Research Themes | Drylands | Natural Resources

Making Decentralisation Work is a regional programme of action-research, capacity building and policy debate for sustainable natural resource management and pro-poor economic and social development in the Sahel.

programme in four Sahelian countries (Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger). The programme responds to a shift in policy involving the transfer of discretionary decision-making powers and of resources from central government to elected local government bodies. The programme is designed to add value to these processes in three key areas:

In Phase I (November 2000 - October 2004), programme activities concentrated on two critical areas: the design and testing of a set of tools and methods for social accountability and inclusion; and the establishment of sustainable mechanisms for informed debate and policy influence at local, national and regional levels, ensuring feedback and links between levels.

Many governments in the Sahel are pursing radical agricultural reform. Policies to support modernisation of the sector and promote large scale commercial enterprises are seen as crucial to increasing agricultural productivity and reducing poverty. But will it work? Debate continues on the appropriateness and feasibility of this policy direction. Some fear it will increase poverty, while others claim that modernisation through foreign investment is the way forward. IIED’s programme on the Future of Family Farming contributed to this discussion by providing case study material and enabling partners to debate these issues at local, national and international levels. Download the report (381 KB).

Making Decentralisation Work for Sustainable Natural Resource Management in the Sahel: Lessons from a programme of action-research, policy debate and citizen empowerment

In Phase II (2005-2010), the emphasis is being placed on three thematic areas:

Decentralisation and the transfer of power from the central State to local government is intended to result in better and more effective local development by enabling local people to participate in the planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes. However, such participation can only be effective if all groups are involved in the decision-making process and have the capacity to call elected local officials to account for their actions.

Experience has shown that vulnerable groups are often excluded from the sphere of decision-making, particularly over natural resources. These groups include women, young people and socio-professional categories such as pastoralists. Making Decentralisation Work will develop and implement practical tools (e.g., training materials) that will enable:

• Participatory evaluation of decentralisation and participatory budgeting

In much of the Sahel, competition over land and other natural resources has increased dramatically over the past few decades. In many areas, population pressures and socio-cultural change have eroded the "customary" arrangements for reconciling competing resource interests - particularly pastoralism and agriculture. Competition is particularly acute for scarce "strategic" resources, such as the few irrigated lands, dry season water points and pastures.

By creating democratic fora at the local level, decentralisation offers new opportunities for local populations to discuss and reconcile their competing views and needs. Local governments therefore need to be equipped with appropriate tools (e.g., "local conventions") and to be able to address the complexities of resource management decisions (e.g., the land tenure implications of water management).

This requires action-research, to better understand issues and to document successful experiences; learning groups, to promote discussions between practitioners and policy-makers; and networking, to promote an informed policy debate in which all stakeholders have a fair say. Together, these activities will contribute to better policies, institutions and programmes. During Phase II, these activities will focus on two areas:

For decentralisation to succeed, local governments must be able effectively to support the livelihoods of their constituents through income-generating activities. In much of rural Sahel, natural resources constitute the main basis for such activities. The second phase of the programme will focus on sustainable tourism.

Ways of working

Building on the achievements of Phase I, the second phase of the programme will promote informed debate and joint learning between countries, and at different levels, through the following implementation methods:

Illiteracy among rural people in general, and the more marginalised groups in particular, such as women, is a major contributing factor of their exclusion from local and national decision-making fora, and thereby their levels of poverty. During Phase I of the programme, work undertaken by ARED led to the design, testing and finalisation of a training course in a local language (Pulaar) aimed at building the capacities of pastoral people to influence local government decision-making processes. This work was largely carried out in Senegal and, to a lesser extent, Mali. In Phase II, the programme will facilitate a process to extend the work to the other countries in the region and foster greater collaboration between ARED, the national networks and other regional partners.

These groups are particularly useful for reconciling divergent positions between different actors over shared resources and, if properly managed, do provide a very powerful instrument for addressing issues of conflict, equity and sustainable resource management. Through this approach, it is possible to create the conditions for informed dialogue at different levels - local, national and regional. This tool was designed in Phase I of the programme, tested and applied principally in Senegal and, to a lesser extent Mali and Burkina Faso. Phase II will aim to disseminate this approach in other countries and provide backstopping support in its adaptation and use.

Research and the dissemination of findings on various issues (e.g., transfer of authority for natural resource management, social accountability and inclusion, land tenure, local conventions, and gender and decentralisation) across the region is critically important in helping civil society and national government bodies learn from each other. The links between the programme and ongoing regional initiatives such as the formulation of a common agricultural policy, a regional land charter and the activities of CILSS need to be strengthened. In this context, action-research activities on strategic themes of regional interest will be encouraged, in order to contribute to the elaboration of more inclusive, pro-poor policies.

Networking at local, national and regional levels was started in Phase I with the establishment of national networks in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, which contributed to facilitating informed debate between actors at the national and local levels and, to a lesser extent, between actors at the local level. This strategy will be pursued and reinforced in Phase II in order to create a critical mass of informed debate at regional level on issues of natural resource management, conflict resolution and poverty reduction within the context of decentralisation.

Information and communication at regional, national and local levels are needed to underpin and capitalise on the activities of the programme. In Phase I the programme focused on establishing a platform for the exchange of information at a regional level, while providing some support to the information requirements of the national networks. This will be pursued in Phase II with a greater focus on identifying how best to use information generated by the programme to inform and influence policies at both national and regional levels.

To find out more, you can contact the country focal points:

Burkina Faso
Groupe de Recherche Action sur le Foncier, GRAF
05 BP 6022,
Ouagadougou 05, Burkina Faso
Tel: +226 33 47 14
Email: graf@liptinfor.bf

Mali
Modibo Keïta
Cabinet d'Études Keïta, CEK Kalasaba
Urban Waste Expertise Programme, UWEP
Rue 136, Porte 501,BP 9014 Badalabougou,
Bamako, Mali
Tel: +223 64 12 / Fax: +223 23 84 13
Email: cek@afribone.net.ml or
kalasaba@malinet.ml

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