PLATFORMA, the European voice of Local and Regional authorities for development 12 June 2012, Bergen Lucie Guillet 1

I.Thematic global evaluation of the European Commission’s support to decentralisation processes II.Latest policy developments at European level 2

I.Thematic global evaluation of the European Commission’s support to decentralisation processes A.Scope Independant evaluation Objective: assess the results of the European Commission aid in the area of support to decentralisation Period covered:

Geographical scope: 77 countries Africa (74%) Latin America (10%) Neighbourhood region (8%) Asia (4%) Caribbean (3%) Pacific (1%) Budget: € 25 million to €150 million / year 4

●Overall positive results in: ►Improved local governance ►More effective delivery of local services ●Highly relevant support ●Added-value of EC action as a whole 5

B.Conclusions and recommendations: 4 sets i.EU policy framework ●existing EU policy framework, but no clear vision on boader public sector reform yet ●Great potential of the EU in supporting decentralisation Recommendations : ●developing strategy including support to decentralisation into wider public sector reform ●developing operational guidelines (sector-wide approaches, fiscal frameworks) 6

ii. Response to specific country contexts ●Action was aligned to countries’ priorities ●Initial stages of decentralisation vs advanced decentralisation Recommendations ●Encouraging stronger involvement of sector ministries and local government associations ●Improving EU Delegations’ expertise in local government sector 7

iii.Strategic focus ●Success based on national governments’ will and donor coordination ●Limited local participation of citizens ●Successful examples of local government grant systems Recommendations : ●Building on comparative advantage : support for local grant systems ●Supporting partner countries’ monitoring and evaluation of reforms 8

iv.Operational management ●Limited EC human resources in this area ●Complexity of decentralisation reform is poorly captured by the EC Recommendations : ●Establishing a central unit at EC headquarters and providing training to other staff in EU Delegations ●Sharing results internally and being proactive in international forums for knowledge sharing 9

C.Remarks, way forward Support to decentralisation vs MIC Need for greater involvement of LGs and LGAs in decentralisation programmes Advocacy for meaningful connection between decentralisation reforms, capacity building of LGs and decentralised cooperation Mainstreaming support to decentralisation into the next EU 7-year programming 10

II. Latest policy developments at European level ●A new European vision for LGs in development ●Making the next 7-year EU programming inclusive ●Discussing EU cooperation priorities with LGs in partner countries 11