Client-contractorship and local development · 4 Client-contractorship and local development -...

Client-contractorship and local development

Methodological guide

Client-contractorship and local developmentMethodological GuideMarch 2013

CollaboratorsPeter van der Jagt

Anne-Sophie Aublet

Stef Lambrecht

Lore Lambrecht

Liesbeth De Baere

Lut Mathys

Original title: Maîtrise d’ouvrage locale - Guide Méthodologique

Translation: Accolade Language Services

Cover photo: Marc Despiegelaere

Edition: Druk in de Weer, GhentThis brochure was printed on recycled paperwith ink without vegetable and volatile organic substances.

PROTOS Flamingostraat 36 9000 Ghent Belgium

+32 (0)9 235 25 10

[email protected]

www.protosh2o.org

1 Client-contractorship and local development - Methodological guide

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Table of contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

List of figures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

List of boxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Acronyms and abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Client-contractorship and local development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Local governance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Decentralization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Client-contractorship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Local client-contractorship. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

The stages of a project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Trends and developments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Supporting local client-contractorship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

The actors and their roles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

The guiding principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

The integrated cycle principle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

The 4 dimensions principle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

The multi-actor principle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

The rights and obligations principle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

The learning from experience principle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

The two-level game principle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

The stages of implementation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Programming & Planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Definition and Preparation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Implementation and Acceptance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84


List of figuresFigure 1: Territorial authorities in the different partner countries that work with PROTOS . 13

Figure 2: The stages of client-contractorship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Figure 3: The new division of roles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Figure 4: The various forms of support for local client-contractorship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Figure 5: Roles of the local client-contractorship support agency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Figure 6: Roles and responsibilities in municipal client-contractorship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Figure 7: The six phases of the project cycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Figure 8: The 4 strategic dimensions of client-contractorship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Figure 9: Relationships in a multi-actor approach. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Figure 10: Rights and obligations in the governance of public services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Figure 11: The stages of implementation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

List of boxes

Box 1: PROTOS: Water, The LEVER for development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Box 2: PROTOS and local client-contractorship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Box 3: Local management of water systems in Ituri, RD Congo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Box 4: Decentralization and sustainable development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Box 5: The evolution of local development roles in Uganda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Box 6: Local governance of the Service of drinking water in Cañar, Saraguro . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Box 7: The new programming approach in Benin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Box 8: Supporting local governance for improved food security in the Republic of Niger . . 44

Box 9: Partnership between local authority and community in Saraguro, Ecuador . . . . . . . . 48

Box 10: From a community approach to a public commitment in Madagascar . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Box 11: Municipalities in Benin learn the art of client-contractorship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Box 12: Organized advocacy in Ecuador . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Box 13: The Ouroma dam in Mali . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Box 14: The Strategic Management Plan in Cap-Haitien, Haiti . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Box 15: Different levels of consultation in Mali . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Box 16: The reduction of fiduciary risks in Benin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Box 17: The management of rural networks in Madagascar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Box 18: Experience fosters change in Benin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88


Acronyms and abbreviations ACEP Association de Consommateurs d’Eau Potable (Association of Drinking Water Consumers)

CEDIR Centro de Desarrollo y Investigación Rural (Centre for Rural Development and Research)

CenAGRAP Centro de Apoyo para la Gestión Rural del sector de Agua Potable

(Support Centre for the Rural Management of the Drinking Water Sector)

CIDRI Centre d’Initiation du Developpement Rural en Ituri

(Centre for the Promotion of Rural Development in Ituri)

CTB Coopération Technique Belge (Belgian Technical Cooperation)

BL Bye-laws

DC District Council

DGD General Directorate for Belgian Development Cooperation

F3E Funds for promoting preliminary studies, cross sectional studies and evaluations

FIKRIFAMA Fifanampiana Kristiana ho an’ny Fampandrosoana eto Madagasikara (Madagascan NGO)

FMTR Fikambanan’ny Mpahazo Tombontsoa amin’ny Rano (Water users association Madagascar)

GIREDIN Gestion Intégrée des Ressources en Eau dans le Delta Intérieur du Niger

(Integrated Water Resources Management in the inner delta of the Niger)

GIS Geographical Information System

GTIH Groupe Technologie Intermédiaire en Haiti (Haitian NGO)

HAADI Hydraulique et Assainissement en Appui au Développement Institutionnel

(Hydraulics and Sanitation in Support of Institutional development)

HFAD Head of the Financial Affairs Department

HLI Highly Labour Intensive

ICCO Interkerkelijke Organisatie voor Ontwikkelingssamenwerking

(Interchurch Organization for Development Cooperation Dutch NGO)

IFB Invitation For Bids

IOCA Institutional and Organizational Capacity Assessment

JESE Joint Effort to Save the Environment (Ugandan NGO)

KR Komitin’ny Rano (Water committee)

LC Local Council

LG Local Government

MDF Management for Development Foundation

MOP Maîtrise d’Ouvrage Publique (Public Client-contractorship)

MDG Millennium Development Goals

NGO Non-Governmental Organization

NP2D Politique Nationale de Décentralisation et de Déconcentration

(National Policy of Decentralization and Deconcentration)

OECD Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development

OPCI Organisme Public de Coopération Intercommunale

(Public Entity for Intercommunal Cooperation)

PAD Programme d’Appui à la Décentralisation

(Decentralization Support Programme)

PADEAR Programme d’Appui au Développement du secteur Eau et Assainissement en milieu Rural

(Programme for the Development of the Water supply and Sanitation Sector in Rural Areas)


PAGIREL Programme d’Appui à la Gestion Intégrée des Ressources en Eau au niveau Local

(Programme to Support Integrated Water Resources Management at Local Level)

PAIDECO Programme d’Appui aux Initiatives de Développement des Communes

(Programme for Municipal Development Initiatives)

PAMED Programme d’Appui à la Mise en place des Entités Décentralisées

(Programme for the Implementation of Decentralized Entities)

PNE Partenariat National de l’Eau (National Water Partnership)

PRSP Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper

DRC Democratic Republic of the Congo

SECDP Social, Economic, and Cultural Development Plan

SMP Strategic Management Plan

SNV Development Organization (The Netherlands)

TFP Technical and Financial Partners

TMMR Teknisianina Matianina Momba ny Rano

(Professional technical specialist in water-related issues)

UCLG United Cities and Local Governments

UNCDF United Nations Capital Development Fund

UNDP United Nations Development Programme

UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund

WHO World Health Organization

WASH WAter, Sanitation, Hygiene


PREFACE1

Since the beginning of the new millennium, many developing countries have committed themselves to a process of institutional restructuring.

Conscious that a single central authority is both ineffective and difficult to oversee, central authorities, motivated in some cases by a democratization of their society, in other cases compelled by the international community and aid donors, are delegating more and more competences to local governments, which are very often legitimized by local elections. In this way the munici-palities or districts have been entrusted with a number of tasks, including the coordination of local development, as well as the client-contractorship2 of infrastructures and basic services.At the same time, central governments are now focusing more on their strategic role, which is that of defining policies, putting effective systems into place and overseeing their application by the various actors. The more operational tasks, which fall within the competence of the state, have thus been deconcentrated to services at regional or district level. These services are supposed to support local governments in the domains, for which they have been made responsible.

This restructuring coincides with the new paradigm of aid effectiveness, which stresses the respon-sibility of governments for the development of their countries. In response, the countries of the South – with the approval of aid donors – have updated their development and sectoral strategies or are in the process of setting up operational frameworks for their implementation, and, finally, are gradually putting mechanisms and tools into place for the management of this process (actors, data, financial resources…).After a decade of disengagement by the state and an often uncontrolled privatization of essential services, this new development redefines the role of all the actors concerned and creates an opportunity for local actors to achieve local development in a spirit of shared responsibility. This encourages the communities and local population to get involved in local development and constructive collaboration with the local authorities. However, it also entails certain risks in so far as these local actors (authorities, society, private sector) do not necessarily have the appropriate resources, knowledge, capabilities and contacts to achieve this in compliance with the principles of sustainable human development.

This approach, based on decentralization, deconcentration, and empowerment of the local population is not a just a new trend in development strategies, but represents a radical re-thinking of the relationships between the state and its citizens. It not only offers the possibility of a greater degree of democracy, of enhancing the legitimacy of public authorities and of good governance, but also promises increased effectiveness and efficiency in the provision of services adapted to local needs.Decentralization and empowerment of the local population both involve a far-reaching reform of the mechanisms used to programme and implement local development projects, and, in particular, require new institutional actors to be taken into account: local governments, community organi-zations, the local private sector, user associations, multi-partner consultation frameworks, etc. These actors must now find ways of collaborating and dividing up the roles that enhance the position, capabilities and strengths of each party and which, at the same time, mobilize all the capacities of the local community and create a dynamic partnership – with all that this implies in terms of balances of power, sharing of costs and benefits, transparency, rights and obligations, etc., in essence: good governance.

1) The guide is a translation of Maîtrise d’Ouvrage Locale – Guide Méthodologique, which was published in 2010 together with a second volume Maîtrise d’Ouvrage Locale – Manuel Pratique (which also contains a CD-ROM with a variety of tools and examples of documents used in de client-contractorship cycle). Both documents can be downloaded from the PROTOS website (htt p://www.PROTOSh2o.org/water-in-the-world/publicati es).

2) The English translation of the French term maîtrise d’ouvrage.


This local partnership dynamic includes:

A strategic dimension, in so far as local actors are called upon to translate sectoral and development policies into ‘territorialized’ choices in order to respond as effectively as possible to the priorities of the local population, local institutions and local environment.This dimension requires national strategies and the interests of different groups to be taken into account, as well as a long term vision that enables choices to be made, which are coherent, sustainable and appropriate to the exploitation of the available resources.

An operational dimension, in so far as these actors have to share their capacities to implement and ensure the sustainability of the development-related projects and infrastructures that they consider to be priorities.This dimension requires a consensus on the division of roles, the approach to be adopted, relationships and lines of communication, together with a mastery of these roles and tasks.

Moreover, numerous actors intervene in the support of local development, involving development cooperation projects from a variety of international, decentralized or non-governmental bodies.

This approach, based on decentralization, empowerment of the local population and aid effec-tiveness, is also a challenge for these various actors. It requires them to rethink their practices: how they programme their actions, the mechanisms that they use to implement their projects and their role and relationships in the implementation of concrete actions on the ground.

Nowadays, support for local development must include the empowerment of local actors, involving, in particular, a clarification of their roles and relationships, the institutional development of certain categories of actors, strengthening their organization and competences, and, finally, the creation of methods and tools that allow these actors to play their role adequately.

Moreover, supporting local development no longer takes place in the context of a self-supporting village or community, but includes an adequate collaboration with the politico-institutional framework of the relevant country, with the sector in question and the community of actors. This does not necessarily have to result in an unquestioning imitation of the practices favoured by the governments or donors involved, but is aimed, instead, at encouraging a dialogue aimed at optimizing the competences and practices of the local actors.


PROTOS: WATER, THE LEVER FOR DEVELOPMENT

PROTOS is an international NGO based in Belgium, which promotes fair, sustainable and participative management of water resources and water services.

PROTOS aims to achieve these objectives by the following means:

• By supporting development programmes in its partner countries in Africa and Latin America. These programmes contribute to improving access to water and fairer distribution and use of water, thereby directly improving the socio-economic situation of some 150,000 people every year. All these programmes are underpinned by a systematic commitment to strengthening the capabilities of the various actors involved in the governance of resources, water and sanitation services at local level.

• Encouraging discussion about methods of fair, durable and participative management, as an important lever for sustainable human development, as well as more equitable and mutually enriching relationships between North and South. This involves awareness-raising initiatives both in Belgium and the partner countries, bringing together actors in water-related activities from the North and South, arguing for improved governance of water resources and water services, as well as sharing and making the best use of the lessons learned in our many years of experience.

PROTOS works with the following partner countries: Haiti and Ecuador (in Latin America), Benin, Mali, Madagascar and the Great Lakes region of Central Africa (Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo).

Box 1: PROTOS: Water, THE lever for development


One of the strategies, which can contribute to this objective of empowering the responsible local actors, is that of supporting local client-contractorship. This strategy aims, throughout the entire process - from the identification of a priority for local development up to and including the entry into service of an infrastructure - to clarify the roles and responsibilities of the various stakeholders, while structuring and boosting their capabilities by implementing good practices.

This Methodological guide for client-contractorship and local development thus sets out to provide local development support officers with a conceptual framework and some practical advice for the support of local governments and communities in the prioritization, implementation and operation of their infrastructures and services. It points out the success factors - and possible pitfalls to be avoided - in order to achieve an adequate management of the cycle of programming and implementation of infrastructures and for making sure that the management of this cycle contributes to a genuine ownership of the approach, as well as the infrastructure, by the parties involved.

This guide is therefore aimed first and foremost at the actors involved in supporting local client-contractorship, especially:

The external actors involved in development programmes and development projects – including the teams deployed by PROTOS and its partners.

The bodies at different levels of government, which play a supporting and advisory role or monitor or regulate this process.

The service providers involved in social or institutional intermediation and the provision of training and instruction.

These various actors do not all intervene in the same way and this diversity of approach undoubtedly results in a better response to a demand, which is also of a highly diverse nature. The aim of this guide, therefore, is not to encourage everyone to do exactly the same thing, but rather to give these actors a methodological foundation and pass on a series of lessons that have been learned over the last few years by various NGOs in a variety of different contexts.

PROTOS, which is an international NGO, and its partners in the 9 countries, in which it intervenes, is among the support actors involved in local development. The field teams of these NGOs from both the North and the South, as well as stakeholders at community, municipality and district level, have successfully developed a series of practices, with respect to the issues of local participation, the division of roles and the contractualization of relationships. This guide sets out to share this wealth of experience for the benefit of others. Some examples of good practice are presented in special boxes inserted within the text of this guide. We hope that the lessons that can be learned from these examples will contribute towards a greater coherence of approach.


The guide starts by explaining the context and background of supporting local client-contractorship as a development strategy. Key concepts ranging from decentralization to good local governance are briefly introduced and explained.

Chapter 2 covers the roles and responsibilities of the various parties involved in local client-contractorship.

Chapter 3 deals with the guiding principles underlying a client-contractorship support strategy. While this strategy may not be neutral, it sets out to create adequate links between the different levels of government and between the public dimension and local population.

The fourth chapter presents a few points to be borne in mind when supporting the various phases of client-contractorship.


FROM A COMMUNITY APPROACH TO LOCAL CLIENT-CONTRACTORSHIP

In July 2000, PROTOS organised its international congress of partners focusing on the theme of “local development actors”. Presented with the perspective of decentralization in Benin and Mali, the absence of local government in the interior of the Democratic Republic of the Congo or Haiti, and the lessons learned in the early stages of our collaboration with local authorities in Ecuador, the participants exchanged on the principal challenges involved in the structuring of local development actors.

On the one hand, the structuring was recognized as an indispensible condition for providing sustainable basic services, and on the other hand, organizing local actors around a very specific basic service– such as drinking water – is a fruitful means of gradually initiating other relationships, competences and attitudes at local actor level. It is this process of change that makes it possible to bring the administrators closer to the people whose lives they administer, while taking account of diversity, real ownership and continuity of the development process.

The various countries and partners have since then developed different approaches and methods for structuring local development actors. However, the broad lines are the same: focusing on the level of government closest to the intended beneficiaries of the projects, eliciting a constructive interaction between this level of government and the local population, strengthening the competences which deepen this interaction and make it more effective, the genuine transfer of responsibilities to these local actors, linking local dynamics to regional and national dynamics and barriers at regional and national level to overcoming the limitations of the autonomous village community…

In 2006, a transversal evaluation of these approaches in the different partner countries led to a further identification of concepts and an analysis of the results achieved and the lessons learned.

Since then, supporting local client-contractorship has become one of our key strategies at PROTOS, both as a method for ensuring that water and sanitation services are sustainable and as an approach for promoting and making democracy and local development sustainable, and, finally as a benchmark for enhancing competences and the correct implementation of procedures and actions.

Box 2: PROTOS and local client-contractorship


CLIENT-CONTRACTORSHIP AND LOCAL DEVELOPMENT

Historically, the concept of client-contractorship (the English translation of the French term maîtrise d’ouvrage) is derived from the French law on public building procurement, generally referred to as the ‘loi MOP’. This ground-breaking law established a legal framework for public contracts and also identified the various parties involved and defined and contractualized their roles and relationships.

Maîtrise d’ouvrage is a typically French concept that does not translate easily into other languages. However, given that a) it constitutes the conceptual underpinning of the modern approach to development work and b) that it is also the basis of the important distinction between the client-contractor (maître d’ouvrage) and the construction manager (maître d’œuvre), we need to start by looking at the etymology and meanings of this term, in order to correctly understand the concept of client-contractorship.Maîtrise, in this context, is literally ‘mastership’, yet not in the sense of mastery as in skill, but rather in the sense conveyed by the English phrase ‘lord and master’ and thus, by extension, maîtrise means ‘ownership’. Using the term client-contractorship thus underlines the idea that the party, for whom the work is being carried out, is morally the owner of that work. This concept, originally intended for a purely French context, has now been transposed to the context of development projects/actions and can be understood as the sum total of all the activities relating to the control and ownership of the relevant infrastructure, including the process of implementation (or of a project in general). Client-contractorship is thus linked to concepts of ownership, policy choices and strategic priorities, as well as to the mobilization and management of actors and resources.

On this basis, the term local client-contractorship (maîtrise d’ouvrage locale) thus refers to the prioritization, implementation and operation of local services and the fact that these are to be provided by local actors.

In one sense, therefore, local client-contractorship can be regarded as a technical and adminis-trative approach, primarily focused on the tools that enable the various local actors to play their respective roles and ways of managing their relationships.

However, local client-contractorship can also be seen as an institutional development strategy aimed at strengthening the organization of local actors, with a more strategic objective of strengthening local governance and thereby contributing to local development.

In these two dimensions – as an administrative tool or as a development strategy – local client-contractorship presupposes and requires an institutional framework and political will, which allows local actors to take charge of and assume responsibility for this process of prioritization, implemen-tation and provision of local services.

We now need to clarify the various concepts that underlie this approach, based on the inclusion and empowerment of local actors.

It should also be noted that seemingly well-defined terms such as ‘decentralization’ or ‘local governance’ nevertheless conceal a wide variety of different approaches, concepts and termi-nologies, but more importantly, a highly diverse series of realities, depending on the social organization and structure of different levels of government specific to each country.


Local governanceLocal governance refers to the capacity of local actors to organize themselves and work together on the administration of a particular field: social cohesion and economic, social, cultural and environmental development.

Local governance has two dimensions:

Local governments, which are accountable and responsible (as principal actor in local development and central point for local public service).

An active civil society (which plays the role of partner and counter-power).

Local governance is at the intersection of democratization and of decentralization.

Aspects of territoriality are fundamental. This means looking at local governance in a perspective of territorial or spatial planning. Territorial planning leads the various actors to think about the territorial dimension of a region and join forces by means of a ‘territorial’ development plan. Decentralization raises questions of intersectoral coordination at local level. Elected authorities and local administrations need information on spatial planning so that they can enhance sectoral information and guarantee the necessary links between sectoral and territorial approaches, in order to plan development and make the right decisions.

Local government covers a wide range of very different organizational forms depending on which part of the world we are talking about (cities, counties, districts, municipalities, regions, local councils, provinces…). Despite these differences, however, it is important to distinguish between the administrative level (local administration which manages and administers the day-to-day affairs of the locality) and the political or decision-making level (for example, a municipal council). These structures of governance might be elected (directly or indirectly) or appointed either by a higher level of government or by representatives of a particular community.

Other key terms in this context, besides local government, are territorial authorities or territorial decentralized bodies.

The territorial authority is a level of government that is distinct from central government and exercises certain competences for a given territory, which have been transferred to it by the central government.

A territorial authority is characterized by having:

Its own legal personality.

Its own competences.

Freedom of administration.

In countries with a multi-level system of decentralization (see figure 1), the term ‘territorial authority’ is used to refer to all these decentralized levels, while the term ‘local government’ is restricted to the ‘basic’ territorial authority, in other words the level of government that is closest to the local population and is responsible for coordinating and promoting local development. This is often the municipality.


COUNTRY LEVELS NOMENCLATURE AND NUMBER

PIVOT FOR LOCAL

DEVELOPMENTREMARKS

Benin 1 77 municipalities Municipality

Burundi 1 129 municipalities Municipality

Ecuador 224 provinces226 cantons

Canton

Haiti 39 districts

133 municipalities564 municipal sections

MunicipalityDecentralization has only been

very partially implemented

Madagascar 228 regions

1392 municipalitiesMunicipality

Mali 38 regions49 circles

704 municipalitiesMunicipality

Uganda 279 districts

238 counties & townsDistrict

There are 3 sub-levels below county level but

with limited competences

RD Congo 326 provinces

97 municipalities737 sectors & chiefdoms

Probably the Municipality

Decentralization has still not been implemented,

the respective mandates have yet to be specified

Rwanda 1 31 districts and cities District and cityThere are plans for a new level

(the sector),of which there will be 416

Figure 1: Territorial authorities in the diff erent partner countries that work with PROTOS

The principle of subsidiarity establishes that the competences have to be assumed at the most appropriate level of government. Thus matters of local interest as well as those areas that local institutions have the capacity to manage have to be decided at local level, and so on up to national level.

In this context we speak of ‘local services’, which correspond to a series of responsibilities within the public domain, which are entrusted to local governments. Exactly what constitutes ‘local services’ can vary, depending on the context of the specific country concerned, but these generally include basic education, basic health care, provision of drinking water, hygiene, roads, etc.Local client-contractorship is a key aspect in the organization of these local services.


LOCAL GOVERNANCE IN THE ABSENCE OF GOVERNMENT

Ituri, a province in the north-east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), suffered 15 years of conflict after the fall of the Mobutu regime and even during this period the administration failed to play its role as client-contractor with regard to development. However, during the conflict years the government was almost completely absent. Among other actors, the Catholic mission began investing in social sectors such as education and health.This led to the creation of CIDRI in 1986, which was assigned the task of providing the population with drinking water. Today, CIDRI is a local NGO and is independent of the church.

Despite the many years of conflict, CIDRI has continued its operations and the bulk of its piped water infrastructures are still functional, providing water for around 600.000 people, most of them inhabitants of secondary towns and semi-urban centres.

CIDRI’s mode of operation is to respond to the demands of the local population, sometimes represented by local leaders or supported by the Catholic missionary organization. They set up an implementation committee composed of 7 representatives from the population, which the activities are intended to serve, with powers such as joint planning with CIDRI, monitoring work in progress, organizing community and voluntary work and dealing with the local authority. CIDRI assumes the role of technical interface: carrying out technical studies, monitoring the workdone and implementing quality assurance activities.When the construction work is finished, the implementation committee becomes a management committee, responsible for operating and maintaining the network. A small technical and managerial team is contracted for this purpose. The families that use public standpipe infrastructure pay a fixed monthly charge and for private connections water is charged according to the amount consumed.Despite occasional problems in terms of paying the relevant charges, breakage of pipes and shortages of water (mainly due to rapid population growth), the majority of the pipe networks are still operational and well maintained. Some management committees even have funds to extend their networks.CIDRI helps them carry out technical studies, but all the operating costs and costs of maintenanceand replacement are borne by the committees.

The keys to CIDRI’s success seem to include:• A simple technical design and the correct implementation of systems leading to a high level of

functioning, which in turn builds confidence with operators and consumers alike.• Very effectively raising awareness in the local population, which is confirmed by their readiness

to help with implementation work, their participation in information sessions and a form of local regulation in the urban districts. This sense of ownership is bolstered by the decentralized design of the networks (each water distribution infrastructure has its own water storage facility, its own water meter and its own committee), and, probably, also by the fact that there have been no other projects of this kind for twenty years.

• A mobilization of the human and social resources of the community, from the initial identification of the project, often under the leadership of the church or other institution which lends a certain legitimacy and visibility to the project, together with an informal recognition of the committees.

• CIDRI’s presence in the region, as a benchmark organization and a credible partner for technical support, training and intermediation in the event of problems.

Box 3: Local management of water systems in Ituri, RD Congo


DecentralizationDecentralization, in the most commonly accepted definition of the term, means the transfer of competences and some of the power of central government to regional or local bodies. In reality, decentralization encompasses a variety of sub-concepts, which help to define its individual components: political decentralization, administrative decentralization and financial decentralization (DGD, 2008).

Political decentralization refers to the process of transferring power and political authority to infra-national levels of government, which are elective and possess their own legal personality in order to give the local population and/or their elected representatives greater power of decision-making with regard to a particular territory. It is based on the hypothesis that decisions taken with the participation of the people to be administered can be made on the basis of better information and will be more in line with the interests of the different groups of society compared to decisions taken only by the authorities at central level.

Administrative decentralization sets out to transfer powers of decision-making, control of resources and responsibilities for the provision of a number of public services or central government functions to others levels of government. This means, therefore, transferring responsibilities for planning, finance and management of all or some sectoral competences from central government to administrative units on the ground, which may be semi-autonomous public authorities or local governments.

Financial decentralization (or fiscal decentralization) refers to the reallocation of resources to infra-national levels of government. Fiscal decentralization aims to transfer resources to local authorities and give them autonomy with respect to the management of these resources. It transfers two powers to local governments: I) control of funds or powers to collect revenue and II) decision-making powers with regard to spending.

Financial decentralization involves one or more of the following mechanisms:

• The collection of funds to cover the costs of public services organized by the local government.

• Co-financing, by means of which the users participate in providing services or infrastructures via a monetary contribution or a contribution in kind.

• Increasing local revenues by means of different types of taxes or indirect charges.

• Intergovernmental transfers, which transfer taxes collected at central level to local level for general or specific uses.

• Access to loans or loan guarantees.

‘Decentralization not only has an administrative

value; it also has a civil dimension as it multiplies the

opportunities open to citizens to get involved in public

affairs; it accustoms them to the exercise of freedom.

From the sum total of these local freedoms, active and

concerned, is born the most effective counter-weight

to the pretentions of the central authority, these

being verified by the anonymity of the collective will.’

A. de Tocqueville. ‘On Democracy in America. 1835-1840’


Deconcentration involves the exercise of competences belonging to the central government at territorial level by the territorial representatives of the central government within a particular administrative zone.

Whereas decentralized authorities are only subject to a power of control by state authorities (central and deconcentrated), deconcentrated bodies are subject to the hierarchical authority of central authorities (the ministers). Deconcentrated services do not therefore possess a legal personality. These are simply local offices, officials, districts or services that enjoy a certain degree of authority that has been delegated to them, which enables them to make decisions or to regulate operations. The local office or local official is required to render account at central level for the decisions they take.

Local (economic) development is a process, which enables local actors and institutions to get together and collaborate in order to plan and implement sustainable development strategies in their territorial areas. Local development does not only refer to the creation of infrastructures or even the organization of local services, but also includes actions that do not involve physical projects, such as the development of a hygiene code, a set of regulations governing the occupation of land, the establishment of consultation frameworks or the organization of cultural or sporting activities. Moreover, local development is not limited to actions or responsibilities within the public domain, but also involves the harmonious development of private initiatives as well as community and associative actions.

Decentralization and the reduction of povertyDuring the 1990s, decentralization was seen, first and foremost, as a new political contract, bringing governors and those governed into a relationship based on the western model of representative democracy, whereby the local governmental level would guarantee that ordinary people have a greater control over their “management teams”. The existence of integrated local development programmes in rural areas or certain districts of African cities, principally aimed at intervening with basic infrastructures and improving working conditions or local commerce, did not explicitly include reflexions on strengthening the powers of local authorities.

It was only with the Millennium Declaration (New York, 2000), which made it possible to express the components of the fight against poverty as objectives in terms of quantitative and qualitative services, that the question of the link between decentralization and reduction of the poverty was formulated.

More and more countries now regard decentralization and deconcentration as important lines of strategy for beating poverty and achieving the MDG. Local governments are assumed to be better able to find appropriate solutions to local problems and adapt investment programmes and other types of programmes devised by central level administrations to the particular conditions and needs of their area. The ‘territorialization’ of development strategies formulated at national level is an indispensable condition for ensuring that these are effective and efficient, promoting a development dynamic at local level and guaranteeing the sustainability of the results.


This modern triptych of decentralization, local governance and local development can be summarized as follows:

Decentralization makes it possible to measure the responsibility of political decision-makers and their capacity to listen. Corruption and wheeler-dealing are reduced. Administrative costs are minimized. This improvement of local governance should contribute to reducing the vulner-ability of the poorest members of the local community.

This results in the mobilization of communities and effective use of social capital, a better under-standing of the environment, as well as a more open competition leading to a better response to local needs and better policies.

It is more difficult to ignore the shortcomings of programmes and projects when the local communities are both the clients and the evaluators of the service provided. Under this system, the providers of these services must take account of the needs of their clients, who are now the sponsors and users of their services. This relationship can generate gains in effectiveness, and in terms of access, quality and targeting.

If, in theory, decentralization can therefore bring about an optimization of policies and instruments aimed at the poor, the reality is less spectacular. Based on a study carried out in 19 countries in 2004, the OECD found that decentralization has had a direct and positive effect on the reduction of the poverty in only a third of cases.

In the political sphere, the involvement of elected authorities and local governments in determining national strategies for tackling poverty is very often marginal and sporadic. In operational terms, significant improvements in effectiveness are only achieved if there is I) a clear division of roles between the various actors, II) a strengthening of their capacities, III) the establishment of transparent and participatory mechanisms, IV) a genuine commitment on the part of local elites and V) the local authorities are granted guaranteed resources.

However, the sustainable reduction of social inequalities depends first and foremost on the provision of basic services that are accessible to the local population, and, therefore, on creating a policy of access, which takes the function of redistribution out of the hands of a public authority. This function of redistribution replaces the prime policy role of local authorities: organizing access for all to the available resources or those generated by economic activity and taxation, requires, in effect, the creation of consensus and internalization of a sense of solidarity, which can only take place in a ‘natural way’, in other words through the empowerment of the poorest members of the local community as conceived in the majority of development programmes.


In 2008, the World Bank published the first report on Decentralization and local democracy in the world. This report, which was produced by the UCLG (United Cities and Local Governments), whose objective is to establish a ‘global observatory of local democracy and decentralization’, provides a definition of local democracy, recognizing that sustainable development is facilitated by:

“The effective decentralization of responsibilities, policy management, powers of decision-making and of sufficient resources (including the right to collect taxes) to the local authorities that are closest to and the most representative of, their voters.”

According to Bonfiglioli of the United Nations Capital Development Fund (‘Food and the Poor’ -New York, 2007) local governments can make a direct impact on maintaining the survival strategiesof the most vulnerable in three major areas:

• Local environmental governanceRevenues derived from ecosystems – whether these are agricultural (smallholdings) or ‘natural’ (forests, wetlands, grasslands, quarries) – are much more critical to the survival of the poor than in the case of more prosperous households. Public strategies with regard to the management and conservation of natural resources have a more or less direct impact on the revenues that the poor can derive from ecosystems. Agriculture is the main environ-mental activity which ensures the survival of the poor. Even though it belongs to the private sector, it depends heavily on good governance, appropriate public investment and a well-designed policy. This is especially true in the case of smallholders. These instruments usually fall within the competences of local governments.

• Local economic developmentLocal authorities can promote economic development at various levels: setting up economic and social infrastructures (markets, shops, roads, telecommunications, basic services…), improving the investment climate (offering exchange frameworks between entrepreneurs and public authorities, fighting corruption) or setting up partnerships between the private and public sectors (cofinancing of infrastructures, delegated management contracts, etc.).

• Social protectionSocial protection initiatives complete the range of environmental and economic measures as these are aimed essentially at preserving the key productive assets of the poorest households, and therefore promoting their survival and diversifying their activities.

In 2007-2008, WaterAid conducted a study in 12 African and Asian countries aimed at analysing the role of local governments in the provision of water and sanitation services (Think local, Act local, London; 2008).

In the countries studied, on average, nearly two-thirds of capital expenditure in the water and sanitation sectors are outside the local government budget and outside its direct control. This undermines governance and accountability at local level. Their analysis of investment levels revealed a clear positive correlation between the level of decentralization and expenditure by local governments per inhabitant in the water and sanitation sector.

In countries with weak decentralization (e.g. Nigeria and Madagascar), the overall level of finance for this sector remains low and is carried out through sectoral projects or using non-budgetary resources fromNGOs and donors. On the other hand, countries with a higher degree of decentralization employ more resources at local level and invest a larger percentage in this sector (South Africa, Ghana, Uganda,Philippines). However, this correlation does not appear to be influenced by the economic level of the country concerned.

Box 4: Decentralization and sustainable development


Client-contractorshipCLIENT-CONTRACTORSHIP1

This primarily involves empowering a political or administrative body, community, community organization, grass-roots organization, private entity or private individual, to do the following:

To devise a programme of tasks and of works, and deciding on organization and methods.

To delegate tasks and commission work, indicating to whom these are to be assigned and using the appropriate formulation for delegation.

To manage the identification, mobilization, spending and management of financial resources.

To check that the work contracted has been properly executed and inspect the quality of services and performance.

Client-contractorship also involves a process, in which several local stakeholders assume different responsibilities and which consists of a series of stages, from the initial policy decision to the operation and the maintenance of the infrastructures constructed, linking the local level to other levels of government and requiring various types of skills (social, political, technical, etc.).

In the narrow sense of the term, client-contractorship refers only to the different stages from identification to the entry into service of a physical infrastructure, such as a building, water supply system or electricity network.

In the broad sense of the term, however, client-contractorship encompasses all the stages that ultimately lead to the implementation and provision of a service. The prior phases of programming and prioritization, as well as the ex-post phase of management and maintenance, are therefore also integral parts of the client-contractorship approach. Nor is it restricted only to physical infrastructures. The ‘infrastructure’ could equally be a plan, document, research project or training scheme, etc.

CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT2

Construction management covers all the responsibilities and tasks required in order to adequately meet the technical, economic and administrative requirements necessary for the execution of a programme retained by the client-contractor.

These tasks include:

Making sure that the project is viable, achievable and compatible with the actual conditions in the area.

Drawing up the details of the infrastructure (plans, drawings, estimates, technical specifications, etc.).

Advising the client-contractor on the choice of service providers, suppliers, contractors.

Directing the implementation of works in compliance with the stipulations of the contract.

Checking the quality and the quantity of works carried out.

Approving the job charge sheets and authorizing payment.

Assisting the client-contractor (or his agent) during acceptance activities.

It should be noted that there is a fundamental difference in terms of function between construction management and client-contractorship.

1 Maîtrise d’ouvrage in french. 2 Maîtrise d’æuvre in french.


Client-contractorship refers to areas such as ownership, competence and public responsibility, and development coordination and implies a relationship with the users of the service to be introduced. For infrastructures and public services, client-contractorship is therefore a responsibility to be held by a political body.

Construction management refers to a series of tasks and technical competences, which allow the plan owned by the client-contractor to be directed and executed in a professional manner. Construction management is therefore primarily a responsibility of a technical nature.

CONTRACTUALIZATION

The various stages of local client-contractorship involve an important number of actors and grant them responsibility. These actors are:

The owner of the infrastructure (and possibly the owner of the land on which the infrastructure is to be constructed, who may not be the same person, especially in cases, in which land rights apply);

The various levels of government – each with its respective political body (regional assembly, municipal council) and executive body (governor, deconcentrated central government services, mayor, municipal services);

(Where applicable) an external funding donor may also be involved;

Consultative bodies, which enable consultation of the local population, such as local or municipal development committees;

The future operators of the infrastructure (school principal, water point management committee, medical personnel in the case of a health centre, etc.) – with the possibility of more complex arrangements in the event of leasing, concession, maintenance contracts, etc.;

The ultimate beneficiaries of the infrastructure (health committee, parents associations, water point users, etc.);

The consultancy firm tasked with the technical aspects during the feasibility studies or implementation;

The consultancy firm or technical specialist in charge of the continuous monitoring of the construction site;

The construction companies and suppliers of materials;

Local financial institutions, such as the savings banks or commercial banks that have a role to play in securing financial resources and perhaps also in the financing of investments.

Each of these parties has a precise mandate. This covers a series of tasks, but also includes a variety of rights and obligations with regard to the other stakeholders. The elements that have to be in place in order to ensure that these actors make a meaningful and sustainable commitment are as follows: an effective division of roles and responsibilities between these actors; the establishment of systems and communication procedures; ensuring an adequate accountability; and creating an effective regulatory mechanism.

The concept of contractualization is thus both a way of functioning and a tool of governance. Contractualization gives visibility to the actors, together with their interests, the constraints, under which they operate, their values and their culture, for which the contractual tool (in the broad sense of the term) provides a precise framework of agreement, with regard to the stipulated limits and timeframes, and which is binding, but freely entered into. In this sense, contractualization is a fundamentally political process, subject to the tension between the different interests of the various actors, yet capable of providing a framework for joint and common action.


In this sense, what contractualization is about in this context is not so much nailing down a tight commercial agreement, but rather about finding a way to arrive at a dialogue and a series of implementation and monitoring procedures that give each of the parties the chance to be heard, to listen and understand the points of view and interests of the other parties and genuinely undertake to fulfil his obligations, based on a series of points that have been discussed and agreed in advance.As an approach, contractualization requires the right tools for the relevant context and these have to be clearly understood by the parties involved.

Local client-contractorshipIn a politically decentralized context, the duty and competence for coordinating local development and organizing basic public services resides with local government.

Local client-contractorship refers to the definition, prioritization, establishment and operation of these basic public services, and, by extension, all infrastructures and services provided for the benefit of the local community.

The following tasks and responsibilities are therefore part of local client-contractorship:

Drawing up a local development plan, including a genuine intention to implement socio-economic infrastructures in compliance with the plan, and to build on and ‘manage’ this plan until the implementation has been successfully completed;

Making sure that the actions set out in this development plan are in compliance with sectoral policies, regional plans and other supra-local reference documents;

Finding and managing the necessary funds for the realisation of infrastructures, facilities, plans, etc.;

Deciding on a plan of operations based on priority needs, taking into account the resources that are available and can be mobilized and establishing the constraints, under which they operate, and the associated requirements;

Deciding on the geographical location and site for the implementation of each infrastructure.

Contracting services (studies, work, etc.) with a certain number of physical or moral persons who will carry these out independently (construction manager, technical specialists, entrepreneurs,...);

Take delivery of the infrastructure during the acceptance phase;

Operate the infrastructure directly or entrust its operation under indirect and variable conditions to a body, which is tasked with its management under a management agreement or via a leasing or concession arrangement;

Ensuring that the infrastructure does not harm the environment, access to the service is fair and does not upset the male/female balance or social cohesion.

By supporting local client-contractorship, PROTOS hopes to contribute to:

A better ownership of the planning and management of local development by local actors;

An improved legitimacy on the part of the owner, formalization of ownership and reminding the owner of his obligations (in terms of public service and obligations with regard to standards and regulations);

Achieving a better collaboration between the various actors involved in local development with an emphasis on the key role of the local population and local governments, as well as on their complementary nature (the link between the owner of the infrastructure and the target group who are to benefit from its sustainable use/operation).


In the context of this guide, we refer to local client-contractorship, rather than municipal client-contractorship, in order to underline I) that the process concerns all local actors and II) that the same fundamental principles also apply to a large extent to community initiatives or infrastructures, implemented as part of any local development plan.

The stages of a projectWhen implementing a project relating to an infrastructure or basic public service, the following stages must be completed before an infrastructure can be genuinely “owned” by the various parties involved:

STAGE DESCRIPTION

I. Programming Deciding on the priorities (sectors, zones, target groups), as well as the stakeholders

Evaluation

Learning lessons from positive and negative experiences during each stage,

including them in future program

ming and im

proving modes of operation

II. PlanningListing the infrastructures and services to be provided in the short and medium term and planning their implementation

III. Defining the infrastructure

Determining the specifications of the infrastructure, its budget, terms and conditions for funding, operation & maintenance

IV. Preparing the work to be done

Selecting the contractors and others providers tasked with the implementation and monitoring of the infrastructure

Contractualizing commitments

V. Implementation Constructing the infrastructure

Guaranteeing that the infrastructure complies with expectations and standards

VI.Acceptance of the infrastructure

Handing over the infrastructure to the owner (and possibly delegating its operation to an operating agent)

Closing the construction site

VII. Using the infrastructure

Managing, using/operating, maintaining and servicing the infrastructure

Figure 2: The stages of client-contractorship


Client-contractorship refers to the assumption of control or ownership of a particular infrastructure.

However, bearing in mind the etymology of the original French term (maîtrise d’ouvrage), as explained above, it is also, by extension, a means of maîtriser (mastering) an approach to local development projects based on prioritization, implementation and operation for the benefit of its users.

From the perspective of local development, it is thus important that both the client-contractor and other relevant actors are able to master these stages and learn lessons with a view to improving their performance when they are next involved in a new cycle of programming and implementation of local development projects.

This evaluative dimension is of crucial importance in terms of building up capacities. It should therefore not be limited to a mere ex-post analysis of the procedures followed, but should be undertaken at each stage – even before initiating a local development support programme – by establishing, together with the parties involved, the objectives and indicators in order to enhance the knowledge and capabilities of all the local actors.

Evaluation, which is in this sense both an attitude and an action, is also a supra-local objective as it should enable the systematic application of good practices and reveal the success factors and those factors which slow progress down (i.e. obstacles) at politico-institutional framework level, admin-istrative or legal systems, knowledge and attitudes. It is when these lessons are documented and shared that a ‘project’ genuinely becomes a foundation stone for local development.


Trends and developments

DECENTRALIZATION AND LOCAL GOVERNANCE

Decentralization – as a process of governmental reform – has been embraced by the majority of the countries of the South in the last few years. Donors are increasingly supporting decentralization and local governance in their partner countries, given that this is seen as means of combating poverty and promoting democratization.

While the institutional reform of centralized states, in itself, is nothing new, these recent developments are nevertheless characterized by an approach based on decentralization rather than deconcentration, as was the case in previous rounds of institutional reform. The nature of deconcentration has also evolved towards an approach based on supporting decentralization as far as deconcentrated services are called upon to provide advice and support to local governments.

The objective is no longer just one of putting effective local governments into place, but rather one of promoting local governance. This means going beyond the vertical decentralization of power in order to promote a horizontal process with the aim of ensuring the participative management of local affairs with a key role being assigned to all the various local actors, under the coordination of local government.

The current trend towards decentralization is closely linked to the emergence of a new paradigm of local development (economic, social or political), which invites the various actors within a given territory to combine their strengths and capabilities in order to promote the process of sustainable local development and to launch (or relaunch) the local economy.

Despite these trends, there are still indications that a great many national governments appear to be reluctant to transfer power (including that of negotiating in policy-related dialogues) and sufficient resources to local authorities. However, this transfer constitutes an indispensable precondition for ensuring that decentralization obtains its objectives with respect to development.

Another finding concerns the proliferation of ‘user committees’. While this could be viewed as a step in the direction of greater democratization, it is also true that this proliferation could have a negative effect on decentralization and elected local councils. Certainly, these committees, which are often ‘donor driven’ or ‘project driven’, have the potential to fragment participation in a destructive way by giving rise to a mono-sectoral vision, and even disempower local governments with respect to public services.

It is vitally important that decentralization is accompanied by new approaches and new tools of governance, especially with regard to the programming of development, the mobilization and management of local finances, local client-contractorship, etc.

The approaches and tools, which are currently promoted by the various actors of international cooperation include:

Forums for dialogue and the participation of local governments in national strategy, especially in the context of the PRSP entitled the Accra Agenda for Action (with regard to aid effectiveness) or of joint committees that establish cooperation programmes.

Support with the drawing up of local (or municipal) development plans, often combined with technical assistance and/or training and educational schemes.

Local development support funds, for which local governments can present their priority projects and which finance or co-finance these projects, with an increasing emphasis on delegating client-contractorship to the Local authority.


ROLE OF LOCAL ACTORSIn many African countries, local actors are increasingly keen to take responsibility for local services. These local actors include: the local governments, user associations or village communities, NGOs involved in development, and small private companies. They are all ready to get involved in the management of local services such as providing water, sanitation, agricultural services or the management of contracts.

In response to this development, the new sectoral policies, which have been formulated in the last decade, now include these complementary roles for local governments, user associations and operators.

Viable operation of local services requires the ‘professionalization’ of certain trades and occupations, especially in the managerial and technical sphere. At the same time, in order to make these skills available, these ‘professionals’ must have a sufficient volume of work so that they are able to practice their profession (organizational and financial thresholds, risk management, continuity, technical threshold, etc.). Very often, this development of ‘local trades and occupations’ takes place via the involvement of the private sector (concession, leasing, management), but there are also experiences of ‘community professionalization’ – for example, for the management of markets in Mali and drinking water networks in Senegal.

Applying the principles of client-contractorship and local operation requires the involvement of a combination of actors, at national and local government level, and the community and private sectors. In recent years, several action and research projects, pilot programmes and evaluation and reflexion initiatives relating to ‘contractualization’ have been launched in various countries, especially in West and Central Africa.

Local GovernmentCentral Government

User Association Private sector

Responsibility

Project management

Operation

Maintenance

Supervision

Regulation

Representation

Traditional responsibility

Responsibility in accordance with new policies for basic services

DELEGATION

Figure 3: The new division of roles


EVOLUTION OF AN NGO: FROM LOCAL DEVELOPMENT MANAGER TO FACILITATORIn 2003, PROTOS began its interventions relating to the provision of drinking

water, hygiene and sanitation in South-West Uganda in collaboration with

the NGO JESE. The budget was modest ( + 200.000 Euros per annum) and

the programme centred on the construction of simple infrastructures in a

rural area supplemented by a hygiene sensitization campaign. Despite an

ambitious policy of decentralization, in force since 1994, and which placed

the responsibility for the WASH sector at District (LC5) and Sub-county (LC3)

levels, there was still an obvious lack of capacities and any real transfer of

resources to these levels, as well as resistance from the local civil society.

The programme chosen by PROTOS aims at facilitating this evolution so that

each actor plays the role assigned to him by the national strategy.

1) ‘Classic’ configuration (doing it for them)Until 2007, JESE assumed the full powers of client contractor and

construction manager in the implementation of the programme.

Interventions were initiated, run, managed and executed by

the local NGO. The NGO decided which activities should be

implemented and which villages should benefit. It set up theatre

groups, school clubs and village animators to promote hygiene. It

bought the materials and recruited the builders and technicians for

the creation of infrastructures. The NGO determined the technical

specifications and supervised work in progress. It set up water

point management committees and user associations. The NGO

informed the Sub- county about its activities.

2) Intermediate configuration (doing it with them)The choice of which villages were to benefit was made by

an assembly combining the various levels of representation

(village, parish, sub-county) based on an inventory drawn up

by the NGO. The execution of the work was separate from

its supervision. By means of a local call for tenders, the

Sub-county, together with users’ representatives, identified

and contracted a private company to carry out the work.

The Sub-county mobilised the technical expertise for

overseeing the work and checking compliance with the

technical specifications. The NGO provided support for the

management of contracts and ensured social intermediation.

3) Future configuration (letting them do it)From 2011 onwards, the NGO will focus on its role of

promoting capacities and supporting the Sub-county. This

means that the Sub-county will now engage in dialogue with

the groups and associations, in order to prioritize needs and

bring their planning in line with that of the District.

The Sub-county will form a partnership with local civil society

organisations, which in turn will assume tasks that relate to

social intermediation.

Box 5: The evolution of local development roles in Uganda

Water committ ees

Civil Society

Local government

(LC3)

NGO JESE

NGO JESE Private sector

Sub-county(LC3)

Watercommitt ees

CivilSociety

Privatesector

Local populati on(schools, groups, village leaders)

Private sector

(suppliers, builders, technicians)

Local government(LC3, LC1)

Water committ ees

NGO JESE


Supporting local client-contractorshipSupporting local client-contractorship has two dimensions:

In the narrow sense of the term:

I) As all the methods, procedures and administrative tools designed to enable construction and infrastructure projects to be correctly implemented under the responsibility of a local client-contractor (who is the local government if the project relates to a public service, but who could also be an actor from the private or community domain).

This dimension is first and foremost technical and refers to the design and ownership of tools for the administrative and technical management of the implementation of a construction or infra-structure project.

In the broad sense of the term:

II) As a strategy for structuring local actors as part of a specific approach to local development (carried out for and by the local actors) and for ensuring that local services are sustainable.

This dimension is therefore more institutional (i.e. political) and relates to supporting dialogue between various types of actors within a general vision of empowerment.

We should not forget that the concept of the ‘structuring’ is much broader than just installing of infrastructures. Structuring here refers to a range of knowledge and abilities, especially with regard to:

• Defining a shared vision, project, actions, etc.;

• Getting organized prior to implementation;

• Demanding and protecting rights and assuming obligations, both individually and as a community;

• Defining the roles, responsibilities and tasks of each;

• Defining the internal relationships within the community and its external relationships with the outside world;

• Rendering account of compliance with commitments and acceptance of accounts.

This local client-contractorship is today:

A trend that cannot be ignored

This new development is underlined by the establishment of a growing number of funds for local government initiatives, such as the Fund for the Development of Municipalities1 (as in Benin) or by means, for example, of a National Investment Agency for Municipal Authorities2 (as in Mali). This transfer of client-contractorship with respect to basic services to local governments is also written into the majority of the sectoral policies operated by developing countries. For the WASH sector, which involves the provision of drinking water, for example, we have noticed that the sectoral policies, which have been updated in the last decade in some twenty African countries, now entrust the responsibility for this sector to decentralized territorial bodies (the municipalities in French-speaking Africa, the districts in English-speaking Africa). After years of being a dead letter devoid of practical effect for so many years, this transfer is now beginning to become a reality.

1 Fonds d’Appui au Développement des Communes in french.2 Agence Nationale d’Investissement des Collectivités Territoriales in french.


The commitments made by donors under the terms of the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness increasingly aim to target financial flows at systems of the aid receiving countries and an alignment with the strategies of these countries. For basic public services, recognition of the role of local government and the client-contractor is thus gradually becoming the rule for all investment financed or co-financed by official international aid3.

A choice increasingly supported by technical and financial partners

This can be seen in the new approach adopted by the international community with respect to development. For example, supporting decentralization has become a priority topic in Belgian cooperation policy (based on priority ‘sectors’ or a transversal strategy in at least 11 of 16 partner countries). However, other major actors, such as the European Commission, Germany, the Netherlands, UNDP, UNCDF or the World Bank, also finance programmes that support decentrali-zation or include progress indicators focusing on decentralization in the trigger mechanisms for their budgetary support. Moreover, these project or cooperation agencies no longer limit themselves to providing technical assistance to the local authorities or supporting reforms, but also provide specific funds for investments by local authorities, and they have even begun to experiment with budgetary support for decentralized bodies, for example, in Uganda, Mali and certain districts of Niger.

A local development support strategy

Given that development of client-contractorship builds capacities of various local actors with regard to participative planning, implementation, alliance, governance, etc. while at the same time keeping an eye on synergies with the regional (and national) level. These projects help bolster ownership of the approach and infrastructures by the users and decentralized bodies. They mobilize and strengthen actors who until now have been little involved in the programming or implementation of development projects – and thus contribute to diversifying implementation capacities. They have the potential to ensure that investments are:

• More relevant (based on a genuine need, aimed at a fairer division of wealth and resources in the local territory).

• More efficient (using the fast-track method of local financing, while mobilizing local competences and resources).

• More sustainable (providing a structure for local actors, local ownership of the approach, emergence of local technical and managerial competences, emergence of financial services at local level).

A necessity for providing viable basic services

It should be borne in mind that:

• It is the immediate local environment that allows the various actors to take control and respon-sibility for a service that they have decided is of key importance, and

• These various actors, with their complementary capabilities are a sine qua non for the provision of an optimum service.

3 We note, however, that this development is still somewhat at odds with another trend followed by many donors, namely the fact that their state development aid is increasingly granted in the form of loans and no longer in the form of donations, especially in the case of infrastructure projects.These donors are thus not truly giving their aid to local governments because their procedures require guarantees by sovereign states. This situation often prevents the local government from assuming the full rights and responsibilities of a client-contractor.


In the case of drinking water or sanitation services, for example, the empowerment of users (paying for the water, rational and correct use of infrastructures, etc.), the mobilization of local technical and managerial competences and the presence of an immediate local authority that can guarantee effective management are indispensable pre-conditions for a viable service.

An opportunity for letting the local population participate

Local client-contractorship offers opportunities for bringing administrators closer to the people whose lives they administer (or the voters in the case of elected authorities) on the basis of a ‘project’ which is a specific, concrete, common endeavour responding to a vital need.

This participation of the local population is, however, is not something that will happen automatically and requires a local civil society that is organized, the existence of effective dialogue mechanisms and a degree of positive discrimination towards the most vulnerable groups, if the intention is to arrive at an inclusive local dynamic. Moreover, this inclusion of local civil society needs to be part of a more global strategic vision, in other words a vision that cannot be confined merely to the setting up of associations of producers or water committees, or the establishment of a framework for local consultation. The participation of the local population must contribute to their genuine empowerment, but should also act as a means of claiming their rights, and generate a shared concern for social cohesion and their fulfilment as human beings. These elements can be integrated into the strategic phases of client-contractorship.

A major challenge for development organisations

Given that the local client-contractorship involves:

• Local development being run by local actors, under the coordination of a decentralized territorial entity, so that the development organisation thus becomes more of a facilitator than a coordinator, perhaps even an operator.

• This approach comes down to respecting the choices of the local authority, by limiting the development agency’s room for manœuvre by, for example, favouring one group of beneficiaries over another (women, the poorest members of the local community, isolated communities, etc.), and its ability to organise basic services in accordance with its own vision, or even to import or test innovations.

• A separation of functions and a professionalization of trades and occupations (studies, construction sites, social intermediation, action research...) which thus means:

I) Projects are genuinely run by the local actors who then get to choose the service providers and suppliers who offer them the best conditions and/or guarantees;

II) A genuine professionalization of trades and occupations;

III) A better control of risks of conflicts of interest.


LOCAL GOVERNANCE OF THE SERVICE OF DRINKING WATER IN CAÑAR, ECUADOR

The PROTOS programme for drinking water in the Cañar Canton started in 1997. The drinking water component was part of an integrated government programme, and PROTOS played the role of the “client-contractor’s agent” for the fi rst two years.Since 1999, the indigenous rural communiti es have been recognized as “client-contractors”: their water committ ees negoti ate rights to capture springs and constructi on, contract the local workmen, manage budgets, and organize operati on and maintenance. The PROTOS team and its partners became “assistants” to the committ ees. This phase made it possible to structure the indigenous communiti es, who are oft en isolated and of small size (50 to 300 families), and initi ate a dialogue with local authoriti es and other stakeholders in the sector.

This proximity support, through a long term engagement and with progressive responsibiliti es being assumed by the (marginalized) communiti es, has created the basis for a profound and inclusive refl ecti on on the reparti ti on of roles and relati onships for a sustainable provision of water and sanitati on service viable in a parti cularly fragile economic and social context.

From this refl ecti on the CenAGRAP was born in 2002: a support centre to the rural management of drinking water.

The Centre is built on a commitment of 10 years between the water committ ees (who were 15 at this moment), the municipality of Cañar (politi cal organ of the Canton) and the PROTOS-CEDIR consorti um, with a role of the latt er which decreases in importance and which, from 2007 on, is limited to advice and facilitati on.

In 2010, 80 water committ ees were affi liated, the structure has been recognized and integrated in the organic structure of the local administrati on, the principle of co-responsibility between municipality and community has been maintained, and the water committ ees delegate 3 members in the Board of Directors, which is completed by 2 members of the municipality.

Access to drinking water in rural in Canar has increased in these 13 years from 20 to 80 % and the functi onality of the systems exceeds at any ti me 95%.

The Centre off ers a series of services to its members, the water committ ees, such as technical, administrati ve or socio-organizati onal support, refresher courses for the operators and treasurers, sale of spare parts of good quality and at preferenti al prices, and specialized support for problems that go beyond the day-to-day operati on and maintenance. The water committ ees of the diff erent communiti es are responsible for the day-to-day management of their network, including the recovery of operati ng and maintenance expenses.

The support Centre works on a budget approved and funded for 90% by the municipality while the committ ees contribute to the operati on with a rather symbolic contributi on representi ng 10% of the annual budget. The municipality assigns several technicians to the Centre; the coordinati on of the Centre is since the start att ributed to an indigenous woman from one of the villages in the Canton.

The Centre presents its acti viti es and management results to the General Assembly of the member water committ ees. The General Assembly also discusses the problems and challenges encountered by the water committ ees.

One of the sensiti ve points is formed by the entry rights the committ ees defi ne at the conclusion of the constructi on or rehabilitati on works. Someti mes the works were so labour intensive that the entry rights are fi xed at considerable amounts, thus endangering the principle of right to water... Other challenges are the protecti on of water resources, the renewal of infrastructure at the end of their life...

Once the operati on of the Centre established and strengthened, the challenge of PROTOS-CEDIR is now located at the level of supporti ng the Centre to contribute to the development of water policies (comprehensive management plans, fi nancing mechanisms of the sector, renewal strategies, prioriti es, protecti on of water resources...).

In 13 years, the role of support to the local client-contractorship thus evolved from “do for them” to “encourage them to do bett er”.

Box 6: Local Governance of the Service of drinking water in Cañar, Saraguro


THE ACTORS AND THEIR ROLES

THE CLIENT-CONTRACTOR

The client-contractor is the owner of the infrastructure and the physical or moral person, for whom a building, infrastructure or study is constructed or conducted.

There are two types of client-contractors: public client-contractors (subject to public or adminis-trative law) and private client-contractors (subject to private or civil law).

The public client-contractor might be the state and the public agencies that depend on it or the territorial authorities (for example the municipality) and the public agencies that depend on them (e.g. an inter-municipal agency).

For a project or infrastructure, which does not directly fall within the competences of the municipality or which is implemented by means of a concession or agreed service, the client-contractor will be a private person or a private body, such as a farmer organization, a religious group or the owner of a school.

Specifically, the client-contractor is responsible for:

Studying the opportunity and deciding whether to proceed with the construction of an infra-structure, choosing its location, and stipulating its technical characteristics (designing the infrastructure).

Collecting the necessary funds in order to finance of the infrastructure, either alone or with the help of outside partners (NGOs, funds held by territorial authorities, funding donors, stakeholders’ associations, etc.).

Commissioning the construction of the infrastructure and monitoring its implementation.

Accepting the infrastructure, which means checking that the completed infrastructure is in compliance with what was agreed.

Organizing the operation and management of the infrastructure.

With regard to public client-contractorship (municipality, district or other), there are often two additional responsibilities, which are of a more political nature:

Defining a strategic vision and a territorial policy.

Mobilizing the actors of the territory concerned in order to achieve the optimum governance of services.

A public institution, such as a municipality (or other territorial authority depending on the specific decentralization context) plays the role of client-contractor on behalf the people whose lives it administers, and who are going to be the users of the infrastructure (or at least the ultimate beneficiaries, in the case, for example, of a building constructed for the municipal adminis-tration). However, the public institution assumes this responsibility of client-contractor within the framework of a set of regulations and a precise mandate. This means that the public client-contractor has a double obligation to render account: on the one hand it is answerable to the local population, the ultimate beneficiaries of the infrastructure and in whose name the infrastructure has been built, and, on the other hand, it is answerable respect to the regulatory instruments


with regard to client-contractorship (public contracts code, legislation relating to the finances of territorial authorities…) and sectoral strategies determined at central government level.

At municipal level, the mayor assumes the responsibilities of client-contractor for infrastructures, facilities or plans when these fall within the public competences of the municipality.

He is the person responsible for development programmes in the locality and represents the municipality that is carrying out a particular construction project or study. As the main person responsible for the infrastructure, he fulfils, in this role, a public interest function.

The essence of municipal client contractorship is therefore having the means at one’s disposal to provide services to the local population, but not necessarily deploying those resources oneself. At all events, however, the client-contractor remains the person with ultimate responsibility for the prioritization of infrastructures, their design, financing, and proper implementation, as well as the terms and conditions of their operation.

Certain powers are thus inseparably linked to the responsibility of the client-contractor:

Deciding and prioritizing the infrastructures to be carried out.

Approving the technical, organizational and financial plans for the implementation of infrastructures.

Accepting the infrastructure.

Defining the terms and conditions of its ownership and operation.

THE CLIENT-CONTRACTOR’S AGENT1

Bearing the responsibility of client-contractorship does not mean having to do things oneself: if the client-contractor does not have all the technical skills required or in cases where the law or particular financial terms and conditions prevent him from exercising all his functions correctly, he may:

Request support from bodies which have the necessary skills. This constitutes assistance to the client-contractorship.

He may delegate part of his responsibilities to a body, which is more competent technically or possesses legal and administrative powers for taking on formal acts of client-contractorship. This is what is known as delegation of the client-contractorship.

The client-contractor’s agent is a physical or moral person who has been authorized by the client-contractor to act in his or her name and on his or her behalf with regard to the management of a project involving the construction of infrastructures within the limits and conditions established by the rules, which relate to the concept of mandate. Put another way, this means delegating the management of part of the process of construction of an infrastructure, while ownership and responsibility still resides with the client-contractor.

1 Le Maître d’ouvrage délégué in french.


The client-contractor may delegate the following powers:

Determining administrative and technical conditions for the implementation of the infrastructure or study.

Managing the administrative, financial and accounting aspects of the operation.

Preparing the choices of construction manager, drafting and managing the construction management contract.

Approving the preliminary studies.

Choosing contractors and providers, drawing up and managing their contracts.

Paying the construction manager, contractors and providers.

Preparing the acceptance of the completed infrastructure.

Legal actions.

He may delegate these powers without condition or may do so while reserving the right of approval or notice of non-objection.

The client-contractor may reserve the exercise of the following powers:

Approving the proposals for technical implementation.

Signing the construction management contract.

Choosing contractors and suppliers.

Accepting the completed infrastructure or study.

THE ASSISTANT TO THE CLIENT-CONTRACTOR

This is a physical or moral person who is not hierarchically subordinate to the client-contractor and who assists him in his various tasks, but without assuming any responsibility or holding a delegation mandate. The assistant to the client-contractor may not validly commit the client-contractor or deputize for him in decision-making or contractualization activities.

The assistance provided may be concerned principally with specific aspects such as technical matters (e.g. drawing up a schedule of requirements, support in the recruitment of a construction manager, inspection of plans or reports presented by the construction manager…) or administrative aspects (e.g. legal assistance with regard to contractualization).

However, the assistance may relate to the entire process and be more of a methodological nature: ranging from support in carrying out local consultation aimed at prioritizing choices to assistance in designing the most productive management models.

In many decentralization support projects, the funding donor imposes/suggests an assistant to the territorial bodies that request co-financing. The assistant to the client-contractor thus plays a role as assistant on behalf of the client-contractor, but often also has a supervisory role on behalf of the donor who, in this way, is able to make sure that the decisions taken by the client-contractor are compliant with the donor’s procedures and principles of good governance.

THE CONSTRUCTION MANAGER

The construction manager is a physical or moral person who is engaged by the client-contractor to provide the architectural, technical and economic solutions required for the successful implemen-tation of the proposed project, on the basis of his qualifications and technical competence.


The construction manager acts in the service of the client-contractor, and is commissioned by him. The relationship between the two actors is governed by a contract or an agreement, which also specifies the terms and conditions concerning the construction manager’s obligation to render account to the client-contractor.The client-contractor is the owner of the infrastructure, while the construction manager coordinates the implementation of the infrastructure.The construction manager may enlist the help of a series of service providers and suppliers for some of his tasks, such as feasibility studies, drawing up of preliminary studies or the tender documents, and monitoring of works. However, the principal mandate of the construction manager, which includes the professional coordination of the various phases relating to the implementation of the infrastructure, may not be delegated.

THE LOCAL CLIENT-CONTRACTORSHIP SUPPORT AGENCY

The agents or agencies, which support local client-contractorship as part of a local development strategy, can operate in a variety of different capacities, depending on the legal and institutional framework of the countries concerned, the competences of the local client-contractors and other stakeholders, the duration and intensity of their intervention, as well as the scale and complexity of the infrastructures to be constructed.

Supporting the local client-contractorship can take a variety of different forms, depending on the responsibility adopted by the support agency:

Delegation of the client-contractorship

The support agency is authorized by the client-contractor to undertake certain activities on his behalf.

Assistance to the client-contractor

The support agency assists the client-contractor in his various activities.

Institutional engineeringThe support agency assists the actors involved with the division of their roles, their relationships and enhancing their capabilities for fulfilling their roles.

Training – support –adviceThe support agency provides training and instruction and is on hand to advise the various parties.

Facilitation

The support agency facilitates certain activities but leaves the initiative entirely to the client-contractor. Facilitation may involve organizing meetings, designing tools, interchanges or networking with other actors.

Figure 4: The various forms of support for local client-contractorship

There are five success factors, which contribute to good partnerships in support of client-contractorship:

Making a commitment for the entire duration of the project.

Sticking to what has been agreed and keeping the partnership alive and dynamic.

Respecting the institutional frameworks.

Establishing a permanent partnership framework for monitoring and evaluating the project.

A clear distinction between the projects involved and the process of strengthening client-contractorship, the former generally being aimed at the implementation of the latter.


DIFFERENT WAYS OF SUPPORTING THE CLIENT-CONTRACTOR

Figure 5: Roles of the local client-contractorship support agency

Delegation of the client-contractorship

• The client contractor delegates some of his tasks to the support agency (whith now becomes the client contractor’s agent). Certain powers cannot be delegated. see p. 33.

• As part of a learning process, the client-contractor’s agent must involve the client contractor in his decisions, and gradually involve him more and more in his choices and actions.

• This is a role which is often found when the local legislation is out of phase with the competences of decentralized bodies.

Assistance to the client-contractor

• The support agency assists the client contractor with his tasks but does not make decisions on his behalf.

• This type of assistance mainly consists of technical support (e.g. drawing up a schedule of requirements, advice on the recruitment of a construction manager, inspection of plans presented by the construction manager,...) or administrative and political aspects (helping the client contractor think about the right approach).

• In an assistance arrangement the principal target is the client contractor.

Institutional engineering

• The support agency acts above all as a ‘process manager’, helping the various actors defi ne their positions, roles, tasks and relationships. The support agency organizes joint refl ections sessions, provides models and tools, arranges training for those actors who need additional help, etc. in order to guarantee an eff ective system of collaboration between the various parties...

• The client contractor reserves the exercice of all his powers, but in close cooperation with the support agency.

Training - support - advice

• The support agency arranges training and education for the various parties involved in local ownership of the project. They can ask the agency for advice if they run into diffi culties or problems they can’t solve on their own.

• An open dialogue between the support agency and the client-contractor and a transparent monitoring system are needed to avoid situations in which the client contractor might take important decisions without being suffi ciently informed.

Facilitation

• The role of the support agency is limited to organizing the stages of the project. The agency is perceived as a neutral body and respected for its experience in other contexts, and it can act as a mobilizing force, a means of keeping a balance of power between the parties and a source of inspiration in order to help the various local parties defi ne their roles and relationships for themselves.


BODY ROLE RESPONSIBILITIES

Municipality • Promoting local development• Organizing basic public services• Client-contractor and

owner of infrastructures

• Determining the infrastructures to be constructed by means of a participatory process

• Defining the infrastructure with the technical support of the construction manager and deconcentrated services

• Power to award contracts• Authorization of payments

Deconcentrated service of the ministry with relevant technical expertise

• Engineers provide support and advice

• Exercise of sovereign powers

• Providing technical advice for the client-contractor and the construction manager for the definition and imple-mentation of the infrastructure

• Checking compliance with standards• Monitoring, data collection

Representative of the donor

• Ensuring financing or co-financing• Overseeing compliance with the

principles of good governance

• Participating at key moments of each stage and approving decisions proposed by the client-contractor

• Approving/authorizing payments• Facilitating learning

Consultancy firm - Construction manager

• Construction manager• Appoints an on-site agent/

permanent overseer of the construction site

• Supporting the client-contractor in defining and planning interventions

• Supporting the client-contractor in the selection, contractual-ization and monitoring of service providers and suppliers

• Checking that service providers and suppliers’ performance is in compliance with the schedule of requirements

Users association • Representative of users• Where applicable: delegated

operator of the infrastructure

• Finds out needs and specifies the level of service desired and what users can afford to pay

• Where applicable, co-financing the infrastructure

• Facilitating the implemen-tation of the infrastructure

NGOCentre of training Resource persons

• Training and raising awareness• Social engineering

• Training and raising user awareness• Facilitating collaboration

between the actors

Local companiesConsultancy firmsLocal tradesmen

• Contractors and service providers• Where applicable: delegated

operator of the infrastructure

• Carrying out technical studies and works

• Managing and servicing the infra-structure, in accordance with the terms and conditions stipulated by the client-contractor, with due observation of professional standards and sectoral strategy

Figure 6: Roles and responsibilities in municipal client-contractorship


THE GUIDING PRINCIPLES

In its broad sense, local client-contractorship is a process in which multiple stakeholders take on various responsibilities relating to the different stages, from the initial political decision to the operation and maintenance of the completed infrastructures, linking the local level to other levels of government and requiring various types of competences (social, political, technical).

Supporting local client-contractorship is thus a strategy for structuring the local actors as part of a process of local development (for the benefit of and run by local actors) and making basic services sustainable.

This ‘structuring’ is not just a matter of putting in place structures or drawing up texts that regulate their functioning and relationships. It also has three additional dimensions:

Clarifying the roles of the various actors, taking into account the new paradigms of de cen-tralization-deconcentration, participation of the local population and the development of a local socio-economic network.

The ownership of these roles by each of actors. This ownership is realized by a mastery of competences at the following 5 levels:

• Making decisions and acting (ability to commit and act)

• Providing services and producing results (ability to deliver)

• Developing and maintaining relationships (ability to relate)

• Adapting and self-renewing (ability to adapt and self-renew)

• Providing a consistent service, from the initial objectives to the implementation of activities, and between the different various levels of the organization (ability to maintain consistency).

The linking between these actors. Obviously, the final objective of this link is a fluid collabo-ration as part of a win-win partnership, but the linking may go through phases of confrontation, demands and even conflicts.

Many agencies or development programmes now choose between:

A decentralization-based support strategy including reinforcing, or sometimes even initiation, of municipal client-contractorship.

Alignment with the deconcentration policies of partner states in empowering the regional services for the implementation or coordination of sectoral programmes.

A community development approach and/or reinforcing the civil society.

The local client-contractorship support strategy, on the other hand, focuses more on the interaction between these various types of actors, each with his own autonomy, but also being aware of their interdependence, without imposing a hierarchy, and with the local level as centre of gravity. This local client-contractorship support strategy is characterized by a number of guiding principles. This chapter explains each of these principles in turn and provides a specific example of how they work in practice, by way of illustration.


The integrated cycle principle

Figure 7: The 6 phases of the project cycle

Supporting local client-contractorship is not limited to the various actions to be undertaken for the construction of an infrastructure, but relates to the various stages of local development, in order to allow local actors to genuinely assume ownership of their infrastructures and basic services.

This is truly a cycle process, in the sense that:

Each new phase is based on the completion of the previous phase. Realistic planning, that includes the accompanying measures and actions, based on a consensus on the programming choices. Effective management of the entire process from the preliminary studies, the drawing up of contracts and contractualization, requires the appropriate division of roles and relationships and a precise timetable, as applied in the previous phases.

The success of any construction project depends in the first place on the technical and organi-zational choices made at the initial phase when decisions are made about preparation and the selection of service providers and suppliers.

The use of an infrastructure and its viability cannot be optimal if the construction and acceptance of the infrastructure are not executed to the satisfaction of the various stakeholders and if the supporting measures (training and instruction, organization of stakeholders, pricing policy, etc…) have not been properly identified and carried out.

• The client-contractorship support agency has to support the various stakeholders at each phase. The ‘products’ to be created in each phase have to be clear and the support agency has to check that these ‘products’ are complete and have been approved by the stakeholders before going on to the next phase.

Programming

Planning

Defi niti on & Preparati on

Implementati on & Acceptance

Operati on, Maintenance & Sustainability

Evaluati on


In a learning approach, the client-contractor and the other stakeholders have to learn lessons from each phase in order to achieve a better mastery of their role and therefore perform better next time when working on the development of other infrastructures.

At the end of each phase, it is very important that an internal evaluation is conducted of the phase and its ‘products’. This should look at tools, competences, forms of collaboration, etc. In other words, it focuses heavily on operational aspects.

The programming, which is essentially about establishing priorities in terms of infrastructures and translates the sectoral policies and national or regional development plans into local choices, has to be updated on a regular basis. This updating has to be based inter alia on applying lessons learned from existing infrastructures and services.

A client-contractorship support approach has to take note of the various evaluations: both after each phase and after the completed cycle. This last evaluation is more strategic and has to pass on lessons for programming in future years: do the infrastructures and services put into place really meet the users’ expectations? Are they viable? Is there a need to provide other support measures in the future?

Support for local client-contractorship


Focuses on all the phases, from the initial programming up to and including the operation and use of the installation.

Focuses on the optimum management of each phase, but also on evaluation with a view to doing things better next time and integrating the lessons

learned into future programming.


Recent changes in national strategy have allowed a shift from a demand-based approach to a programme-based approach. This has resulted in a greater stress on the role of local authorities as the provider of public services and a focus on the complete cycle, from the programming stage onwards.

Sectoral programming is divided into 3 stages: I) Preparation; II) Planning; and III) Arbitration:

Preparation • Establishing the roles and responsibilities of each actor.• Creating an integrated database of water services (at regional level).• Sending the list of existing infrastructures, as well as the list of localities (with demographic data)

to the village leaders for them to study and provisionally approve.• Identification and collection of data and tools by the municipality.• Drawing up a timetable for carrying out the process.

Planning • Inventory and analysis of the drinking water provision infrastructures of the municipality:Collecting local data:- Meetings at village level to update the list of localities, estimate distances and population

per locality, preparing an inventory of existing water points, determining the current drinking water provision service so that needs could be stated and prioritized.

- The municipality draws up lists of localities by district.- Exhaustive inventory by an external provider using the lists and data (surveys, localities and

water points).- Confirmatory meetings by district with the District Council (DC), village leaders and contact

persons.Calculating the level of service actually provided to the population served.Inclusion in GIS.Summary charts for each district.

• Planning the implementation of drinking water provision infrastructures:Meetings at district level: approval by locality of the service and technical solution proposed.Meeting at municipal level: compiling of results obtained before meeting with the DC, water

service and municipal services for the arbitration of priorities defined by and agreed between districts in order to arrive at a final list of priorities which would serve as a skeleton framework for municipal programming.

Arbitration • Finalisation of basic documents (types of infrastructures programmed, number of infrastructures programmed, year of implementation, source of financing) according to clearly defined criteria.

• Documents sent to municipal council.• Council meeting to decide on programming, draw up an annual investment plan and a political

decision on the budget.

Box 7: The new programming approach in Benin

For more than 15 years, Benin has followed a strategy of deconcentration and a ‘demand-based’ approach to the development of the drinking water sector in rural areas. Through the PADEAR projects, regional water department services have assumed the role of client-contractor.The villages and areas targeted were selected on the basis of requests from communities, confirmed by the receipt of their financial participation in the initial investment. The result has been the infrastructure of some 1.000 new water points each year, but major problems still persist, especially with regard to I) the absorption capacity of communities and regional services, II) the sustainability of investments and achieving genuine local ownership andIII) an equitable division (many of the water points were installed in more prosperous villages which already had one, while communities that were isolated, less populated, poorly informed, or simply very poor were still left without water).

THE PROGRAMMING CYCLE IN BENIN


The 4 dimensions principleClient-contractorship by a local institution is composed of four dimensions: a territorial dimension, a political dimension, a technical dimension and an organizational dimension (F3E, Cités Unies & PAD, 2009).

Figure 8: The 4 strategic dimensions of client-contractorship

Supporting local client-contractorship has to include all of these dimensions. However, the support agency will not need to work on all four dimensions with the same degree of intensity. It depends on local competences, whether or not there are local or regional development plans, the political legitimacy of local actors and, again, the duration of the local client-contractorship support. Nevertheless, it is still important that the support agency is aware of each of these dimensions and has a strategy for overcoming the gaps (or at least reducing the risks) relating to each dimension.

Client-

contractorship

Technical• Experti se of technical services• Mastery of ‘project cycle’• Developing the necessary

administrati ve and managerial competences

• Availability of skilled professionals

Organisati onal• Organizing the insti tuti on’s competences and how it exercises them• Organizing and managing its services• Human and fi nancial resources• Relati onships between elected local offi cials and technical services

Politi cal• Legiti macy of politi cal power and representati ve democracy• Capacity to encourage and mobilize• Capacity to determine public policies at territorial level

Territorial• Relati onship between local government

and territorial actors (listening, mobilisati on, coordinati on)

• And other actors operati ng in the territory (NGOs, donors, ...)

• Relati onships with the regional level• Sectorial policies and regional

developments plans


Supporting local client-contractorship definitely has to go beyond a purely technical or adminis-trative approach. At its most fundamental level local client-contractorship is about getting the local population and its partners (central government, funding donors, etc…) to recognize the roles and powers of local actors, and more specifically local governments.

Equally, supporting the local client-contractorship does not focus only on local actors, but aims to ensure that development initiatives take adequate account of all actors with influence in the territory concerned.

While these principles are self-evident in the case of public client-contractors, they also apply to any institution, which represents the local population, such as farmer organizations, user associations or cooperatives. The people who run these organizations are not working in a vacuum and also have to run their institutions with due observation of the principles of legitimacy, effectiveness and efficiency, as well as coordinating their particular approach with those of others actors.

For agencies supporting local client-contractorship, being aware of these four dimensions involves the following:

The organizational dimension. This relates to the internal organization and functional capacities of the institution. In an approach based on support for local client-contractorship, it is important to find the right balance between the organization of the partnership itself (agreement, how it is run, financial circuit, etc.) and the extent, to which the organization of the institution needs to be reinforced. It might turn out to be counter-productive to put a financial circuit in place, which is not controlled by the partner institution, if the key issue at that point in time is to improve its management capacities or getting them to better understand their responsibility vis-à-vis the local population or its members. If the support agency takes over from the local government in deciding on the legitimacy of prioritized projects or for authorizing payments, the local actors will quickly get used to dealing directly with them instead of going to the mayor.A balanced combination of the implementation of projects and organizational reinforcement is crucial in this regard. Support agencies need to take the necessary steps to protect the interests of the donor, but without abandoning the progressive empowerment of the local client-contractor with respect to all the choices and mandates that he is assigned.

The technical dimension is better known and often constitutes the core of reinforcing local client-contractorship: training the teams, working out procedures and designing tools.In an approach based on supporting local client-contractorship, the reinforcement of local competences involves two levels and three methods:

• The two levels relate to the balance between the internal competences of the client-contractor and the external competences: defining roles and relationships, contractualization of local operators, reinforcing service providers and suppliers… The performance of a client-contractor is not judged on what he can do himself, but on his capacity to mobilize and coordinate the necessary competences.

• The three methods to be combined are: training, exchange during mutual visits and accompanying and providing support during the work itself.

The political dimension is more complicated. It can involve different issues depending on the objective of the local client-contractorship support agency: supporting the process of decen-tralization, parallel structuring of the civil society and local governments, reinforcing and diversifying development capacities…


At all events, three relationships have to be taken into account when reinforcing this political dimension to local client-contractorship:

• The relationship between the local authority and the community.

• The relationship between the elected authorities and their administrative and technical systems (the municipal administration, the technical services of the municipality…).

• The relationship between the local actors and the representatives of others levels of government.

The support agency may clarify, legitimize and reinforce these relationships by means, for example, of a system of participatory piloting of the project or programme, the procedure of identification and prioritization of projects or infrastructures to be carried out, helping to translate the sectoral policy into a specific set of initiatives for the particular territory concerned, the establishment of mechanisms for informing and reporting, supporting the mobilization and good management of local resources…

The territorial dimension of local client-contractorship refers to the capacity to mobilize the territorial actors using their own fields of expertise and experience, in order to better define and conduct policies at territorial level. It should be noted that mobilizing all the actors is a crucial point in developing countries where regulatory mechanisms, as well as the resources of local authorities, are often very weak.

The territorial dimension also involves the internal and external coherence of local policy and practice. Internal coherence refers to the principles of equality of treatment and equal opportu-nities for all members of the local population, safeguarding the functions of the environmental patrimony and ensuring their preservation for future generations… External coherence refers to the principles of being good neighbours, of collaborating with other territories when operating on a larger scale could prove advantageous, but also coherence with regard to sectoral strategies and regional or national development plans.



Has to take in account the political, territorial,organisational and technical dimensions of client-contractorship

Has to specify its objectives with regard to each of these dimensions, depending on which areas

are most in need of improvement


A MUNICIPALITY COMBATS FOOD INSECURITY

The region of Dosso in Niger has a population of 1,8 million inhabitants, 92% of whom live in rural areas. During the pre-harvest season, when stocks are depleted, more than 40% of children suffer chronic malnutrition and, on average, 12% suffer acute malnutrition. The area around the country’s borders with Nigeria and the Benin is the most fertile, but escalating demographic pressure is increasingly creating tensions between livestock herders and farmers. Agricultural production is under threat from the effects of climatic change, with periods of very severe drought and a clear alteration in

There has been Belgian bilateral cooperation in the region for more than 20 years and in 2006 the first phase of the Programme to Support the Implementation of Decentralized Entities (PAMED), financed by the Belgian Fund for food security, swung into action. In the early years, a large part of the budget went on helping the municipalities themselves: building and equipping offices, recruitment and training of key personnel, and setting up procedures and tools. During this period half the investment budget was spent on basic services, following the municipal council’s own prioritization and based on a municipal client-contractorship approach, and with local assistance in the form of one project technician per district (3 -7 municipalities).Since 2009, the programme has mainly focused on food security, but the approach remains one of reinforcing the municipalities’ role, competences and relational/partnership networks.The programme now invests in the ‘municipalisation’ of certain key mechanisms or strategies that are crucial to an approach based on food security and reinforcement of defensive capacities (especially of vulnerable groups). This involves, for example, a network of cereal depositories with classic village depositories managed by groups of women at the base of the pyramid and back-up depositories at municipal or inter-municipal level. Other initiatives included the establishment of an early warning system and a focus on land tenure with the municipal authority as local regulator.Furthermore, the programme also finances municipal and community projects prioritized by the municipal council on the condition that they make a contribution to greater food security (in its broad sense). Financing is by means of municipal budgetary support and subsidies are awarded in relation to population, poverty profile and food insecurity, as well as municipal performance – measured according to a series of indicators, such as the level of fiscal coverage, whether the municipal council (and any committees it may have) holds meetings and keep records … All of this is formalized in a contract of objectives between the municipality and the project team.

The programme includes the four dimensions of local client-contractorship:• Organizational dimension: the municipal council decides which projects to finance and which

strategies to ‘municipalize’ and the municipality assumes the various responsibilities of client-contractor; local assistance guarantees learning from experience.

• Technical dimension: training of mayors, elected officials, municipal personnel and leaders of community organizations; reflection on the division of roles; local support.

• Political dimension: a participatory drawing up of the municipal development plan, reporting mechanisms – especially by means of the indicators of governance which determine the level of subsidy awarded by the programme.

• Territorial dimension: ‘municipalisation’ of strategies and tools which mobilize all the actors, starting inter-municipal projects, putting them in contact with regional services, setting up a database at municipal level (GIS)…

Box 8: Supporting local governance for improved food security in the Republic of Niger

the distribution and timing of rainfall. The municipalities were only established in 2004 and Dosso region now has 43. However, their capacities are extremely weak: they have tax revenues of 0,7 € per inhabitant, an investment budget of 0,9 € per inhabitant, an average of 6 employees per municipality.


The multi-actor principleSupporting local client-contractorship recognizes the complementary roles and responsibilities of all the various actors who are involved in local development.

This concept means that there is no formal hierarchy between the various levels and each type of actor is free to make his own choices, providing he respects the rules (legislation, sectoral strategy…).

However, the local government enjoys its own autonomy and is not a just a remnant from a dismembered central government; the organizations of the local population are not sub-contractors of an administration; private service providers are required to comply with the regulations but have freedom of action and are therefore at liberty to intervene where they think they can best contribute and to the best of their capabilities…

Each of the actors has to be aware of the importance of clarifying their roles, as well as of the added value that can be achieved in terms of synergy by the combined effect of these various complementary roles and competences.

This collaboration between actors is sometimes difficult to achieve in the present context, which is specifically the fact that many countries of the South (and the former soviet republics) are in the process of carrying out a radical reorganization of their political and institutional structures. The local governments are therefore often of recent creation. Furthermore the various organi-zations which serve the local population have often either been abandoned to their fate by an ailing centralist state or, worse still, are actually in conflict with central government. Finally, the emergence of a local private sector is often being facilitated by the withdrawal by the state both as operator of every type of services and as a contractor; the deconcentrated services have to redefine their mission…

These changes are often perceived as threatening but actually they offer an opportunity for a better division of roles, which would enable:

A recognition of the rights of the local population as citizens and of local democracy.

Achieving a balance of power between the local and regional and national levels, between the local population and its administrators.

A professionalization of trades and occupations.

Limiting the risks of conflicts of interest.

A local client-contractorship support strategy offers assistance with these changes and facilitates this collaboration.

In essence this comes down to a group of actors specifying and formalizing this division of roles and of relationships, while taking into account local legislation, the current capacities that can be mobilized with respect to each of the various actors, the ‘comparative advantage’ of each actor (relating to his position, his relationships, his technical or financial capacities …) and issues such as effectiveness and sustainability. This division in terms of complementarities relates to all the various phases, from programming up to and including the actual and viable provision of concrete neighbourhood services.

In cases involving public services, such as providing drinking water, rainwater drainage or setting up centres for basic health care, it is clear that particular responsibility has to fall to the public sector, both as owner and client-contractor and as the body which is supposed to guarantee that this public service is available under better conditions and for the entire local population. This public sector entity – municipality, district or other local authority – has to understand, however, that it


is in its own interests to give or share responsibility with other actors so as to achieve better effec-tiveness and viability: the participation of users creates the conditions necessary for their inclusion and commitment, joint collaborations by professionals create the conditions for the development of local trades and occupations and allows the local government to focus on overseeing quality and compliance with commitments.

Figure 9: Relationships in a multi-actor approach

Financing:Contributi ons from users

Constructi on manager(NGO, enterprises)

Delegated management on behalf of local administrati ons

Servicing Maintenance

Organized users(committ ees)

Private sector

Support to users

Financing:Internati onal aid - the state

Regulati onSupervision

Management

Client-contractorship

Localadministrati on

Governmentservices


An approach that supports local client-contractorship also supports this multi-actor dynamic: it facilitates reflections on the division of roles and responsibilities, redresses possible imbalances or inequalities between the actors (in terms of knowledge or power), underlines the advantages of collaboration and suggests organizational, contractual and other tools to assist with this collaboration. It reinforces the capacities of local actors with respect to the roles that they have to play in the various stages of client-contractorship (in the broad sense of the term).

The guiding principles in a multi-actors support approach can follow two different patterns, depending on the nature of the relationship between the territorial authority and the other territorial actors. The first possible scenario arises if the territorial authority is regarded as the institution in charge of the democratic life and development of ‘its’ territory; this means that it has to organize itself in order to listen, consult, mobilize, etc. The second scenario arises if the territorial authority is seen as one of the territorial actors, on an equal footing with the others, but with a specific role. The first approach is thus one of primarily supporting the territorial entity.

The second approach is more one of institutional engineering. Where this support requires significant reinforcement of the capacities of all the actors, it is often a good idea to also diversify the support competences. Reinforcing the managerial and organizational capacities of a fledgling local authority is an undertaking of a very different nature from that of structuring the local population or promoting and supporting entrepreneurial activities. Moreover, these support functions are not always compatible if they are to be carried out by the same agency. Harmonizing approaches and interventions or, better still, agreeing to share tasks with others agencies that subscribe to the same approach of supporting local client-contractorship is thus a good way of providing optimal support.



Commitment to achieving an optimal division of rolesbetween the various types of actors, the mastery of their role and of fluid realtionships between the actors,

bases on their complementarity and the mutual respect.

It may be practical to use one particular actor as a ‘way in’ (local government, community, local client-contractorship,support agencies), but agencies have to work towards a balance of power and a harmonious development of the

entire network of actors.


A WIN – WIN PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN COMMUNITY AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN SARAGURO

In 2005, aware of the results of our project in the Province of Cañar, in the north of Cuenca, the authorities of the Canton of Saraguro requested the support of the PROTOS-CEDIR consortium to help them improve access to drinking water for their rural communities.Saraguro has a population of 35.000 inhabitants. It has one semi-urban centre and 80% of the population is dispersed over mountainous terrain and the small valleys of the various tributaries of the river Jubones. These rural communities are composed of indigenous peoples, while the inhabitants of the small town of Saraguro, the seat of local government, are mostly mestizos (mixed race). At the start of the programme, the Canton’s water system consisted of about ten mini-networks (providing running water, but not drinking water) serving barely 20% of the rural population.

The PROTOS-CEDIR consortium began with an introductory and strategic investment phase, which enabled us to build a relationship of trust with the communities and with the municipality, and gain a better understanding of the strengths, limitations and change factors. It was already an established practice that the municipality allotted part of its investment budget by means of the technique of ‘partici-patory budgets’, in which the villages prioritize their investments. This mechanism was also applied to the prioritization of drinking water infrastructures, but was severely limited in terms of effectiveness in the absence of additional financing. Participatory budgets resulted in an excessive number of sporadic and partial interventions (e.g. constructing a reservoir or donating a few pipes), but without any thought being given to whether the water network concerned needed a systemic approach to ensure its viability.Since 2007, PROTOS has been supplementing the local government budget for the priority water and sanitation projects, which are in line with this systemic approach. This means the construction of ‘complete’ systems including the protection of sources, a water treatment mechanism, metered distri-bution, etc. More specialized work is now entrusted to local contractors who are gradually perfecting their skills and capacities.The community is very involved in project, not just at the level of providing unskilled labour, but also participate in workshops to build technical, administrative, financial and organizational skills, as well as engage to work towards sustainable management, including a paying water service, something which had never been done before in this area.The municipality has assumed its responsibilities as client-contractor, but in partnership with the community. It applies the methodological principles of social engineering in its interventions and has committed itself to putting the necessary mechanisms in place and creating an environment conducive to providing sustainable access to clean water for all.In a new phase, we are changing from a ‘one on one’ approach (local government versus each individual community) towards a more collective approach.Working in collaboration with the parties involved in the small border canton of Oña, we have gradually put suitable mechanisms in place for a more integrated management of water resources in the basin of the river Jubones. The main focus is on optimizing irrigation, protecting the paramos (high pastures), moving towards a fair and consensual sharing of resources, etc… Moreover, others actors, such as farmer organizations, irrigation user committees or provincial services now have to be included in the debates.At the same time, the long term viability of drinking water systems requires the establishment of other forms of collaboration between the communities themselves, as well as with the local government and local private sector.Increasingly, the municipalities now regard themselves as partners in the local governance of water resources and water services. They are conscious of their public responsibilities, and no longer see themselves as a dispensing office providing cofinancing for scattered and isolated mini-projects. In a context of mutual distrust between local authorities and indigenous communities, this is a slow and risky process, although the first reflections, workshops and exchange visits have been positive and succeeded in generating interest among the various parties.

Box 9: Partnership between local authority and community in Saraguro, Ecuador


The rights and obligations principleWith the introduction of decentralization, municipalities or others local governments have ‘inherited’ a series of tasks relating to the administration of their territory. These are tasks, which used to be carried out by deconcentrated structures, such as sub-prefectures. Typical examples are services relating to the civil register or the administration of contracts.

However, first and foremost, local governments have a duty of guaranteeing access to essential services for their population; in the majority of countries, these essential services (also known as ‘immediate local services’) include drinking water, sanitation, primary education and basic health care.

They therefore have an obligation to implement and operate sectoral policies at the level of their territory and to carry out certain tasks, which ensure adequate provision of these public services (accessible to all, in accordance with national standards, sustainable, etc.) or commission third parties to carry these out. When organizing these neighbourhood services, the local government is not a sub-contractor of the central government. This role stems from a public function in the true sense of the word: as organizer of a service for the benefit of its public.

Figure 10: Rights and obligations in the governance of public services

COMMUNITY

Results

Resources (fi nancial, technical, human)

Organizati on

Leadership Sectoral policy

Legislati ve framework

Donors’ policy and practi ces

Insti tuti onal factors

Contextual factors

Target group factors

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Tasks

Having

Knowing

Capacity

Will

line of influence

Adequate public services


The community has a right to receive these essential public services, but it also has a duty to support its elected authorities and administration with a view to allowing them to provide these services under better conditions. The community has to play a role of monitoring and adjustment with respect to its elected authorities and administrations in the interests of the optimum use of resources. The exercise of this role is not limited to voting in elections, but requires both an individual commitment (civic behaviour) and a commitment as a community (social control, partici-pation in consultations with the administration, balanced representation, organizing transparency, reporting and making demands…).

The quality of public services is influenced by a number of factors:

At the level of the local government: its financial, technical and human resources; its internal organization, including the effectiveness of political control, the degree of collaboration between elected authorities and technical services and the efficiency of municipal systems (procedures, organigram, dialogue with the community…); its capacity to mobilize the local population; its relationship with the other local development actors, with central government and its decon-centrated services, with the donors and development programmes…

At the level of the community: its individual and collective willingness to change the situation; its degree of organization and its power of negotiation when demanding its rights; its social cohesion, commitment and practice in terms of taking account of the interests of specific groups, of the environment and of future generations; its technical competences and its economic resources…

At the level of the specific context: the sectoral policy and possible directives relating to its implementation; the behaviour of the central government and of funding donors; how well deconcentrated services work; the legislative framework relating to decentralization or community life; the effectiveness of decentralization, especially with regard to the transfer of financial and human resources…

Optimizing these influences, requires two things:

That the community and the local authority are able to assume their obligations and demand their rights.

That they are able to make optimal use of the contextual factors, or at least to reduce the negative effects of these factors.

Supporting local client-contractorship has to tackle the various impeding factors, which work against the achievement of this dynamic of rights and obligations.

In some contexts, this may mean above all reinforcing the community’s capacities to organize itself and demand its rights – in order words, adopting a community approach.

In other contexts, it may be more the territorial authority that has to be supported in its capacities with regard to planning local development or demanding its rights with regard to external actors (central government, donors). This is an institutional approach.

Usually, each of three levels (local authority, community, context) has its own impeding factors and, in order to be effective, a local client-contractorship support strategy will need to intervene on all three levels. This is a territorial approach.


Again, development projects are still often run by external actors and involve dynamics whereby the emphasis is on the relationship between the local authority and the donor, or between the community and donor. In projects aimed at improving access to water quite a few development organizations support village committees without stressing the responsibility of the local authority.

Others go through the local authority without reinforcing the structuring mechanisms with respect to users. However, the ownership and sustainability of dynamics of local development depend primarily on making sure that the relationship between the local authority and the community really works and it is important to take proper account of the rights and obligations dimension to this relationship.



Focuses both on the community’s capacity to demand its right and the planning capacities of the local authority - within a framework of rights and duties.

Acts with an awareness of the three levels which influence the performance of local services: the government, the community and the context.


FROM A COMMUNITY APPROACH TO PUBLIC COMMITMENT IN MADAGASCAR

Madagascar, with its 21 million inhabitants, is one of the countries that are furthest behind with the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals for the water and sanitation sector. The level of coverage in urban areas remains unchanged for sanitation and is even declining with respect to access to clean water. In rural areas a slight improvement has been observed, but if things proceed at this snail’s pace, Madagascar won’t achieve the MDG for water until the 2060’s and the sanitation MDG won’t be met until the 22nd century.The consequences of this situation are damaging to health, human dignity, the country’s economic development and the environment:• Diarrhoea-related illnesses are the number 2 cause of morbidity and affect 51%

of children under 5; 14.000 children under 5 die each year (World Bank, 2010).• 3.5 million school days are lost each year due to water-related illnesses ( joint

study by UNICEF, WHO WaterAid).• 5 million working days are lost.• Apart from a few micro treatment stations, most waste water and excreta are

simply released into the natural environment, with significant risks of contami-nation, especially with regard to water resources.

Supplying the public with drinking water and providing communal treatment plants for household waste water are a public service that is the responsibility of the municipal authorities, but the reality is that the policy of decentralization-deconcentration (NP2D), which the country adopted in 2006 is still a dead letter. The 1.395 municipalities are often so small and so poor that even the concept of public service is hardly understood at this level. In this context, NGOs are still the main actors intervening in this sector in rural areas. Madagascan NGOs that specialize in this field have developed a community approach, which often leads to an effective mobilization of users for the construction and day-to-day maintenance of their own network. In some secondary and peripheral centres of Antananarivo, water supply systems are more often operated by a local company.It is only in the last few years that some agencies, including PROTOS, have tried to empower municipalities with regard to this sector. This institutional anchoring is indispensable, among other reasons, due to the following challenges:• The weak legitimacy and fragility of the water committees,• The absence of local regulatory mechanism,• The small scale of water systems in rural areas (often less than 1,000 users), which requires an up scaling,

which is difficult to organize at the level of the community. But this attempt to introduce the concept of local public service – which won’t work in the rural areas of Madagascar without mobilizing the community – and this redistribution of roles, are held back by numerous impediments, a situation which is made even worse by the limited nature of government services and the island’s isolation. For this reason PROTOS is acting in parallel with four types of actors:• The municipalities. They are starting to play their role as client-contractor, in the first place in the phases of

programming, planning, of acceptance, and as the real owners of infrastructures. They delegate operation to water committees and form a partnership with them through a mechanism of support and of control. The municipalities also run the award and management of contracts, in close collaboration with PROTOS.

• The communities are reinforced in terms of greater legitimacy and of competences acquired for the day-to-day operation. Their organizational capacities and ability to get what they want have been improved by means of their official recognition and their federation at municipal level.

• The deconcentrated services of the relevant ministry are involved in choices and reinforced in their sovereign role.

• However, there is also a difficult task to be performed by the Madagascan partner NGO in refocusing its role and position with respect to the municipality and the communities and building the capabilities necessary in order to provide support in the absence of a construction manager.

Box 10: From a community approach to a public commitment in Madagascar


The learning from experience principleLocal client-contractorship is not a theoretical concept, but a series of practical skills to be mastered. In contexts, in which decentralization and local empowerment for the provision of basic services are recent phenomena, it is obvious that the legislative, organizational and administrative framework will not yet be ideal and that the competences and mechanisms of collaboration will not yet be in phase with local needs.

This ‘local ownership’ has to be learned – not in theory, but by practi cal experience.

The division of roles and the relationships between actors are specific to each situation. Best practices apply to a given context and cannot be transplanted willy-nilly to a different context. In other words we need to be more concerned with “best fit” than with “best practices” (i.e. the practices that fit best in the context).

Coming up with the solution that fits best and then achieving its local ownership require changes of individual and institutional behaviour. The new division of roles and responsibilities gives rise to changes to tasks and therefore the capacities required, but also in terms of relationships and powers. These changes are often perceived as threatening.

At an individual level, it is not practical to change what you do and how you do it as a step towards a better future, if that new role has still not been created.

At an institutional level, changes risk being seen as a “zero sum game” (i.e. gains in power and benefits for one party mean a loss for the other party), which leads to resistance to those changes, especially from the more powerful actors.

For these various reasons, supporting local client-contractorship has to be achieved by applying an action research methodology which encourages the local actors – using the learning from experience principle – to draw up and put into practice the solution which is best suited to their precise context and for a given point in time. In order to be socially and institutionally acceptable, this “best fit” solution has to grow out of a win-win situation (a “win win game”) and has to be put together in a consensual way.

This action research is not carried out in a vacuum, but has to be done intelligently. It needs to be:

Based on success factors based on existing models.

A commitment for the entire duration of the project.

Something that stems from a joint analysis of areas for improvement and gaps – with those taking part not being afraid to take risks and modify the approach in line with the results.

Rooted in monitoring and analyzing developments.

Overcoming any lack reluctance and getting around obstacles – especially with regard to new roles and power.

Updating the roadmap on the basis of land acquisitions and changes.

Involve stakeholders at regional and national level, as well as centres of knowledge in order to get an objective view and make use of their experiences.


The empowerment of a municipality over the course of the client-contractorship approach can be gradual, for example:

In the first phase, the support agency plays the role of client-contractor’s agent. A delegation agreement specifies the mandates that are delegated and the terms and conditions of the client-contractor’s involvement. As the client-contractor masters the tasks and issues, the mandate can be reviewed in order to give him more control.

In a second phase, the support agency plays more a role of assistant to the client-contractor, without power, but with a guarantee mandate including a no objection procedure with respect to the donor or the government.

In a third phase, the support agency moves to an institutional engineering role, in which it supports the various actors in setting up their mode of collaboration and establishing mechanisms for reporting.

In accordance with this principle, it is also important to monitor the balance between ‘project’ and ‘process’.

The project, prioritized by the local population and the local client-contractor, is an end in itself.It is vitally important that their infrastructure meets their expectations, is well-designed and properly implemented, provides a genuine service and does so in a sustainable way. A poor quality infrastructure will be a destabilizing factor in the relationships between the actors and a demobilizing factor – even if the process has been very participatory and instructive!

However, the project is at the same time a method or tool in the broader process of reinforcing local client-contractorship. If the local actors, with all their limits, learn nothing in all the various phases from the programming to the operation of their infrastructure, they will never achieve mastery of either the infrastructure or the process.

With regard to this learning principle, supporting the local client-contractorship is thus composed of the following components:

A strategy of reinforcing organizational and institutional capacities. These capacities relate to the five competences required for an organization or institution (see p. 37). The support agency cannot restrict itself to merely ‘passing on’ certain types of knowledge, but has to aim to create organizations, which, as far as possible, are gradually developing the practices that best fit the context for themselves without being ‘instructed’.

A system of monitoring, evaluation and adjustment. This system has to focus on three levels:

• The project and the process of implementation in order to make sure that the project meets the expectations and the process is carried out effectively (focusing on results) and efficiently (proper use of resources).

• The mechanism and practice of local client-contractorship in the given context need to be scrutinized, in order to check that the division and mastery of roles are as effective as possible, the systems developed are relevant and effective, whether the systems relating to relationships (consultation, contractualization, reporting…) meet the requirements and are effective…The analysis of this mechanism and the practices currently in place make it possible to gradually arrive at the practice best suited to the context.

• The level of organizational and institutional capacities. The regular and objective evaluation of these capacities makes it possible to identify areas for improvement and to establish priorities and aims that are specific and measurable.


A knowledge base and experience-sharing dimension. Building up a knowledge base starts from the principle that the actors who run activities on the ground acquire expertise and know-how, and that this constitutes a genuine knowledge capital that could be useful to others.The development of ‘best fit solutions’ is a gradual process and those involved need to be able to draw on the lessons learned in the previous phases.



Applies an action research methodology to develop the best solutions to fit each individual context.

Aims to strike the right balance between a ‘project’ orientation and a ‘process’ orientation given that while the installation is an end it itself (and must be of good quality!), it is also a learning tool for improving capabilities via

hands-on experience.


HELPING MUNICIPALITIES TO ACHIEVE CLIENT-CONTRACTORSHIP:GOING FROM ‘DOING IT WITH THEM’ TO ‘LETTING THEM DO IT’

From 2002 onwards, apart from technical assistance, the municipalities have benefited from funds managed directly by them to finance WASH works in their territory. This process of continuous and gradual learning has allowed them to familiarize themselves with the rules and procedures relating to the drafting and management of contracts.

These procedures are as follows:

Phase 1: Preparation: I) Implementation of the Invitation For Bids (IFB); II) publication of the IFB; III) acceptance and opening of bids.

Phase 2: Implementation: IV) going through the bids (using pre-prepared schemas); V) requesting a certificate of no objection from PROTOS: assessing the bids, checking that procedures have been complied with; VI) proposition and choice of the winning bidder.

Phase 3: Administration: VII) notification; VIII) drafting and signing of the contract; IX) monitoring and control of the contract; X) payment of remuneration; XI) provisional and final acceptance, payment of the remaining balance (withheld by way of guarantee).

The various system failures over the last 10 years have enabled us to optimize the division of roles and our management tools. In this way new methods are added to our toolbox, for example, using a GIS for a fairer division of priorities, performance indicators to encourage the municipalities to improve or working on relationships with the Treasury with respect to payments.

Due to changes in the national drinkwater provision strategy, the demand-based approach has given way to a programmatic approach which therefore gives even more responsibilities to the municipalities. Coupled with the provision of financial resources, this new approach genuinely makes it possible to shift from ‘doing it with them’ to ‘letting them do it’ now that ownership of the process of management with respect to the WHS sector has passed to the municipalities.

Over the years it has been found that half-way through their second term of office municipalities have generally managed to master a certain number of competences and we can see that the transition to a genuine territorialisation of WASH policy has already come a fair way despite the numerous obstacles caused by the failure on behalf of the central directorates to transfer resources.

Box 11: Municipalities in Benin learn the art of client-contractorship

The process of decentralization in Benin is still in its early stages and the country’s 77 municipalities were only set up in 2002. Initially, only a handful of the new municipalities were capable of actually exercising the competences that had been transferred to them by Law N° 97-029 of 15 January 1999 concerning the organization of municipalities in the Republic of Benin. However, the country has come a long way since then.Starting from scratch and with enormous needs in terms of reinforcement and of support, those municipalities which have benefited from the help provided by PROTOS through projects such as HAADI-South and HAADI-North, later followed by the PAGIREL programme, will be the first to implement their new role via a partnership that opens the door to a genuine client-contractorship in the area of water supply and communal sanitation.PROTOS, in alliance with the SNV, had already started to transfer genuine responsibilities to Sub-prefectures (the precursors to the present munici-palities) as early as 2000. They were tasked with the programming and prioritization of investments, and were closely involved in administrative and financial procedures. This period made it possible to carry out advanced testing on the mechanisms of collaboration between community, local government, project team and local NGO for social intermediation.


The two-level game principleThe choices made at local level are the responsibility of local actors, but they also have to be in compliance with the choices made at ‘supra-local’ level: national sectoral policy, decentralization, the law relating to the public contracts, ‘blueprints’ or regional development plans. This means that local client-contractorship cannot be implemented in an autarkic village or municipality as it focuses on regional and national frames of reference. In this sense, local choices have to be in line with the policies, strategies and systems in place at national and regional level.Local client-contractorship also allows these supra-local organs to verify that local choices are compliant with these frames of reference and legislation. This involves first and foremost fluid communication and making sure that the relevant government departments are given all the necessary data for regulatory purposes and in order to update their databases. However, a more active participation on the part of these departments may prove necessary for the approval of certain choices, for example, by means of a mechanism for certificates of no objection when drawing up contracts or the integration of a deconcentrated public service into the operating body.

The local level thus has to take account of the supra-local level.

Supra-local choices are also translated into specific actions at local level. However, these supra-local choices can be among the impeding factors that negatively influence the balance of rights and obligations. The sectoral policy with regard to drinking water, for example, may not be sufficiently adapted to the specific context of peri-urban districts of large cities. The ‘demand-based approach’ which is part of the sectoral strategy for water and sanitation in many countries, and according to which the communities are required to initiate requests for a drinking water service themselves, can be an impediment to a fair division or stand in the way of guaranteeing access to the service for communities that are isolated, poorly informed or too small.

Other supra-local choices may not have been sufficiently developed into practical models. For example, a policy decision might be taken to encourage the participation of the active population at the level of urban districts and villages in shaping the development of the municipality, but without first having developed specific models for organising this participation effectively and efficiently. The policy of decentralization and deconcentration may entrust regional services with the task of supporting and advising the municipalities, but without providing any detailed guidance as to the mechanisms of this partnership.

In a local client-contractorship support strategy the experience, vision, results, knowledge, etc. acquired through the implementation of local actions have to be used to optimize these supra-local choices so that these choices are better suited to the objectives, especially the sustainability of the service and a pattern of local development that is people-centred and sustainable.

The local level therefore has an interest in influencing the supra-local level.


This interplay between the local and the supra-local levels, in which one level has to follow the policy established by the other level, but also seeks to influence the other level1, is important (see p. 41) with regard to the following dimensions:

The territorial dimension of the client-contractorship: the link with the regional or provincial development plan, the integrated management of natural resources in the entire territory (for example, the water resources that have to be managed at the level of the hydrographical basin).

The organizational dimension: organization of public finances, public administration, public contracts.

The technical dimension: the sharing of competences between different municipalities/grouping of municipalities, the presence (and incentives to good performance) of service providers and suppliers at local level, regulation of trades and occupations.

The political dimension: legitimacy of the local government vis-à-vis central government, access to support and advice from central government or regional bodies, optimization of policies and sectoral strategies.

In this sense, the local client-contractorship support strategy has to pay attention to building up a knowledge base and sharing experiences, and to the task of advocacy and networking. These activities are a necessary means of creating the ideal link between the local and the supra-local.

In order to adopt the right position and an appropriate commitment in this ‘two-level game’, the local client-contractorship support agency has to start with an in-depth analysis of the politico-institutional framework, key actors and national and local systems.

This analysis has to result in:

An intelligent alignment.

The establishment of precise objectives with regard to the areas to be looked at in more depth or promoted.

The identification of possible allies or opportunities for synergy.

The purpose of this politico-institutional analysis is therefore to arrive at a correct understanding of the political and institutional dynamics in the partner countries concerned, which goes further than the merely technocratic appreciation of actors, systems, and local and national procedures.

It sets out to understand the following:

The structural factors and dynamics of change (the so-called ‘drivers of change’), at the heart and periphery of the institutional framework of sectors, in which the agency intends to intervene, that exert a key influence on policies, strategies, project results, and the sustainability of these results and their impact.

The formal division of roles and responsibilities, between the key sectoral institutions and between the central, deconcentrated and decentralized levels. We need to ask whether that formal division is a true reflection of the reality, and if not, how the intervention sectors that are characterized by a power struggle differ from how they are portrayed in the formal description.

The incentive mechanisms – formal or informal, institutional or individual – which allow an evolution towards genuine local client-contractorship and towards an adequate development of the sector to be supported. Equally, what are the factors which slow progress down, in other words: what are the obstacles and impediments?

1 This concept is taken from Putnam’s two-level game theory (1988) which was developed in the context of international negotiations in which diff erent delegations also had to take account of (and at the same time attempt to infl uence) the negotiations in progress in their own countries – and vice versa.




Is thus committed to building a knowledge base and sharing its experience, networking and advocacy in favour of a better link between the local and supro-local levels.

Has to take account of legislation, sectorial strategies and development plans at regional level, but alse has tocontribute to an appropriate representation of the real situation, aimed at optimizing these laws, strategies and

plans.


The consultation forums allow us to establish a link between the activities on the ground and what goes on at legislative level, when drawing up the new Constitution and consequently the legal frameworks for the sector have dominated the political agenda since 2008.At the same time we have found that the local population is very interested and keen to get involved in ‘civic’ tasks. Ordinary people are mobilizing to analyze the draft versions of proposed new laws, to submit criteria, and to propose amendments. The national parliament, which drew up the new Constitution, received more than 700 delegations who had come all the way to Montecristi (in the South of the country) to present their contributions.The drinking water and sanitation projects that PROTOS supports place great importance on sustainable management once the construction phase is completed, and, in particular, on the establishment of mixed structures (local government and user organizations) in order to provide a series of support services and tasks. The structures thus put into place and those still under construction have had forums, in which to meet and analyze the draft bills and prepare amendments. There have been a lot of meetings, a great deal of mobilisation, a lot of ‘water marches’ and the subject of water has, as it were, ‘soaked’ the Constitution. The issues at stake are i) the recognition of water as a fundamental human right, ii) water as a strategic commodity and part of the national patrimony, iii) the state’s commitment to protecting this resource, by the integrated management of catchment areas, iv) a set order of priority that gives prior right of use to human consumption, then to local production, the environmental flow and finally to large plantations and other economic activities.With regard to the level of the management of water services, the strengths of water committees have been recognized and the management of water has from now on been entrusted to public and community actors while we are encouraging them to collaborate (public-community alliances). This is a win-win situation. The local authorities have an interest in entrusting the operation and maintenance to local drivers. The water committees have an interest in establishing a relationship with their local government, which is capable of overcoming the challenge that goes beyond the level of their own system.This various proposals were definitely inspired by discussions held in the Foro de agua, and some of them – such as the public-community partnership model – are based on lessons drawn from our previous experiences in the country, which PROTOS has documented and disseminated.The problem that they are now facing is that the law, which specifically refers to the sector, has not yet been passed as there are still a large number of points, on which no agreement has been reached and it is proving difficult to arrive at a consensus. These disagreements relate inter alia to: the committee of public participation to be incorporated into organizational structure of the single authority (the Senagua); the all-important minimum charge (some sectors believe access should be free); the exploitation of mineral resources which endangers water quality; the Guayaquil water concession versus the prohibition of private management, etc. Technically, a period of pre-legislative consultation has been declared (for 6 months) but in reality, no consultation is going on at this moment and it is feared the draft bill will simply be ‘filed’, which would certainly result in new mobilisations of the local population.

Box 12: Organized advocacy in Ecuador

For many years PROTOS has been actively involved in consultation forums and networks concerning water-related issues in Ecuador. The most important are the ‘Foro de agua’ at national level and its regional branch for the provinces of Azuay and Cañar. Agencies invest a great deal of time in these networks and PROTOS has also helped with the coordination of the regional branch. Working in collaboration with its Ecuadorian partners, PROTOS has regularly brought out informational documents for the benefit of all the actors in the sector. This includes, inter alia, an inventory of resources at regional level, a methodology of social engineering, a GIS methodology for the sector and reports on their experiences of partnerships between local governments and communities.

THE LESSONS FROM EXPERIENCE THAT ‘SOAKED’ THE CONSTITUTION


THE STAGES OF IMPLEMENTATION

We looked at the different stages that have to be worked through and mastered by the local actors for the prioritization, implementation and operation of their infrastructure. Besides offering methodological advice, the local client-contractorship support agency also has specific roles to play at each stage.

SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION ROLE OF SUPPORT

I. ProgrammingDeciding upon priorities(sectors, zones, target groups…), as well as the stakeholders.

Reconciling local plans with supra-local plans, strategies and legislation.Facilitating consultation between the actors and the inclusion of all the parties.

II. Planning

Listing the infrastructures and services to be carried out in the short and medium term and planning their implementation.

Facilitating participatory planning.Checking coherence and feasibility.Ensuring that the interests of disinherited groups are also included.

III. Defining the infrastructure

Determining the specifications of the infrastructure, its budget and its terms and conditions of financing, operation and maintenance.

Technical support for an optimal design.Encouraging reflection on operation and support measures.

IV. Preparation of works

Selecting the companies and other providers tasked with the implementation and monitoring of the infrastructure.

Contractualizing the commitments.

Transparent and efficient management in the recruitment of service providers and suppliers.Technical support with respect to the contractual documents.In cases of delegated client-contractorship ↠ carrying out the contractualization.

V. Implementation of works

Building the infrastructure.

Guaranteeing that the infrastructure meets expectations and complies with standards.

Technical support.Checking compliance with commitments.Facilitating the collaboration between client-contractor, construction manager, companies, government monitoring services and users.

VI. Acceptance of the infrastructure

Handing over the infrastructure to the owner (and, where applicable, the delegation of its operation).

Closing the construction site.

Technical support.Checking compliance with commitments.Intermediation in the event of conflicts.

VII. Using the infrastructure

Managing, using/operating, maintaining and servicing the infrastructure.

Technical and managerial support.Checking on commitments.Guaranteeing the interests of disinherited groups.

VIII. EvaluationLearning lessons from experiences in order to improve the approach and sharing these with other actors.

Encouraging the local actors to engage in self-evaluation.Making use of the lessons learned and sharing them with other parties.

Figure 11: The stages of implementation


Together with the evaluation – which allows local actors to become learning organizations – supporting the local client-contractorship also involves assisting the local actors in successfully carrying out their tasks (so that the infrastructure really does meet the criteria of relevance, effec-tiveness and sustainability) and adopting the approach of reinforcing their competences so that they achieve a greater mastery of the entire process.

With the exception of evaluation, (which is, above all, a learning process and a task run by the support agency) the Practical Manual for local client-contractorship1 covered the following aspects for each of the various stages:

The objectives of that stage.

The actions to be taken.

The actors who need to be involved and their roles.

Tools for optimizing the implementation of this stage.

Advice and points of attention.

It is not our intention in this chapter to repeat what has already been dealt with in the Practical Manual, but rather to focus on the role of the individual technical assistant or the supporting agency. We will summarize the questions that have to be resolved at each stage and then go on to examine certain points that need to be borne in mind. This is accompanied by additional explanations of areas of particular difficulty or sensitivity and we provide recommendations and tools for the support agency in order to help them with their various roles and tasks.

Where the agency’s role in supporting client-contractorship at certain stages is very similar, we have grouped these stages together (e.g. programming and planning, which are separate stages, but dealt with in the same section of this chapter). The process of learning during these stages is sometimes iterative.

After each group of stages, the role of the support agency is illustrated by an example drawn from the actual experience of PROTOS teams in the field.

1 Available in French only at http://www.PROTOSh2o.org/water-in-the-world-fr/publicaties


Programming & Planning

QUESTIONS TO THINK ABOUT DURING THESE STAGES

What are the priority basic services? What are the priorities for the local population,for the institutions and for the environment?

How are these services going to be organized locally?

Who are the actors involved? What is the role of each actor at each stage?What are their relationships? How are they to be informed / report?

What are the priority lines of approach for each sector at local level?

How are basic services to be made viable (technically, financially, organizationally,...)?

Do you need to take account of ‘value’ choices: access to basic services for the poorest members of the local community, reinforcing disadvantaged groups, gender equality,…?

Which infrastructures need to be implemented first?

Which steps need to be taken in order to reinforce competences?

Are there actions that need to be taken regarding the ‘structuring’ of users and optimization of relationships between the various actors?

Which actors need to be mobilized?

Which resources need to be mobilized (internal and external)?

How should work be scheduled/time-planned in line with the resources (technical, human, financial and logistical) available?

How can we create a system of oversight, which makes it possible to check and monitor progress, achievement of objectives, impact on future users or other groups, and possible impacts on the environment?

POINTS TO BE BORNE IN MIND FOR THE AGENT/SUPPORT AGENCY

Checking that the priorities chosen have been properly thought through

Determining priorities is a difficult exercise. It hasa technical dimension, but, above all, it has a significant political dimension.

There is no such thing as an absolute priority because priorities will differ from one individual to another or from one institution to another.

Local populations and institutions may see a problem as a priority and propose their priority project in good faith, but without realizing that the root causes of the problem go much deeper and will not be solved by their proposed project.

In Ouroma, Mali, the local populations chose the construction of a large dam as their first priority.However, the arable farmers count on the water for irrigation further downstream, the women need the water for horticulture upstream, the cattle farmers need it so that their cattle can drink and the fishermen (bozos) depend on it for fish farming – four incompatible functions. The dam is now finished, but it has created tremendous tensions and its full potential has never been properly exploited.

Box 13: The Ouroma dam in Mali


For example, hygiene and sanitation are rarely prioritized by local populations or local adminis-trations, despite the fact that all the studies show that better hygiene and basic sanitation are the elements, which have the greatest impact on community health.Clearly, the support agency can’t draw up the priorities itself, but it can influence and guide the process in such a way that:

• The problems that are perceived as priorities (e.g. infant mortality) are studied in sufficient depth before being converted into priority projects (vaccination, hygiene and sanitation, drinking water).

• The priorities have to be combined with a vision of the characteristics and nature of the territory at this particular point in time.

• The impact of priority choices needs to be understood and accepted by the parties involved. In this context, it is a good idea to check for possible negative impacts and identify groups who might lose out. These aspects are often forgotten if one is not able to stand back and examine the issues with genuine detachment or if the local actors are not able to come up with a strategy to reduce these negative effects.

Only under these conditions can the local actors make their choice in an informed way.

Making the priorities as objective as possible

We should not forget that programming has to take in account the needs of local populations, institutions and the environment (or ecosystems). Considering these needs in accordance with priorities and in terms of impact is a difficult exercise. One of tasks of the local client-contractorship support agency in this case is to suggest tools, which make it possible to arrive at choices that are objective and consensual. Using diagrammatic representations and creating a database at municipal level are more modern methods, which require certain technical skills and expertise, but which have proved very useful in facilitating a more objective discussion and a greater degree of consensus. They also make it possible to set up a supervisory mechanism and communication tool, thus giving better transparency.

Leadership and participation

The local government has to be the coordinator of local development. Programming and planning are an ideal opportunity for building and demonstrating this leadership. This should be a style of leadership, which encourages participation and makes the final decisions, taking into account all the interests and based on a strategic vision, which is accountable and encourages the other actors to work out the details.

It is therefore important that the support agency places the local government at the centre of the process and provides it with methods and tools, which encourage it to adopt a participatory approach. Consultations by urban area or village/district, sectoral committees or public meetings are all potentially useful forums for dialogue and mobilization.

However, this participatory dynamic must never be at the expense of the prerogatives of elected or appointed local government bodies. It is thus the municipal council that has the responsibility of approving municipal strategies, the municipal development plan, the arrangements made regarding the operation of water supply infrastructures or priority projects to be financed or co-financed from the municipal budget (or with subsidies from one of the municipality’s partners).

In a context, in which decentralization and empowerment of the local population are new phenomena, it is important that the support agency – with its neutrality – oversees this aspect so that there is a truly democratic balance of interests and participation.


An iterative process

It is a precondition for adequate planning that the more strategic choices are made at this stage and enjoy a sufficient degree of consensus.

When making these choices as part of a programming process, you need to be able to mobilize all the actors (and to do so over a long enough period) if you really want to arrive at a full under-standing of the various problems of the territory. Mobilizing these actors without visibility or specific actions on the ground is not usually a realistic way of proceeding.

To arrive at sensible and judicious choices, the local development actors concerned must have sufficiently understood the sectors, and mastered the methods of planning and territorial consultation and sufficiently grasped the consequences of their choices. This presupposes a level of technical and methodological mastery, which has to be acquired by means of training and instruction, exchange visits and, above all, through experience. All this requires the implemen-tation of specific actions.

An approach, which is sometimes used to tackle this vicious circle, is that of tactical investments: one starts by planning specific infrastructures of a simple nature with clear visibility and a direct impact. This mobilises the actors, who are at the same time drawn into a programming process involving more complex sectors.

The interests of disinherited groups

Programming and planning are carried out using a participatory approach, under the leadership of the local government. In every society, however, there are groups who either do not wish to take part or are unable to do so or who are not properly represented in the dialogue. The support agency has to check that sufficient account has been taken of the interests of disinherited groups. Methods that the support agency could recommend in this regard include: focus group discussions, mapping out the groups impacted by the various sectoral choices and proposals for the inclusion of strategies or mechanisms of positive discrimination towards disinherited groups.

Two groups/interests, which are, by defi nition, absent in the negotiations: future generations and the environment

The support agency has to make sure that their interests are taken into account.

A (brief) environmental impact study will reveal the possible effects of proposed projects on the environment. However, a sustainable development approach cannot limit itself only to minimizing the negative effects on the environment of projects managed by individuals and institutions. The needs and interests of the environment are of such importance that these considerations can also serve as the justification for specific projects, for example, to protect biodiversity or the ecological value of rivers and coastal zones. The needs and the benefits of ‘environmental services’ are often difficult to quantify, but the following should be borne in mind:

• The revenues derived from ecosystems are more critical to the subsistence of the poorest members of the local community than they are for the more prosperous groups.

• The poorest members of the local community are more vulnerable to the consequences of the disruption of ecosystems (natural disasters, climatic change, etc) and do not have adequate resources for adaptation or risk limitation.


• Protecting environmental services is an integral part of protecting the interests of future generations.

The key element in protecting the interests of future generations is first and foremost safeguarding the territorial patrimony: ecosystems and environmental services, the patrimony in terms of infra-structures (including saving for their replacement or renewal), but also their social and institutional patrimony.

Project implementer, client-contractor and owner

The debate on the ownership of a project or infrastructure and on the identity of the client-contractor can be complex when this relates to projects, infrastructures or services, which do not necessarily belong to the public domain, but which use public assets (e.g. subsidies, building a micro-dam in a river or stream for irrigation purposes or using public land for the infrastructure of a community water supply connection). In these cases, it is obvious that the future users will have to take charge of the infrastructure later on and they therefore have an interest in being involved in the process of definition, implementation and acceptance. However, the future users are not the real owners of assets (or parts of assets, e.g. land) and the local authority has to be able to exercise its right of regulation.

In these cases the support agency can suggest intelligent forms of organization, which are often little known in developing countries. These include, for example, an agreement to delegate the client-contractorship to the organization of future users, by which the local authority retains its right of supervision and stipulates the conditions of delegation. Equally, the ownership of the infrastructure can also be separated from ownership of the land on which it is built, especially by granting a right to construct, which gives the owner of the infrastructure the right to build on land which does not to belong to him and grants the right to use/operate the infrastructure for a long period of time and in accordance with the agreed restrictions, after which the infrastructure returns to the owner of the land. Drafting of these contractual components has to be facilitated by the support agency.

Strategic and intangible choices

In many contexts, in which decentralization and empowerment of the local population are new phenomena, the first attempts at programming and planning consist of little more than a list of infrastructures to be built without any details concerning either the management mechanisms for the planned infrastructures or the local development dimension.

In this case, the support agency has a major responsibility to include opportunities to engage in reflections of a more strategic nature in the programming and planning phases.

By way of illustration, we will look at the drinking water and basic sanitation sector. Here, programming and planning processes cannot be restricted simply to drawing up lists of boreholes, wells and pipes to be installed as a matter of priority. The choices made have to address:

• The level of service desired and what can realistically be offered to the local populations (household connections, community or private premium rate services, maximum distances from the water point, water quality…) and the changes that have to be programmed in terms of the level of service.


• The management models (community or public? cost-reimbursement contract – leasing – concession? pricing policy?).

• The necessary measures to ensure an optimum impact (raising awareness of rational use, training and instruction on hygiene, promotion of latrines…) or for greater viability (user organi-zations, establishing a network of operators or repair technicians…).

The management of local development also has to be included in the programming.

This includes, thus, the establishment of a sectoral consultation framework, sectoral committees at municipal council level or a development committee; an integrated database of basic services at municipal level; mechanisms of communication between the municipality, the other stakeholders and the local population…

These elements require a capacity for analysis, a more long-term vision and an understanding of methodology, which local actors will not have when they make their first forays into the field of programming and planning. The support agency therefore has a key role to play in this process.


A STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT PLAN FOR WATER AND SANITATION IN CAP-HAITIEN

Cap Haitien, Haiti’s second city, has a population of around 500.000 inhabitants, most of whom live in shantytowns devoid of all basic services.A large number of NGOs are active here, generally according to a community or urban district approach, with the objective, inter alia, of improving living conditions and renovating small independent water supply systems in the peripheral zones. The principal drinking water supply network only serves the city’s historic centre with a population of barely 50.000 inhabitants. The system, which dates from the 1920’s, is operated by the regional office of the national drinking water authority and has not undergone any significant renovation work since 1970. The service is, at best, mediocre and subject to interruptions.

The city has no sewerage system apart from a few open channels for rainwater drainage. 95% of the city’s waste water is released into these gutters or onto the streets. Families with more money have a tank, which they have emptied during the night by a contracted latrine-emptier (known as a bayakou) and the faeces end up in the lagoon or in the sea.

In 2007, Oxfam-GB, GTIH and PROTOS decided to initiate a process of strategic planning for the water and sanitation sector, which was regarded as a priority – both by the associations of the urban area and by the local and national authorities.

The Strategic Management Plan (SMP) is an orientational tool for the planning of investments and support measures. However, the process of drawing up the SMP – which has taken two years – has also led to the development of a shared vision of the sector and the creation of a permanent consultation framework. Moreover, the various analyses, examples of other people’s experiences and the many workshops and working parties have contributed to bolstering local capacities in the areas of analysis, consultation and planning.

The success of the process was influenced by the following factors:• The fact that it was carried out by a consortium and that the project was not regarded as the ‘property’

of any single actor.• The neutral, scientific support provided by the University of Leuven, Belgium in the form of ten short

missions and additional remote support. Their team provided the working methodology, organized the main workshops, expanded visions by passing on experience acquired in other countries, and, finally complied summaries and drew up the SMP itself.

• The investments, which the consortium has made at ground level, in parallel to the planning process, gave credibility to the approach. In the period 2007-10, the consortium built water and sanitation infrastructures for around 100,000 people, while other participants in the consultation process put into place by the consortium invested in infrastructures of a more structural nature such as the catchment water tower or the city distribution reservoir.

The SMP is not limited simply to an analysis and presentation of visions and orientations for the sector, but also prioritises a series of strategic projects based on 8 lines of approach. These projects are centred on priority physical investments, but they also relate to actions and measures of governance such as, for example, setting up a system of charges that is both fair and effective or drawing up a strategy and setting up mechanisms of monitoring and control in order to maintain water quality.The ownership of the plan on the part of the local authorities is still not optimal, despite their involvement in the entire process. The SMP needs to remain a reference point for the various actors, who need to regularly update their projects and their programming, a continuous promotion of the plan and the consolidation of mechanisms for consultation and the promotion of synergies.

Box 14: The Strategic Management Plan in Cap-Haitien, Haiti


Definition and Preparation


Which technical and design standards need to be met?

What constitutes an adequate service? (e.g. with regard to the drinking water supply: what quality and quantity of water has been requested and what is achievable, distribution by means of community and/or household connections … bearing in mind the resources available for investment and operation).

Different technical options for the infrastructure and choosing the most appropriate option.

Approving the choices made by the various actors involved.

Technical and budgetary details of the option chosen.

Implementation and operational plan.

Selecting external actors (construction manager, companies, suppliers of materials or facilities; possibility of dividing up of commissioned work into multiple lots…).

Contractualization of the roles of the various actors.

Resolving and formalizing the issues relating to ownership.

POINTS TO BE BORNE IN MIND BY THE AGENT/SUPPORT AGENCY

Each infrastructure is unique and requires an appropriate solution

Obviously, the design of an infrastructure has to take account of sectoral standards, standard plans or sectoral directives. However, these regulatory frameworks cannot be the sole point of reference. The particular site, on which infrastructure is to be built is unique (gradient, sub-soil, orientation with respect to streets, the sun, existing buildings...). The needs of future users and/or the operator can be very specific. The demographic and economic context may also be different.

Likewise, the economic and financial analysis prior to the construction of an infrastructure and the operation of a service depend on a complex group of factors.

It is not enough, therefore, just to copy the standard plans or technical requirements of a similar infrastructure. Each infrastructure has its own specific aspects and the construction manager or the architect concerned has to analyse all these factors carefully before coming up with an appropriate design. This design has to follow as far as possible the reference models for the sector, in order to avoid flights of fancy or bizarre constructions. Nevertheless, the construction manager or architect has to check the compatibility of reference designs with the specific parameters of the project in hand and provide the necessary variations.

The support officer also has to pay careful attention to this delicate balance between compliance with standards, using the reference designs and the need to adapt this design to the specific and unique parameters of each project.


Client-contractor and users need to have their say on the technical option

This phase of definition and design of the infrastructure, as well as the procedure of selecting and contractualization of external providers are of a technical complexity that is not always within the grasp of the client-contractor or the representatives of future users of the infrastructure.

Not all mayors can interpret an architectural plan. The future users are not necessarily in agreement on exactly what they want and their spokespersons are not always representative. Given that the infrastructures are usually not paid for by direct contributions from the client-contractor or users, they have a tendency to expect a level of service which is not necessarily in line with the investment budget available or with their own capacities and willingness to cover the costs of operation.

From the above it will be clear that the involvement of the client-contractor and of future users in the technical design of the infrastructure has to be managed intelligently, but does not in any way justify their exclusion from this part of the process.

It is up to the local client-contractorship support agency to suggest/organize specific actions or tools that can facilitate a genuine participation on the part of the client-contractor and users in choosing the right technical option. This has to be done on the basis of the feasibility study or when the skeleton preliminary study is being drawn up. The strictly technical details to be worked out in the detailed preliminary study are the responsibility of the construction manager.

This inclusion of local actors in the design can also be done by means of visits to similar infra-structures, showing them models, role-plays or holding public meetings, at which different options are proposed…

In the same way, you must secure, at this stage, the client-contractor’s approval of the technical option adopted, preferably in the presence of the representatives of future users.

Separation of functions for better balance and control

For infrastructures of a certain degree of complexity (with respect to the capabilities of local actors), you are strongly advised to install the necessary mechanisms of internal control with respect to the division of roles. If, for example, the support agency is playing the role of the client-contractor’s agent, it does not have to be this same agency that ends up being the construction manager tasked with the technical design – as this model does not permit a confrontation of ideas (which serves both to reduce the risk of error and to optimize the design). Even if the municipality has a professional technical service, it is not a good idea to put this service in charge of the technical design of relatively complex infrastructures, because this means that it will lose its role of overseeing the work of the designer.

Likewise, when organizing the construction work, it may be a good idea to divide the contract up into various lots in order to involve service providers and suppliers who are better able to perform specific tasks. However, this mode of working puts the capacities of the client-contractor to a severe test. He has to be capable of:

• Dividing the work up into tasks, in homogenous sub-groups.

• Drafting contracts and defining tasks.

• Organising a stricter form of coordination in line with the complexity of the task division.


The local client-contractorship support agency has a major responsibility with respect to this division of roles and tasks – as it is they who play the key role in this phase of definition and preparation.

One needs to find the right balance between mobilizing various actors for complementary tasks and, at the same time ensuring the efficiency and proper coordination of the process – a process that becomes increasingly complex as the number of actors increases.

Procurement has to be managed with fi nesse

By this point, there will already have been a certain discrimination in the choice of a competitive procedure and likewise, with respect to the possible separation into lots or the establishment of an evaluation grid in a restricted consultation or for a call for tenders. Very few international consultants would be interested in a call for tenders, in which the schedule of administrative requirements calls for the submission of a series of documents that are not (or no longer) required on the international circuit. Dividing the contract into small lots favours the small and medium-sized companies in the local area. Opening the competition to national and international providers with ‘price’ as the main criterion favours national providers …

Establishing the right procurement procedure is therefore not unimportant.

It is crucial in this case that the local client-contractorship support agency assists the client-contractor in choosing a system, which, of course, has to respect the code of contracts that applies in the specific context, but which is, at the same time:

• A specific application of more strategic choices linked to local development: promoting a network of local or neighbourhood operators, professionalization of trades and occupations, transparency in the procedure…

• Yet without being indulgent on the quality-related aspects: local client-contractorship has, first and foremost, to be about providing a good-quality infrastructure!

Poor governance in the area of procurement can be observed in all cultures, systems and historical periods. The key point here is that the support agency has to secure the acceptance of intelligent mechanisms of risk reduction:

• Complete confidentiality before the envelopes are opened; transparency and good communi-cation after opening; providing detailed justification of the choices made.

• Preventing favouritism: it has to be written into the rules that the members of the procurement committee must not have any commercial or family ties with the bidders; if possible, try to adopt a system that might also attract bidders who are not from the area.

• A detailed set of criteria for exclusion, selection and awarding of contracts must be accepted and thoroughly understood before the envelopes are opened.

• Establishing a mechanism of formal approval by a representative of the donor or allowing this representative to take part in the procedure with an approval mandate.

Even in contexts in which the client-contractor is not able (or not yet able) to personally manage the procurement procedure, due to the conditions imposed by the donor or to a deficient regulation in this matter, it is up to the support agency to find the means and resources to involve him as much as possible:


• Participation in the procurement committee, but without voting rights.

• Certificate of non-objection to the choice proposed by the contracting authority.

• The minutes of the award procedure to be included in the written justification of the choice made.

• Witnessing of the contractualization or the contracting party after the award…

A client-contractor who is excluded from this phase of selection and of contractualization will not have any relationship with the various providers and will therefore not have any lever to influence their performance and can therefore never be the true owner of the process (i.e. of the infrastructure). Likewise, as part of a learning approach, it is important that the client-contractor familiarises himself with this phase and that the support agencies develop appropriate methods and tools for the progressive empowerment of local actors in this complex phase.

Contractualization must promote the reinforcement of competences

In principle, notification of the award of a contract, together with the schedule of requirements and the submission of the successful candidate, constitute a contractual commitment. Usually, however, these documents are still not sufficiently specific or comprehensible to be interpreted correctly by the local actors – particularly if this involves schedules of requirements that have been written in a highly technical and administrative language in order to comply with the regulations that apply to the power to award contracts.As part of an approach based on reinforcing the competences of local actors with regard to client-contractorship, it is important that these various elements are clarified in a commitment which links the party empowered to award contracts, the client-contractor (if he is not the same person) and the provider by means of language, which they can understand and in accordance with formulations that are accepted by all the parties to the contract.

Overseeing the balance between ‘soft’ and ‘hard’

The definition and preparation phases are the moment, at which the support measures also have to be stipulated and planned. The viability of an infrastructure and getting the best out of it do not depend only on the design or the technical implementation of that infrastructure, but much more on:

• The organizational system and rules for its use.

• The users’ acceptance of the infrastructure.

• The willingness and capacity of users to make use of the infrastructure and take control of it, relating, inter alia, to their understanding of how the infrastructure relates to their problems or local development (e.g. a drinking water point, which, being associated with an appropriate behaviour with regard to hygiene, is able to halve the number of children’s diseases in the majority of African contexts, but which thus presupposes a change of behaviour and the provision of a good quality drinking water service with 100% functionality).

• A system of local regulation: title of ownership, mechanisms for monitoring use, payment, management of funds, the operator…


These are things that don’t just happen automatically. They are often complex and require specific competences for their design or implementation. The local client-contractor and the future users are not always aware of this complexity or even of their needs in this regard. The service involved is often one, which they haven’t had before and thus have no experience of, which also means that they are not aware of the consequences.

The support agency plays a crucial role here. Moreover, it is also in the programming and planning phase that the ‘soft’ topics have to be dealt with and that there needs to be reflection on the local vision with regard to the sharing of responsibilities, the sharing of costs and benefits, regulation, and on enhancing the knowledge, capabilities and willingness of the local population...

The support measures have to be used in consultation with the client-contractor, the users, the sovereign power (often the regional service) and the operator. These are then translated into tasks which will form the basis of specifications, which can then be entrusted to the best equipped actors.

The local contribution

As part of a ‘demand-based’ approach, the future users are often required to confirm their interest in the service or infrastructure concerned by means of a local contribution. This practice may well be justified as part of an investment approach, in which the donor supports the initiatives of institutions or private persons, by providing them with a capital asset or helping them initiate activities of an economic nature.

In the case of public services, the logical way of proceeding is that the public sector should make the investments and also take charge of securing the local contribution, if any. It is precisely on this point that the role of the local government involves organising solidarity and access for all to basic services, by means of an appropriate collection of taxes and duties, and guaranteeing effective management of these public resources and investment in those projects, which are regarded as priority objectives. However, there are many examples of projects, which have seen the majority of their new water points drawn towards the villages and urban areas, which have strong stakeholder associations in the capital or abroad, or which have already accumulated savings by the sale of water at the borehole, in order to ensure this much-vaunted local contribution.

One could even extend this logic further and question the direct link between the local authority’s contribution and the prioritized public service or infrastructure. What really matters here is the local authority’s ability to govern its territory, including, therefore, its capacity in terms of mobilization and financial management, but its ability to cofinance a given service is not necessarily the best indicator.

The support agency thus has an interest in promoting discussion of the financial responsibility of the community and the local authority, but in a way that goes beyond a simplistic focus on securing a ‘local contribution’.


SUPPORTING LOCAL PARTICIPATION, FAIR ARBITRATION AND PROFESSIONAL MANAGEMENT

The GIREDIN programme operates in the region of the inner delta of the river Niger, where the lives of around 1 million people are governed by the cycle of the river: two or three months of flooding, followed by extreme drought in the dry season. Yet they live with a lack of drink water and basic services all year round. The strategic objective of the programme is to reinforce the capacities of local development actors and establish relevant and coherent collaboration between them. The intervention strategy is based on priorities and requests expressed by the local populations during the preparation of a series of municipal development plans and, above all, the five-year social, economic, and cultural development plan (SECDP). The municipality is supported in its role as local development coordinator and client-contractor for public services (community water and sanitation).

Three consultation mechanisms run the programming and preparation phases of the projects:

MUNICIPAL CONSULTATION

CONSULTATION BOARD

STEERING COMMITTEE

Proposals from the municipal councils of each participating municipality are reviewed by a consultation board to check technical and financial feasibility.

Participants- A representative of each municipality- Deconcentrated central government

technical services- A representative of the NGO for

social intermediation- A representative of PROTOS.

Finally, the annual plans of each municipality are submitted for approval to the steering committee of the GIREDIN project, chaired by The governor of the Region of Mopti.

Participants- Governor of the Region of Mopti- The mayor of each municipality- Technical services deconcentrated by the State- A representative of PROTOS.

During the implementation of the chosen programme the regional technical services are involved in a support and advisory role vis-à-vis both the municipalities and PROTOS. Malian NGOs provide social inter-mediation services to the municipality and support water user committees (drinkwater infrastructure and irrigated perimeters).

Box 15: Diff erent levels of consultation in Mali

Technical and financial review Recommendations & proposal of annualplanning

Municipal consultations at the start of each year of programming and implementation make it possible to evaluate what was done the previous year and to prioritize, approve and specify the demands set out in the SECDP in line with the investment budget available.

Participants- Representatives of the water user committees- Municipal office- Deconcentrated central government

technical services- The municipality’s partners

intervening in the sectors- Local NGO for social intermediation.

Approval of budget per municipality Final approval of annual plan

Evaluation day Planning day


Implementation and Acceptance


Role of local actors in the construction work, oversight, monitoring...

What measures should be taken to guarantee the quality of the infrastructure and its compliance with the technical stipulations requested by the client-contractor?

What measures should be taken to guarantee the quality of the construction process: management of the construction site, managing the budget, keeping to schedule, fair practices on the construction site and in relationships with the local population?

Organizing payments; management of funds and of financial guarantees; documentation of financial aspects (admissibility of expenses, receipts, payment orders…).

Organization and compliance with lines of communication and reporting.

Support activities to guarantee ownership by local actors: training on the job, involvement in site meetings and acceptance activities, own input, simplified plans of infrastructures...

Further formalization of the concepts of ‘ownership’ and ‘taking charge’.

Management of guarantees.


Overseeing the rights and obligations of each actor

During the implementation phase, the relationships of power and the level of knowledge/under-standing of the various actors are not always very well balanced. Even when the administrative and technical specifications are very detailed, it may still be necessary to modify them as you go along. In sensitive contexts, all the actors can be heavily dependent on certain contextual developments that are difficult to predict (availability of materials, weather conditions, social and political situations…).This makes it important to have a good understanding of the rights and of obligations of each actor and to be able to rely on a positive collaboration between the various parties. Conflict situations can be avoided by good communication and reciprocal transparency between the parties. Even if each party has his own interests, they still stand to benefit more from working together. Site meetings are a good opportunity to build a spirit of collaboration and deal proactively with any problems that arise.Far too often, the local client-contractors feel uncomfortable when dealing with the contractor and/or of the consultancy firm. The client-contractor lacks sufficient technical expertise to properly understand the discussions, nor does he have the necessary experience to understand all the implications of the contract. Moreover, the infrastructure is also not being financed with his own resources and he often has to delegate its operation to a private operator or a committee of users; it is therefore difficult for him to really feel that he is the owner of the project. Furthermore the contractor has logistical facilities that the municipal services don’t have. Finally, the administrative and financial procedures that the municipality has to follow are often binding and the client-contractor himself frequently has difficulties in complying with these agreements, especially with regard to payment periods or the establishment of certain business facilities.


The neutrality, technical and administrative mastery and legitimacy of the client-contractorship support agency are crucial elements in facilitating the right balance between client-contractor, contractor, consultancy firm and government services. Nevertheless, the agency has to do this without taking over the client-contractor’s role, as he is still the person with overall responsibility for the successful implementation of the entire process.

Avoiding a purely technocratic approach

In an approach focused on local development it is important to use the process of implementing the infrastructure as a means of reinforcing the competences of local actors, their collaboration and the social network. Successful operation of the construction site requires an attitude of collabo-ration and mutual respect between the client-contractor, the construction manager, the companies employed and the local population directly involved (while at the same time, of course, avoiding an unhealthy complicity that sometimes occurs in construction projects financed by public or external funding). This attitude of collaboration permits a better response to unexpected problems. Finally, it also contributes to a greater ownership of the infrastructure and to the creation of sustainable relationships, which will make the post-construction phase a lot easier.

In essence what this means is that the local client-contractorship support agency should suggest actions that contribute to meeting these more socio-organizational objectives, or it should, at least, avoid doing anything that might have the opposite effect:

• A good collaboration between the local population and the contractor’s workforce – who will be required to follow a code of conduct establishing respectful treatment of the local population.

• The participation of representatives of the local population in the non-technical aspects of site meetings.

• Training some of the local young people as apprentices/interns so that they can learn certain trades and occupations on the job.

• Organizing the safety and security of the construction site and construction materials in consultation with the contractor, the local authority and the local population.

Yet still guaranteeing compliance with the highest professional standards

Nothing is more demotivating or demobilizing than a sub-standard infrastructure or one which does not meet the client’s expectations, is subject to unreasonable or unjustifiable delays, requires constant repairing…

The technical and administrative dimensions have to be implemented and monitored in a professional manner and on a hands-on basis.

The risks of technical defects or problems of an administrative or financial nature can be reduced at the stage of the division of roles, in the schedule of requirements and in the selection of service providers and suppliers, but the local client-contractorship support agency must be aware of the fragility and limits of local actors. This means that it also has a responsibility to check that each actor plays his role and that their possible weaknesses or limits are spotted and dealt with in good time.

Approaches involving a desire to support the social economy thus have to be used with care. This particularly applies to the HLI approach, local contributions in kind or requiring the contractor to recruit local labour. The choice of materials and technologies also has to be aimed at guaranteeing quality.


Separating supervision, monitoring and control

With the current trend towards decentralization, many countries of the South are in the process of moving from of a centralized client-contractorship towards local client-contractorship.

In a state-dominated and centralized model, the functions of supervising the process, monitoring the construction site and the control exercised by the sovereign power all belong to central government. Bilateral and multilateral development programmes often had their own project body which assumed these various functions. Since the Paris Declaration on aid effectiveness, these cooperation projects are increasingly working side by side with existing systems, and therefore also involve a separation of roles.

In a local client-contractorship approach, these functions of supervision, monitoring and sovereign power control are separate and are the responsibility of different actors:

• Supervision concerns the entire process and all the actors who intervene on behalf of the client-contractor. The client-contractor bears prime responsibility for the correct implementation of the entire process and it falls to him to oversee that each actor plays his role, that their collab-oration is optimal, that they work in accordance with the spirit of the project and with due observation of their commitments.

• Monitoring concerns the technical oversight of companies and providers which participate in work done on the construction site. This monitoring has to be continuous and there has to be a constant monitoring of compliance with technical stipulations and the highest professional standards. This function is assumed by the construction manager through his site manager.

• Control is a sovereign dimension and is the responsibility of a high-ranking authority, ministerial directorates, their agencies or their deconcentrated services. They have to check compliance with sectoral standards, safety directives, building licences and all other regulations.

This division of roles, and the lines of communication and reporting that go with them, are fairly new in contexts where decentralization is a also new phenomenon and the local client-contrac-torship support agency has therefore to assist with this development.

Financial management is root of all anxieties

It is not surprising that financial questions are particular causes of concern in relation to construction contracts. Often large sums of money are involved and work is financed by outside money (in other words money that has not been directly generated by the person who is going to spend it). Checking materials, measurements and even job charge sheets is a laborious business. The bid prices given in public contracts don’t always reflect the real price if the bidders are allowing for possible problems (‘backhanders’, payment difficulties and delays …).A culture of good management of construction contracts has to be created and the local client-contractorship support agency has to play a role in this, by suggesting tools and practices, by trusting the various stakeholders and, finally, in providing support on the spot and the necessary training and instruction.

A few key points:

• It is often useful to mention the role that the support agency plays with regard to control and oversight of the administrative and financial aspects in the bidding documents. This may influence the process (e.g. prices, bidders, etc).


• The local governments often have a hard time managing funds. Quite a number of countries apply the ‘single till’ principle which makes it very difficult to set aside a precise sum of money in cash for particular projects. Equally, if the contractor does not have sufficient reserves, the prompt payment of his interim invoices is a pre-condition for the continuity of activities on the construction site.

• This management of payments thus requires good planning on the part of the client-contractor. The support agency can offer training and instructions, support in setting up appropriate procedures and checking that these are being complied with.

• If the support agency represents the funding donor, it has to specify the criteria relating to admissible expenses, as well as the proof of payment required to document this. All this might seem blindingly obvious to development agency workers, but these are far from obvious to many elected authorities or municipal administrators.

Institute a culture of formalization but without getting carried away

Poor relationships between actors cannot be mended by means of reports or service orders. Moreover, even if you have formal documents setting out their respective responsibilities very precisely, this is no guarantee that both parties will interpret them in the same way. Formalization is not a sufficient means in itself for specifying the rights and obligations of different actors; it is only a method for facilitating consensus, for clear communication, and keeping a record.

However this formalization is important in the following ways:

• From the point of view of good governance: formalization facilitates information sharing, it provides a frame of reference known to all the parties involved in the event disagreement, and establishes institutional commitments which go beyond verbal agreements, and ensures a certain continuity in terms of commitments.

• From a learning perspective: negotiating with regard to the formalization of a commitment helps the various parties to arrive at a better understanding of their rights and obligations; keeping full records can provide the client-contractor with useful documentation when he has to engage in a similar process on his own.

The support agency has to suggest a framework, it has to facilitate negotiations that allow an agreed single interpretation of the commitments made and help actors to achieve balanced commitments.

However, at the same time, the agency has to make sure that the principles of proportionality and fairness are applied in this formalization. The parties involved do not necessarily have the same degree of knowledge and capabilities and formalization could be used to exclude the other party or to exploit the inequalities. An excessive emphasis on formalism can bury a dynamic and a commitment focused on the content under a pile of paperwork, to the point where it becomes the principal objective of the parties not to do what is explicitly imposed by the documents.


REDUCING FIDUCIARY RISKS IN BENIN

In partnership with other agencies, including PNE, Helvetas, SNV and ICCO, PROTOS is currently involved in development work in 27 of Benin’s 77 municipalities, in two districts in the South-West, and 4 districts in the North. In these areas the consortium’s objective is to support the water and sanitation sector in rural areas (and in semi-urban centres) based on a local client-contractorship approach that grants all the competencies of the client-contractor to the municipalities.

The credit transfers made by PROTOS in favour of the municipalities are proof that a transfer of resources is possible and effective provided it is done with a minimum of support and of control.The measures PROTOS has put into place as part of its various programmes in Benin are as follows:

• The justification of activities and annual budgets by each municipality before a multi actor steering committee consisting of a representative of the government institution charged with local governance (the Prefecture), of the government services involved, of the municipal councils of each participating municipality (generally an elected official and a representative of the municipal technical service), and of users associations. If a municipality is found to be slow or lax in the implementation of activities and/or the management of the budget that they have been awarded, the steering committee has the right to impose sanctions (e.g. reducing their budget for next year).

• The signing of a financing agreement with each municipality, accompanied by a detailed manual of procedures. This manual provides a detailed description of, inter alia, acceptable expenses, receipts that have to be submitted to the donor’s representative and the thresholds for determining the procedures for the award of contracts (direct negotiation, restricted consultation, public calls for tenders). At the start of the programme, PROTOS transfers an advance of the budget for activities programmed by the steering committee. The municipality is required to provide a financial report and proof of how it has used these funds before further transfers of funds are made to its public treasury account for the payment of approved spending or to cover other necessary expenditure relating to the programme.

• The problem of the single till system: funds are transferred through the public treasury as required by law, but paid into specific municipal public treasury accounts earmarked for the project. This account requires a double signature (the mayor and the municipal finance officer - HFAD). This permits the traceability of funds and of expenditure.

• Supporting municipal technical services with assistance from technical advisors working for PROTOS and its partners during the contract awarding process in general and with particular emphasis on the evaluation of bids. We developed a very detailed tabulation grid before the opening of bids and ensured that scoring was as objective as possible.

• The submission of a request for a certificate of no objection by the municipality to the representative of the donor accompanied by a report of the evaluation of the bids. The contracts and payments cannot be signed until a certificate of no objection has been received.

• The requirement that invoices submitted by contractors are to be paid by crossed cheque made out in name of the company concerned to ensure traceability and reduce the possibility of offering or receiving ‘backhanders’.

• A strategy that is increasingly focused on a principle of accountability (reporting requirement) and of citizen control by the ACEP (Drinking Water Consumers Association) by means of the establishment of a municipal consultation framework. Furthermore, special municipal software accounts have been developed which allow the impounding of municipal expenditure (relating to national and non-national budgets) and thus a better control (although this was not a PROTOS initiative).

Box 16: The reduction of fi duciary risks in Benin


OperationQUESTIONS TO THINK ABOUT DURING THIS STAGE

Defining the role of local actors in the management and maintenance of the infrastructure.

Possible mobilization of users for optimal use.

Optimal separation of potentially conflicting tasks: regulation and control, operation, protecting the interests of users.

Optimal professionalization of tasks according to their complexity.

Financial management mechanisms that distinguish between operation and maintenance, repair work, and replacement and renewal.

Systems of oversight, support and monitoring the operator.

Periodic analyses of the functioning of the infrastructure, the basic service and operational and oversight systems.


Not being afraid to refl ect or to suggest innovative models for the management of basic services

In an approach based on decentralization and local development, it is a good idea to mobilize various types of actors for complementary tasks. This principle does not apply only to the imple-mentation phase of an infrastructure, but also to its subsequent operation. This allows a separation of tasks, which can not only contribute to a greater degree of professionalization, but also to a better balance between operational tasks and those of control and regulation.

When local actors engage in reflection they are often limited by the belief that there is only one possible model for the operation of an infrastructure.

The local client-contractorship support agency has to broaden the scope of this reflection as early as the programming and planning phases by applying critical analysis and discussing models of operation which combine the principles of sustainability, effectiveness (delivering the anticipated results), efficiency (mastery of costs) and fairness.

These basic principles, when applied to neighbourhood services, often result in the following mechanisms:

• Subsidiarity: everything that can be managed at local level, should be managed at local level, but without losing sight of the fact that some tasks are too complex to be managed in a self-supporting way at the level of each individual infrastructure.

• Regulation: separation of tasks between the operator, owner, regulator and the users (or their representatives).

• Professionalization.

Passing on experience acquired in other contexts, encouraging multi-actor reflection on the subject and asking the right questions, are actions to be taken by the support agency.


Checking that there is fair access to the services

The support agency definitely has a responsibility to take account of the interests of disinherited groups and to ensure fair access to the services. These groups are often inadequately represented by the delegated representatives of users or by the public administrations.

The support agency has to initiate reflections on the sharing of costs and of benefits (pricing policy) or on measures which contribute to fair access. This debate has to be initiated from as early as the programming phase, but also needs to continue when the system of operation of the infrastructure is put into place.

Professionalization versus involvement of the local population

An adequate involvement of users (or their representatives) in the operation of local public services is often a success factor for optimal use and management. This involvement creates a mechanism of internal control vis-à-vis the operator and a system of social control among the users themselves. This encourages the users to assume their responsibilities, especially with respect to a correct and rational use of the infrastructure and for its protection. Transparent management of financial aspects also serves to make users more willing to pay for the services.However, certain technical and managerial tasks require particular skills and thus an appropriate level of professional expertise.

The support agency, with its neutrality and knowledge of different models in other contexts, can help establish the right balance between a sufficient and organized involvement of users, on the one hand and the delegation of more complex tasks to professionals, on the other. Communication and reporting between owner, operator and users (or their representatives) is also very important in this respect.

Sound management of revenues and the savings account

These days most local public services require being paid for. The operation, maintenance and renewal of these services have to be financed by charges, taxes or transfers, and it is therefore logical that the consumer should pay to use the service (at least part of the cost, if not all of it). The financial viability of the infrastructure or the service thus depends on how costs are covered, and on users’ willingness and ability to pay. The support agency can work on the first two elements by:

• Insisting on a pricing policy that is perceived as fair.

• Setting up reporting mechanisms.

• Making sure that revenues are properly secured, above all, the savings account.

• Implementing support measures aimed at promoting a better understanding of the service, its advantages and how it is managed, so as to secure a better acceptance of the system among the local population.


Public services are a public responsibility

In developing countries, basic services are often organized by a community approach with the financial and technical support of international cooperation organizations – in the absence of any government involvement. The water supply systems are managed by the communities themselves or by church organizations, the educational and health services are often set up by religious communities, planning systems are implemented and maintained by district committees … all of which show the existence of a strong local dynamic and an empowerment of the local population.However, that said, the public sector has a duty to organize these basic public services for the local population it governs.

Now that this public sector has a greater presence at local level, thanks to the process of decentral-ization, the public sector must now assume responsibility for these public services. This does not mean that the local administration has to do everything and that the community is to be reduced to the role of a mere consumer. The partnership between the local population and its administration is the key to local development. This partnership has to take account of the rights and obligations of both parties, starting from the principle that the administration has to guarantee that public services actually work, that they meet certain minimum standards and that they are accessible to all.

The support agency is especially well placed to act as a moderator in putting together a local partnership of this kind.

Local regulation and control

This principle also means that the local administration cannot divest itself of its responsibility to exercise regulation and control.

Regulation involves making sure that the chosen mode of operation meets sectoral standards and complies with the principles of sustainability and fairness, while control is about checking that the rights and obligations inherent in the chosen mode of organization are respected.

In cases where the local administration delegates the operation of a public service to a an operator (private, confessional, community, municipal, cooperative, etc), this regulation and control constitutes a guarantee for both the owner and the users. If the local administration chooses to operate the infrastructure itself, the functions of regulation and of control become more complicated. Even for infrastructures that are privately owned and operated, regulation and verification of compliance with certain rules of conduct is still required.

The support agency has to assist the local administration in designing and implementing an adequate system of regulation and of control. This system cannot be built on a hierarchical authority, (e.g. the sanction-oriented functions of a decentralized institution), but has to constitute an added value for the totality of local actors.


LOCAL MANAGEMENT ON A SMALL SCALE

PROTOS began its activities in Madagascar in 2006 after a two year exploratory phase. Operating on a limited budget, a few water piping systems were installed in municipalities in the North-West of Antananarivo in partnership with the local NGO Fikrifama.In 2008, an integrated programme was developed for 6 municipalities in the valley of the Andromba. These 6 municipalities serve 55,000 inhabitants, dispersed over 155 villages of which only 24 had a water supply network at the start of the programme, mainly those located along the National Highway (although a third of these networks were in a very poor state of repair).Between 2010 and 2013, the level of water coverage will reach more than 70% and both the local population and the local institutions will be sensitized and mobilized towards a change of behaviour with regard to basic hygiene and sanitation. The first reflections and investments, aimed at a more integrated system of water management, began in 2010, and will contribute initially to more effective irrigation.

One of the programme’s important strategic objectives, however, is the development of an appropriate mechanism for the sustainable operation of small rural systems. A participatory analysis process, involving the municipalities, the water committees and the local institutions revealed the following:

• The water committees are operating at too small a scale, their technical and managerial competences are not in phase with the area’s long term needs and they are too fragile in organizational and institutional terms. As they work in complete isolation, there are significant risks of bad management and unreliability given that their capacities to respond to crises (internal or caused by external factors) are very limited.

• The municipalities, who are responsible for the public water service, do not have the human, logistical or financial resources to operate these small scale and dispersed networks. As the communities are also investing in the entire process of implementing their network, the municipality does not carry the weight to coordinate, oversee local regulation or managing the operation of the network itself.

• The private sector is not interested in operating such scattered networks with limited consumption (and thus limited revenues).

The model adopted by the local actors, and which has been up and running since mid 2009, is based on three complementary levels of governance:1. Each community sets up its own users association (FMTR) and its own water committee (KR), tasked with

the day-to-day operation of the system and with basic maintenance and repair work.

2. The municipality gradually assumes its role as owner of the infrastructures. It grants formal recognition to the FMTR as a partner on condition that it respects certain principles set out in local bye-laws (BL) and in a delegation contract between the municipality and the FMTR. Each FMTR has its own savings account and each withdrawal requires a certificate of no objection from the municipality.

3. The 6 municipalities have re-dynamized their inter-municipal structure (OPCI), created in 2003 for the use of the Andromba plain, but which had remained dormant until very recently. The OPCI is now the regulation level and basic unit:• The BL and the delegations contracts have been standardized for the 6 municipalities.• The OPCI ‘territorializes’ the national sectoral strategy for all 6 municipalities and it operates as the

planning body for new interventions. The OPCI has also set up a water council where the municipalities and representatives of the KR discuss possible lines of strategy and monitor the work of the ‘inter-municipal technician’ (TMMR).

• The OPCI recruited a professional technician specialized in water-related areas to provide support and advice to the KR, who checks the financial and technical state of the local system and who organises training and recycling. His fees are paid by contributions from 6 municipalities and the 25 KR which currently belong to the scheme.

Box 17: The management of rural networks in Madagascar


EvaluationQUESTIONS TO THINK ABOUT DURING THIS STAGE

Installing (after start-up) a regular system of analysis and monitoring of progress achieved with a view to improving competences with regard to client-contractorship.

Lessons learned during the programming and planning phases. Do the priority sectors need to evolve in relation to the progress achieved? Is there a need to modify the roles of actors, or the organizational or technical choices? How do we get the consultation frameworks and mechanisms of participation to perform better? Is there a need to strengthen or modify the mechanisms of control of works, oversight? What about relationships with other actors who have so far been insufficiently mobilised?

Lessons learned at each phase, from the definition stage up to and including the ultimate use of the infrastructure. How could each phase be more effectively managed next time? Evaluation in accordance with effectiveness criteria (have we achieved the expected results?) and efficiency criteria (management of resources, planning). How has the management of each phase contributed to local learning? Or to the pre-conditions for sustainability? Or to the principles of participation and fairness?

Achievements and challenges in terms of evolving towards a genuine sustainability: complemen-tarity of roles, professionalization of roles, local and supra-local levels, technical and financial systems, and the performance and relevance of support measures.

Evaluation by the ultimate beneficiaries and the lessons derived from this analysis (with regard to results, participation of the ultimate beneficiaries and with regard to communication).

Learn from the best practices of other actors.

Disseminate lessons derived from previous experience, both positive and negative.

What are the lessons with regard to the supra-local factors that have an impact on local development? What strategy should be followed to apply these lessons to good governance or decision-making?

Document the approach and tools used.

POINTS TO BE BORNE IN MIND BY THE SUPPORT WORKER/SUPPORT AGENCY

Institute a learning-oriented culture

Local client-contractorship is not a concept and a group of competences that can be simply ‘transferred’ from a support agency to the network of local actors or which can be copied from previous experiences. Each situation is different in terms of the legislative framework, the competences of the various parties and their relationships, in terms of priority needs and prioritized actions, with regard to the financial terms and conditions, and the local social, economic and cultural conditions. This means that the actors involved have to develop a set of practices appropriate to the individual situation. This set of practices also has to evolve in line with changes in terms of competences, relationships and needs.


In order to genuinely master the skills they need, local actors have to be capable of developing and updating this set of practices themselves. They should therefore learn from their experiences and integrate relevant lessons from other peoples’ experiences into their own practices.

Adopting a ‘learning organization’ attitude is not something which happens spontaneously, given that this process is often inhibited by the experience of day-to-day management. The support agency needs to facilitate internal evaluation moments, exchange of experiences and the building up of a knowledge base, taking advantage of both strengths and areas for improvement, with a view to gradually introducing a learning culture.

It is also true, of course, that the support agency itself has a similar duty to learn from its experiences. This learning has to be included in the results achieved at same level as the operational results and requires a specific monitoring system.

Developing a system of analysis and oversight of competences

In an approach based on reinforcing the competences of local actors, it is important to measure the competences acquired on a regular basis and to define the totality of aims, priorities and to draw up a roadmap for reinforcing this initiative.

There are various tools which can be used to carry out this analysis of competences.

A very simple tool is to try to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and the threats to the organization in order to go on to define the competences required and which can be realis-tically achieved in terms of the having, knowing, capacity and will.

Another tool, which is more complex, consists of measuring the five clusters of competences that a development actor needs to master. For each cluster, you need to stipulate the minimum criteria that the organization has to meet and the aims in the medium and longer term.

MDF has recently developed the IOCA method which analyses institutional and organizational capacities in accordance with three levels:

• The institutional context: actors and factors, and the legislative, political, social, cultural and economic framework.

• Organizational analysis (external component): the influence of external actors and factors on the organization and the organization’s capacities for profiting from these (or reducing their negative effects).

• Organizational analysis (internal component): leadership, strategy, processes and procedures, systems, staff, culture.

It is very important that a support agency has appropriate internal competences and a methodo-logical tool for assisting this organizational development approach by means of the empowerment of local actors in the client-contractorship.


Make use of practices tested in other contexts

While every situation is different, an intelligent study of practices developed in other contexts can serve as a source of inspiration. Identifying the success factors which made a particular concept, arrangement or tool perform so well is a crucial aspect to this.

The local client-contractorship support agency is well placed to support this approach. It is assumed to have knowledge, relationships and experiences of other contexts and can more easily separate these from the specific features of their individual contexts in order to make a synthesis. It is often important to refer to contexts that are sufficiently close in terms of politics and culture – and to avoid exchanges with (or citing examples of) countries which have difficult relationships.

Proposing a varied portfolio of evaluation activities

It is a good idea to have a sufficient variety of evaluation exercises in order to achieve a good balance between the integration of new and external visions on the one hand and self-analysis and ownership on the other.

There are three types of evaluation:

• Internal evaluation, possibly moderated by an external facilitator, which allows the stakeholders to analyze the strengths and weaknesses themselves.

• External evaluations1, carried out by facilitators who are independent of the local actors, the support agency or other stakeholders.

• Analyses conducted among peers (peer reviews), whereby the key actors of similar programmes evaluate the performance of key actors in the programme under evaluation.

Not being afraid to point out areas for improvement

An institution or approach that has no areas in need of improvement is not capable of moving forward. Learning from mistakes and shortcomings is easier and will have more of an impact than looking for ways to optimize aspects which already perform sufficiently well. The evaluation thus has to be motivated primarily by the objective of learning and improving, and not of confirming what we already know or of looking for people to blame for shortcomings.

However, the effectiveness and sustainability of an approach often depends on its weakest link. Even if it is uncomfortable to identify and seek solutions for weak points, this is where learning starts. A model or a practice does not simply exist. It has to be constructed from experience. It is incumbent upon the support agency to be aware of areas for improvement, not to be afraid to point these out, but to set out to facilitate the search for solutions in a constructive and mobilizing spirit.

1 Some donors also use the term ‘internal evaluation carried out by an external evaluator’ to refer to an evaluation commissioned by the development agency and fi nanced by the donor. The term ‘external evaluation’ is thus limited to evaluations commissioned and directly managed by the donor, and which therefore include an assessment of the performance of the agency itself.


Make use of previous experience and pass this on to other actors

Given that it enjoys a broader perspective (and one which in some ways is external to local actors), the support agency has to coordinate ‘knowledge management’ activities with a view to:

• Improving the performance of its own approach by drawing on the lessons of previous experiences.

• Reinforcing the coherence and greater mastery of this approach by the various collaborators and partners.

• Sharing these lessons with others actors who are also looking for appropriate models and tools to fit their own context.

Agencies thus need to set aside sufficient resources (time and human resources, both internal and external) for this process of creating a knowledge base which nevertheless requires being able to stand back a little from the day-to-day operations and concerns to arrive at an affective analysis of practices.

Building a knowledge base of this sort has, in its turn, to be exploited in making demands and engaging in advocacy, in accordance with the ‘two-level game’ principle.


USING OUR KNOWLEDGE BASE ENRICHES PRACTICES AND LEGISLATION

By its initiatives involving the local population and the networks of partnerships put together over the years, but also due to its perseverance in pioneering actions, PROTOS has succeeded in achieving a position in which it can play a catalyzing role in the WASH sector in Benin and more specifically in terms of achieving genuine client-contractorship on the part of the municipalities.

Having worked side by side with the new administrative bodies since their creation with a view to helping them assume their new tasks, PROTOS and its partners (including the SNV) have understood from the very beginning that the best way to run local development is through the local authorities. The integration of sectoral decision-making platforms (e.g. the sectoral water and sanitation group), but also the use of a recognized process, applied in depth and in a participatory manner (e.g. Livre Bleu Benin), have undeniably contributed to the recognition and valuing of the activities of non-government actors which represent the local population in the policy landscape of the WASH sector in Benin, and more specifically of PROTOS.

The success of actions with regard to municipalities is, however, due to the strong presence of PROTOS teams on the ground, who made a clear commitment to supporting the local actors in their role. Giving them their own budget within the municipal public treasury accounts in order to allow municipalities to carry out activities aimed at developing the WASH sector in their territory was an approach that was as yet untested and which is now followed by other sector partners. Until quite recently few of the important donors were genuinely interested in the role of municipalities in the WASH sector, despite the powers which the law on decentralization had given them. It has to be said that the experiment undertaken by PROTOS and of its partners has led other partners to focus mainly on the municipalities and to adopt this municipal client-contractorship approach. The controlled grant of loans made by PROTOS for the benefit of municipalities prove that a transfer of resources is both possible and effective provided it is done with a certain minimum degree of support and control, a process which the organs of central government are still reluctant to accept, however, but which nonetheless constitutes an effective approach to a local development under the leadership of local actors.

Box 18: Experience fosters change in Benin

From the very start of its involvement in the water and sanitation sector in Benin, PROTOS has looked for allies and encouraged mechanisms of learning and sharing.In the District of Mono, an initial pilot project in 1999-2001 allowed us to test out an approach based on community mobilisation and the profession-alization of social intermediation. Action research projects and the practical use of our knowledge-base were carried out in collaboration with resource persons involved in water management, hygiene and basic sanitation.The HAADI-North project in the Atacora and Alibori districts was based on the lessons learned during the SNV’s water and sanitation programme in order to test out a greater empowerment of local actors from 1999 onwards.Between 2002 and 2006 the large number of exchange visits and joint actions in collaboration with the Belgian bilateral cooperation programme in Atacora made it possible to verify and apply the comparative advantages of a decentralised client-contractorship approach (PROTOS) against that of deconcentrated client-contractorship approach (the Belgian PADEAR project in collaboration with the water department).


This guide was written by the PROTOS team, with the help of Ir. Stef Lambrecht.

It draws on the practices developed and lessons learned from the various programmes which PROTOS has undertaken over the years, and on the experience acquired by CTB in two of its projects (PAIDECO-Kinshasa in The Democratic Republic of Congo and PAMED in the Republic of Niger), as well as the following works:

• Maîtrise d'ouvrage Communale et Urbaine en Afrique - Jean François Tribillon - Ministère des Affaires Etrangères Coopération et Francophonie; Paris, 1998.

• Guide méthodologique d’appui à la maîtrise d’ouvrage; SNV-Bénin; Cotonou, 2000.

• Decentralisation and poverty in developing countries: Exploring the impact; Development Center Working Papers N° 236; OCDE; Paris, 2005.

• Cadre conceptuel pour l’appui de la Belgique à la décentralisation et à la gouvernance locale; DGD; Brussels, 2008.

• Quel rôle pour la CTB dans la décentralisation et la gouvernance locale?; CTB; Brussels, 2006.

• Appui à la maîtrise d’ouvrage – Rapport final de l’évaluation transversale; ACE-Europe & PROTOS; Ghent, 2006.

• Guide méthodologique pour le Projet d’Appui à la Maîtrise d’Ouvrage Locale dans l’Eau et l’Assainissement – PAMOLEA; Antananarivo, 2008.

• Accompagner les collectivités territoriales du Sud dans la gouvernance de leur territoire. Comment la coopération décentralisée peut-elle renforcer les capacités de maîtrise d’ouvrage des collectivités partenaires? F3E & Cités Unies France & PAD-Maroc; Paris, 2009.

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