How Can ICT Support Decentralization and Help Improve Local Governance?
"Decentralization increases the opportunities for citizens to take
interest in public affairs; it makes them get accustomed to using
freedom."
- A. de Tocqueville
De Tocqueville's optimism seems utterly naive in light of widespread
failures of decentralization to improve local governance in developing
countries. Yet many studies point to one factor as pivotal in
determining the success or failure of decentralization: information
flows. This is precisely the type of problem that ICT should address.
Yet examples of ICT helping ensure successful decentralization are rare
-- or at least under-reported. Far more prevalent are stories of
failure: local power-holders use decentralization to consolidate their
control over resources, and evade the transparency that ICTs are
intended to enforce. Or local governments simply lack the wherewithal --
money, skills, equipment and software -- to use ICT to handle new
responsibilities successfully.
Nonetheless, there are cases illustrating the benefits ICTs offer. For
example, a GKD member described the positive impact of UNDP-supported
PFNet email stations in the Solomon Islands, which use packet radio to
support decentralization of government services, and de-militarization
and re-integration of former combatants into community service and
entrepreneurial activity. Another member, from Zimbabwe, described the
Kubatana Project website, which they describe as "electronic activism,"
that provides users with information on new legislation, the electoral
system and voter registration procedures, as well as major social issues
confronting the country, such as HIV/AIDS.
This week's focus is on identifying successful cases and drawing lessons
from them. In an era of shrinking development funding, we want to
understand exactly how ICT can help improve decentralization and empower
local communities, and what must be done to achieve success.
Key Questions:
1) What are the 'critical success factors' for using ICT to support
decentralization and improve local governance?
2) Which ICT interventions deliver the greatest benefit in improving
local government services?
3) What cases demonstrate the use of ICT to support successful
decentralization, empower local communities and improve local
governance?
4) What actions are essential for using ICT to support successful
decentralization, i.e., what are the 'critical success factors'?
5) What are the risks and pitfalls of using ICT to support
decentralization?
6) Are there particular local government functions (e.g., fiscal
management, service delivery, procurement) that lend themselves
particularly well to using ICT?
7) How can ICTs in the hands of citizens help empower them to enforce
responsive local government?
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This DOT-COM Discussion is funded by the dot-ORG USAID Cooperative
Agreement, and hosted by GKD. http://www.dot-com-alliance.org provides
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