scholarly journals ANALYSIS OF FORMS OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT

2020 ◽  
pp. 60-66
Author(s):  
Nataliia Krivokulska ◽  
Yurii Bohach
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Public Participation ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Local Governance ◽  
Local Development ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Adoption And Implementation ◽  
Government Body ◽  
The One

Introduction. Today, local governments carry out their own activities aimed at ensuring local development, providing services to citizens in the conditions of limited material, financial and technical resources. This makes it necessary to use effective mechanisms for cooperation of local governments with citizens, the establishment of feedback mechanisms. The purpose of the article. Research and analysis of the forms of public participation in local self-government, identification of their shortcomings in order to define vectors for further application of these forms. Method (methodology). The methodological basis of the article consists of general scientific and empirical methods of scientific research, such as: the system method and the generalization method. Results of work. The forms and corresponding (levels) of public participation in local self-government are systematized. The analysis of the existing practice on the forms of public participation in the Pidvolochysk village united territorial community is carried out. The regulations that regulate the use of forms of public participation in the Pidvolochysk community are indicated and analyzed. It is established that the forms of public participation in the Pidvolochysk village united territorial community are represented by: informing, public consultations, studying and taking into account the opinion of residents in the process of forming directions of local development. Conclusions. Under a centralized system of public administration, citizen participation in local self-government was minimal, and mechanisms for public participation were imperfect, as they existed only on paper. Adopting a model of participatory democracy requires the active participation of the public in the management of local affairs. Such participation should take appropriate forms and be based on appropriate legal mechanisms and procedures. Sphere of results application. Forms of public participation in local governance, adoption and implementation of management decisions to ensure local development should be accompanied by public awareness of the possibilities of such participation, on the one hand, and the desire of officials and employees of local governments to listen to citizens, respond adequately, take into account her – on the other. Only under such conditions will the involvement of citizens in solving local government issues become mutually beneficial both for the residents of the respective territory and for the local self-government body.

scholarly journals Pathways to Citizen Participation: Participatory Budgeting Policy Choice by Local Governments

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 46
Author(s):  
Skip Krueger ◽  
HyungGun Park
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Direct Democracy ◽  
Local Governance ◽  
Budget Process ◽  
Participatory Budgeting ◽  
Institutional Perspective ◽  
Administrative Capacity ◽  
Specific Policy

The existing literature on participatory budgeting – as one means of citizen participation in local governance – tends to focus on how to stimulate citizen participation in the budget process, and primarily aims to descriptively explain the magnitude of participation or the adoption of specific policy approaches. We investigate participatory budgeting from an institutional perspective and empirically evaluate the choices that local governments make in adopting a specific set of rules for including citizens in the budget process. We suggest that the choice of the type of participatory budgeting policy is predicated on the partisanship of policymakers, the administrative capacity of local government, and citizen’s experience with other forms of direct democracy. To test these hypotheses, we collect information on 224 local governments in South Korea from 2004 to 2013. For each city, we identify the type of participatory budgeting policy they adopt and evaluate that choice in an empirical model. The results provide evidence that the partisanship of local policymakers and the administrative capacity of the local government are associated with different choices about the inclusion of citizens in the budget process.

Factors Affecting Citizen Participation in Local Development Planning in Murewa District, Zimbabwe

2022 ◽  
pp. 002190962110696
Author(s):  
Vellim Nyama ◽  
Geofrey Mukwada
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Questionnaire Survey ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Local Development ◽  
Development Planning ◽  
Field Observations ◽  
Focus Group Discussions ◽  
Group Discussions

Local governments are the bedrock for sound public administration because of their role in promoting bottom-up socio-economic development. Although Zimbabwe has made strides in ensuring citizens’ participation in local government processes, local authorities and other stakeholders still rely on the top-down approaches, marginalising the needs of the local citizens. The purpose of this paper is to determine the factors that affect the active participation of citizens in local governance in the Murewa District in Zimbabwe. Based on a multistage sampling approach, involving purposive sampling and stratified random sampling, interviews were conducted with 30 local government officials, while a questionnaire survey was administered to 396 citizens in four wards within the district. Complementary data were collected through focus group discussions and field observations. Thematic analysis was employed on data generated from interviews, focus group discussions and field observations, while the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (Version 16) was used to analyse quantitative data from the questionnaire survey. The results show that more than 50% of the residents in the district felt that local government leadership side lined them in development planning. Some citizens reported that officials used development planning meetings to further their political agendas. The study recommends enhancement of citizen participation through citizen empowerment programmes such as educational and political leadership training programmes that transform the marginalised communities into autonomous communities that are capable of determining their own destiny.

scholarly journals Local Governments as Training Ground for National Political Leadership in Nigeria: A Study of Yewa South Local Government

2021 ◽  
pp. 118-128
Author(s):  
Ajibade Olalekan Eyitayo ◽  
Olabode Bolanle Motunrayo
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Local Governance ◽  
Political Leadership ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
Government Functions ◽  
The One

The study examines the role of local governments as a training ground for national political leadership in Nigeria expending Yewa South Local Government as a study. Survey research design was adopted in conducting this research and relies on primary and secondary sources for data collection. The population for this study consists of employees of Yewa South Local Government council. The primary data came from the one hundred and six (106) questionnaires that were administered to the respondents. The research showed that local governments serve as a training ground for national political leadership in Nigeria expending Yewa South Local Government as a research. This was further supported when out of 102 respondents sampled, 40% of the respondents strongly agreed that indigenous government functions as guidance in lieu of national political leadership. The aforementioned was also discovered that local governments have significantly facilitated national political leadership in Nigeria. The paper concludes by saying that ifthe qualities of governance defies in Nigeria are to be transcended, Nigerian frontrunners must eschew self-regarding inclinations and stimulate the conjoint good of the Nigerian people through people oriented governance. The paper therefore recommends that concerted exertions must be geared in the direction of certifying that they are audacious and determined leaders, fortified to tackle these challenges: reviving local governance; guaranteeing resilient democratic culpability; constructing civil society; creating hard-hitting choices amid compressions; decentralizing power to indigenous people; endorsing equality; and undertaking disparity.

Exploring the Uncharted Territory of Devolution in Zimbabwe

2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jephias Mapuva ◽  
George P Miti
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Service Delivery ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Local Governance ◽  
Public Affairs ◽  
Participatory Governance ◽  
Enabling Environment ◽  
Efficiency And Effectiveness ◽  
Local Levels

Devolution, which was incorporated into the Constitution of Zimbabwe through section 264, is a new phenomenon in Zimbabwe. This incorporation came about because of the need for participatory governance and the devolution of power away from the centre. Over the years, local governance has been informed by a plethora of pieces of legislation that do not provide an enabling environment for citizen participation, giving Zimbabwe’s local government a chequered history that excludes citizens from participating in public affairs that affect their lives. An analysis of section 264 of the Constitution revealed that devolution has the propensity to enhance transparency, efficiency and effectiveness as well as the fulfilment of central government’s responsibilities at provincial and local levels. This article argues that the belated implementation of the devolution of power has delayed improved service delivery, effectiveness, efficiency and accountability within local governance. This article further seeks to explain how the implementation of section 264 of the Constitution can bring about good local governance.

Local governance and the crisis of water and sanitation provision in medium-sized urban centres: Evidence from three cities in Nigeria

2021 ◽  
pp. 026909422110353
Author(s):  
Kayode J Samuel ◽  
Samuel B Agbola ◽  
Olorunfemi A Olojede
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Local Governance ◽  
Water And Sanitation ◽  
Regulatory Frameworks ◽  
The People ◽  
Efficient Delivery ◽  
Essential Services ◽  
Effective Delivery ◽  
Basic Services

Local governance encompasses the involvement of local governments and other community-based organizations in participatory decision-making for efficient delivery of public services. In the developing world, however, the weakness of the local government and local governance has inhibited the efficient and effective delivery of these services. Relying on water and sanitation data and interviews of relevant officials, this study analyses the structure of governance of water supply and sanitation (WSS) at the community levels in selected medium-sized urban centres in Nigeria. Results showed that majority of the city dwellers lacked access to safe water and sanitation, an indication of convoluted, poorly regulated provision regimes and the waning capacity of local governments to galvanize local actions towards the efficient provision and management of these services at community levels. Multiple provision regimes, weak coordinating and regulatory frameworks characterize WSS governance. Further, the sub-national authorities’ encroachment on local government funds which deprived these tiers of government the resources they could have used in providing these essential services presents a major setback. Local governments require financial and constitutional autonomy to provide basic services to the people and supervise and coordinate the activities of other governmental and non-governmental actors involved in service provision.

scholarly journals Elections and local government performance in Brazil

2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (83) ◽  
pp. 580-599
Author(s):  
Pedro Luiz Costa Cavalcante
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Electoral Competition ◽  
Institutional Arrangement ◽  
Policy Outcomes ◽  
Government Performance ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
National Analysis

Abstract The 1988 federal Constitution introduced a complex and innovative institutional arrangement that not only reestablished political rights and democratic procedures, but also reinforced decentralization as a fundamental guideline for policy implementation in Brazil. As a result, municipalities have become pivotal actors in the policymaking process. Scholars of Latin American politics have given much emphasis to the causes and determinants of decentralization, but not much has been done toward a more general understanding of how this increased decentralization has affected policymaker behavior and policy outcomes. This paper aims to do exactly that. Specifically, it investigates how institutional arrangements and electoral competition affect local government performance. The theoretical basis is the electoral democratic theory that broadly highlights elections as instruments of citizen control in retrospective and prospective voting approaches. The research employs a large-N cross sub-national analysis based on a dataset of electoral, partisan, socioeconomic and public financial information collected from over 5500 municipalities. Local governments’ performance, our dependent variables, are synthetic indicators formulated from 2009 nationwide surveys on public education, health, housing and welfare services. The OLS regression results confirm the hypothesis that politics variables do matter in how politicians make decisions and implement policy under the new Brazilian democratic Era. The empirical evidences suggest that electoral competition does not present a direct effect on government performance, however, ideology and citizen participation do. Therefore, this paper helps to expand our understanding of a political system’s impact on public policy outputs, which is extremely important not only for academic purpose but also to support policymakers’ decisions.

scholarly journals Sustainability Assessment of Portuguese Local Governments (2009 to 2017)

2020 ◽  
pp. 80-104
Author(s):  
Paula Gomes dos Santos ◽  
Carla Martinho
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Sustainability Assessment ◽  
Local Governance ◽  
Accounting Information ◽  
Financial Sustainability ◽  
Public Governance ◽  
Transparency And Accountability

Public governance must ensure financial sustainability. This investigation aims to assess Portuguese local governments financial sustainability as the ability to service the upcoming obligations in commercial transactions (under the Late Payment Directive framework) and to study if accounting information enables public local governance with greater transparency and accountability about their financial sustainability. The study will focus on the 308 Portuguese local governments from 2009 to 2017. The number of local governments with average payment periods (PMPs) within 30 days had an increasing tendency. However, their adjusted average payment periods greatly exceed the 30 days, which means limited financial sustainability. In 2017, only 29% of the local governments have an adjusted PMP within 30 days against the 63% if it is used the officials PMPs. Therefore, accounting information does not enable public governance with greater transparency and accountability about Portuguese local government financial sustainability.

Local Government as a Democracy Actor or a Service Delivery Actor

2014 ◽  
pp. 127-147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Demediuk ◽  
Stephen Burgess ◽  
Rolf Solli
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Service Delivery ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Local Governance ◽  
Governance Practice

Local governance occurs where a local government gives citizens a say in things that really matter to them, and e-governance initiatives provide electronic means to enable citizens to participate in this shared governing of the community. The clearer a local government is about the nature and degree to which it needs to act as a democracy actor (better citizens and better government) and/or a service delivery actor (better decision making), the greater the prospect that it can choose appropriate electronic means through an e-governance approach to meet those ends. In order to guide an e-governance practice and inform further research, this chapter: provides models that articulate the elements that constitute better decision making, better citizens, and better government, and presents examples from five local governments of how electronic means can satisfy particular ends.

Current Features and Developments of Local Governance in Finland

2016 ◽  
pp. 304-327
Author(s):  
Hanna Vakkala ◽  
Jaana Leinonen
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Deliberative Democracy ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Local Governance ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Process Efficiency ◽  
Structural Reforms ◽  
Local Democracy

This chapter discusses local governance renewals and the recent development of local democracy in Finland. Due to profound structural reforms, the role of municipalities is changing, which is challenging current local government processes, from management to citizen participation. Nordic local self-government is considered strong, despite of tightening state steering. Ruling reform politics and the increasing amount of service tasks do not fit the idea of active local governance with sufficient latitude for decision-making. To increase process efficiency, electronic services and governance have been developed nationally and locally, and solutions of eDemocracy have been launched to support participation. Developing participative, deliberative democracy during deep renewals creates opportunities but also requires investments, which create and increase variation between municipalities. From the point of view of local democracy, it becomes interesting how strong municipal self-governance and local governance renewals meet and how the role and status of municipalities are changing.

Is a Self-help Orientation Sufficient Basis for Local [Economic] Development?

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 151-166
Author(s):  
Eris D. Schoburgh
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Local Economic Development ◽  
Local Governance ◽  
Local Development ◽  
Participatory Development ◽  
Economic Transformation ◽  
Reform Process ◽  
Governance Reform ◽  
Local Authorities

Local government reform in Jamaica aims (i) to refocus local authorities to providing leadership and a coordinating framework for the collective efforts of the people towards local development and (ii) to assess local service distribution modalities between central and local governments, the private sector and CSOs for more cost-effective arrangements. The institutional context in which these objectives are to be pursued is characterized by a new local governance framework populated by ‘a federated system of development committees’. Development committees are expected to work in partnership with local authorities in pursuit of economic transformation of geographic spaces. Participatory development that development committees exemplify conjures up images of ownership of local [economic] development projects and an empowered citizenry that has the capacity to direct resources in their favour. Development committees represent a differentiated method of local economic governance. But the concern is: Are development committees fit for purpose? This is the fundamental question with which this research is concerned. A survey of parish development committees (PDCs) was conducted to determine the extent to which the organizations are giving effect to their mandate. The study is exploratory in design and relies on qualitative methodologies. The results of the study will be important for assisting the local governance reform process currently underway in Jamaica but should contribute to the discourse on the alternative approaches to managing development in developing countries.

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