PAD 102 ASSIGNMENT
DECENTRALIZATION
INTRODUCTION
Decentralization has been for a long time the goal of many states around the world, especially in the African continent. The Business Dictionary defines this word as “the transfer of decision making power and assignment of accountability and responsibility for results. This transfer of power being achieved mainly through the delegation of commensurate authority to individuals or units of an organization, even those far from the headquarters.
However, from (The World Bank Group, 2001)’s view point, the definition of decentralization encompasses a variety of concepts which must be carefully analysed. It states that decentralization is the transfer of authority and responsibility for public functions from the Central government, to intermediate and local governments, or quasi-independent government organizations and or the private sector. With this being said, it is evident that the term “decentralization,” has a lot to do with “transfer, dispersal, disintegration, fragmentation” or just simply a shift from a central or focal point to intermediate points. This is to say, a simple illustration of what decentralization would be if put in a pictorial representation, is such as the one below: Source: www.asignmentpoint.com
TYPES OF DECENTRALIZATION
There are mainly, four different types of decentralization, as according to (The World Bank Group, 2001), which include political, administrative, fiscal and market decentralization. All these four forms of decentralization, play an important role in broadening participation in the political, social and economic activities of developing countries. It further states that decentralization can help increase government officials ' sensitivity to local conditions and needs. Moreover, decentralization can help national government ministries reach larger numbers of local areas with services; allow greater political
INTRODUCTION
Decentralization has been for a long time the goal of many states around the world, especially in the African continent. The Business Dictionary defines this word as “the transfer of decision making power and assignment of accountability and responsibility for results. This transfer of power being achieved mainly through the delegation of commensurate authority to individuals or units of an organization, even those far from the headquarters.
However, from (The World Bank Group, 2001)’s view point, the definition of decentralization encompasses a variety of concepts which must be carefully analysed. It states that decentralization is the transfer of authority and responsibility for public functions from the Central government, to intermediate and local governments, or quasi-independent government organizations and or the private sector. With this being said, it is evident that the term “decentralization,” has a lot to do with “transfer, dispersal, disintegration, fragmentation” or just simply a shift from a central or focal point to intermediate points. This is to say, a simple illustration of what decentralization would be if put in a pictorial representation, is such as the one below: Source: www.asignmentpoint.com
TYPES OF DECENTRALIZATION
There are mainly, four different types of decentralization, as according to (The World Bank Group, 2001), which include political, administrative, fiscal and market decentralization. All these four forms of decentralization, play an important role in broadening participation in the political, social and economic activities of developing countries. It further states that decentralization can help increase government officials ' sensitivity to local conditions and needs. Moreover, decentralization can help national government ministries reach larger numbers of local areas with services; allow greater political
References: 1. Derbyshire, J. D. (1979). An Introduction to Public Administration. McGraw Hill Publishing. 2nd Edition. (pp. 87) 2. Mackintosh, M., & Roy, R. (1999). Economic Decentralization and Public Management Reform. Edward Elgar Publishing (pp. 1-3) 3. Ministry Of Local Government, (2011). Retrieved from: www.gov.bw/global/MLG/EvolutionMLG.pdf 4. The Business Dictionary (2015). Retrieved from: www.thebusinessdictionary.com 5. The World Bank Group. (2001). Decentralization and Subnational Regional Economics. Retrieved from www.worldbank.org/publicsector/decentralization/what.htm 6. Van Rensburg, J. J., McConnell, C. R., Brue, S. L.(2011) Economics: Southern African Edition, McGraw Hill, Higher Edition. 7. Williams, C. (2013). Principles of Management. South Western, Cengage learning (pp. 382-387)