F C S D H S MALI Public perceptions as a barometer of local...

MALIPublic perceptions as a barometerof local governance

FATOUMATA CISSÉ

STÉPHANIE DIAKITÉ

HALLASSY SIDIBÉ

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

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According to a Bambara adage, 'He who knows all will not die'. Today, is an evident desire, inmany countries of the West African region which have launched decentralisation reforms since the1990s, to try out new approaches and new methods of cooperation to build local monitoring andevaluation (M&E) capacity!1. By sharing with the readers some of the experiences and lessonslearned from these new M&E approches, this publication aims to make a modest contribution tothe knowledge available on the subject.

This publication is for all actors in development, working in the field of decentralisation and localgovernance, especially practitioners and policymakers working on issues connected with capacitybuilding in the area of monitoring, evaluation and democratic control of local governance structures.

The case study presented in this document has been prepared in the context of an exercise thataimed to document, analyse and learn from experiences with different approaches/methods andinstruments for building the capacities of different actors in decentralisation and local governance,and in particular, the capacities of local government to monitor and evaluate the outcomes of thesecomplex reform processes.

This learning exercise started in Mali. It has been a joint initiative by the R é s e a u de R é f l exion etd'Échanges sur le Développement Local (REDL2, a Malian network of development organisationsand programmes working in the field of decentralisation and local development), the NetherlandsDevelopment Organisation (SNV-Mali), the Malian Ministry of Territorial Administration and LocalGovernment (MATCL) and the European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM), anindependent foundation based in Maastricht in the Netherlands, in cooperation with severaldevelopment organisations working in West Africa.

The purpose of this exercise has been to jointly map and document relevant experiences in theWest African region and share 'good practice' and lessons learned. A total of 11 case studies fromdifferent countries of the West African region were prepared during this exercise, and a seminarheld under the auspices of the MATCL in Bamako on 17 and 18 May 2006 provided a forum for astructured exchange of experiences.

1- Taken from the welcome speech given by Mr. Ibrahima Sylla, decentralisation advisor at the Ministry of TerritorialAdministration and Local Government (MATCL) of Mali, at the sub-regional seminar 'Building capacities formonitoring and evaluation of decentralisation and local governance in West Africa: exchange of experience andlearning'.

2- For more details see http://www.snvmali.org/actus/redlinfo0606.pdf.The REDL members taking part in this learningexercise were SNV-Mali; the Programme d'Appui aux Collectivités Territoriales (PACT), a project in support of localgovernment run by German Technical Cooperation (GTZ); l'Aide de l'Église Norvégienne (AEN), Norwegian ChurchAid; CARE International in Mali; the Programme d'Appui aux Acteurs de la Décentralisation (PAAD), a developmentprogramme of HELVETAS-Mali; the Swiss Association for International Cooperation; 'Solidarité, Union, Coopération'(SUCO), a Canadian NGO; the Association of French Volunteers (AFVP); and the Programme Gouvernance Partagée(PGP), a programme financed by the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

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FOREWORD


This case study 'Public perceptions as a barometer of local governance' has been prepared bya team coordinated by Fatou Cissé from the Norwegian Church Aid (AEN). She has a postgraduatediploma in modern literature and works as an advisor for the AEN's National Programme withresponsibility for the 'Civil Society for Responsible Governance' and 'Education in the northernregions of Mali' programmes. Since 1987, she has been highly involved in project design,monitoring and evaluation and has taken part in a number of studies conducted chiefly in thenorthern regions of Mali.

The study describes an experiment to analyse public perceptions of local governance in northernMali. As well as being an institutional, organisational and operational audit of the implementationof decentralisation and participation by civil society in local governance, this analysis helped AENto plan activities for vulnerable social groups more strategically, by highlighting their perceptions oflocal governance.

Bearing in mind the very few surveys on local governance themes that have been conductedamong electors in West Africa and current thinking about barometers of governance3, theexperiment described in the study makes an interesting contribution to the debate.

The facilitators of this joint documentation, analysis and learning exercise would like to thank theauthors, the members of the Malian REDL network and the organisations working in other WestAfrican countries that have supported and co-financed the preparation of the different case studies.Through the generous support of these organisations and the Swedish International DevelopmentAgency (SIDA) these case studies are being published in both French and English and will also beincluded in a more comprehensive publication, bringing together all the case studies and theresults of the regional seminar held in May 2006.

They would also like to express their gratitude to Mr. Ibrahima Sylla, decentralisation advisor atthe Ministry of Territorial Administration and Local Government of Mali, for his indefatigable supportfor the success of this joint initiative. Last but not least, they would like to thank Kathleen Sheridanfor her language editing work and David Harris for translating this document to English.

3- See, in particular, the current work of Afrobarometer (Bratton M., Coulibaly M., Machado F., 2000. Popularperceptions of good governance in Mali. Afrobarometer Working Papers No 9. http://www.afrobarometer.org/papers/AfropaperNo9.pdf) and the Impact Alliance's Local Governance Barometer project, which is intended to beused as a tool for measuring the performance of local government throughout Africa (www.impactalliance.org).

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The future of the democratic process in Mali nowdepends on sustainable development and theacquisition of governance skills at the local level.

In terms of monitoring/evaluation, local gove r n a n c ecan be analysed by looking at developments in thes ystem itself and in the decision-making, policy-making and resource distribution mech a n i s m s .Similarly, local people's access to basic services is

INTRODUCTION

Following the crisis in public administration and the traditional models ofservice provision, Mali has moved from an administrative and political systembased on centralised power and run by government actors (who plan andimplement development policies and strategies) to a system that encouragesresponsible governance. In this highly participatory system, society ismanaged on the basis of growing interaction, negotiation and partnershipbetween all the relevant public and private actors and civil society.

an indicator of the ability of elected officers tomanage their municipalities.

The ability of people to stimulate gove r n m e n taction to satisfy their interests and needs, which isthe ve ry cornerstone of 'people power', can beassessed at the most decentralised level from theperceptions that individuals have as users of publicservices.

People power is the ability of people to stimulate government action to satisfy theirpractical needs and strategic interests.

People's practical needs:

In terms of satisfaction, practical needs area n a l ysed and may be satisfied in the shortterm. Th ey va ry, depending on the individu a l ,and tend to be day- t o - d ay needs: fo o d ,wa t e r, housing, income, health, etc. Th eycan be satisfied by specific measures: helpwith production, water supply, health infra-s t ru c ture, etc. Th ey are expressed in termsof 'access to resources and services'.

Satisfying basic needs can improve livingconditions and does not usually invo l vechanges in existing roles and social rela-tionships. It is a condition for taking strate-gic interests into account.

People's strategic interests:

In terms of determining policy, strategicinterests are long-term. Th ey have to dowith the fact that people are subject to vul-n e r a b i l i ty, pove r ty, a lack of resources andeducation, etc. Th ey can be satisfied by astrategy of creating capacities, raisingawareness, training, greater self-confidence,strengthening organisations. Th ey areexpressed in terms of 'access to andcontrolling resources and benefits'.

Satisfying strategic interests enables theb e n e f i c i a ry individuals/organisations tob e c o m e d evelopment actors, and cani m p r ove the overall social situation. It leadsto greater invo l vement in public life and fa i r e ri nvo l vement in decision-making bodies. It is acondition for fair and sustainable deve l o p m e n t .


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1- The tools referred to here were presented at the 'Sub-regional seminar on building capacities for monitoring andevaluation of decentralisation and local governance in West Africa: exchange of experience and learning', Bamako,17-18 May 2006.

The indicators most commonly used fo rmonitoring/evaluating decentralisation in Mali aredesigned to inform sta keholders about theoutcomes of current policies, strategies, projectsand programmes. As a result, the systems andmechanisms used pay little attention to:

whether people are exercising their fundamen-tal role of 'stimulating government action';

people's perception of the extent to which theirneeds and interests are being ta ken into accountby the bodies steering, coordinating and imple-menting government action and social, economicand cultural development locally;

how people assess the protection, defence andeffectiveness of their rights to be involved in localgovernance and development activities;

people's opinion of the relevance, viability andsustainability of the governance and developmenta p p r o a ches applied locally by public and priva t eactors.

The indicators commonly used are suitable foranalysing people's understanding of the processbut need to be fleshed out to give a better pictureof the development of people power.

Box1: Examples of the most commonly used indicators in Mali in the field of localgovernance and decentralisation1

The monitoring and evaluation system of the Programme in Support for Administrative Reform andDecentralisation (PARAD) financed by the European Union (EU), relates only to the following type ofindicators: the quantitative measurement of public services and products, compliance with theregulations for government action (both local and central government), the degree to which the localgovernment apparatus has been strengthened, the rate of transfer of resources from the State tolocal government and, last, the establishment of structures that could help to improve themobilisation of internal resources in local government.

The indicators used in the Self-Assessment Tool for Local Government Performance, developed bythe National Local Government Directorate (DNCT), with the help of SNV (Netherlands DevelopmentOrganisation), PACT/GTZ (Local Government Support Programme/German Technical CooperationAgency) and Helvetas (Swiss Association for International Cooperation), to assess measures to makedecentralisation in Mali more effective, are designed to measure the impact of strengthening thecapacities of elected councillors and municipal personnel and the way in which municipalities operate(tasks, services to be provided for local people, development challenges). Measurements are takenin five performance fields: 1) internal organisation; 2) administrative and financial management;3) mobilisation of resources; 4) local development planning and programming; and 5) local gove r n m e n tservices, products and developments.

The Computerised Monitoring and Evaluation Tool (OISE) of the National Programme in Support ofLocal Government provides information on technical support for local government, maps and keys tatistics (population, ava i l a b i l i ty of basic social services). It identifies local government deve l o p m e n t s ,partners and service providers, as well as offering a series of products for operational research in thisfield: reports/studies, programming, planning, implementation and monitoring/evaluation of localg overnance and decentralisation activities, and local government planning, management andd evelopment documents.


A pilot study of users' perceptions of decentrali-sation carried out by the Norwegian Church A i d(AEN) and its partners provides an opportu n i ty toenhance the monitoring/evaluation of local gove r-nance, in that:

it creates the conditions for correctly identifyingthe measures and instruments adopted by localg overnment in response to the aspirations of alllocal people;

it offers a better understanding of the effects andimpact of the approaches adopted;

it could allow the development of 'comprehensive 'a p p r o a ches incorporating all the sta keholders andsubjects to be covered by the monitoring/eva l u a t i o n .

4- For a definition of the concept of 'empowerment' and the process of 'community empowerment', see Hawley E.and E. McWhirter, 1991, and Lackey, A.S., Burke. R, and M. Peterson, 1987.

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For over 20 years, AEN and its partners havebeen providing general support for theempowerment of vulnerable social groups (VSGs)in the northern regions of Mali. The aim hasa l ways been the fo l l owing: 'Vulnerable socialgroups should devise and implement sustainablelocal measures in order to improve their quality oflife. Exploiting community potential is both usefuland equitable here.'

When it comes to local governance, AEN and itspartners talk about the idea of 'empowering'4 theVSGs. In other words, this involves giving poorand vulnerable men and women the power tosecure and enjoy their basic social, economic andcultural rights, both as individuals and also takingthe 'social and community perspective' intoaccount. In this way empowerment contributes tothe development of the community through thefollowing:

a tt i t u d e s and v a l u e s ( l i n ked to individuals''community-mindedness');

capacities (including the knowledge and skillsof members of the community);

o r ganisational structures ( r e fe rring to thedevelopment of local organisations);

l e a d e rs h i p ( for individuals and organisations,'leadership' is the opportu n i ty to use their initiativeat the community level).

Community empowerment becomes a processas soon as synergy, cooperation, transparencyand the circulation of information, based on

potential assets, start to develop. It is the productof collective participation in political actions andrequires people to be actively invo l ved in order toensure that the redistribution of resources helpsall elements of the community. It is vital here toconsolidate strengths and assets that are oft e nunrecognised and unused, particularly those ofthe VSGs (e.g., their position as majority vo t e r s ,their ability to innovate and adapt, the relevance oftheir needs for development partners, and so on).

Under the current legislation in Mali, thes ta keholders in local governance range fromordinary people to the highest political authoritiesand include bodies and structures for design,policy-making, coordination and implementationat all levels, as well as technical and financialpartners, both international agencies (multilateral,bilateral and organisations invo l ved in decentralisedinternational cooperation) and national agencies.These sta keholders fall into a number ofcategories: public, private and/or civil society. Th eyh ave sectoral and/or cross-sector responsibilities,particularly in the areas of the national pove r ty-reduction strategy, gender and deve l o p m e n t ,HIV/AIDS and env i r o n m e n tal protection.

With the establishment of the decentralisationpolicies and strategies, AEN and its traditional part-ners (community-based NGOs) realised that therewere opportunities to add to their portfolio of pro-grammes. Wishing to remain faithful to its ta r g e t

1. CONTEXT AND BACKGROUND

In the following description of this pilot study, wewill begin by explaining the context and backg r o u n dto the research, before moving on to describe themethods used and analysing the relevance, ow n e r-ship, viability, suita b i l i ty and replication of theapproach. This will be followed by the main resultsof the research. The case study will end with ther e s e a r chers' conclusions and the prospects fo rother government actors in Mali and elsewhere tocapitalise on the experience.


group while still taking on the sort of multi- andinter-sectoral projects and activities provided for inthe legislation, the 'AEN family' conducted anexhaustive review of its mission, vision and strate-gies. The result was a general policy framework fo ractivities for the period 200 5 - 2 009, whose maino b j e c t i ve was 'to open up scope for actors who cancreate the conditions for giving VSGs an importantrole, full participation and meaningful involvementin the design, coordination, implementation andm o n i t o r i n g / evaluation of policies, strategies andprojects/programmes for local governance and sus-tainable social, economic and cultural deve l o p m e n tat local and sub-local levels'.

H aving resolved on this, AEN and its partnersbegan strategic planning for the projects andactivities to be carried out with elected officers andlocal government sta ff, state superv i s o ry and tech-nical departments, and service providers at the

local (municipal) and sub-local (neighbourhood, villageand fraction of nomadic tribes ) level, in cooperationwith and for the benefit of VSGs and their organisationsand groups.

AEN wanted to base its participatory planning ona body of information that would ensure that thea p p r o a ches adopted were sustainable and that theappropriate partners were chosen, so it commis-sioned a study on Civil society for responsibleg overnance in the regions of T i m b u k tu, Gao andKidal 5. The general aim of the stu d y, which wa sput out to tender among the national researchi n s t i tutes and consultancy agencies was 'to carryout a diagnostic study of the implementation ofdecentralisation and the state of governance in theregions of T i m b u k tu, Gao and Kidal, and to putfo rward proposed measures for the esta b l i s h m e n tof a multi-annual civil society programme fo rresponsible governance'.

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2. RESEARCH APPROACH

Of the five proposals received in response to thecall for proposals, two were selected. The firstproposed an institutional, organisational andoperational audit of the implementation ofdecentralisation and an analytical study of theinvolvement of civil society. The second focusedon studying the VSGs' perceptions of government

action and analysing the strengths, weaknesses,a d va n tages and disadva n tages of having theVSGs and their organisations fully involved in localgovernance and social, economic and culturaldevelopment.

Realising that the two proposals overlapped, thesponsors negotiated an approach that combined both.

RESEARCH APPROACHDEVELOPMENT IS APROCESS

involving economic, social,cultural and political com-ponents. The research looks atsociety as a whole and is basedon the active involvement oflocal people:

rights explicitly taken intoaccount;empowerment;participation;non-discrimination;VSGs given specific consider-ation.

PERCEPTIONSof

those with rights toknowledge and powerpromoting the enjoy-ment of basic rights to

participate in, be in-volved in and steer

local governance andlocal social, economic

and culturaldevelopment.

PERCEPTIONSof

those with duties topromote (and not toharm), acknowledge,take into account and

respect the basic rightsof VSGs.

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK OF THE RESEARCH

5- CEDREF-Koni Expertise, 2005.


A set of 14 tools, including questionnaires (withclosed and open questions), interview guides anddiscussion topics suitable for all the ta r g e t

groups, was prepared for the field surveys. Table 1below summarises the survey target groups andthe topics discussed with each of them.

In accordance with AEN's guiding principles thata general, human-rights-based approach shouldbe taken to development globally, the team ofr e s e a r chers, working with members of A E N ,focused on two basic ideas:

Women and girls, marginalised young people,children, those suffering from and affected byHIV/AIDS and the organisations that these groupsset up are right-holders.Their practical and stra-tegic needs should be given greater considerationby local governance sta keholders. If they are tobe fully invo l ved in local governance, they need tobe put in a stronger position, but this has beenignored up to now by the other decentralisationactors and their technical and financial partners.

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3. EXISTING DOCUMENTATION

For the research to be successful, the team felt itnecessary to begin by exploring the existing docu-m e n tation on the monitoring and evaluation ofg overnance. As with the country's other deve l o p-ment sectors, this documentation is widely dispersedand largely unexploited. It is uncommon for theresults of monitoring/evaluation projects and acti-vities to be formally distributed, which made thetask very difficult.

The legislation and regulations covering thef r a m ework, system and mechanisms of localgovernance were collected and analysed in orderto establish the statutory framework for localg overnance. Data and documents on theimplementation of decentralisation were used toflesh out this assessment and to serve as abaseline for planning and preparing the in situinvestigations.

The data in the OISE database (see figure on themost commonly used indicators) offer ano p p o r tu n i ty to monitor/evaluate and researchgovernance, but delays in inputting data and thelimitations of the user applications made thisdatabase difficult to exploit.

In order to overcome these problems, the teamcalled on the services of documentation and data-processing experts, who were instructed toidentify, collect and exploit the sources available.The experts found numerous paradoxes andcontradictions in the data from the diffe r e n td o c u m e n ta ry sources, so they carried outtriangulations and checks on key data for the aidsand tools used in the in situ investigations.

The resources and time needed for this workaffected the timetable and scale of the research:the operations took longer and were moreexpensive than planned.

Local councillors, traditional chiefs, superv i s o ry andt e chnical departments and organisations invo l ve d i nlocal development are d u t y- h o l d e rs. Th ey needto encourage the VSGs to be more invo l ved inlocal governance. The institutionalisation of theirbehaviour very much depends on their ownershipand promotion of the strengths and potentialassets of the VSGs and their organisations. Th ec u rr e n t s ystems and mechanisms ta ke litt l eaccount of the fact that the latter need to be put ina stronger position.

4. DEVELOPMENT OF IN SITU RESEARCH TOOLS


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Targets Perceptions of interviewees

Local people

- roles and responsibilities of stakeholders: councillors, supervisory and technical depart-ments, traditional chiefs, civil society organisations (CSOs), local people;

- impact of decentralisation on quality of life;- relevance, availability and accessibility of services and products depending on local peo-

ple's personal and professional needs;- quality of consultation and information provided by councillors for local people;- degree to which councillors take local people's opinions into account;- degree to which councillors find out about local people's interests;- level of political activism of men/women/young people/traditional chiefs/CSOs;- effects/impact of decentralisation on quantity and quality of services;- evolution of information given to people on their rights and duties;- identification of structures/persons able to solve local people's problems;- local government's capacity to provide a sustainable local response in the field of social,

economic and cultural development;- local people's access to education, health, water and public records;- accessibility and relevance of local people's means of redress if dissatisfied;- change in cost of living since decentralisation;- relevance and applicability of tax policies;- change in income-generating opportunities since decentralisation;- equal opportunities for men and women to be involved in local governance;- degree of involvement of young people in managing local government;- measures and steps to be taken to promote the greater involvement of vulnerable social

groups in local governance.

Officers from civil

society organisations

- roles and responsibilities of stakeholders: councillors, supervisory and technical depart-ments, traditional chiefs, CSOs, local people;

- review of instruments and documents governing the operation of the organisation,its activities and its relations with the other local governance actors;

- assessment of the organisation's involvement in consultation bodies;- self-evaluation of the organisation's institutional, organisational and operational capacities;- organisation's assessment of governance.

Target actors who are

members of civil society

organisations


- democracy of organisation's governance;- organisation's institutional, organisational and operational capacities;- organisation's ability to respond to members'/local people's practical and strategic needs

(depending on the organisation's mission);- members' assessment of decision-making process and members' involvement;- expectations of organisation's members.

M ayors and key personnel


- review of instruments and documents governing the operation of the organisation,its activities and its relations with the other local governance actors;

- assessment of stakeholders' involvement in local governance;- self-evaluation of the structure's institutional, organisational and operational capacities;- greater involvement of VSGs in local governance: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities

and problems.

Presidents of the

councils at the level of

‘cercles’ and

key personnel

Presidents of the

regional assemblies and

key personnel

P re fects and key personnel

Sub-prefects and key

personnel

Tax collectors

Technical departments

at ‘cercle’ level

Devolved departments

at regional level

Table 1: Target Groups and Topics


Three teams (two for the Timbuktu region alone,because of its size, and one for the regions of Gaoand Kidal) were set up for the field work, eachheaded by a survey specialist familiar withnorthern Mali. All of the data were collected overa two-week period.

The research was carried out on four levels: in thethree main towns of the regions, in the main tow n sof seven “ c e r c l e s ”, in 18 municipalities and in 54communities (i.e. in towns with a population ofover 5,000 and of under 5,000, and in villages,hamlets and fractions of nomadic tribes) chosen atrandom. In order to ensure a representa t i ve sampleof the various social groups, in line with the projectcriteria, the teams collected the perceptions of anumber of groups at each of these levels, particu-larly from traditional chiefs, those responsible fo rrelations with the administration6, young men,young women, female members of farmers' orga-nisations and female members of other CSOs.

For the survey, the CSOs were broken down intofour groups in line with the European Union'sa p p r o a ch in the mission to identify support mea-sures for civil society7:

The first group is Class 1 CSOs: basic organisa-tions, often fairly informal, funded from members'contributions (women's and young people's orga-nisations, etc.).

The second group is Class 2 CSOs, made up offormally recognised, more stru c tured actors. Th e s e

6- They are often the most highly educated in the locality and are appointed by local people as someone who can'understand and make themselves understood'.

7- Floridi, Corellla et al., 2004.

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Municipal advisory

centres (CCCs) and

those responsible for

monitoring

- knowledge of stakeholders' roles and responsibilities in local governance;- representativeness of local governance bodies and structures;- relevance and democratic nature of instruments of local governance bodies and structures;- greater involvement of local people and their organisations in local governance: strengths,weaknesses, opportunities and problems.

Those in charge of

projects/programmes

- knowledge of stakeholders' roles and responsibilities in local governance;- representativeness of local governance bodies and structures;- relevance and democratic nature of instruments of local governance bodies and structures;- greater involvement of local people and their organisations: strengths, weaknesses, opportu-nities and problems.

5. DATA COLLECTION IN THE FIELD

may have different types of missions, such as pro-tecting and defending local people's rights andinterests, seeking to secure members' interests(trade unions, trade associations) or contributing tosustainable development (service providers in thedevelopment field).

The third is Class 3 CSOs, known as umbrellaorganisations. These are made up of groups oforganisations joining forces around a particularissue and/or in a geographical area. Their basic mis-sion is to coordinate and strengthen their mem-bers.

The fourth group is Class 4 CSOs, known as organi-sations of umbrella organisations. These are designedas consultation forums in order to present a unitedfront when dealing with shared external problems.There is almost no formal stru c ture and relationsbetween the actors are also often very informal.

The field teams thus met 266 members of thepublic (including 127 women and 156 yo u n gpeople), 83 CSO officers, 63 people from groups oftarget actors belonging to a CSO, 28 elected off i-cers, 43 actors from devolved State departments,8 advisors from municipal advisory centres (CCCs)or regional monitoring officers from the tech n i c a ldecentralisation monitoring system, and 7 peopleresponsible for local, regional or national projects/programmes in support of decentralisation andlocal governance.


The general conditions, size of area covered andd i s tances between locations in the north of Malipresented serious logistical problems for the in situinvestigations. In order to deal with this, the teamidentified interv i ewers with experience of the area.To prevent any 'fa m i l i a r i ty' from skewing theresults (particularly those of the questionnaires andopen discussions), the aids and tools contained anumber of repetitions, allowing the information tobe cross-ch e cked. This made the system morecumbersome, which in turn affected the timetableand scale of the research.

As well as these logistical challenges, the teamsencountered problems inherent in the originality ofthe approach, which was not understood by thei n t e rv i ewees. Women, for instance, were relucta n tto share their opinions, particularly with male inter-v i ewers. Some found the exercise 'too personal'

and others could not see how their perceptionsmight be useful for devising development strate-gies. Some actors (elected councillors, staff of thes u p e rv i s o ry and technical departments) were easi-ly able to quote the sta tu t o ry definitions of the rolesand responsibilities of the various sta ke h o l d e r s, butwhen it came to sharing their thoughts on the actu a ll evel of skills and ability of the actors concerned,many were reluctant to do so, either because theywere afraid of overstepping the mark, or becausethey feared that the research results would not beobjective.

The research had a strategic objective: the resultswere to be used for future planning by AEN and itspartners. Despite this, the researchers did not havethe impression that those interv i ewed tried to give' tactical' replies in order to have favourable treat-ment in future.

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Target groups Timbuktu Gao Kidal Total

Civil society 310 73 29 412

General public 181 62 23 266

CSOs 66 11 6 83

Target actors who are members of CSOs 63 0 0 63

Elected officers 17 7 4 28

Mayors 12 4 2 18

“Cercle” council chairmen 4 2 1 7

Regional assembly chairmen 1 1 1 3

Decentralised State departments 26 10 7 43

Prefects 4 2 1 7

Sub-prefects 9 2 2 13

Tax collectors 3 1 1 5

Technical departments at “cercle” level 9 3 0 12

Decentralised departments at regional level 1 1 2 4

CCC advisors and monitoring officers 4 3 1 8

Development projects and programmes 1 2 4 7

Total 354 92 44 490

Table 2: Survey Sample by Region


With the help of data-processing and statisticsspecialists, the documenta ry data and fieldsurveys were processed using Statistical Packagefor the Social Sciences (SPSS) and Exc e lsoftware. The following subject classifications andcross-checks were applied:

s ta keholders' knowledge of the sta tu t o ry frame-work;

stakeholders' actions and perceptions and duty-holders' skills and abilities, taking account of thegeneral situation and specific regional factors inlocal governance;

participation and cooperation between localgovernance actors (generally and by region);

general results, effects and impact of decentrali-sation (generally and by region);

p r e s e n tation of civil society, local people andorganisations (generally and by region);

participation and invo l vement of civil society inlocal governance (generally and by region);

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6. DATA PROCESSING AND DRAFTING

OF PROJECT REPORT

perceptions, capacities and political, institu t i o n a l ,organisational and operational skills of those holdingrights in local governance;

strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and pro-blems of civil society for empowering VSGs in localgovernance.

Two analysts (one in governance and the other ini n s t i tutional and organisational deve l o p m e n t )drew up the project report on the basis of all theresults obtained. The report contains anassessment of progress in decentralisation in thenorthern regions, a study of the actors'perceptions, together with general strategicrecommendations for improving the work doneby AEN's partners, and a logical framework forstrategies designed to empower vulnerable socialgroups, particularly women and young people.

7. LESSONS LEARNED

Special skills and measures areneeded to collect perceptions that falloutside the usual statistical field.

I n t e rv i ewers needed additional training becauseof the innova t i ve work invo l ved in measuring actors'perceptions, opinions and assessments.

The interv i ewees, particularly women and thosein government departments, were accustomed to'standard' data being collected on governance anddecentralisation and were reluctant to reveal theirown personal perceptions. In order to reduce thisbias, the field team leaders organised preparatorymeetings with senior figures from the survey loca-tions before the interv i ewers arr i ved. In this way,they were able to ask for their help in ensuring thatthe research went smoothly. The interv i ewers we r ealso given documents guaranteeing the confiden-t i a l i ty of the information obtained. If there we r emajor problems, they could ask their team leaderfor help.

As with the other problems encountered, thesemeasures, though helpful, generated additionaldelays and costs.

The final product is complex anddifficult to summarise because of thewide range of subjects covered.

The terms of reference of the study cover 15s p e c i f i c o b j e c t i ves and eight expected outcomesl i n ked to three main products: an assessment ofthe current state of local governance, a study of theperceptions of the actors invo l ved, and recommen-dations and proposals for planning activities. Th efinal product is thus highly complex and difficult touse, both for those who commissioned it and fo rthe actors and stakeholders.

In order to make the results easier to understa n dand summarise, the sponsors organised a' h a n d over' workshop bringing together the actorsand stakeholders directly and indirectly involved inthe research. These included national and local


r e p r esentatives of government departments,organisations working in development (international,national and local) and CSOs (international, nationaland local). A delegation of right-holders and duty-holders from each of the areas where AEN operatesalso attended the wo r k s h o p .

There are three ways in which the outcomes ofthe study could usefully have been distributed:

by developing tools to promote and disseminatethe methods used, in order to encourage the inclu-sion of the perceptions, opinions and assessmentsof governance actors in the overall monitoring/evaluation mechanism;

by summarising the main conclusions of thes tudy to make them accessible to the actors ands ta keholders directly or indirectly invo l ved in theresearch;

by producing a general summary and specificsummaries (by region, type of actor, etc.), thusmaking the information accessible to the va r i o u slocal actors and stakeholders for them to exploit.

The study shows that decentralisationis now established in northern Mali,b u t …

Generally speaking, the results of the audit showthat decentralisation is becoming established innorthern Mali; howeve r, it is regrettable that thepoor level of skills and capacities of the duty-holders and the strong influence of socio-cultu r a ltraditions restrict the full invo l vement of all theactors, particularly in the region of Kidal.

In terms of representation, local government inthe area barely reflects the social breakdown of theelectorate, since women occupy ve ry few of thedecision-making posts.

As in other regions of the country, the localauthorities in the north have poor levels ofinstitutional, organisational and operational skillsand capacities.

Meetings are not held regularly. There are inconsis-tencies in planning and budgeting. The implementa-tion rate is usually low, and the overall rate ofmobilisation of internal resources is among thel owest in the country. The transfer of powers andresources from the State to local government is pro-ving problematic in the area, particularly in the regionof Kidal. The rate of devolution of gove r n m e n tdepartments is low, particularly in the same region.

The technical support provided by theMunicipal Advisory Centres (CCC),responsible for strengthening localgovernment capacity has broughtimprovements, but also imbalances.

The technical support provided by these centreshas been focused on improving the operatingskills and capacities of the decision-makingbodies and structures and their staff.

There have been some improvements in thethree regions as regards the drafting of the admi-n i s t r a t i ve account, the award of contracts, operatingas contracting authorities and administrativec o rrespondence. This has also led to improved rela-tions between the superv i s o ry departments, electedofficers and their staff.

However, these improvements have had a majorimpact on the overall governance dynamic, withtechnical service providers and civil society nowout of step with the capacities of the electedofficers. Support is therefore needed to bringthese actors up to speed.

The arr i val of the Support Programme fo rAd m i n i s t r a t i ve Re form and Decentralisation isencouraging a more integrated, fairer and morebalanced approach in strengthening technical andfinancial capacities. This programme is designedto help all actors, both duty-holders and right-holders, to be better able to assume their rolesand responsibilities in decentralisation.

The work done by the NationalAgency for Local GovernmentInvestment (ANICT) and the othertechnical and financial partners isimportant in many ways.

A significant amount of infrastru c ture has beenc o n s t ructed thanks to outside technical and financialsupport. Local people see this infrastru c ture as aconcrete expression of the idea of 'decentralisation'.

More than 60% of the people interv i ewed saidthat, in their eyes, this investment was evidence ofchange. Th ey felt that investment in buildings(whether functional or not) was a guarantee that,sooner or later, the services they were supposed tohouse would be provided. Th ey also felt that thesebuildings were an important step towards givingpeople general access to the services they need.

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For the other actors, the relevance, viability ands u s ta i n a b i l i ty of these investments were a causefor concern, particularly in view of the number ofbuildings that were barely functional or notfunctional because there were not enough sta ffand/or material and financial resources to run them.

It is vitally important that the services advocatedshould actually be provided as soon as possible.

The traditional chiefs' dissatisfactionand local people's customs are asource of risk.

Apart from the traditional chiefs, all of the actorsare moving towards responsible local governance.So, while all the other actors are seeking to enjoytheir statutory prerogatives, the traditional chiefs,unhappy with the role they have been given underthe legislation, are trying to find ways to exercisegreater influence.

This dissatisfaction and people's current behav i o u rare a threat to peace and sta b i l i ty in the area,particularly in the region of Kidal, where the tradi-tional chiefs are most noticeably dissatisfied andlocal people are most likely to turn to them tor es o l ve their problems. These findings need to bediscussed in greater detail to consider whatmeasures should be taken.

Over 52% of the people surveyed turned first totheir traditional chiefs for problems to do withcitizenship. Only 3% would seek a legal remedyfrom the superv i s o ry authorities, which areresponsible for compliance with the law underthe current legislation.

Some CSOs have ethical leaningsthat undermine their legitimatecontribution.

An analysis of the perceptions of representativesof Class 2 and 3 organisations suggests that theseorganisations are easily diverted from their role ofhelping civil society to be more invo l ved in localg overnance, in order to focus on the socio-economicobjectives of their promoters and members.

According to the results of the surveys, officersfrom these organisations classify their roles asfollows:

creating income-generating activities for theirmembers and the organisation;

mobilising funding for projects/programmes tobe carried out by their members;

and only thirdly providing technical support andadvice for elected officers and traditional chiefs.

None of the 60 or more officers interviewedregarded themselves as having a role inpromoting the involvement of civil society in localg overnance. Fewer than 10% of the CSOgoverning bodies interviewed felt that they had arole in promoting, protecting or defending localpeople's rights and interests, even if that wastheoretically one of their tasks.

Over 75% of the members from Class 2 and 3organisation interviewed (whose mission includedprotecting, defending or promoting local people orparticipating in sustainable development) fo c u s e dinstead on satisfying the needs of their members,who made their membership and payment of theircontributions conditional on having their needsmet.

These responses from the stru c tured civilsociety organisations, whose stated mission is todefend, promote and/or protect local people'sneeds and interests, indicate a risk that theirlegitimate role is being compromised. Conflicts ofinterest could delay the strengthening of localpeople's capacity to stimulate government actionin response to their real aspirations and needs.

Perceptions of equal opportunities formen and women in governance areworrying.

Overall, people think that women are involved inpolitics.

Over 90% of the sample thought that womenwere politically active simply because they tookpart in elections.

However, an analysis of the composition ofmunicipal councils indicates that there are almostno women in political posts.

Women account for fewer than 3% of allmunicipal councillors in the area. More than 75%of municipal councils do not have a single femalecouncillor.

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Curiously, 73% of the women surveyed said thatthey have the same opportunities as men and asmuch chance as men of being elected in northernMali.

The heads of the decision-making bodies did notsee this paradox, and felt that women were wellrepresented.

More than 80% of the heads of the decision-making bodies thought that their respectivebodies were a 'good' or 'perfect' reflection of thesociety they represented.

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These findings raise some wo rrying questions.First, what will the sta keholders have to do to contri-bute more to the national 'gender and deve lo p m e n t 'o b j e c t i ves? Next, do the sta keholders' sta t e m e n t sreflect the internalisation of certain inequalities?Last, do the women in question have a diffe r e n tconcept of equal opportunities from that used in'gender and development', or are they hiding theirreal perceptions for fear of socio-cultural, socio-economic or other reprisals?

The methods used and the results obtained inthis study on civil society for responsiblegovernance in the regions of Timbuktu, Gao andKidal provide an ove rv i ew of the dynamicsbetween the various actors.

The methods used measured the following:the extent to which governance is being imple-

mented in the area, by evaluating the deve l o p m e n tof the institutional, organisational and operationalcapacities of the duty-holders;

the extent to which local people are ta k i n gow n e rship of and effectively pursuing their role ofencouraging local governance to meet their needsand interests, by analysing the perceptions, opinionsand assessments of local governance actors.

Including an analysis of perceptions couldpotentially improve the current system fo rm o n i t o r i n g / evaluating local governance. If the toolsand aids used (particularly indicators) took accountof the perceptions, opinions and assessments ofthe actors invo l ved, the duty-holders would beb e tter equipped to ensure that the approach e sadopted for governance and development we r er e l evant, viable and sustainable. Local peoplewould thus be making a greater contribution tonational constru c t i o n .

8. CONCLUSIONS AND PROSPECTS

The project report has been widely disseminatedsince the national 'handover' workshop. AEN ispreparing local workshops to deliver the results,and is to publish a version for a wider readership.

AEN has opted to strengthen the capacities ofright-holders and duty-holders and is holding talkson how to make governance a cross-sectortheme in its main areas of intervention.

Initially the emphasis will be on getting womenmore involved in public life. Work has started on aproject designed to increase the rate of womenvoting and standing as candidates in the threeregions of northern Mali. AEN and its partnershave begun a process with Women in Law andDevelopment in Africa (WILDAF), which is alreadycarrying out a similar programme in the south ofthe country, funded by the European Union. Inparallel with this, AEN is a stakeholder in aninitiative by SNV-Mali to develop a joint actionprogramme between development organisationsand State stru c tures in order to encouragewomen to take part in the 2007 presidential andparliamentary elections and the 2009 municipalelections.


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ANNEX I: ACRONYMS

AEN Aide de l'Église Norvégienne/Norwegian Church Aid

ANICTAgence Nationale d'Investissement des Collectivités Territoriales/National Agency for Local GovernmentInvestment

CCC Centre de Conseil Communal/Municipal Advisory Centre

CEDREFCentre d'Études, de Documentation, de Recherches Et de Formation/Study, Documentation, Researchand Training Centre

CSO Civil Society OrganisationDNCT Direction Nationale des Collectivités Territoriales/National Local Government DirectorateEU European UnionHelvetas Swiss Association for International CooperationHIV/AIDS Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency SyndromeNGO Non-Governmental OrganisationOISE Outil Informatisé de Suivi Évaluation/Computerised Monitoring and Evaluation Tool

PACT/GTZProgramme d'Appui aux Collectivités Territoriales (Local Government Support Programme)/Gesellschaftfür Technische Zusammenarbeit (German Technical Cooperation Agency)

PARADProgramme d'Appui à la Réforme Administrative et à la Décentralisation/Support Programme forAdministrative Reform and Decentralisation

SNV Organisation Néerlandaise de Développement/Netherlands Development OrganisationSPSS Statistical Package for the Social SciencesUNDP United Nations Development ProgrammeVSG Vulnerable Social GroupWILDAF Women In Law and Development in Africa


AEN. 2005. Code de financement AEN/OADS(document de travail). Ba m a ko: Aide del'Église Norvégienne.

AEN. 19 8 4 - 2 005. Documents de projets etprogrammes sur le suivi évaluation à l'AEN(document de travail). Ba m a ko: Aide del'Église Norvégienne.

AEN. 2004. Plan quinquennal AEN 2005-2009.Bamako: Aide de l'Église Norvégienne.

Brun, O. and O. Sy. 2003. Document de référencepour l'appui du PNUD à la g o uve r n a n c edémocratique et locale au Mali (2003-2007).Ba m a ko: United Nations Deve l o p m e n tProgram.

CEDREF-KONI Expertise. 2005. Etude sur las o c i é t é c i v i l e p o u r u n e g o uvernanceresponsable dans les régions de To m b o u c t o u ,Gao et Kidal, rapport final (document de trava i l ) .Ba m a ko: Centre d'Études, de Documenta t i o n ,de Re ch e r ches Et de Fo r m a t i o n .

CERCA. 2002. Rapport final sur la société civileau Mali, tome 1 analyse des résulta t s(document de travail).

C o r nwall, J.R. and B. Perlman. 19 9 0 .Organizational entrepreneurship. Burr Ridge,IL: Richard D. Irwin Inc.

Direction Nationale des Collectiv i t é sTe rritoriales. 2003. Rapport d'étude diagnostique

pour l'élaboration d'un schéma nationalopérationnel de transfert des compétenceset des ressources de l'État aux collectivitést e rritoriales. Ba m a ko: Direction Nationaledes Collectivités Territoriales.

Floridi, M. et al. 2004. Rapport final de la missiond'identification des mesures d'accom-pagnement de la société civile au Mali (Pr o j e t9 ACP MLI 01). Ba m a ko: European Union.

Gibson, C.H. 19 9 1. A concept analysis ofe m p owerment. Journal of Ad vanced Nursing,16:354-361.

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ANNEX II: BIBLIOGRAPHY

H a w l e y, E. and E. McWhirt e r. 19 9 1.E m p owerment in counselling. Journal ofCounselling and Development, 69:222-227.

Katz, R. 1984. E m p owerment and Sy n e r g y.Prevention in Human Services, 3:201-226.

Lackey, A. S., Burke, R. and M. Peterson.19 8 7. H e a l t hy communities: The goal ofc o m m u n i ty development, Journal of theCommunity Development Society, 18:2, 1-17

M AT C L- S N V- H e l v e t a s - PACT/GTZ. 2004. O u t i ld'auto évaluation des performances descollectivités territoriales. Bamako: Ministèrede l'Administration Te rritoriale et desCollectivités Locales.

Ministère de la Santé, des Pe rs o n n e sAgées et de la Solidarité. 1998. Programme de

D é veloppement Sanitaire et Sociale( P RODESS) 19 9 8 - 2 002, MSPAS. Ba m a ko :Ministère de la Santé, des Personnes Agéeset de la Solidarité.

Ministère de l'Éducation Nationale. 1998.Programme décennal de Développement del'Éducation (PRODEC). Bamako: Ministèrede l'Éducation Nationale.

Programme d'Appui à la Réforme Adminis-t r a t ive et à la Décentralisation. 200 5 .C a d r e ,

dispositif et mécanismes de suivi évaluationdu PARAD. Bamako: Programme d'Appui à laRéforme Administrative et à la Décentra-lisation.

Projet Gouvernance Locale DéconcentrationDécentralisation. 200 5 .Rapport d'étude sur l'éta t

des lieux de la déconcentration au Mali. Ba m a-ko: Projet Gouvernance Locale Déconcentra-tion Décentralisation.

Rappaport, J., Hess R. and C. Swift (Eds)1984. S tudies in empowerment: Steps towa r d

understanding and action. New York: TheHayworth Press.


Fatoumata Cissé (AEN)Email: [email protected]

Stéphanie Diakité (independent consultant)Email : [email protected]

Hallassy Sidibé (independent consultant)Email: [email protected]

Zimmerman, M.A. 1990. Taking aim onempowerment research: On the distinctionb e tween individual and psych o l o g i c a lconcepts. American Journal of Psychology,18:169-177.

Government of Mali. 1993. Constitution de laRépublique du Mali. Bamako: Government ofMali.

Ordonnance n° 41/1959/PCG sur les associations.

Loi n° 93-008 du 11/02/1993 déterminant lesconditions de la libre administration descollectivités territoriales, modifiée par la loin° 96-056 du 16 /10/1996.

Loi n° 95-034 du 12/04/1995 portant code descollectivités territoriales en République duMali, modifiée par la loi n° 98-010 du15/06/1998 puis modifiée par la loi n° 98-066du 30/12/1998, déterminant les attributionset les ressources des différents niveaux decollectivités.

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Loi n° 0044 du 07/07/2000 déterminant lesressources fiscales des communes, descercles et des régions.

Loi n° 00-042 du 07/07/2000 et décret 00-386/P-RM du 10/08/2000 portant créationde l'Agence Nationale d'Investissement desCollectivités Territoriales (ANICT) et fixantson organisation et son fonctionnement.

Décret n° 05-268 P-RM de 1999 instituant lescomités régionaux et locaux de planificationdu développement.

Décret n° 00-269/PM-RM du 08/06/2000a rrêté n° 2301/MATCL-SG du 26/07/2000.

décision n° 001/DNCT du 22/08/2000, porta n tcréation du Comité National d'Orienta t i o n(CNO) des appuis techniques aux collectivitést e rritoriales, fixant l'organisation et lesmodalités de fonctionnement du CNO et duCentre de Conseil Communal (CCC).

ANNEX III: RESOURCE PERSONS AND USEFUL ADDRESSES

Aide de l'Eglise NorvégienneBP 8031 Badalabougou, Bamako, MaliTel.: (+223) 222 51 50Fax.: (+223) 222 62 74Email: [email protected]

CEDREF (Centre d'Études, de Documenta-tion, de Recherches Et de Formation)

Email: [email protected]

Koni Expertise (Consultancy Agency)Email: [email protected]


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