTerritorial Administration Reform Consultation andMonitoring Unit, chaired by the head of cabinet ofthe MISPCL.

Achievements and challenges ofdecentralisation

Municipalities have had a long period ofgestation as a result of the long-windedprocedure to adopt the legal texts and to organiseelections. With the transition from a systemwithout local government to a system of 77municipalities, the main issues raised bydecentralisation include the following: how thesharing of power and resources between theState and the other public actors, including localgovernments, can be politically managed, andhow the resulting administrative and financialmanagement can be organised. As the State isthe key actor in decentralisation, municipaldevelopment depends on its support.

The creation and continued work of the MCL asa 'supporter' and the MD as a 'spearhead' ofdecentralisation is a major asset for the processand for the new political entities at the local level.This holds also true for the Association Nationaledes Communes du Bénin (ANCB), the NationalAssociation of Benin Municipalities, whichrepresents the interests of the municipalities.Donors are also continuing to give priority tosupporting the decentralisation process, whichwill undoubtedly help to achieve one of thegovernment's four development goals: 'improvinggovernance and supporting institutional reform'.

The existence of a legislative and regulatoryframework forms a solid foundation for the wholeprocess. New decrees are to be drawn up so thatany changes in the context can be taken intoaccount. The regulatory arsenal is to besupplemented on important issues such as inter-municipal arrangements, the local developmenttax, the municipal investment fund, etc.

The transfer of competencies of the centralstate to the municipalities and the modalities forthis transfer are clearly set out in the provisions of

the decentralisation laws. The powers of the newlocal governments are clearly defined in eachparticular field: own, shared, or delegatedpowers. It remains to be seen whether the paceof growth of municipal powers is adequate,especially in a context in which municipalities arenot very stable, because they can easily becomeinsolvent and mayors are unable to resolveinternal conflicts.

Training the members of the new municipalauthorities is a real challenge because human andtechnical capacity is lacking in most municipalities,which are finding it difficult to discharge theirstatutory powers and carry out their localdevelopment tasks. The sub-municipal level is notfunctioning satisfactorily, either, especially thedistrict councils, which have yet to come intooperation because the democratic elections ofvillage or district councils have not been held.

Meeting twice a year, the Conseil Départementalde Concertation et de Coordination (CDCC)(Departmental Consultation and CoordinationCouncil) supports consultation between the 'préfet'(as the supervisory authority), mayors and theirdeputies and representatives of the union ofproducers, the consular chamber and the federationof parents' associations at the departmental level.Consultation of the CDCC on the municipaldevelopment programmes and their coherencewith national programmes is mandatory.

'Préfets' have the task of scrutinising the legalityof measures taken by municipal bodies. A legalitymonitoring committee, made up of the 'préfet's'technical departments and deconcentratedservices, studies measures taken by municipalitiesand submitted for approval by the 'préfet'. Althoughnew staff have been appointed to 'préfets' to helpthem with assistance and advice for municipalities,problems have arisen because there is littlecoordination of the municipal assistance providedby decentralised State services and there are notenough appropriately skilled staff.

The Conférence Administrative Départementale(CAD) (Departmental Administrative Conference),a body proposing, standardising and monitoringthe work and activities of decentralised Stateservices at the departmental level, meets once a

257

month. Its members are the 'préfet', theSecretary General and the heads of decentralisedtechnical services of the State (servicesdéconcentrés) State companies and offices.

From the point of view of both their ownresources and those transferred from the State,the resources of the municipalities areinadequate. The Commission Nationale desFinances Locales (CONAFIL) (National LocalFinance Commission) is responsible for proposingthe amount of overall operating packages,equalisation payments, compensation paymentsand assistance funds to the Minister. It has beenset up but is not yet operational. The law settingout a financial system for municipalities providesfor the creation of an inter-municipal solidarityfund, which could provide the government withan overall investment package, but this has yet tobe set up.

Another challenge that needs to be taken up is theinvolvement of civil society as a municipal partner.The democratisation of society has fostered thegradual emergence of civil organisations, which areincreasingly being asked to help with devising andimplementing the general lines of developmentpolicy. There are mechanisms for dialogue in thecontext of national development, such as theEconomic and Social Council (a body representingall components of society) or Parliament(representing the people), but civil society needs toorganise if it is to show the extent of itscommitment to the process that is underway.

179- Speech given by the Head of State on 31 July, 2006, at the occasion of the 46th anniversary of independence ofBenin.

180- cf. Council of Ministers of 04/12/2007, Decision N°26/PR/SGG/Com/Extra on the endorsement of a decreeestablishing the HCGC.

The context in which decentralisation is takingplace seems to have improved markedly since thelast presidential elections in March 2006. This canbe seen from several statements by the Head ofState. In his view, the acceleration of the transferof powers, institutional support for newmunicipalities, the genuine functioning of politicaland administrative bodies at village and city level,the promotion of inter-municipal systems and theestablishment of the inter-municipal solidarityfund offer a measure of the improvement inadministrative decentralisation. He has also saidthat 'the third main strand of the Government'sdevelopment policy is grass-roots development,one of whose management tools isdecentralisation. The Government, together withmunicipalities, undertakes to speed up, organiseand support local development in order to createregional development poles. The State willencourage neighbouring municipalities to worktogether on joint socio-cultural, economic orecological criteria to bring about shared areas ofdevelopment in a context of intermunicipalwork.179

Even though there are still some problems froman administrative point of view, opportunities existfor municipalities, as they are responsible for localdevelopment. The various actors will have to graspthese promising opportunities if progress is to bemade with decentralisation in genuine partnershipwith the State. A move towards more collaborativeforms of governance has been the recent creationof a High Commission for Concerted Governance(Haut Commissariat à la Gouvernance Concertée -HCGC). This new institution aims “to bring thegovernment and the population closer togetherand deepen democracy and good governance inBenin”180.

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181- Law 74-23 of 23 December 1974 on municipal organisation.182- Law 87-015 of 15 July 1987 creating urban communities.183- Law 92-002 of 14 August 1992 setting out conditions for the election of municipal councillors. 184- Law 96-6 of 18 January 1996 revising the Constitution of 2 June 1972.


Although the systems of decentralisation thatthey introduced differed, the French and Britishadministrations launched the first experimentswith municipalities in Cameroon. The Frenchauthorities started down the path of‘municipalisation’ in 1941, leading to 71 mixedurban municipalities and mixed rural municipalitiesin 1955. A different kind of ‘municipalisation’, inthe form of ‘native authorities’, took place inparallel in western Cameroon. Starting in 1932,‘local governments’ started to take shape. Therewere 30 such councils in 1967.


The 1974 reform181 ended this municipal dualismby establishing two types of municipality: urbanmunicipalities (some of which are subject tospecial rules) and rural municipalities. Theexecutive functions of urban municipalities are thetask of a mayor elected from within the municipalcouncil and of an authority appointed by thegovernment in the case of special-status urbanmunicipalities and rural municipalities. The numberof municipalities is continuing to grow: from 174 in1977 to 362 at present.

A 1987 law182 created a new kind of urbancommunity to cover the major conurbations ofDouala and Yaoundé. Subdivided into urbanboroughs, these communities are administeredby a community council made up of elected

members from the councils of the boroughs. Theexecutive is appointed by the supervisoryauthority. In 1992 a law183 established that mayorsof rural municipalities were to be elected.

In 1996, with the reform of the constitution,184

decentralisation moved into a new stage with theconversion of the provinces into regions. A senatewas also created to ensure the parliamentaryrepresentation of local governments. Thesereforms have yet to come into force.

The decentralised authorities that have financialautonomy and status as legal entities are theregion and the municipality. The 10 regions coverthe area of the former provinces. Each has aregional council with a chairman. Regionalcouncillors are either representatives of thedivisions elected by indirect universal suffrage orrepresentatives of traditional leaders elected bytheir peers, and have a term of office of fiveyears. Municipalities are administered bymunicipal councils elected by direct universalsuffrage. A mayor is then elected from thecouncil.

The supervisory system in force in Cameroon isthat of ‘prior scrutiny’. This power is vested in theminister responsible for territorial administrationand, under his supervision, in the ‘gouverneurs’(governors) and ‘préfets’ (divisional officers). Thesupervisory authorities have a power of sanctionand scrutiny over municipal organs and theiractions and can approve, cancel, replace,suspend and revoke them.

OVERVIEW:

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CAMEROON

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185- At the time of writing, not all the Government delegates in urban communities had yet been appointed. 186- Laws 2004/017, 2004/018 and 2004/019 of 22 July 2004.

Decentralisation and localrepresentation

Under the Constitutional Law of 18 January 1996,Cameroon became a decentralised unitary state.The elected councils (composed of councillorselected by direct universal suffrage, representativesof traditional chiefs and parliamentarians elected atregional level) can freely administer localgovernments under the conditions laid down by thelaw. Cameroon is endeavouring to reconciledemocratic legitimacy with historic legitimacy andto resolve the federalist challenge from the English-speaking area.


The first three laws186 setting out the generaldecentralisation policy and the rules applicable toregions and municipalities were adopted in July2004, but their implementing orders have yet tobe enacted.

Properly speaking, there has not as yet been anytransfer of competencies and resources from theState to local government, especially tomunicipalities. In the meantime, municipalitieshave general competence over local mattersthrough the municipal council, which decides onmunicipal affairs. It has prerogatives in the fields

of planning, town planning, development, culture,sports and leisure. Its other prerogatives relate tothe internal functioning of the municipaladministration. These competencies are moreprerogatives of the municipal council thanmunicipal competencies, per se.

The large number of municipalities created bythe government raises acute problems of viabilitysince problems are rife. Municipalities do nothave a tangible existence (as they lack premises,equipment, staff, etc.) and do not have sufficientcapacity to draw up municipal development policy(municipal development plans, for instance).

The lack of any proper status for local governmentofficers is an ongoing problem. Little progress hasbeen made in the last few years with a draft decreethat has been on the drawing board since 1974.However, today, in 2008, the Ministry of TerritorialAdministration and Decentralisation (MINATD)considers the creation of a civil service for localgovernment a priority. In the meantime, localgovernment officers are governed by the provisionsapplying to state public servants. This situationdoes little to make the management of staff morerational because profiles and clear–cut prerogativesare often lacking. In many cases, this isexacerbated by shortages of occupational skills,shortages that are widespread except in a few

Territorial divisionLocal

government

Administrative

Division

Deliberating

body

Executive

body

Deconcentrated

supervisory

authorityName No

Regiona 10 xRegionalCouncil

Chairman‘Gouverneur’

(Governor)

Division 58 x ‘Préfét’

Urban community 12 xCommunity

CouncilGovernmentdelegate185 ‘Gouverneur’

Sub-division 268 x ‘Sous-préfét’

Municipality 362 xMunicipalCouncil

Mayor ‘Prefet’

District 58 x District Head

Table 1: Local Government and Administrative Organisation

Source: MDP. 2004. Decentralisation in Africa. Observatory on Decentralisation. Cotonou:Municipal Development Partnership, data updated by SNV-Cameroon.a. Not as yet implemented. The provinces are continuing to function as administrative divisions.

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187- Decree 77-85 of 22 March 1977 setting out operating and management methods for the FEICOM, as amendedby Decree 96-098 of 7 May 1996.

urban municipalities. However, the lack ofadministrative competence raises more problemsthan shortages of technical competence.

To help remedy the skills deficit in localgovernment, the State has seconded somenational civil servants, who often perform the tasksof municipal secretary general or accountant byorder of the supervisory authority. However, thehierarchical links that they continue to have withtheir original department do little to promotemunicipal autonomy.

Municipal investment falls well short of needs.There are two forms of local taxation: owntaxation and taxation shared with the State. Whilethis is the main source of municipal revenue, it isfar from optimum. Reforms are underway,particularly the creation of a tax register, buttangible results are slow in coming. There is nofunctional overall system of subsidies from theState to municipalities, only a system of crosssubsidisation between municipalities, the‘Centime Additionnel Communal’. Municipalitieshave a relatively high capacity for saving(especially rural municipalities). This helps to coverpayments and contributions to the ‘Fonds Spéciald’Équipement et d’Intervention Intercommunale’(FEICOM), the Special Fund for IntermunicipalEquipment and Action.187 This fund provides for akind of solidarity between municipalities and actsas a municipal bank. However it is subject toincreasing criticism due to constant problems ofmismanagement. There are also a number ofnational programmes that indirectly promote localdevelopment. Examples are the NationalProgramme for Participatory Development and theProgramme in Support of the Development ofLocal Communities. Moreover, the State providesits deconcentrated entities with investmentbudgets, however, mismanagement of funds isalso a recurrent problem that limits the impact ofthese national funds.

In practice, there are various limits of both aneconomic nature (municipalities are finding itdifficult to finance the tasks for which they areresponsible) and a political one (some oppositionmayors have been replaced by governmentdelegates). Many challenges will have to be metif regions and municipalities are to become areaswhose development is well thought-out,implemented and evaluated and in whichdemocratic practices are the norm. There is,moreover, a potential risk that the implementationof regional decentralisation may aggravate someexisting problems (for instance the federalistdemands).

In October 2006, a new direction was taken in thedecentralisation process. A consultation committee,answerable to the MINATD, was set up. Includingthe three main types of actors involved indecentralisation (ministerial departments, andnational and international entities), this committeeshould provide a functional framework within whichthe development partners’ actions, projects andsupport programmes can be better coordinated andharmonised. With a view to greater efficiency and,in the long term, joint planning and pooled financing,this committee monitors and evaluates activities,ensures that information is circulated, and draws upproposals for action by the bodies involved. In 2008,this committee is also preparing to set up a nationaldecentralisation council under the presidency of thePrime Minister (and the joint ministerial committeeon local services. As provided for in the law ondecentralisation policy, this national decentralisationcouncil and the joint ministerial committee on localservices look after the evaluation and theimplementation of the decentralisation process. Thisincludes the devolution of competencies andresources from the State to local government.Moreover several reforms are under way.

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188- Local Government Law, PNDC Law 207.189- District assemblies have a population of at least 75,000 inhabitants; municipal assemblies have a population of

95,000 to 250,000; metropolitan assemblies for large conurbations of more than 250,000 inhabitants (such asthe capital Accra, Kumasi and Shama Ashanta East).

OVERVIEW: GHANA


The initial steps towards decentralisation in Ghanadate back to the colonial period. At that time, localgovernments, administered by traditional chiefs,had customary law, political, administrative andlegislative functions. Their co-existence with localrepresentatives of the central governmentnevertheless raised problems, as did thehierarchical relations between them. Since 1950,various constitutional reforms have installeddemocratically elected local governments that havegradually eroded the power of the traditional chiefs.


These constitutional reforms have been followedby new efforts to strengthen local governments inthe context of the democratisation of Ghana’spolitical system. The adoption of a decentralisationpolicy by the State was reflected in 1988 by theLocal Government Law,188 which paved the way forestablishing the various councils (district, urban,municipal). The 4th Constitution of the Republic in1992 and the Local Government Act of 1993 laidthe foundations for democratic decentralisation.

This reform was intended to enhance thecompetence, resources and capacity of localgovernments and to involve all citizens at a grass-roots level in governance and the developmentprocess. The first local elections were held in1993 and were followed by further elections in1997, 2002 and 2006.

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There is only one level of decentralisedgovernment: the district. There are at present 138districts. Their deliberating and legislative bodiesare known as assemblies and are referred to asdistrict, municipal or metropolitan assemblies,depending on the number of inhabitants and theirurban or rural nature.189 The districts are alsodivided into units to which powers may betransferred: sub-districts in rural areas and zonesin urban areas. These bodies have councils but donot have any legislative or financial powers.

The local governance system is a compromisebetween direct and representative democracy:70% of the members of district assemblies areelected by the population and 30% are appointedby the President of the Republic, in consultationwith district chiefs and other local interest groups,on the basis of their competence. Half of the seatsallocated to appointed members are reserved forwomen and 30% for traditional leaders. Women’srepresentation in district assemblies neverthelesscontinues to be low (under 10%).

The district assemblies are chaired by districtchief executives appointed by the President. Theyhave two roles: to run the district in line with thedecisions of the assembly and to representcentral government in the assembly. The districtassembly has a Presiding Member elected by theassembly. They may call upon officers secondedby the public service, such as a head of technicalservices (‘District Coordinating Director’), atreasurer, a planning officer and a localgovernment inspector.

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Competence of the 138 districtswithin the 10 regions

Under the Constitution, districts have basiccompetence in various fields, such as civilrecords, brush-fire prevention and control, levyingof local taxes and duties, and planning andmobilising resources for local development. The1993 Local Government Act transferred a rangeof other competencies to the districts in thefollowing areas:� planning and promoting local development;� promoting employment;� supporting production activities;� promoting protection of habitat and the

environment;� developing infrastructure;� upholding law and order;� promoting justice.

Territorial body Type Management organs

Region (10) Administrative divisionThe Regional Ministry: runs State services and chairs theregional coordinating council

District

(138)Local government

The Assembly (district -124- municipal -10- ormetropolitan -4-), the deliberating body: elects anexecutive committee from its ranks, which hasadministrative and executive competence for theAssembly.A district chief executive appointed for a term of twoyears coordinates the executive.

Sub- districtAdministrative divisionDistrict sub-division

Consultative bodies without their own budget, some ofwhose members are appointed, which carry out the tasksdelegated to them by the district assembly:

Sub-metropolitan councilsUrban councils Zonal councilsMunicipal councils

Source: MDP. 2004. Decentralisation in Africa. Observatory on Decentralisation. Cotonou: Municipal Development Partnership.

The law also requires district assemblies toimplement the national development plan in theirarea, to supervise projects and programmes andto encourage all the actors to play their part indevelopment plans and their implementation.

Above the districts, there are 10 regions, each ofwhich is chaired by a regional minister appointedby the President, following Parliament’s assent.Each region has a regional coordinating councilchaired by the regional minister and including hisdeputies, the presiding members of the districtassemblies, the district chief executives, theheads of decentralised ministerial departments inthe region and traditional leaders.

Table 1: Local Governments and Territorial Administration


The adoption of new laws and the enhancedstatutory competence of districts have helpedthem to become a consolidated part of localgovernment in the Ghanaian political system.However, some challenges remain.

The 2003 law setting out local governmentservices provided the necessary legal framework,

but implementation has proved more complicatedthan expected and technical expertise is oftenlacking. In the field, moreover, rivalry betweensectors is substantially hampering the process.

The creation of local government services hastaken place along with the creation ofdecentralised services for education, health andforests. These are important service providers fora large proportion of the population, but they arecoming up against problems of local integration.

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The capacity building that has accompanieddecentralisation has largely taken the form ofprojects and programmes financed by donors.Although this has made it possible to carry outmany activities in a short space of time, theseendeavours need to be coordinated and mademore complementary.

Recruiting and, more fundamentally, keepingskilled staff, especially in districts, is an acuteproblem. Rural districts, which lack appropriateinfrastructure and basic services, have fewattractions for skilled staff. Frequent turnovermeans that institutional memory is lost and leadsto inconsistent operation. Ongoing efforts to buildlocal governance capacity are needed here as well.

In the case of fiscal decentralisation, reasonablefinancial packages (bearing in mind existingcapacity at the district level) have been providedfor local governments. The national budgetcontinues, however, to be drawn up for sectors. Ifthere is no capacity to mobilise major localresources, the budget packages of a district’ssectors continue to depend on national bodies.

While the districts appear to be appropriatestructures for identifying local needs, localcommunities still feel that these managementand decision-making structures are too remote.The creation of the sub-districts could enhancedemocracy and promote citizen participation inlocal governance. However, their role continues tobe rather low-level, as they lack competence,financial and human resources, and legitimacy.

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190- General Order of 20 December 1918: mixed municipalities of Bamako and Kayes in 1919, Ségou and Mopti in 1953and Sikasso in 1954.

191- Law 55-1489 of 18 November 1955 on municipal reorganisation in French West Africa.192- Law 93-008 of 11 February 1993, setting out conditions for the freedom of administration of local government,

amended by Law 96-056 of 16 October 1996.193- Law 96-050 of 16 October 1996, setting out principles for the constitution and management of local government,

and Law 96-059 of 4 November 1996, creating municipalities.194- Law 99-035 of 10 April 1999.


The long journey towards decentralisation inMali started in the colonial period. Mixedmunicipalities were created in 1918, at the end ofthe First World War, following territorial andadministrative reorganisation in France.190 Thisstatus gave them legal personality and theprerogatives of a fully functioning municipality.Mayoral duties continued, however, to be the taskof an official from the colonial administration,assisted by a municipal council whose memberswere either appointed by the colonialadministration or elected, depending on the levelof development of the municipality. Thesemunicipalities gained full rights in 1955,191 afterwhich their executive and decision-making organswere elected.

At the time of independence in 1960, Mali had13 urban municipalities in addition to its capital.Under the 2nd Republic (1968-1991), the creationof the six urban municipalities of the District ofBamako increased the number to 19. It was underthe 3rd Republic, however, that the ideals ofpeace, democracy and development led tounprecedented levels of decentralisation.


Although the successive constitutions of thevarious Republics all affirmed decentralisation asa principle, the constitution of the 3rd Republic(enacted on 25 February 1992) made it a priority

“as a fundamental reform to ensure progress andeconomic development, regional balance andsocial equity”. Six guiding principles translated thispriority into more concrete terms: safeguardingnational unity and territorial integrity, involving thepopulace in the creation of municipalities,democratic management of local government,control of regional and local development by localgovernment, progressive and concomitanttransfers of powers and resources, and thefreedom of local government administration.

The legal framework of decentralisation,enacted in 1993,192 established the principle of thethree levels of decentralisation (regions, ‘cercles’and municipalities) and recognised that electedcouncils should be free to administer localgovernment. In 1996,193 the law setting outprinciples for the establishment and managementof local government created rural municipalities inareas not covered by urban municipalities, inaccordance with socio-cultural, demographic andgeographic criteria as well as criteria of distance,accessibility and economic viability. Thepopulations of villages and fractions of nomadictribes were given the freedom to decide whetheror not to become part of these municipalities. Atpresent, there are 703 municipalities (684 ruralmunicipalities and 19 urban municipalities), forwhich councils have been democratically electedon two occasions (1999 and 2004) for a term offive years. In 1999, administrative and territorialreorganisation was confirmed by a law194 creatinglocal authorities, ‘cercles’ and regions.

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Local authorities and territorialadministration

After municipal elections had been held, thetransfer of powers from the state to the new localauthorities was begun. Local elected officers

were given responsibility for local development.Local government organs are responsible forproviding the conditions likely to encourage basicinitiatives and for ensuring equitable access tolocal services and resources.

Composition � villages, and fractions ofnomadic tribes in the case ofrural municipalities� neighbourhoods in the case

of urban municipalities

� urban and rural municipalities � 'cercles'

Organs

� municipal council elected byproportional representationby the municipality's citizens� municipal executive and

mayor elected by themembers of the municipalcouncil (chaired by themayor)

� 'cercle' council composed ofmunicipal representativeselected by and from withinmunicipal councils� 'cercle' council executive

composed of a chairman andtwo vice-chairmen elected bythe 'cercle' council

� regional assemblycomposed of 'cercle'representatives elected byand from within 'cercle'councils� regional executive

composed of a chairmanand two vice-chairmenelected by the regionalassembly

Supervision� state representative at

'cercle' level � state representative at

regional level � minister responsible for

local government

General

powersb

� budgets and accounts: town and country planning, development programmes� creation and management of local government organs, works and supply contracts, leases

and other agreements, levying of taxes and setting of their levels in accordance with the law� loans and grants of subsidies, methods of application of personnel service regulations, etc.

Specific

powersb

� pre-school education,literacy� 1st cycle of basic education� dispensaries, maternity and

community health facilities� road and communication

infrastructure for whichmunicipalities areresponsible� public transport and traffic

plans� fairs and markets� rural or urban waterworks� sport, arts and culture

� 2nd cycle of basic education� health and preventive health

centres� road and communication

infrastructure for which'cercles' are responsible� waterworks

� general, technical andvocational secondaryeducation� specialist education� regional hospitals� road and communication

infrastructure for whichregions are responsible� tourism� energy� ensuring that development

and town and countryplanning strategies areconsistent

Table 1: Diagram of Decentralisation

Municipality (703) 'Cercle' (49) Region (8)a

Source: Observatory of Sustainable Human Development and Poverty Reduction (ODHD) / United NationsDevelopment Programme (UNDP). 2003. Country Report. Bamako: Ministry of Social Development,Solidarity and Older People (MDSSPA).a. Alongside the eight regions, the District of Bamako has particular status in accordance with Law 96-025of 21 February 1996.b. According to Law 95-034 of 12 March 1995, establishing a local government code in the Republic ofMali, as amended by Law 98-010 of 15 June 1998 and Law 98-066 of 30 December 1998.

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195- New actors are appearing on the political scene, including economic actors set up as a result of privatisation. 196- Since February 2000, the MATCL, via its National Directorate for Local Government (DNCT), has taken over from

the Decentralisation and Institutional Reform Mission (MDRI), which (since 1993) had been responsible fordrawing up the legislative and institutional system needed to implement decentralisation.

197- Government of Mali. 2002. Final Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP). 198- The last institution set up in 2005 in accordance with Article 25 of the Constitution, providing national

representation for local authorities. It is required to give an opinion on all questions concerning local and regionaldevelopment policy, protection of the environment and improvement of the quality of life of citizens within localauthorities.

Introduction of the reform

The roles of all the actors195 have had to beclarified as a result of decentralisation. At thesame time, the State has had to be reformed tobring its institutions and sector policies in linewith the new context and to organise the tasks ofsector services within a process of devolution.While the state apparatus has focused on itsconventional functions (finance, expenditure,police, foreign affairs), cooperation has beenorganised between devolved authorities (technicalservices, for instance) and decentralised authorities(such as municipalities).

The National Support Programme for LocalGovernment (PNACT), steered by the Ministry ofTerritorial Administration and Local Government(MATCL196), was introduced in 2000. It was supportedby the technical and financial partners (TFPs), whichpooled their resources to enable the whole countryto be covered by a single system. The financial side,formed by a local authority investment fund (FICT), ismanaged by the National Agency for LocalGovernment Investment (ANICT) and is used forfinancing local government investment. The technicalside, geared towards helping local government totake control of its own affairs, has been implementedvia the municipal advisory centres (CCCs) at ‘cercle’level and coordinated by the National CoordinationUnit (CCN), which answers to the DNCT and issupervised by a national policy committee (CNO).

In parallel, implementation of an institutionaldevelopment programme (PDI), which was drawnup by the Ministry of the Public Service, StateReform and Institutional Relations (MFPRERI) andadopted by the Government on 16 July 2003, hasbeen ongoing since 2005. This will pave the way foradministrative as well as political democracy. Allstate and public components have been reviewedin regard to enhancing governance through stable,permanent and credible administrative structures,against a backdrop of sustainable development. ThePDI has five main principles: reorganising centralgovernment through methods and procedures formanaging public affairs, stepping up devolution,consolidating decentralisation, upgrading andenhancing human resource capacity, and com-munication and relations with users.

All these policy decisions are also part andparcel of a global strategy for poverty reduction197

whose main priority is to “ensure institutionaldevelopment, improved governance andparticipation”.


There is a wide range of actors very closelyinvolved in the success of the reforms that aretaking place over the long term, as summarised inthe National Decentralisation Policy ReferenceDocument (DCPND) 2005-2014. This referenceand policy framework for decentralisation anddevolution provides a shared platform for thework of the government and its bilateral andmultilateral partners, as well as the work of thegovernment and its national partners (localauthorities, civil organisations, the private sector,etc.). Its aim is to prevent inconsistenciesbetween decentralisation and sector policies,between the decentralisation process and otherreforms of the state and between developmentprogrammes in general. It also aims to provide aframework making it possible to regularly monitorand evaluate how decentralisation is beingimplemented, using clear, shared objectives andindicators.

In February 2005, the “decentralisation roundtable” provided an opportunity for thegovernment and the TFPs to evaluate what stagethe process had reached, to look at achievementsand to assess the joint efforts to be made in orderto achieve the updated objectives.

At present, the main achievements of thereform are the following:� from a legal point of view, the adoption andapplication of the basic laws on decentralisation;the adoption of the decrees on transfers of powerin the fields of education, health and water; theadoption of the laws on local government publicservice and syndicates of municipalities; and thereview of local government code;� from an institutional point of view, theintroduction of municipalities; the inauguration ofthe Higher Local Government Council198 (HCC) andthe growing involvement of the Association of

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199- The AMM was set up on 22 November 2000, following the first national day for municipalities. It replaced theAssociation of Malian Mayors, which had existed since 1993 and was formed by the 19 former urbanmunicipalities.

200- The ACCRM was set up on 21 October 2001 and is about to merge with the AMM.201- Set up by Order 01-022/P-RM of 20 March 2001 and organised by Decree 01-374/P-RM of 21 August 2001, the CDI

is the starting point for drafting the PDI. In particular, its brief is to analyse the institutional changes brought aboutby the democratisation process, to encourage and/or assist any institutional reform likely to help the process, todraw up reform measures likely to strengthen the institutional and organisational capacities of the state and localgovernment and ensure that their implementation is monitored, and to provide support for implementingdevolution and decentralisation policy.

202- Computerised monitoring/evaluation tool: a database receiving data from the CCCs.

Malian Municipalities199 (AMM) and the Associationof Malian ‘Cercle’ and Regional Authorities200

(ACCRM) in decision making;� the functioning of the national technical andfinancial support system set out in the PNACTthrough which local government can obtainbudgeted investment resources, offering aframework for effective and pertinentharmonisation, which is gaining the support of agrowing number of TFPs;� implementation of the PDI’s operational plan(2005-2007);� the high turnout and improved representation ofwomen in the municipal elections held in 2004,bearing witness to the growing involvement ofcitizens in the management of public affairs, thecredibility that the post of local elected officer hasnow gained, and a national awareness of localissues in the areas of social, economic and culturaldevelopment;� the existence of the DCPND to which the stateis committed at the highest possible level andwhich is a tool for dialogue between actors,offering a reference framework for steeringimplementation of the reform.

The main challenges to be faced include:� a lack of economic and financial viability on thepart of local government as a result of the lack ofboth internal and external resources;� ongoing delays in the transfer of powers, assetsand financial and human resources to localgovernment;� a lack of effective devolution that would enablestate services to assist local authorities inefficiently steering municipal, local and regionaldevelopment, together with the private sector;� delays in the Joint Services’ (SECOM) take-overof the CCCs (the cornerstone of the technicalsupport system and permanent structures to bemanaged by local authorities); � the fact that implementing procedures for thevarious financial channels are not consistent orcomplementary (between sector programmes andthe FICT, for instance), with sector planning takingno account of local authority planning;� inadequate monitoring of the impact on actualpractice of the many initiatives to build the capacity

of the actors involved in decentralisation (electedofficers and local authority workers, supervisoryservices, devolved technical services, civil society,etc.), even though there are tools for monitoringand evaluating performance that could besystematically used;� a lack of articulation between regional and localdevelopment throughout the planning, basic datacollection and analysis, and evaluation stages,which is hampering cooperation betweenmunicipalities as well as some decision-makingand follow-up action;� a low level of support for and participation in theprocess by citizens, as they have not been madeaware of the benefits of decentralisation,particularly through civic education andcommunication schemes and improved access toinformation;� shortcomings of the steering system accompanyingdecentralisation: new forums for consultation bringingtogether all the actors of decentralisation—ministries,HCC, Commissariat for Institutional Development201

(CDI), ANICT, organisations of elected officers, civilsociety—and a joint ministerial committee to steerreforms need to be set up in order to take up thevarious challenges and to draw up a clear strategy fora gradual shift away from the PNACT prior to itsexpiration in 2010.

There have been some shortcomings in theareas of planning, coordination and monitoring ofdecentralisation during the first few years ofimplementation of the system. This is the mainchallenge for the State, which is keen to refocusits tasks on the design of public policies, steering,control and evaluation and to improve itsefficiency and performance. The CCN has alreadybeen given the task of becoming more involved inmonitoring the impact of the system from thepoint of view of the development of localgovernment capacity, particularly by analysingdata from the OISE database.202 Studies havebeen conducted in order to set up an observatoryof decentralisation, for which most of the datacould, in theory, come from databases alreadybeing run by the various actors involved in thedecentralisation process.

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203- Law 61-50 of 31 December 1961, organising local government.204- Under Law 55-1489 of 18 November 1955, the city of Niamey became a fully independent municipality.205- Law 64-023 of 17 July 1964, creating administrative divisions and local government. 206- Decree 74-20/PCMS/MI of 13 August 1974, organising provisional participation by the people in the management

of public affairs while awaiting the re-election of councils.207- Order 83-26 of 4 August 1983, organising the development company.208- A new constitution, establishing a pluralist democracy, was approved by referendum on 26 December 1992.209- The national conference, held from 29 July to 3 November 1991, addressed multi-party issues and the claim for

independence for the north of the country.210- Law 94-028 of 21 October 1994, laying down basic principles for the freedom of administration of districts and

municipalities and their prerogatives and resources.211- Law 96-05 of 6 February 1996, creating administrative divisions and local government, and Law 96-06 of 6

February 1996, laying down basic principles for the freedom of administration of regions, departments andmunicipalities and their prerogatives and resources.


The first steps towards decentralisation in Nigerwere taken during the colonial period. A 1957decree, gave territorial chiefs the power to set uprural communities as legal entities and financialindependence. After independence in 1960,decentralisation made very slow progress eventhough a law organising local government wasenacted.203 Apart from the municipality ofNiamey,204 only two further municipalities, Zinderand Maradi, were created in 1961. In 1964,205 newadministrative divisions were created: thedépartements (departments), arrondissements(districts) and communes (municipalities). Thearrondissements and municipalities were givenlocal government status. Deliberating bodieswere set up with elected municipal councillors inthe case of municipal councils and deputies in thecase of district councils.

The 1974 coup d’état put decentralisation on theback burner. The councils, executive and deliberatingbodies were dissolved and replaced by consultativecommissions,206 which were themselves replaced in1983 by village, district, department and nationaldevelopment companies.207

It was only at the beginning of the 1990s, during aperiod of democratisation208 and national dialogue,209

that there were genuine moves towardsdecentralisation. Under a new administrative

decentralisation law in 1994,210 districts andmunicipalities retained their local government statusand new districts and municipalities could becreated. The main lines of the new decentralisationpolicy were maintained after 1996, despite a coupd'état, but their implementation was delayed. It wasonly in July 2004, after the constitutional referendumof 1999 and two presidential terms (1999 and 2004),that municipal elections, which had been postponedon a number of occasions, actually took place,bringing decentralisation into being.


Up to 1964, Niger’s administrative divisions wereadministered by representatives appointed by theState. Following the adoption of two decentralisationlaws,211 changes were brought about through theendeavours of a special commission — in conjunctionwith the Haut Commissariat à la RéformeAdministrative et à la Décentralisation (HighCommissariat for Administrative Reform andDecentralisation) — to redefine the country’sadministrative divisions. The municipality (urban or rural)is the basic level of local government. The departmentis the intermediate level between the municipality andthe region. All local governments are administered by atripartite council, with officers elected directly byuniversal suffrage (who then elect an executive withinthe council), parliamentarians elected by thecommunity (who are ex-officio members but do nothave voting rights) and traditional leaders.

OVERVIEW:

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Implementing administrative reforms

The key aim of decentralisation is to bringadministration closer to those being administeredand to ensure that decisions are taken as close aspossible to their points of implementation, whilemaking local actors more responsible. Mayorsnow have to work under the dual scrutiny ofelectors and the State, whose scrutiny isretrospective.

In February 2005, the management andexecutive bodies of local governments wereestablished. Getting them up and running hasnow become a priority because the municipalcouncils of the 265 municipalities are responsiblefor meeting the basic needs of citizens in a waythat also addresses poverty in line with thenational poverty reduction programme launchedin 1999 by the government. This means that theywill have to manage a number of competenciesthat the central state has conferred on them.

Although there are differences between urbanand rural communities, these competencies arelargely to do with the main concerns of thepopulation: primary health; nursery and primaryeducation; roads and highways; social, health andsanitation infrastructure; civil records; censuses;municipal police, etc.


The Constitution states that ‘territorialadministration shall be based on the principles ofdecentralisation and deconcentration. […] The lawshall determine the basic principles for thefreedom of administration of local governmentsand their competences and resources.’213

Municipalities are starting to functionthroughout the country through their municipalcouncils, which are the genuine nerve centres ofdeliberation and decision-making. Deliberating

212- Law 2001-023 of 10 August 2001, creating administrative divisions and local government.213- Constitution of the Niger, 18 July 1999, Article 127.

Administrative

breakdown212

Local

government

Administrative

division

Deliberating

bodyExecutive body

Decentralised

supervisory

authority

7 regionsa X XRegionalCouncil

Chairman ofthe Council

Governor

Urban Community ofNiamey (considered as aregion)b

X XUrban

CommunityCouncil

Chairman of theCouncil

Governor

Other urban communities(Zinder, Maradi, Tahoua)

X XUrban

CommunityCouncil

Chairman of theCouncil

Governor

36 departmentsc X XDepartment

CouncilChairman of the

Council‘Préfét’

155 districts(arrondissements)

X ‘Sous-Préfet’

265 municipalities:213 rural and 52 urbanmunicipalities

X X Municipal council Mayor Mayor

Table 1: Administrative Organisation

Source: MDP. 2004. Decentralisation in Africa. Observatory on Decentralisation. Cotonou: Municipal Development Partnership.a. Law 98-31 of 14 September 1998 established seven regions and determined their boundaries and the name of their capitals.Law 2002-012 of 11 June 2002 laid down basic principles for the freedom of administration of regions, departments andmunicipalities.b. Law 98-33 of 14 September 1998, establishing the Urban Community of Niamey, on par with a region, whose territory isformed by the territories of the three municipalities of Niamey, called Niamey I, II and III; as amended by Law 2002-015 of 11June 2002, creating the Urban Community of Niamey.c. Law 98-30 of 14 September 1998, creating 36 departments and setting their boundaries and the names of their capitals.d. Law 2002-14 of 11 June 2002, creating municipalities and determining the names of their capitals.Implementing administrative reforms

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and executive bodies have been set up andmunicipal meetings are held regularly in line withthe principles laid down by law. Municipalcouncils have executed the municipal budgets,and some development activities are underway.

Even though full ‘municipalisation’214 has beenchosen, largely to prevent a two-speedadministrative system, the actual functioning ofdecentralisation nevertheless varies considerablyfrom one region to another, from one departmentto another, and even from one municipality toanother. Various factors play a part in thesevariations. These include, for instance, thecapacity of the actors to take on their new rolesand responsibilities, many of which have yet to befully clarified. Low literacy levels are a problemamong rural elected officers and there isinadequate supervisory help from the State. Inparallel, development issues are rallyingpopulations to very different degrees, and there isa lack of appropriately skilled administrative andtechnical staff. The presence or absence ofdevelopment organisations willing to provide bothtechnical and financial support to localgovernment, and the ability of elected officers toattract them, may also be part of the problem.

From a technical point of view, municipalitiesconsider that support for municipal developmentplanning is a priority. In financial terms, the law onthe local government financing system sets outvarious resources for municipalities and localgovernments in general. These include themunicipality’s own taxation (including variouslocal taxes and duties) and some taxes within theoverall taxation system, which are to some extentlocal taxes. The State pays back other taxes andduties on an annual basis under the finance lawsfor local governments. Municipalities may alsocontract loans, take up the state subsidiesavailable to them by law and developpartnerships. However, municipalities are indifferent situations here as well, linked to thewealth of their (natural and other) resources andthe ability to mobilise them and transform theminto tangible assets able to serve development.This problem is also found at the State level aspublic finance is beset by liquidity problems.

The State is responsible for implementingdecentralisation and getting it up and running, butit is difficult to define roles and responsibilities insuch a way as to prevent problems of institutionalrivalry. The legal texts, drawn up chiefly to meetthe needs of effective decentralisation, do little tomeet the growing concerns shaped by changes inboth a national and international context.

Transfers of competencies and resources,scheduled to be progressive, are delayed, whichis starting to raise some concerns among localgovernment managers in terms of the newcapacities to be developed, the financial assets tobe formed or the minimum resources to bemobilised. This concern is shared by the State,which is trying to make information and traininginto a key strategy to strengthen municipalities sothat they are able to take over the initialcompetencies transferred.

Nationally, institutions supporting thefunctioning of municipalities, such as the HautConseil des Collectivités Territoriales (HighCouncil for Local Government), are starting toemerge. Since the general meeting of theAssociation of Mayors of Niger in 2003, itsrestructuring has breathed new life into theassociation: it has now become the associationfor municipalities in Niger. It is electing its leaders,who were previously appointed, and is trying tostandardise municipal practices in order to makethem more consistent nationally.

As decentralisation is being set up, alliances arestarting to emerge between actors who found itdifficult at the outset to see how they could worktogether. The public administration, responsiblefor leading the institutional system of support formunicipalities, is trying to reposition itself. Toolsbacking up the process (such as the stabilisationfund and the support fund for local government)are starting to appear at the initiative of the Stateand support partners. Civil society is also rallyingto support a process that is still very much in itsinitial stages.

214- Division of the whole of the country into municipalities and incorporation of any human settlement in nationalterritory into a municipality.

Sonia Le Bay and

Christiane Loquai (eds)

Assessing decentralisation and local governance in West AfricaTaking Stock of Strengthening the Monitoring and Evaluation Capacity of Local Actors

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Assessing decentralisation and local governance in West Africa

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