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Achieving accountability through decentralization : lessons for integrated river basin management

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  • Mody, Jyothsna

Abstract

While decentralization holds out the promise of increased flexibility and efficiency, the preconditions for realizing it are daunting. To draw lessons for productive decentralization in integrated river basin management, this paper surveys the decentralization experience in education, health care, roads, irrigation, and public infrastructure services. Case studies reveal that the prime focus in the design of a decentralized structure must be accountability, based on principles of subsidiarity, transparency, and allocation of property rights. While some debates are sector-specific, others, such as the need for political and financial accountability, the related data requirements, educating stakeholders and potential beneficiaries of the new system, and ensuring effective participation are true of decentralization wherever it is to unfold. Inturn, initial conditions and the adaptation of political leadership to suit the historical context determine the success of decentralization. Four issues demand high priority in integrated river basin management. These are (1) overcoming financial inadequacy at the local level; (2) commitment to upgrading skills, particularly management skills, while also ensuring that the expertise accumulated in central bureaucracies is not dissipated; (3) assuring pre-reform beneficiaries that their rights would be protected; and (4) sustaining a long-term commitment to an inevitably slow and drawn out decentralization process. The main conclusions of the literature survey caution those who believe that decentralization is, in itself, a solution to problems of inefficiency and inequity in developing countries. Tradeoffs and tensions need to be reconciled (such as economies of scale versus local monitoring and integrated management or interregional equity versus local control).

Suggested Citation

  • Mody, Jyothsna, 2004. "Achieving accountability through decentralization : lessons for integrated river basin management," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3346, The World Bank.
  • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:3346
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Berezinskaya, Olga (Березинская, Ольга), 2016. "Investment break in the Russian economy: structural characteristics and turnaround perspectives [Инвестиционная Пауза В Экономике России: Структурные Характеристики И Перспективы Ее Преодоления]," Ekonomicheskaya Politika / Economic Policy, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, vol. 3, pages 30-45, June.
    2. V. S. Saravanan & Geoffrey T. McDonald & Peter P. Mollinga, 2009. "Critical review of Integrated Water Resources Management: Moving beyond polarised discourse," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 33(1), pages 76-86, February.
    3. Carla Roncoli & Brian Dowd‐Uribe & Ben Orlove & Colin Thor West & Moussa Sanon, 2016. "Who counts, what counts: representation and accountability in water governance in the Upper Comoé sub‐basin, Burkina Faso," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 40(1-2), pages 6-20, February.
    4. Pande, Saket & van den Boom, Bart & Savenije, Hubert H.G. & Gosain, Ashvani K., 2011. "Water valuation at basin scale with application to western India," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(12), pages 2416-2428.
    5. Dinar, Ariel & Kemper, Karin & Blomquist, William & Kurukulasuriya, Pradeep, 2007. "Whitewater: Decentralization of river basin water resource management," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 29(6), pages 851-867.
    6. Dinar, Ariel & Kemper, Karin & Blomquist, William & Kurukulasuriya, Pradeep, 2006. "The Process and Performance of Decentralization of River Basin Resource Management: A Global Analysis," 2006 Annual meeting, July 23-26, Long Beach, CA 21093, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    7. Blomquist, William & Dinar, Ariel & Kemper, Karin, 2005. "Comparison of institutional arrangements for river basin management in eight basins," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3636, The World Bank.

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