Summaries and papers

Empowering Local Government Institutions in the MENA Region
Regional Workshop and Policy Forum, 22-23 January, 2002, Beirut

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Concept Note

Development practitioners, economic and social actors, social scientists and civil society activists have been rediscovering social and political institutions, their crucial role and the many ways through which they shape the patterns of individual interactions, in political exchanges, in the market, as well as in social development. After a long neglect, both in the analytical field and in the priorities of social change, a new emphasis is now being put on understanding the role of institutions and the efficiency of institutional change in facilitating development strategies and insuring the foundations of more efficient and more equitable economies and societies.

Decentralization, as a policy orientation involving political, administrative and fiscal structural changes, and leading to a redistribution of power and responsibility between levels of government, could affect significantly the institutional framework and the critical determinants of development within a country. The very contrasted nature of the socio-political legacies of the MENA region ranges from some of the oldest and most entrenched state centralist tradition (like in Egypt) to relatively weak centers with strong regionalist and localist traditions (like in Lebanon, Jordan, or Yemen).

One of the potentially key institutions that could be reinforced by an effective decentralization process, is the local government structure, most often under the form of municipal government.

Within the framework of the Mediterranean Development Forum (MDF), the Lebanese Center for Policy Studies organized, in collaboration with the University of Madrid, this regional workshop and policy forum on empowering local government in the MENA region.

The workshop focused on issues and initiatives relating to the development of local government in countries of the region where elected local officials are trying to build up municipal and local governance institutions to serve the purposes of sustainable and equitable development. The workshop thus did not deal directly with the status and issues of local administrations and deconcentrated branches and units of central governments.

The workshop concentrated on the countries, where constitutionally and effectively, local power structures have had a significant measure of autonomy and control over their activities, resources and expenditures within their jurisdiction and have been periodically accountable to their constituencies, through relatively contested elections. On that basis, the workshop included cases and participants from Morocco, Lebanon, Jordan and Yemen.

The workshop brought together case studies, assessments and comparative analysis of the institutional capabilities of local governments.

It analyzed and discussed the state of their internal capacity (profiles and proficiency of local councilors, state and issues of staffing, administrative and managerial capacities, fiscal outreach, level and quality of routine service delivery and capacity for project development and implementation).

It also evaluated and discussed the state of their relational capacity concerning both the state central and local administrations and their own local constituencies.

On one hand, the workshop discussed the ability of local power structure to understand and deal effectively with the legal, administrative and fiscal frameworks, procedures and control mechanisms governing their relationship with the central state. It tried to analyze their capacity to influence or impact in the central decision-making mechanisms, for their own interest and purposes. It explored their strategies and options to maximize their autonomy vis-à-vis the central system.

On the other hand, the workshop attempted to analyze and discuss issues of consolidation of the democratic basis of local governance in the region. It examined the willingness and ability of local power structures to inform their constituencies about activities, projects and decisions. It also analyzed their practice in consulting local constituencies in the decision-making process concerning the major issue of interest for the locality. It discussed their willingness and ability to collaborate with groups of citizens, local civil society organizations and other voluntary to further the goals of local development and community empowerment.

The project will benefit from the on-going LCPS extensive evaluation of municipal development in Lebanon. The LCPS study, to be completed by the fall of 2002, includes a national field survey of a sample of 350 municipalities, case studies of a sample of 25 municipalities, six focus groups and a national workshop involving many of the major stakeholders of municipal development in the country. Although limited of course in its validity to the specific case of Lebanon, this substantial empirical research is very indicative of many problems and issues of decentralization and municipal governance in the Arab region.

In this project, in the spirit of enlarging the reach of MDF, LCPS would collaborate, in addition to the MDF partners, with a group of concerned new partners such as the Groupe de Recherches et d'Etudes des Territoires (GRET), in Rabat; the Public Administration Research Center (PARC), in Cairo University; the Jordanian Center for Social Research (JCSR), in Amman; the Center for Yemeni Studies (CYS), in Sanaa and other institutions and networks in the Mediterranean region.

The project would also include research and experiences from the Northern Mediterranean countries, and other regions of the world.

The project will be implemented in two phases:

First, a study workshop where representatives of associations of elected officials, specialized policy researchers and concerned civil society leaders from the various countries will discuss presentations of background papers, cases studies, and comparative overviews of the issues of local government underlined above.

The workshop would convene in Beirut, Lebanon, and a second time in Madrid, Spain in the fall of 2001. The Beirut, Lebanon workshop will analytically and comparatively address the main issues involved in local government empowerment in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. These issues will be discussed with Spanish and other European experts.

A follow-up workshop will be held in Madrid, Spain to complement the activities of the Beirut workshop. During the Madrid workshop, analysts, practitioners, local elected officials and mayors from Europe will present the political decentralization model, the new system of inter-government relations, new challenges, and best practices. The main issues to be covered in the Spanish seminar include: the legal set-up of local authorities; democratic developments at the local level; local developments and fiscal decentralization; size and the relation with democracy and efficiency at the local level; institutional dialogue among the tiers of government; the access mechanism of local authorities to decision making bodies; and the role of local municipal associations. These issues will be discussed with MENA experts.

Next, a policy dialogue forum, in a two-day, four sessions format, which will engage an open debate between a number of invited stakeholders and a group of interested participants, at the Mediterranean Development Forum Conference in Amman, on the 6-9 October 2002. The policy forum will be introduced by an issue paper synthesizing the main findings of the workshop and will be supported by four brief power-print presentations at each of the policy dialogue sessions.

The sessions would focus on some of the current attempts at promoting and enhancing local government and initiatives at the municipal level, by discussing specific experiences from the different regional traditions. The sessions would highlight few exemplary cases of (or failed attempts at) municipal innovations, to reflect on the lessons to be learned, the replicability of institutional innovations, and the importance of institution building, municipal leadership and citizens participation for a successful and efficient local government.

Finally, LCPS is intent on trying to take the opportunity of this initiative and the gathering of the MDF4 in Amman, to launch, with a number of partners, a Mediterranean Local Government (MLG) Policy Network to further the exchange and collaboration between elected local officials, the policy research community and the civil society organizations in the Mediterranean region.

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