What Kind of Aid Does the Pacific Need (Part 2) - Responsive Government

Earlier this year, the ‘My World 2015’ data results were published - providing excellent insight into the priorities of everyday people on issues from healthcare to jobs to internet access. What was really nice to see was a breakdown of results by country, region, gender, age and even education level. You can view the results here.

The desire for ‘responsive government’ landed fourth on the list in the Pacific (second for men, fifth for women). It is an extremely important issue, particularly with respect to development and building resilience. Communities can and should take the lead because they know what is best for them, but government, particularly local government, still has a critical role to play. It develops policies, delivers essential services, and creates incentives to invest in and grow local economies. One of the challenges to local governments, however, is that they often have ‘unfunded mandates’ - responsibilities without the necessary financing to ensure they can do their job adequately.

In many countries, and not just in the Pacific, this is the norm rather than the exception. Decentralized budget support is necessary for local governments to deliver quality services and respond to local issues, be they economic or health related. Or any other issue, for that matter. With budget support, local government can implement good policies and regulations that grow local economies that in turn increase locally-generated revenues (through taxes and permitting) that, over time, reduces the need for budget support. So, when it comes to having responsive government in terms of services, the Pacific needs decentralized budget support from donors. That’s fairly straightforward.

But there is another side to the issue of responsive government, and that is having quality people in government and having a stable government. At the local level, and in particular in developing countries, local leadership and local government look more like a revolving door than a solid institution. Our parent publication, Theory in Practice, wrote about this issue and makes a good point. “There needs to be an element of predictability in terms of who will fulfill a particular role from one day to the next, be it accounting or licensing or collecting fees.” At the leadership level, if we want government to be responsive, they need to be held accountable. We need voter education to understand what it is that politicians should do for us as a group rather than as individuals. In the Pacific, patronage politics has meant government is less responsive to the group (ie: citizens as a whole) than to those who ensured they were elected to begin with.

If we want more responsive government in the Pacific we need two things - one which donors can assist with (decentralized budget support for service delivery) and one they can’t (improving accountability of leadership and reducing patronage in politics). Both are equally important for improving community resilience. And until the aid comes, helping ourselves is a great place to start.