Local government strengthening and democratic assessment

Individual sections cover: obstacles and constraints to decentralization and democratic local governance; the current status of decentralization, including recent experiences and pilot projects and their replicability; the roles and activities of Salvadoran public institutions in decentralization and democratic local governance, and their relationships with USAID, other donors, and NGOs; strengths and weaknesses of the Municipal Development and Citizen Participation (MDCP) project; other models and efforts in citizen participation developed by NGOs and other donors; and general conclusions and recommendations. Annexes cover criteria for decentralization, donor activities, and a brief discussion of concepts of citizen participation. The key finding is that programs with decentralization or democratic local governance policy reform goals in El Salvador must be tempered by modest expectations and a long-term outlook. Positive advances in decentralization and democratic local governance have been dispersed, limited in overall impact, and costly to achieve. None of the policy reforms contemplated in the MDCP Project Paper for either decentralization or popular participation were achieved. While there are some examples of decentralization in the areas of water services and road maintenance, overall progress is limited. There is no overall policy direction for decentralization of either water or roads maintenance. However, with over 150 examples, citizen participation in developing local investment plans appears nearly institutionalized. In addition, a variety of participation models have evolved. While the importance of these gains should not be underestimated, sustainability of the achievements without continued assistance remains questionable. The main conclusion is that there is not enough support at this time to move very far towards significant decentralization. Pursuit of modest objectives within the framework of democratic local governance may provide a somewhat more realistic approach for USAID. A new, medium-term (3-5 year) approach is suggested, based on three pillars: policy reform for devolution of specific authorities; greater democratization through increased citizen access to decisionmakers; and improved competence of local authorities to manage "devolved" activities and of citizens to express demands.