Role of Federal, Provincial and Local Governments in the Achievements of MDG S

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1 Role of Federal, Provincial and Local Governments in the Achievements of MDG S The global community has been increasingly debating on the issues of good governance. A focus that willy nilly takes our attention towards the aporia established particularly in dealing with the much propagated concept of Freedom from Want and Freedom from Fear. Concepts that are multifaceted and require a multi-pronged approach. The goals and the targets set by MDG s are to help arrest and eliminate poverty and ensure human development. The emphasis that helped delineate the theoretical and empirical links between policy making and good governance while at the sametime contributed to the debate on democratic governance. I shall leave it at this point and bring your attention briefly towards the development, its various facets and what it implies. The word development implying the unfolding of necessary path of progress often combines ideas of necessity (such as poverty/poverty stricken world); influenceable change (such as democratic governance/mdg S/ the politics of development); and fundamental improvement (indicative of progress or the historical conceptualization of development for eg. the industrialization). The political devolution and decentralization, in our case, perhaps carries forward the evaluative and the transitive concepts. The latter implying intervention for improvement (is value relative) while the former is indicative of an understanding of appropriate and better ends. The development goals meant to work as a (the driving force) alongwith the subsequent discourse on security is reflective of the evolution of the concepts of development towards human development woven around the contents of peoples lives addressing the illiberal practices primarily by narrowing the performance gaps in economic growth and by improving upon the political mismanagement and inefficient policy making.

2 The development goals have also helped provide a conceptual framework build around the popular building blocks, such as, a strong central capacity for formulating and coordinating policy; reforms of institutions for efficient delivery of services; effective mechanisms for interface among public sector agencies. All aiming to establish an enabling and a conductive environment essential for the reform of public administration. In Pakistan the Local Govt. system based on the principles of devolution; deconcentration; diffusion; and distribution was to ensure the bottom-up approach by giving greater power and responsibility to the elected representatives primarily by improving and ensuring empowerment of the citizens through elected representatives at all levels of local government; empower women through representations in the Councils; improve service delivery and good governance through decentralization; establish greater transparency; ensure formula based resource allocations and transfer of funds; improve accountability of resources, development of plans and budget prepared by local governments in accordance with local priorities. In Pakistan we have also been hearing of high priority being assigned to the achievement of MDGs within its broader development policy framework. The development and operationalization of PRSP (Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper) coupled with MTDF (Medium Term Development Framework) provide long-term policy instruments to bring together the realization of MDGs. The introduction of devolution in Pakistan in 2001was supposed to change the pace of realization of MDGs because of devolved expenditures to the lower level of governments. The growth rates of expenditures related to social sector development, particularly in those areas where MDGs had set targets has increased significantly since the devolution year. For example, eradication of hunger being the first development goal, one did see the total social sector expenditures growth during and However, inspite of the claims of high

3 level of growth in social sector expenditures the World Bank on Pakistan claims that poverty particularly in rural areas has increased. Expenditures on primary education which were as low as 6.2 percent increased to 13 percent during and remained above 10 percent during Similarly expenditures on secondary education increased from 2.7 percent in to 5.8 percent in and 8.8 percent in Overall expenditures also witnessed sharp rise from 7.5 percent in to 11.2 percent in Such a high growth in education related expenditures during the post devolution period surely have increased the literacy rate. In the same way devolution improved on political participation of women by keeping a fixed quota for women in the district, tehsil and union councils. Expenditures on health also indicates a significant rise in growth rates overall health related expenditure growth increased to 18.7 percent during from 8.5 percent in the pre-devolution period. Social Sector Expenditure (Growth Rates) Pre Year Post (FY01 FY02) (FY02 FY03) (FY03 FY06) Roads highways, & Bridges Water Supply & Sanitation Education Primary Education Secondary Education Tertiary Education Technical & Other Education Health General Hospitals / Clinics Others Social Security & Social Welfare Irrigation Land Reclamation Rural Development Others Total Note: All Expenditures are in real ( =100) terms. Source: SPDC computations based on PRSP Reviews, GoP.

4 Inspite of the fact that devolution has prompted flow of funds to social sector development, which has ensured a higher pace of the country towards its MDG targets and inspite of the fact that neither the donors nor the people have criticized the devolution per se, yet, the perception continue to exist that that the various amendment (incorporated since its launch) have only resulted in favor of the provincial govts. The elected representative (district govt) can not make their plan without consent from the provincial govts. The power distribution is such where the bureaucracy (DCO/EDO) continue to intervene and hold more powers. The standardized/centralized delivery system is not in-line with the local needs. Moreover the existing discrepancy vis-à-vis power sharing makes the decentralization of the administrative power crucial for the success of the decentralization of political power to be successful. The present approach is inherently contradictory, where, the provincial governments particularly its interventions, jeopardizes the entire process; where a political process/exercise continues to be labeled as a non-political process. The trust deficit between all tiers of governments have to be genuinely addressed. Similarly, MDG s have to be contextualized and disaggregated to the local level. Their prioritizing, timings and sequencing must be attuned to the local political, social, economic and geographical conditions. Only then will the decentralized local governance work as an effective mechanism for achieving sustainable improvement in social delivery. For the local governments to provide the institutional framework for the achievement of targets it is important that they are taken along by the provincial governments in shaping the public policy. The two together should be using the resources available to address the issues of poverty as well as the uneven distribution of income: The Local Governments can be used to address the disconnect that is their between the government and people. Whereas, the provincial governments must play its role in addressing the element of trust deficit that exists between all levels of governments. The two elements demand a coordinated and concerted effort between all

5 tiers of government. Lastly the induction of women at all level is yet to be used to address issues of poverty; poverty itself and all other sets of inequities and inequalities. However, their success would largely depend on the role that the Federal and Provincial Governments play in dealing with the tussle that exists between the two existing forces at the societal level i.e. those supporting and wanting change; and those struggling to maintain status quo.