Decentralized Development and NGOs

1
Decentralized Development and NGOs

• Peace Medie
• Brandon Boylan
• Monica Jacobo

2
Golden Oldies

• Kasfir, Designs and Dilemmas An Overview, In
  Local Government and the Third World (Mawhood
  ed.)
• Mawhood, Decentralization The Concept and the
  Practice, In Local Government in the Third World
  (Mawhood ed.)
• John Armstrong, The European Administrative Elite

3
Designs and Dilemmas An Overview Nelson Kasfir

• 1) Why did African states lose such a
  decentralization?
• Colonial legacy on traditional social practices
• Fundamental poverty
• Central government needed for economic growth
• Fear to criticism/opposition
• 2) What are the chances of success of more recent
  proposals?
• For most countries, new decentralization
  arrangement will fail because of discontinuities
  between institutions, deepening poverty, current
  beliefs about the necessity of vertical control,
  and threats perceived by those in power.

4
Mawhood-Decentralization The Concept and the
Practice

• Pure decentralization is rarely implemented
• Instead, most countries practice deconcentration
• A decentralized body should have
• Its own body
• Separate legal existence
• Authority to allocate substantial resources
• A range of different functions
• Representation of the people

5
Mawhood-Decentralization The Concept and the
Practice

• Countries could combine two tiers of management
• Purpose of central-local relations
• Political control
• Economic regulation
• Minimum standards of welfare
• Administrative efficiency

6
Armstrong Europe and Decentralization

• Focus on relationship between prefects and
  prefectures
• France
• -prefects primary responsibility was to
  suppress opposition
• -prefects controlled police
• Russia
• -prefects dominated police
• -prefects influenced engineering corps
  (infrastructure)
• -prefects did not control tax system

7
Armstrong Europe and Decentralization

• Prussia
• -collegiality among prefects led to exclusion of
  others with different training
• -group decision-making, thus, was slow and
  efficient
• -too legalistic, without focus on policy
  potential
• Britain
• -central system promoted system of grants
  instead of direct control
• -inspection, not direction
• -local districts had more control over tax
  collection, but not allocation

8
Literary Map
9
(No Transcript)
10
Synthesis
11
Martinussen Decentralization and Development

• Four types of decentralization
• Deconcentration
• Delegation
• Devolution
• Privatization
• Decentralization has been used to promote
  efficiency and effectiveness but local
  governments are not always capable
• Central and local government and NGOs should work
  together to fill gaps

12
Martinussen Decentralization and Development

• Society and state centered concepts of economic
  development.
• Myrdals concept of the soft state which assumes
  that state is the primary engine of growth.
• Critiqued by market and participation theories
• Ethnic identities can be politicized and can
  affect development planning and distribution of
  resources.

13
Staudt NGOs

• Peoples participation can enhance development
  planning and practice
• Bottom-up mobilization is most effective
• The role of NGOs along with their funding sources
  have e

14
Clark, Turner and Hulme

• Are NGOs decentralization necessary for
  development?
• NGOs are not a panacea for poverty reduction.
  They have comparative advantages but cannot be a
  substitute for state provision of social services
  (TH).
• Decentralization in developing countries has not
  made government interventions more effective in
  promoting development (TH).
• Given the world crisis, NGOs have a critical role
  to play. Their opportunity to influence the
  development process has never been greater.
  However, this new role demands an evolution from
  their starting point. The challenge is to move
  from a tactical to a strategic approach (Clark).

15
Edwards Hulme Scaling Up

• Five Types of NGO Scaling Up
• Additive Strategy (increase in size)
• Multiplicative Strategy (encourage others to
  expand)
• Explosive Strategy (Adapting large-scale projects
  to local circumstances)
• Associational Strategy (Interconnectedness)
• Self-Spreading and Self-Improving Strategy
  (advocating good practice)

16
Hodson NGO Growth

• Problems with NGO growth
• Workers suspicion of hierarchy
• Participatory decision-making
• Factors that affect NGO growth
• Voluntary and involuntary changes, resistance to
  growth, compromised solution, training,
  leadership, decision-making processes