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DECENTRALIZATION IN ALBANIA

DECENTRALIZATION IN ALBANIA. TOPICS. Context Country Situation Current Status of Decentralization Political Economy Governance and Corruption Capacity of Government Technical Issues in Social Sectors Education Health Social Protection Accountability. CONTEXT.

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DECENTRALIZATION IN ALBANIA

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  1. DECENTRALIZATION IN ALBANIA

  2. TOPICS • Context • Country Situation • Current Status of Decentralization • Political Economy • Governance and Corruption • Capacity of Government • Technical Issues in Social Sectors • Education • Health • Social Protection • Accountability

  3. CONTEXT • Albania meets none of Bahl’s correlates of decentralization—e.g., size of Maryland, 3 million people; ethnically homogeneous (small Greek minority) • EU sees decentralization as indicator of political reform. Albania wants to join EU. Objectives otherwise unclear. • Weak state, weak civil society • Elected councils for 448 cities, municipalities, communes • Regional level: voluntary association of council leaders • Deconcentrated elements—e.g., 36 district education offices • Decentralization process like Indonesia’s: went to laws

  4. IT’S THE POLITICS, STUPID • Ranking on Transparency International corruption scale deteriorating • Prior to last election, opposition party dominated local elections • Minister of Local Government and Decentralization = relative of current PM • Huge rush to decentralize before next elections • Deals cut in dead of the night, abrogating agreements on process • “This is a fight over who gets the 10 percent”—and over political patronage to control outcomes of local elections

  5. EDUCATION • How expenditure responsibilities should be assigned fairly clear (see handout) • Wholesale decentralization of sector a bad idea • HUGE problem of getting from A to B • Political consensus about allocation of responsibilities among levels of government (regional problem) • Financing and broader incentive framework • Identifying and targeting limited # of capacity deficits

  6. HEALTH: Three Current Issues for Decentralization Policy • Defining the Role of Health Insurance Institute in Decentralization Process • Defining Planning, Management and Ownership of Primary Health Care Services  • Defining the Roles and Functions of Local Government in Public Health

  7. Social Protection Main social safety net programs: • Cash assistance • Pensions • Social care services

  8. CASH ASSISTANCE: Structure • Means-tested • Nationally funded by conditional grants • Locally administered • Designed to accomplish nationally specified objectives

  9. CASH ASSISTANCE: Performance • Targeting less effective than it should be • Reason: No effective accountability process to check if local allocation of funds matches national criteria

  10. CASH ASSISTANCE: Policy Options • Introduce new evaluation and compliance processes • Tension with new decentralization policy • Devolve responsibility for goal-setting as well as for program administration • No longer a national anti-poverty program

  11. PENSIONS A Complication • Pensions might play as large a safety-net role as cash assistance in rural areas. • But administered at national level. • Not targeted by income level.

  12. HOLDING ALL PLAYERS ACCOUNTABLE • Using acceptable process for assigning expenditure responsibilities? • Clear understanding of assignments by all levels of government and among citizens? • Responsibilities and resources fiscally aligned? (empirical studies to estimate operating costs) • Published performance audits (e.g., PETS): • Who got the money • What did they do with it? • How do resources vary between service delivery areas? • Report cards on dimensions of service delivery hard to observe (e.g., learning outcomes)

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