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Provision of Services
Members of the executive prioritized the building of local and national institutions to deliver
services, which is relevant to both the provision of services and effective prioritization
subcategories. Participants specifically referred to a “lack of knowledge of local needs and
deprivations” within local governments, resulting in services not reaching marginalized areas or
resource allocations not being adequate to cover the local population.
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Local government
participants referred to the need for service delivery staff to be more aware of “what service
delivery is and what it means for the people receiving the service.”
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However, though this was
a clear priority for the executive, there were limited specific proposals for what kinds of
capacity needed to be built aside from the need for local staff with financial management skills,
which was deemed necessary to mitigate corruption at the local level.
The main priority for local government participants in this category was to “strengthen legal and
policy frameworks to make service delivery responsibilities clearer,” in the provision of
services sub-category, and directly related to the enabling environment and internal
organizational capacity and management categories.
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Participants were in effect lending
support to a comprehensive decentralization policy, though this was framed in terms of services.
According to one participant representing a local council, “I am told different things by different
people and sometimes do not know what to say to my community members about how to access
services like sewage clearing. The line ministries have not been clear on how local service
delivery works and this makes my – our job – much harder.” This issue was also a priority for
the executive, but framed in terms of the legal and constitutional framework (see below).
Internal Organizational Capacity and Management – High Priority
Clear Roles and Responsibilities
This was the top priority category for executive-branch participants,
145
who identified the
specific need for the government to establish clear guidance on the roles and responsibilities of
ministries and staff within ministries and local government (clear roles and responsibilities sub-
category). (The problem of unclear roles and responsibilities – particularly within the context
of a decentralized service delivery system – was also captured in the local government
workshop as part of the service delivery category.)
The issue of unclear roles and responsibilities was identified as a problem on various levels: 1)
in relation to the roles and responsibilities of departments and staff within ministries, which
according to one participant, “[is] at the beginning stages of development; we have only just
started to think about the different parts of a ministry and who we need in them;” 2) in relation
to which ministry takes responsibility for different aspects of policy. According to one
interviewee, “if the Ministry of Interior tries to take charge on something then someone else will
say it’s not their job – but whose job is it?”; and 3) the delineation of roles and responsibilities
between local government, line ministries and the Ministry of Interior. This issue overlaps with
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See also internal organizational capacity and management category.
143
See also external outreach and inclusiveness category.
144
Participants felt that this change was part of the service delivery category.
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It was a low priority for local government participants.
