system at the local level
C o n t e x t — c h a l l e n g e s a n d o p p o r t u n i t i e s
In the Dominican Republic, there is a huge gap between the per capita gross domestic product and selected social indicators. According to official figures, more than one-third of Dominicans still in poverty, with a considerably higher proportion in rural areas. There are consequently frequent calls for a changed economic model to make growth sustainable, more socially equitable and more conducive to the creation of decent jobs. The low level of social expenditure is closely related to the low quality of public social services. In terms of institutional governance, the reform of the civil service at both the central and local levels has been recognised by the government as an important benchmark for a stronger, more professional public administration — and
vital in an effective fight against corruption and a bid for improved effectiveness of the state.
The National Development Strategy rec-ognises that civil service reform is also essential in moving towards greater decen-tralisation of power and resources. In the Dominican Republic, this brings a dual chal-lenge of (i) strengthening the autonomy of local authorities (which are generally small and weak players confronted with highly centralised decision-making and patronage practices) and (ii) enhancing the respon-siveness of civil society to monitor public policies at the local level, as anticipated in national plans and regulations. Without an increase in technical, managerial and over-sight capacities, greater decentralisation in the Dominican Republic may just increase the room for failure and worsen public
ser-vice delivery. This circumstance has led the government to formulate a clear sector policy of municipal administrative reform, focused particularly on the Civil Service Law, which estab-lishes the organisational structure, recruitment procedures, working conditions, salary scales, etc. in public institutions at the central and municipal levels.
A c t i o n s t a k e n
The Programa de Apoyo a la Sociedad Civil y Autoridades Locales (PASCAL) was initially con-ceived as a budget support programme related to municipal administrative reform, focusing on the implementation of the Civil Service Law at the local level in 40 pilot municipalities.
The main programme partner was the Ministry of Public Administration; the target groups were local authorities and civil society organisations (CSOs).
T H E C A S E I N A N U T S H E L L
T
he PASCAL Programme (2012–2017) was initially designed as a sector reform contract (EUR 14 million) to support a national policy aimed at reforming municipal administration in the Dominican Republic, particularly with regard to human resource management. The creative way in which the various budget support inputs were used — performance assessment framework (PAF), policy dialogue, capacity development, complementary measures — made it possible to unleash much broader change dynamics. It transformed support for managerial improvements into a domestic dialogue, reviewing inclusively and iteratively the overall performance of municipalities in the wider intergovernmental system. This, in turn, has stimulated a bottom-up state reform process with the potential to empower local authorities as effective and accountable development actors. The European Union delegation has played an effective role in facilitating this multi-actor dialogue.To foster an effective process of change involving all relevant actors, the choice was made for a strategic mix of programme components. Alongside the budget support component (EUR 14.1 million), a set of complementary measures were designed including: (i) techni-cal assistance (EUR 2 million) to support the Ministry of Public Administration’s capacities for steering the reform, (ii) capacity support for the Dominican Federation of Municipalities (EUR 1 million grant), (iii) capacity support to a network of CSOs involved in monitoring the public administration reform and (iv) resources for visibility and communication-related activities (EUR 0.2 million).
L e s s o n s l e a r n t
Evidence suggests that PASCAL has made a positive contribution to the objectives agreed upon with the government. More than that, it has triggered a genuine and endogenous dynamic, laying the foundation for a much broader institutional reform aimed at strength-ening the developmental role of local authorities.
Five factors explain this broader impact.
■ Multi-actor dialogue. From the outset, policy dialogue was embedded in the programme, specifically in domestic policy and dialogue processes involving both supply-side organi-sations (the Ministry of Public Administration, directorates providing technical backstop-ping) and the demand side (i.e. a network of CSOs and an association of local authorities, supported through the above-mentioned complementary measures).
■ SISMAP Municipal: catalyst of a radical transformation in the programme’s nature and scope. The policy dialogue is nurtured with empirical evidence provided by SISMAP Municipal, a software tool for monitoring the performance of municipalities (see box). Within the PASCAL framework, the European Union supported the formulation and validation of SISMAP Municipal, in a process involving all stakeholders in municipal reform.
This inclusive approach was crucial in creating trust amongst the different stakeholders as well as a shared understanding of the mandate and responsibility of each actor with regard to implementation of the municipal reform. Empirical data provided by SISMAP revealed that many weaknesses at the municipal level have their origin in the wider inter-governmental system or in inadequate central procedures (e.g. regarding procurement). It also helped identify suitable institutional support and capacity-building measures.
P U T T I N G T O O L S A T T H E S E R V I C E O F I N S T I T U T I O N A L C H A N G E P R O C E S S E S
S
ISMAP was initially conceived by the Ministry of Public Administration as a software tool for monitoring implementation of the Civil Service Law, particularly human resource issues. PASCAL seized the strategic opportunity to turn this tool into an instrument for deeper municipal reform. Using the various components of the sector reformcontract in a dynamic and iterative way, it ensured that SISMAP was ultimately owned by stakeholders at various levels. A new set of indicators emerged in the process, seeking to capture the overall performance of local authorities in different areas, including planning and budgeting, efficiency in the use of public resources,
procurement, transparency and citizen participation. SISMAP Municipal now provides a ranking of pilot municipality performance in the above-mentioned areas — an innovation that was not planned nor expected at the start of the programme.
■ Incentives. Findings from SISMAP Municipal allowed the government to strategically use the financial support provided by PASCAL. Part of the resources is channelled to the con-cerned entities at the national level in charge of providing technical support and capacity building in the relevant areas. Additionally, financial support provided by PASCAL has allowed the Ministry of Public Administration to set up, in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance, a performance grant-based system (EUR 4 million) conceived of as a financial facility to reward well-performing local authorities.
■ EU delegation as broker. The EU delegation did not merely provide financial support but proactively sought to play (a much-appreciated) role as trusted facilitator to help move forward the domestic policy process. In doing so, the EU delegation has exercised a wide range of attitudes and skills including (i) patience in building relations and establishing trust, (ii) receptiveness to the views of others and the capacity to reach realistic compro-mises and (iii) transparent management of information.
■ Reaching out to citizens. PASCAL invested in innovative communication methods to disseminate information on the content and potential impact of reform on the day-to-day lives of citizens. The scores produced by SISMAP Municipal are publicly available. All key sector policy actors have direct access to SISMAP through an institutional code, which allows the uploading of municipal performance sources of verification directly to SISMAP.