THE COORDINATION OF THE DECENTRALIZATION PROCESS

Claudia Lung Ministry of Interior and Administrative Reform Central Unit for Public Administration Reform

Conference on Good Governance and Public Administrative Reform Bucharest, 6 December 2007

© OECD

Good Governance has many dimensions

Political accountability Central government Effective public sector management Local governments participation Civil society& Media Private sector interface

Decentralization

Decentralization - the transfer of administrative and financial competences from the central government level to the local government level or to the private sector

Why decentralization?

 To increase the accountability of local governments;  To improve the quality of the public services (local governments know better the needs of the local communities and are more appropriate to comply with, rather than central government);  To enhance the participation of citizens to the decision making process;

Prerequisites for a successful coordination of the decentralization process

 Strong political will;  Adequate administrative capacity for both central and local government;  Active involvement of the institutional structures;  Information management;  Common language;  Policy first, legislation later.

L

egal framework & EU assistance

 Government Programme 2005-2008, Framework Law on decentralization (no.195/2006), Law on local public finances (no.273/2006), Law on local public administration (no.215/2001).

 PHARE twinning projects – Decentralization & Deconcentration Process led by the Central Administration RO2004/IB/OT/01, Strengthening Financial Autonomy of Local Governments through Continuation of Fiscal & Financial Decentralization RO2004/IB/OT/02

Institutional Framework

 Interministerial Technical Committee for Decentralization (ITC), Working Groups for decentralization at the level of line ministries, Technical Secretariat of the ITC  Ministry of Interior and Administrative Reform responsible for the technical coordination of the decentralization process  Ministry of Economy and Finance

MIAR’s role in decentralization - coordination - (I)

 Provides expertise to the line ministries in elaborating, implementing, monitoring the sectorial decentralization strategies  Develops tools, methodologies, guidelines for the efficiently delivery of public services by the local governments to the citizens  Develops the monitoring system of the decentralization process

MIAR’s role in decentralization - coordination - (II)

 Strengthening the partnerships with all stakeholders involved in the decentralization process  Enhance the cooperation with local governments – networking  Capacity building for a successful decentralization

Outputs

 Assignment of competences (state of the art)  exclusive  shared  delegated  Tools, concepts, guides developed  City manager concept  Intercommunity development association  Integrated County Information Offices  Self-assessment test for Romanian local governments – openness and access to information  Comprehensive Budget Manual for local governments

Next steps

 Reengineering the institutional structures;  Designing new instruments and concepts to support the decentralization process;  Coordinating the set-up of cost and quality standards;  Developing Performance Indicators for the decentralization process.

Thank you!

Claudia Lung Ministry of Interior and Administrative Reform Central Unit for Public Administration Reform [email protected]