Towards Building Direct Democratic Governance Through the Ward Committee System in South African Local Government

This chapter interrogates the ward committee system as an instrument in an institutionalised local government level to advance direct participatory governance. The ward committee has a constitutional mandate upon which accountability, democratization, community governance, and inclusive participation in the municipal decision-making is enhanced. The ward committee system was legislated to create a platform for community participation and enhance accountable local governance. Structuration theory has been used to engage with elements of representativity, powers, skills, functionality, access to information, influence in decision-making, and relationship with others structures as developed by Smith and de Visser. The chapter made use of various case studies to interrogate the role, potential, and challenges of the ward committee system in forging direct participatory governance.

Participatory Budgeting Within the Framework of Open Government

Participatory budgeting is a public policy and management instrument as well as a mechanism to help develop citizen participation and transparency. This chapter examines participatory budgeting from its origins, evolution, and the way in which it has contributed to make management transparent at the local government level, appropriately guiding the use of financial resources while contributing to the fight against corruption. This work demonstrates how the Dominican Republic is implementing participatory budgeting policies and their impact on the administration of local municipalities, quality of life improvements, and citizen participation as a core democratic principle of direct open government. This chapter presents a strong case, based on the example of municipal-level governments in the Dominican Republic, that participatory budgeting at the local level is one of the most important direct democratic instruments of Open Governments after the right to vote to create a solid foundation for good governance at the local level.

United Kingdom Freedom of Information Act 2000, Local Government and Everyday Regimes of Practice

The United Kingdom’s Freedom of Information Act 2000 commenced in 2005 with the objectives of openness and transparency, accountability, better decision making and public involvement in decision making. However, there have been limited studies of its long-term impacts on government practices and how far the Act has delivered on its stated objectives, and even fewer studies into how Freedom of Information works in practice, especially at local government level. Addressing these gaps in existing knowledge, this research seeks to critically evaluate existing regimes of practices across local authorities. It seeks to identify the multiple practices surrounding the implementation of the 2000 Act, evaluate how these practices are reproduced, and generate lessons for practice and alternative modes of delivering Freedom of Information.

Participatory monitoring and evaluation in local government: a case study of Lambussie District, Ghana

Ghana has pursued decentralisation since 1988, but its implementation continues to face challenges. Participatory monitoring and evaluation (PM&E) is one of the tools that can help local governments to be more effective in the planning and management of development projects. However, the issues involved in implementing PM&E in rural local governments operating within a rapidly changing sociocultural and political environment have not been sufficiently explored. To fill this gap in knowledge, this paper draws on project and policy documents and primary data on the application of PM&E in District Assemblies’ Common Fund projects implemented between 2013 and 2017 in Ghana’s Lambussie District. Six key informant interviews were held with district- and regional-level stakeholders, and eight focus group discussions were undertaken at the community level. The research found that inadequate provision for operationalising PM&E at the local level, and lack of accountability and feedback mechanisms, resulted in a tokenistic approach to PM&E. The authors suggest that research and advocacy on mechanisms for holding district authorities accountable is vital to the success of future PM&E initiatives at local government level.

Assessing the 2019 Redesign of Bulgarian Fiscal Equalization System

In many countries the narrowing of horizontal fiscal imbalance at local government level is an important issue of national fiscal policy. Large fiscal disparities at municipal level could lead either to lower service levels in fiscally poor regions or to higher tax rates for similar service levels in these regions. In turn, this could thwart efforts to reduce inequality in income distribution between individuals or could induce fiscally inefficient migration of business and individuals. Since the launch of fiscal decentralization reforms in Bulgaria in 2003 part of central government grants system for municipalities has been the equalization grant aimed at financing a minimum level of local services delivery. The equalization formula has undergone many changes during the years, and the last one was implemented in 2019. The main focus of the current study is to compare the equalizing effect of the equalization schemes applied in Bulgaria in 2018 and 2019. In order to test whether the 2018 and 2019 distribution formulas carry an equalizing effect with respect to municipal expenditure needs, per capita transfers received is regressed on three variables or indicators reflecting the differences in the municipal expenditure needs. Our results show that the new equalization mechanism as of 2019 is better designed to capture the differences in municipal expenditure needs and to alleviate fiscal disparities at local level when compared to the mechanism applied in 2018.

The incorporation of Māori environmental values as part of the Ruamāhanga Whaitua Implementation Programme in the Wellington Region, Aotearoa New Zealand

<p>In recent years, there has been significant efforts to create frameworks in which Māori values are incorporated as part of environmental management processes in Aotearoa New Zealand(Forster, 2014; Harmsworth et al., 2016). This research explores the factors that influence the incorporation of Māori values at the local government level, and what barriers Māori values face to being incorporated in environmental management. This research focused on a case study of the Ruamāhanga Whaitua Committe Implementation Programme process in the Wellington region. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect information on the opinions of members of the Ruamāhanga Whaitua Committee. The interviews were analysed using a critical theory approach. The research found that there was a clear discrepancy between the values and behaviours expressed by some non-Māori members of the Committee. The result of such a discrepancy was that Māori values were not sufficiently part of environmental decision making. Such a discrepancy was a result of the political structures of the Regional Council’s Whaitua Implementation Programme process. The majority of the decision-making power was found to be situated ‘higher’ up in the organisation, outside of the Committee. Overall this research found that there are important opportunities to make sure iwi values are not only included, but form the basis of decisions.</p>

The incorporation of Māori environmental values as part of the Ruamāhanga Whaitua Implementation Programme in the Wellington Region, Aotearoa New Zealand

<p>In recent years, there has been significant efforts to create frameworks in which Māori values are incorporated as part of environmental management processes in Aotearoa New Zealand(Forster, 2014; Harmsworth et al., 2016). This research explores the factors that influence the incorporation of Māori values at the local government level, and what barriers Māori values face to being incorporated in environmental management. This research focused on a case study of the Ruamāhanga Whaitua Committe Implementation Programme process in the Wellington region. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect information on the opinions of members of the Ruamāhanga Whaitua Committee. The interviews were analysed using a critical theory approach. The research found that there was a clear discrepancy between the values and behaviours expressed by some non-Māori members of the Committee. The result of such a discrepancy was that Māori values were not sufficiently part of environmental decision making. Such a discrepancy was a result of the political structures of the Regional Council’s Whaitua Implementation Programme process. The majority of the decision-making power was found to be situated ‘higher’ up in the organisation, outside of the Committee. Overall this research found that there are important opportunities to make sure iwi values are not only included, but form the basis of decisions.</p>

The Juridical Overview of Health Quarantine During the Covid-19 Pandemic

This study aims to determine the juridical review of quarantine after the Covid-19 pandemic and find out whether its implementation has been carried out and implemented in Indonesia. The type of research used is normative research or library research, its meaning that this research is based on library sources to discuss the problems that have been formulated. By examining secondary data by conducting an investigation of the study including a description of the research subject. In this study, the data used in this study were secondary data and primary data. The secondary data used in this study is the law used in the study, the primary data used is the regulations in Indonesian legislation that have been set by each local government. The data consists of books, articles in journals and other media, including unpublished research and papers related to and explaining the concepts of quarantine and social distancing during a pandemic situation. The results of the study explain that the Health Quarantine Act carried out by the government in protecting the spread of Covid-19 has been very well implemented. This is reinforced by Government Regulation number 21 of 2020 which explains PSBB and handling related to the Covid-19 pandemic. The implementation of this legislation is the establishment of a Health Quarantine Officer who is the only person authorized to enforce the law. Further cooperation for law enforcement at the local government level requires delegation from the central government, which will be carried out further by the Minister of Health.

A Service Model for Self-Directed Learning of NEET Youth at the Local Government Level

Given the increasing value of lifelong learning, self-directed learning (SDL) has become increasingly relevant over time. In rural areas with limited service resources, the main approach to NEET-youth depicts them more as young people in need, and less as people with the potential for self-development and participation in lifelong learning. The growing importance of people’s return to education, flexible learning paths, and the need for quick adaptation and re-training in a rapidly changing society emphasizes the need to design service models for NEET-youth. This is in order to support their SDL skills, and indicate the service providers’ role throughout the process. The empirical study in Estonia was grounded on the Double Diamond service design method using quantitative data on the respondents’ readiness for SDL, and also qualitative data from service providers about their roles and the affordances of their services in supporting SDL skills. The model was tested with rural NEET-youth.