EII and decentralization processes

1. EII and decentralization processes “Employment-Intensive Investment for Sustainable Development” Cape Town, South Africa, 9 – 13 July 2012 A155532

2. Employment intensive investment approaches and decentralization • Few words on decentralization • Need for capacity building • Local planning practices and tools • Rural road maintenance as an example

3. Employment intensive investment approaches and decentralization ….most governments in Asia have or are being decentralized. What about the other regions? …. why?: central planning does not provide a response to local needs and leads only to a limited flow of resources to the local level ….decentralization is seen as more effective means to develop local areas and tackle poverty reduction …..one of the key functions of Government is the delivery of rural infrastructure………one of the key sectors to be decentralized….. …..rural infrastructure plays a key role in development and poverty reduction … therefore……. local governments play a key role in this process.

4. Central Government Resources: funds guidance technical support Communities

5. Central Government Local Governments Resources: funds guidance technical support Communities

6. …..promoting, introducing, mainstreaming EII approaches….. Central Government capacity exists Local Governments add on to this capacity specifically for EIIP approaches capacity is often weak Can not just add on to this capacity specifically for EIIP approaches and strengthen such capacity in a vacuum Communities

7. Question: How to go about this? Introducing EIIP approaches in a decentralized system with low initial capacity but strong local politics……. (experiences, success stories, views, recommendations).

8. Capacity for: • Data collection and analysis • Planning and priority setting • Project preparation and design • Procurement • Supervision • Maintenance • Monitoring and evaluation

9. Local Planning: - Through local government institutions - Community and user involvement - Based on analysis of local needs and priorities - Integration of different sectors, i.e. health, education, agriculture, water, economic (markets), etc.

10. Participation Village Village Local Government Planning Technical Departments Local Administration different groups, women, youth, poor….. Investment Budget Village Investment Priorities Village

11. Integrated Rural Accessibility Planning (IRAP)

12. Integrated Rural Access Planning (IRAP) • Consists of bottom-up, participatory, local level planning tools and techniques • The objective is to improve physical access of rural communities (households) • Procedures are relatively easy to use, inexpensive and produce immediate outputs that can be used in any planning process • Involves a capacity building process at local government level A905145 / 2012 / EII for sustainable development

13. Concept WATER HEALTH MARKETS EDUCA- TION ELECTRI- CITY TRANS- PORT FUEL WOOD ROADS

14. Concept How easy or difficult is it to reach a market? MARKETS What can we do to improve market access?

15. Concept WATER HEALTH MARKETS EDUCA- TION ELECTRI- CITY TRANS- PORT FUEL WOOD ROADS

16. Use of Accessibility Indicators • A.I. = Number of Households X Travel Time • It describes the level of access for a community as a whole to reach a certain good, facility or service • It allows comparisons between sectors and communities (ranking) • It allows for monitoring access improvements

17. Overview IRAP Process: T1 Activities Data Collection Mapping Infrastructure Inventory District Data Base and Maps

18. Overview IRAP Process: T2 Activities + Accessibility Maps Accessibility Indicators Priority Sectors Priority Villages

19. Overview IRAP Process: T3 Activities Priority Villages Identifying Interventions optimize the use of local resources Project Outlines OUTPUT

21. Project Outline: • One page summary • Keep it simple • Name and location • Type • Problem it addresses • Beneficiaries • Costs (breakdown) • Responsibilities • Time frame • Operation and Maintenance

22. Local Level Planning Local Resource-based Approaches Infrastructure Maintenance Systems Rehabilitation and Construction Small Scale Contracting And then the Jobs of course…

23. Question: Should we and how can we include social and employment objectives in local level planning processes?

24. Rural road maintenance • One of the first tasks decentralized to local authorities; • Often not carried out; • Combines the elements of the approaches we have been talking about: - planning - technology & employment - contracting

25. Socio-economic costs of a lack of (labour-based) road maintenance • A depreciation of the value of the road network • Increasing travel costs • Deteriorating rural access (to health services, markets and employment locations, government services etc..) • Loss of employment opportunities (in terms of maintenance works)

28. Maintenance of rural roads offers an excellent and sustainable opportunity for local job creation. Using labour-based methods for routine and periodic maintenance provides “permanent” employment and income for rural maintenance workers. • The Philippines, for example, has a rural road network of about 172,000 kilometres, not including the national roads. A lack of maintenance is a critical problem in the country severely constraining growth of the local economy. • If the country would adopt a length-man system, with on average 1 person responsible for the routine maintenance of 3 kilometres of rural road, it could create around 60,000 jobs. This is just for routine maintenance. In addition, additional jobs will be created for periodic maintenance activities. • A similar number of jobs could be created if labour-based road maintenance works are implemented by small-scale contractors.

29. To promote cost-effective approaches to maintenance it is also possible to introduce village-based labour-intensive road maintenance schemes. • Under these schemes village-based road maintenance crews can be organised as community contractors and mobilized to undertake regular labour-based road maintenance on sections of local roads. • Village crews can be provided with hand tools and paid by the local government having responsibility for maintenance. • It is important that these villages are indeed paid for their maintenance works. This way, cash is injected into the local economy. Moreover, experience has shown that voluntary unpaid village-based maintenance schemes are not sustainable. • Capacity will be needed at district level to organize and supervise these labour-based maintenance works.

30. An ILO project in Cambodia showed that over 70% of the costs of its maintenance activities represented local wages for labourers and local materials. • The project also demonstrated that maintenance offered a most viable possibility for the local private sector small-scale contractors to implement.

31. The Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) in Bangladesh is involving poor rural people in road maintenance programmes to make roads all weather useable and at the same time creating employment opportunities for local people. • LGED employs about 1,000 destitute women at any specific time to protect and maintain slopes and plant trees along 550 kilometres of rural roads. These women receive a monthly salary for a period of 26 months and will also participate in the benefits of the trees when they are harvested. • Female workers are selected from among the very poor households in a community and should live close to the road. • The cash injection could just be enough for these women to invest in other opportunities to lift themselves and their families out of extreme poverty. Any Other Examples?...........