Programme description

Title: Promotion of democratic decentralisation
Commissioned by: Bundesministerium für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung (BMZ)
Country: Malawi
Lead executing agency: Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD)
Overall term: May 1996 to December 2014 (scheduled)

Context

After almost thirty years of one-party rule Malawi held its first democratic presidential and parliamentary elections in the year 1994. The democratisation of the country is accompanied by a process of decentralisation. From 1996 to 2002 the programme primarily supported the democratisation process at national level, but since 2003 it has been concentrating on political and technical support for the decentralisation process, with a particular focus on the local level.

Objective

A range of demand-oriented and effective services provided by the democratically constituted municipal administrations is available to the general public.

Implementation of the National Decentralisation Programme and the improvement of the services provided by local government bodies encourage more dynamic development and thus improve living conditions.

Approach

The programme supports the national decentralisation process in a country with a very young democracy. The population is to be enabled to participate more in the local reform process. This will only be possible if the process of reform is transparent to them and if representatives of the different levels of administration participate.

To this end the project identifies the capacities that are lacking at local government level and develops training and upgrading modules that can be applied across the country. The focus is on local government (that is, on the roles and tasks of the different actors), the municipal finance management and the improvement of local services. At the same time the project promotes the process of decentralisation at national level by means of close cooperation with the government, the various implementing organisations and other donor organisations.

Results achieved so far

The decentralisation process is on the agenda of the national decision-makers and is constantly present in the media.

The Ministry for Local Government and Rural Development has presented an implementation framework for the decentralisation reform for the years 2005-2009 with the support of the GTZ programme.

On the initiative of the programme, coordination of the different international donors also supporting the decentralisation process has been greatly improved.