Decentralization, Democracy and Development: Recent Experience from Sierra Leone (World Bank Country Study)

Contents......Page 5
Foreword......Page 10
Editors and Contributors......Page 12
Acknowledgments......Page 14
Abbreviations and Acronyms......Page 15
Literature on Decentralization and Post-Conflict State-Building......Page 17
Brief Background on Sierra Leone......Page 19
Unfolding Sierra Leone's Decentralization in the Context of Post-Conflict State-Building......Page 20
Table 1. Deviations of Actual Spending from Budget Allocations, 2003–07 (%)......Page 28
Has Decentralization Energized Civic Participation in Local Governance?......Page 30
Sustainability Challenges in Sierra Leone......Page 31
Conclusions: What Have We Learned from Sierra Leone's Experience?......Page 32
Notes......Page 34
How the Decentralization Policy and Local Government Act 2004 Were Developed......Page 35
Statutory Instrument and Timetable for Decentralization......Page 37
Local Government Act 2004 and the Political Framework......Page 38
Local Government Act 2004 and Other Laws (Complementarity and Contradictions)......Page 40
Administrative Framework to Support Decentralization......Page 41
Role of Institutional Reform and Capacity Building Project: World Bank Intervention—Arguments and Process/Actors......Page 43
Decentralization Program in Design......Page 45
Notes......Page 47
Legislative Base......Page 49
Revenue Mobilization......Page 50
Grants System......Page 52
Local Government Development Grants Program......Page 54
Size of Fiscal Transfers......Page 56
Paying the Grants to Councils......Page 57
Financial Management Capacity of the Councils......Page 58
Achievements......Page 59
Notes......Page 60
Local Governance before Passage of Local Government Act 2004......Page 62
Emergence of the New Local Councils......Page 64
Planning for Capacity Building after Passage of Local Government Act 2004......Page 65
Providing and Developing Human Capacity......Page 69
Achievements in Infrastructure Capacity Development......Page 76
Development of Local Council Administrative and Governance Capacity......Page 77
Critical Challenges to Capacity Building for Local Governance......Page 87
Future Possible Changes to Capacity Development......Page 90
Conclusion......Page 92
Notes......Page 93
Overview: Motivating Hypotheses and the Size of the Pie......Page 94
Table 4.1. Statutory Timetable for Transfer of Health Sector Functions and the Date of First Fiscal Transfer......Page 96
Devolution of Agricultural Services......Page 98
Devolution of Education......Page 100
Figure 4.5. National Education Budget, 2007 (excluding indirect payments)......Page 102
Likely Areas of Decentralization Impacts......Page 104
Notes......Page 105
How Might Decentralization Be Predicted to Impact Services?......Page 107
Data......Page 108
Testable Hypotheses......Page 109
Table 5.1. Access and Quality of Public Services, 2005–07 (%)......Page 110
Areas with Initially Low Levels of Service Have Experienced Catch-up in Some Sectors......Page 114
Table 5.4. Supervision Visits to Clinics, 2005–08 (%)......Page 117
Notes......Page 118
Political Motivation of Decentralization and Electoral Outcome of 2004 Local Council Elections......Page 119
Has Decentralization Brought Government to the Doorsteps of the Rural Masses?......Page 121
Figure 6.2. Citizens' Perception of Local Councils......Page 125
Civic Activism at the Grassroots......Page 131
Are the People Disciplining Their Representatives via Elections?......Page 133
Table 6.6. Reasons to Reelect or Replace Local Councilors: Views of Opinion Leaders (%)......Page 138
Figure A6.1.2. Age Profile of Candidates for Local Council Elections, 2009......Page 140
Figure A6.1.4. Political Attention to Different Types of Communities......Page 142
7. Landscape of Local Authority in Sierra Leone: How "Traditional" and "Modern" Justice and Governance Systems Interact......Page 144
Research Methodology......Page 145
Mapping Local Authority Structures in Sierra Leone......Page 146
Observations on Sources of Authority in Sierra Leone......Page 151
Local Councils' Interactions with Other Authority Structures......Page 155
Conclusions and Recommendations: Complex, Mixed System of Local Governance Is Here to Stay......Page 161
Notes......Page 163
8. Reflections and Conclusions on Positives and Problems Resulting from Devolution to Date......Page 172
Appendix: IRCBP Evaluations Unit: Overview of Surveys......Page 178
References......Page 181
Table 3.1. Compliance with Minimum Conditions and Scores on Performance Measures......Page 80
Table 3.2. LGDG Performance Incentive Grant Distribution Scale......Page 81
Table 3.3. LGDG Performance Incentive Grant by Local Council......Page 82
Table 3.4. Status of Accounts and Audit, 2005 and 2006......Page 85
Figure 3.1. Own-Source Revenue Collected, FY2007 (%)......Page 86
Figure 4.3. National Agriculture Budget, 2007......Page 99
Figure 4.4. National Education Budget, 2007 (including indirect payments)......Page 101
Table 5.2. Does Greater Sector Decentralization Correlate with Greater Public Service Improvement?......Page 111
Table 5.3. Correlation between Improved Services and Changes in Distance to Power (%)......Page 115
Table 6.1. Sierra Leone's Many Isolated Communities......Page 122
Table 6.2. Correlations between November 2006 Local Council Management Performance Measures and June 2007 Average Citizen Perception of Council and Councilor......Page 127
Table 6.4. Perception of Central Government and Local Councils among Those Who Have More Interactions with Local Councils (%)......Page 128
Table 6.5. First Most Important Reason for Choosing to Vote by Local Council......Page 137
Figure 1. Initial Phase of IRCBP: Generating a Virtuous Cycle of Local Government Improvement......Page 24
Figure 2. Perception of Agency Commitment to Decentralization by 110 Participants in Second National Decentralization Dialogue, December 2006......Page 26
Figure 4.1. Sector Shares of Total Vertical Allocation, 2007 (excluding central education payments)......Page 95
Figure 4.2. National Health Budget, 2007......Page 97
Figure 5.1. Clinic Quality Indicators, 2005–08......Page 112
Figure 5.2. Who Makes Decisions in Health? 2005 vs. 2006......Page 116
Figure 6.1. Visits to Remote Areas by Freetown VIPs Compared to Local Councilors, 2006–07......Page 124
Figure 6.3. Citizens' Trust in Local Council Spending......Page 126
Figure 6.5. Councilors in Rural Areas Were Elected from Relatively Better off Communities......Page 130
Figure 6.6. Interest in Politics and Participation in Elections......Page 132
Figure 6.7. Gender and Gaps in Political Awareness, Participation, and Self-Perceived Influence......Page 134
Figure 6.9. Map of Parliamentary Election Results, 2007......Page 135
Figure 6.10. Community Access to Basic Facilities......Page 136
Figure A6.1.3. Sierra Leone: Land of Deprivation......Page 141
Figure 7.1. Most Important Institutions and Actors in Local Governance from a Villager's Perspective......Page 147
Box 5.1. Why Has Health Decentralized Relatively Better Than Education?......Page 113
Box 7.1. Profile of a Chiefdom Development Facilitator......Page 152
Box 7.2. Strangers and Indigenes in Sierra Leone......Page 154
Box 7.3. Getting a Local Council to Deliver......Page 157
Box 7.4. Local Councils and Paramount Chiefs: Key Disputes......Page 158
Box 7.6. "Difficulty in Organizing Community Collective Action"......Page 159