Government of Yemen Expands Democratic Reforms through Decentralized Development Planning

New model of local planning being adopted by an increasing number of donors

SANA'A - 2 April 2007: An increasing number of donors in Yemen are using a decentralized institutional governance structure to ensure that their development assistance achieves the greatest possible impact in a manner that is sustainable over the long term.

During a recent visit to Yemen, Richard Weingarten, Executive Secretary for the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), said the Government of Yemen is clearly committed to the principles of decentralization and has made progress on this front, setting the goal posts for decentralized systems of governance in the Arab States region. "Yemen's system of local governance and its current experimentation in sector decentralization and donor harmonization in support of decentralized governance represent pioneering approaches to effective and sustainable local development," he said.

"By providing support directly through this decentralized system of governance, donors are achieving the greatest possible impact in a manner that is sustainable over the long term," added Aladeen Shawa, UNCDF's Chief Technical Advisor in Yemen.

The Government of Yemen introduced its current system of decentralized governance in 2001. In 2003, it requested the support of UNCDF and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to build local government capacity in the area of Public Expenditure and Asset Management (PEAM) on a pilot basis. The Government also requested that this process be used to assess the effectiveness of the current decentralized system of governance and to provide recommendations for its reform.

Since its start-up in early 2004, the UNCDF/UNDP-supported Decentralization and Local Development Support Programme (DLDSP) has provided a unified methodology and institutional framework for supporting Yemen's local governance system. An increasing number of donors - now nine including DANIDA, USAID, the Governments of Italy and France, as well as the Yemen Social Fund for Development - use the DLDSP framework to channel support to local authorities.

For example, the German Agency for Technical Co-operation (GTZ) is now in the process of re-channeling its initiatives supporting health sector reforms and improvement of health services through strengthened local authorities in the DLDSP pilot regions. "A similar USAID-funded initiative is about to be launched, focusing on setting up service facilities, such as schools and clinics," said Shawa. "The USAID project agreed to respond to requests for such facilities raised by DLDSP pilot districts."

UNICEF also is taking the same approach as GTZ and has shifted its point of entry for improving health and education services at the local level - from the community to the Governorate Local Authority (GLA) structure, and through this structure to the district local authority, in full alignment with the district integrated development plan. This shift resulted from negotiations between the DLDSP and UNICEF management in Yemen with the aim of integrating UNICEF functions to better comply with local authorities' procedures and to ensure that UNICEF interventions are integrated into the development plans of governorates and districts. UNICEF is partnering with the DLDSP to enhance governorate capacity in strategic planning to improve the local government's accuracy in identifying districts in need of UNICEF interventions in the areas of health or education. Once target districts are identified, UNICEF (with support from DLDSP) will work through district local authorities and in coordination with their planning teams to pinpoint specific interventions that will become an integral component of the district development plan. UNICEF will then channel earmarked funding for the implementation of these projects.

Shawa said UNCDF is in the process of further strengthening the coordination of donor support in Yemen through the decentralized development planning structure. To accomplish this, UNCDF is considering expanding its Sector-Wide Approach for Local Development (SWAP-LD), which would provide additional support to current DLDSP activities in coordination with other donors in the area of water, urban development of historic cities, solid waste management and education. "The SWAP-LD approach effectively promotes local authorities as the foundation for a viable framework for synchronizing and integrating a wide range of local development initiatives from all donors working within a country," he said.

Shawa also said that the SWAP-LD concept promotes the use of activated and strengthened local authorities as conduits for a wide range of sector-focused development interventions. "We anticipate that the local development initiatives will become better consolidated and integrated, aligned with the development objectives and priorities of local communities," he said. "We also hope to dramatically reduce duplication and improve the impact of donor resources, making them more effective in achieving real results."

For more information on UNCDF in Yemen, please visit the UNCDF Yemen webpage.