Decentralisation and local governance both aim at bringing political decisions closer to the citizens. A move from a centralised system to a decentralised system reallocates political power and control from central level government institutions to decentralised institutions and can often become a challenge for any government.
Decentralisation projects are typically closely linked with public sector reforms and overall institutional development. Decentralisation involves building national institutional capacity in municipalities, provinces and districts to carry out service delivery, local development, and enforcement of government regulations etc. De-concentration of government functions to decentralised levels is an element of decentralisation and the two are often implemented in parallel.
Another element of decentralisation is fiscal decentralisation. Fiscal decentralisation includes generating public revenue for local development and political priorities at the local level through for instance property taxation. In this way, successful decentralisation also becomes closely linked with urban development and the development of a cadastre system among others.
Local governance projects typically seek to develop local institutional capacity as well as strengthening the interaction between citizens and local representatives of the government such as local councils or administrations. NIRAS works to support popular participation as an ingredient in local development and local planning as well as strengthening and organising the civil society to ensure that the voice and the priorities of local citizens are heard when local representatives are deciding on future development.
NIRAS carries out assignments in relation to decentralisation, institutional development, municipality development, local governance, civil society, and capacity development in a number of countries worldwide.
Reference projects
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Benin: Consultancy services for Governance, Decentralisation, and Human rights programme
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Bolivia: Technical Assistance to Decentralised Environmental Management Programme and implementation of catchment protection activities
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Mali: Technical assistance to Decentralised Forest Management Project
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Mozambique: Development and implementation of Municipal Financial Management
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Mozambique: Technical Assistance to the joint support programme to 13 municipalities in northern and central Mozambique
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Niger: Technical assistance to the decentralised and regional actors within water and sanitation