Local governance and municipal development (South American regional)

Project activities will include policy dialogue, developing decentralization action plans, providing demonstration municipalities with TA, and disseminating results. Policy dialogue will be initiated in Chile, a country which has made significant steps towards decentralization, and Paraguay, which has made less progress, to encourage the devolution of broader authority to the local government level. The project will help to organize highly visible policy seminars and workshops to promote consensus among policymakers on issues related to decentralization. The end result will be the preparation of country action plans addressing the policy, legislative, regulatory, institutional, and financial aspects of devolving authority from the central to the municipal level. Once a policy framework for decentralization has been reached, the project will promote implementation of decentralization policy at the local level. Activities will include seminars/workshops for regional and local leaders from the public and private sectors to educate local officials as to what responsibilities they have as result of decentralization. A mass media campaign to promote decentralization among the general public is also envisioned. One or more local governments and their communities will be selected for complementary "from below" activities to expand both the role of local government and of community self-help efforts in solving local problems. Thirdly, the project will provide short-term TA to selected local governments that exhibit the desire to pursue democratic and development initiatives. These demonstration governments will use TA to improve their capacities to undertake new responsibilities, including local revenue generation, and the promotion of community participation in decision making. Training of in-country trainers and consultants to enable them to continue these efforts in the future will be a central focus of the TA effort. The final activity will be to disseminate information on the results of the demonstration activities through publications (e.g., newsletters) and seminars at the country and regional levels. Dissemination activities are expected to reach the Andean countries, Argentina, and possibly other South American countries.