Topic Guide on Decentralisation and Local Government - 2009

Estimates suggest that decentralisation is currently being pursued in over 80% of developing countries worldwide. For many people, local government (LG) is the part of government that most directly impacts on their lives, particularly via the provision of local services like water, sanitation, primary education and primary healthcare.

This topic guide provides practical guidance for designing, implementing and evaluating decentralisation reforms and local government practices to ensure they are as effective as possible. It also synthesises and presents current debates on the impact of decentralisation and local government on poverty reduction, service delivery and conflict as well as providing links to cutting-edge research and recent case studies.

The guide includes summaries of key texts. Each short summary links to an extended summary which can be found in the alphabetised appendix.

This guide was written in September 2009 by Zoë Scott (Research Fellow in DFID’s Governance and Social Development Resource Centre) with assistance from Nick Devas (Senior Lecturer, International Development Department, University of Birmingham, UK) and Dr Munawwar Alam (Governance and Institutional Development Division, Commonwealth Secretariat).