Development Of A System For Allocating Grants To Local Government Authorities In Tanzania
[Project Details]
Tanzania is currently undergoing a wave of decentralization reforms in a process which started with the reintroduction of local government authorities in 1982. The first wave of reforms during the late 1980s and early 1990s resulted in the assignment of significant expenditure (functional) responsibilities to local government authorities, including primary education, basic health care, roads, water and urban services.
However, the first wave of decentralization reforms has revealed several constraints of the decentralization reforms as well. For instance, the budgetary discretion of local government authorities has in fact been relatively limited, and local governments have little discretion to raise own source revenues. As a result, local governments continue to be highly dependent on intergovernmental fiscal transfers. Transfers account for approximately two-thirds of local government resources, and the majority of transfers are sectorally-based conditional transfers. The improvements in service delivery commonly associated with fiscal decentralization reforms have thus far failed to materialize in Tanzania.
In response, the Government of Tanzania introduced the Local Government Reform Programme (LGRP). This "second wave" of decentralization reform was effectively launched in 1999, with the main objective of improving the quality of and the access of public services provided through local government authorities.
Funded by DANIDA, the current study on the development of a system of intergovernmental grants in Tanzania will take place in the context of the Local Government Reform Program. Based on a solid understanding of transfer design issues and the particular situation in Tanzania, the objective of the study is to analyze the shortcomings of the present system of intergovernmental transfers and propose equitable and transparent options for allocating grants to local government authorities in Tanzania.
Click here to access the study's presentations and study documents.
| Project: | Development Of A System For Allocating Grants To Local Government Authorities In Tanzania |
| Date: | September 2001 - January 2002 |
| Team Leader: | Dr. Jamie Boex |
| Project Team: | Dr. Roy Bahl, Dr. Jamie Boex, Dr. Jorge Martinez-Vazquez, and Dr. Longinus Rutasitara (University of Dar es Salaam) |
| Location: | Dar es Salaam, Tanzania |
| Contractor: | DANIDA |
