Building capacities for monitoring and evaluating decentralisation and local governance in West Africa (2005-2007)
In June 2005, REDL, a Malian network of 12 development organisations working in local governance and the Malian Ministry of Local Government and Territorial Administration initiated a “process of capitalisation”. The process aimed to:
- identify, document and analyse approaches to building capacity with local actors for monitoring and evaluating democratic decentralisation and local governance in West Africa;
- facilitate a structured exchange of experiences and provide an opportunity for networking and learning about available approaches and tools;
- encourage stakeholders to feed their experiences into the wider policy debate at the country, regional and international level.
SNV-Mali and ECDPM were mandated to facilitate this process. In so doing, three main activities were undertaken.
Firstly, a methodological approach to joint stocktaking and analysis of experiences was developed with local stakeholders.
Secondly, case study teams were formed at the country level. They prepared eleven studies on a diverse set of innovative experiences with approaches and tools for monitoring and evaluating the effects and impacts of outcomes of decentralisation and local governance on poverty reduction and local development.
Thirdly, support was mobilised for a regional seminar. This event was held in May 2006 in Bamako, Mali with more than 100 participants from local and central governments, civil society, private sector and development organisations. They came from from 6 West African countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ghana, Mali and Niger).
The following development organizations, who are all members of the REDL network, contributed to this activity:
- The Programme d’Appui aux Collectivités Territoriales (PACT-GTZ)
- Norwegian Church Aid (AEN)
- HELVETAS-Mali
- CARE International au Mali
- Solidarité – Union – Coopération (SUCO), a Canadian NGO
- The Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA)
Synthesis Report
Full Report:
Assessing decentralisation and local governance in West Africa Taking Stock of Strengthening the Monitoring and Evaluation Capacity of Local Actors (PDF) NEW!
Chapters:
Annexes
Contents, Foreword and Introduction
Part I
Part II Chapters 1-2
Part II Chapters 3-4
Part II Chapter 5 and conclusion
Évaluation du processus de décentralisation et de la gouvernance locale en Afrique de l’Ouest (PDF) NEW!
Chapîtres:
Annexes
Table, preface et introduction
Partie I
Partie II chapître 1-2
Partie II chapître 3-4
Partie II chapître 5 et conclusion
Publications and online resources:
Case Studies
The English and French versions can be found below, currently only eight of the case studies have been translated into English.
Mali: Assessment of local government performance: experience with a self-evaluation tool
GHANA District-based poverty profiling, mapping and pro-poor planning as a monitoring and evaluation tool
MALI: Public perceptions as a barometer of local governance
MALI Participatory monitoring and evaluation as a means of empowering local government in the region of Mopti (PDF)
MALI Evaluating the impact of decentralisation (PDF)
CAMEROON: Strategic planning and monitoring of municipal development (PDF)
BENIN: Public control in the education sector: the pilot phase of the participatory local impact monitoring methodology (SILP) (PDF)
NIGER: Planning and M&E in municipalities, focusing on poverty reduction (PDF)
MALI Towards a basic health-sector information system for municipal actors (SIEC-S) (PDF)
MALI Municipalities in figures: needs and realities (PDF)
MALI Geographical information systems (GIS) for the development of rural municipalities (PDF)
French versions:
Bénin - Contrôle citoyen dans le secteur de l’éducation : la phase pilote du Suivi d’Impact Local Participatif (SILP) (PDF)
Cameroun - Planification stratégique et suivi du développement communal (PDF)
Ghana - Cartographie du profil de pauvreté des districts : un outil de suivi et d'évaluation (PDF)
Mali - Des Systèmes d'Information Géographique (SIG) au service du développement des communes rurales (PDF)
Mali - La commune en chiffres : besoins et réalités (PDF)
Mali - Suivi évaluation participatif pour l'habilitation des collectivités territoriales de la région de MOPTI (PDF)
Mali - Comment évaluer les impacts de la décentralisation ? (PDF)
Mali - Auto évaluation des performances des collectivités territoriales : de la conception à la réplication d'un outil (PDF)
Mali - Vers un système d'information essentielle sur le secteur de la santé pour les acteurs communaux (SIEC-S) (PDF)
Mali - Les perceptions des citoyens comme baromètre de la gouvernance locale (PDF)
Niger : Planification et suivi évaluation dans les communes orientés vers la réduction de la pauvreté (PDF)
http://www.snvmali.org/actus/actualite.html: conference web-site with background documents and summaries of case studies, full versions of case studies upcoming.
http://www.dgroups.org/groups/pelican: online discussion on some of the tools and case studies documented and analysed in the context of the joint “activity” planned for September 2006.
We will provide updates on further outcomes and publications on this joint activity via this web-site. For more information, please, contact Christiane Loquai, cl@ecdpm.org
Previous activities of relevance: Building capacity for monitoring decentralisation and local governance processes
Policy seminar on European support for decentralistion and local development (June 2000)
This event took place shortly after the negotiations on the new ACP-EU partnership agreement had been finished. The Cotonou Agreement introduced support to decentralisation as a priority for ACP-EU cooperation. In this context around 60 aid practitioners and policy makers from the ACP and EU countries jointly explored strategic and operational challenges for European support to decentralisation. Approaches and tools for monitoring and evaluating the effects and impacts of (support to) decentralisation in ACP countries were identified as a common challenge for the future.
Publications and online resources
Monitoring and evaluating support to decentralisation (2002-2004)
In a follow-up to the above-mentioned policy seminar, this activity looked into the present practice of monitoring and evaluation of support to decentralisation and local governance in two countries: Mali and Kenya.
Publications and online resources
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