Madagascar : Decentralization

[摘要] The objective of this decentralizationstudy is to provide analysis and policy advice to the newMalagasy government on how to proceed with thedecentralization strategy it inherited from the previousgovernment. The end of the post-crisis emergency recoveryperiod creates the opportunity to correct the weaknesses ofthe previous strategy while building on the exitingachievements. The paper specifically aims to (i) analyze theinstitutional and fiscal context of decentralization and(ii) present the resulting challenges for service deliveryand financing - with a particular focus on localgovernments. Benefiting from primary data from severalhundred local governments, this study aims at provingrecommendations of how to improve the functioning ofcommunes in considering the institutional and fiscalparameters. The report is organized into four chapters,including the Introduction, which explain the political,institutional, and fiscal determinants that have beeninfluencing Madagascar's decentralization process, andwhich will continue to do so in the future.Chapter 2provides the political and institutional background neededto better understand the decentralization context of today.The chapter analyzes the historical forces ofcentralization, which date back to pre-colonial times andtranslate into today's dominant role of the centralgovernment administration. The chapter then takes a closerlook at the existing administrative set-up to explainfunctions and responsibilities at different levels ofgovernment. To this end, it looks at the regulatory gaps andinconsistencies in the legal framework, the parallelismbetween decentralized and deconcentrated layers, and theemerging role of inter- communal associations and informalregional planning bodies. Based on the concept of thesub-national fiscal gap, chapter 3 analyzes structuralconstraints to fiscal decentralization in Madagascar, and inparticular the dominance of revenue items which cannot bedecentralized. Given the l o w degree of fiscaldecentralization, the chapter takes a closer look atexpenditure deconcentration and provides a more in-depthanalysis of deconcentration in the health and educationsectors. The last part of the chapter evaluatesMadagascar's intergovernmental transfers, whichrepresent the most important source of local governmentfinancing.Communes are the lowest and institutionally mostadvanced level of sub-national government in Madagascar.They are also the main focus of this study. The fourthchapter describes the institutional dynamics at the locallevel to provide the ground for a thorough analysis of localgovernment finance. The chapter provides an estimate oflocal needs, and analyzes revenue and expenditure patternsbased on budget data of a large sample of rural communes.

[发布日期] 2003-11-05 [发布机构] Washington, DC

[学科分类] 社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

[关键词] DECENTRALIZATION IN GOVERNMENT;LEGAL FRAMEWORK;DECONCENTRATION;SERVICE DELIVERY;REGIONAL PLANNING