Supporting local public authorities in strengthening their capacity to plan, budget, implement, monitor and evaluate local development
One of the priorities set by the Government of the Republic of Moldova in its Activity Programme is the decentralisation of power and the guarantee of local autonomy, with the ultimate aim of modernising local public administration. To achieve this, the Government is supported by development partners through the Joint Integrated Local Development Programme (JILDP), funded by UNDP, Sida and UNIFEM.
Between December 2010 and April 2011, the Institute for Urban Development is implementing the project “Supporting local public authorities in strengthening their capacity to plan, budget, implement, monitor and evaluate local development”.
The project was initiated and is funded by the UNDP Moldova Joint Integrated Local Development Programme to promote in Moldovan localities an innovative and practical approach to increasing the capacity of local communities to:
- identify and assess the problems they face in their day-to-day work;
- prepare sound local budgets aimed at financing solutions to local problems;
- develop institutional and local development plans; and
- implement, monitor and evaluate local development more effectively.
The overall purpose of assessing the capacity of local public administration is set by Article 11 of the Law on Administrative Decentralisation no. 435 of 28.12.2006: to determine whether the capacities of local authorities match the legal status of the respective administrative-territorial unit.
The local context in which the project is implemented is defined by the following problems within the local public administration system:
- The national framework of local government policies and the related legal, organisational and functional environment are not sufficiently clear and therefore do not meet the diverse needs of communities; they do not adequately take into account the specific needs of the population, women, young people, the elderly and vulnerable groups.
- The capacity of local authorities to meet development challenges and carry out their current responsibilities is weak, even underdeveloped (low transparency, decision-making deficits, excessive politicisation, limited access to basic public services, poor service quality).
- Rural communities are the most deprived of access to resources and of participation in local development programmes (poor services, limited resources, weak local capacity, and very rare approaches to local issues from a human rights and equal opportunities perspective).
- The general shortcomings of the local government system are known to Moldovan decision-makers; what is needed, however, is a qualified, in-depth and detailed diagnosis. The Beneficiary has high expectations for structured conclusions on which an adequate institutional response to the modernisation of local government can be designed.
- The assessment enjoys strong support from key national institutions at the highest level, which helps ensure that the assessments run smoothly and that decision-makers are receptive to the conclusions and solutions proposed by the project.
At the end of the implementation period, an integrated report on the assessment results will be prepared, presenting the main conclusions and recommendations on amending the legal framework, improving local decision-making, enhancing human resource management, strengthening strategic planning capacity, attracting external financial resources and building relationship capacity. Such a report, covering the first stage of the local capacity assessment, was presented on 15 December 2010.