INTERNATIONALBANK FOR WORLD BANK R E T C N O E N STRUCTION PM AND DEVELO February 2004 No.41 A regular series of notes highlighting recent lessons emerging from the operational and analytical program of the World Bank`s Latin America and Caribbean Region MAINSTREAMING EMPOWERMENT IN THE BOLIVIA PRSP MONITORING AND EVALUATION AT THE MUNICIPAL LEVEL Indu John-Abraham and Magüi Moreno Torres Background and resources necessary to fulfill their monitoring Since the early 1990s, the Bolivian government has begun a responsibilities. transition towards a more decentralized form of government. Tracking Progress in As a result, the country's 324 Poverty Reduction municipalities have greater autonomy and responsibilities and In response to this need, the Bolivia several social control mechanisms Country Office of the World Bank have been created to promote more (WB) proposed a pilot initiative to participation in local government improve information and mecha- and more accountability. nisms for tracking poverty reduction at municipal level. It includes devel- In this context, the Bolivian oping a data collection methodology government developed a Poverty around two main components: i) a Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) results-based approach focused on in May 2001, which is being setting and meeting targets and link- revised in 2003. The PRSP outlines ing these to available municipal re- an approach to increased poverty- sources; ii) a communications com- related spending through ponent that will present information investments in education, health to municipal oversight committees in and sanitation, and risk management. These expenditures an understandable format. Extensive preparatory work dur- will be planned and executed largely at the municipal level.1 ing late 2002 helped refine the proposal, incorporating The Popular Participation Law of 1994 established recommendations from government and civil society repre- municipal oversight committees (comités de vigilancia) to sentatives. By March 2003, the program was launched in help evaluate the impact of public policies and spending. fifteen municipalities chosen randomly from the three main However, without municipal information systems, the geographical regions of the country--five each in the altipl- oversight committees and local governments lack the tools ano, valleys and eastern plains. 1 downloaded directly into a database, avoiding addi- The program has four principal components, all at the tional costs and data entry errors. municipal level: Decentralizing data collection reduces costs and in- 1 Participatory Approach to Reach Agreement on So- creases the breadth and depth of investigation. This cial and Productive Targets: The PRSP outlined clear, provides more information, allowing better analysis of concrete indicators to measure poverty reduction the impact of public policy actions in fighting poverty. throughout the country. The implications of those indi- cators for the municipal level remain to be defined. As a 3 Linking Results Orientation and Resource Alloca- result, the pilot program has engaged municipal repre- tion: As part of the popular participation approach to sentatives in a participatory process to review the municipal planning, the budgeting process will be indicators and establish municipal targets for poverty modified to ensure that resource allocations are directly reduction. related to specific results targets. Budget priorities and amounts will be based on Workshops are held realistic estimates of costs in each of the three associated with imple- regions with three menting local develop- representatives ment goals. The relation- from each munici- ship between results and pality. The WB Bo- resources will be a central livia Country Of- focus of the budget moni- fice, with additional toring process. support from EN- LACE/Inter-Ameri- 4 User-Friendly can Foundation, of- Information Sources: fers its technical ex- Collecting information pertise, collecting proves useless if it cannot examples and expe- be digested by the in- riences using indi- tended audience. INE's cators to monitor national scope and inter- poverty reduction ests has limited the depth, from Bolivia and format and relevance of elsewhere, which disaggregated municipal information it collects, pro- serve as reference points in determining appropriate cesses and disseminates. targets. This initiative will address the information needs of During the workshop, participants develop a common municipalities and the general public by investigating set of indicators to be collected in each municipality, and developing alternative sources of information dis- thereby allowing the data to be aggregated. Additional semination. These could include local newspapers, ra- indicators specific to each municipality are also se- dio and community assemblies. lected. Then the final decision on the expanded set of indicators is made at the municipal level through a series of events to ensure participation of key stakehold- Capacity building to generate local data for ers. better local government 2 Developing a Data Collection Methodology: With help from the National Statistical Institute (INE), a As part of the development of a data collection methodology detailed data collection methodology will be developed at the local level, a workshop in Cochabamba, on June 23- for the information necessary to analyze effectiveness in 24, 2002 brought together representatives from the 15 achieving the established targets. Master's degree participating municipalities: the mayor, the head of the local students will develop questionnaires to elicit the infor- oversight committee and a technical expert from each mation needed. municipality. Departmental representatives of the Mecanismo de Control Social (Social Control Mechanism) Data will be collected at the local level using Personal were also invited. Digital Assistants (PDAs; i.e. Palm Pilots) and user- friendly survey software. The simplicity of the software The workshop was organized around two main areas: (i) and PDAs keeps training costs quite low. The data how information is used to track results, and (ii) the specific compiled using the PDA-based questionnaires can be contribution of the pilot program in generating useful information. A major topic of debate focused around 2 strengthen municipalities' ef- fective participation and ca- Results-based public management in Bolivia pacity to foster effective deci- Results-based planning, management and evaluation are important approaches in sion-making, implementation and monitoring for better pro- analyzing output quality and the impact of public interventions and policies on poor outcomes. As greater re- poverty and the Millennium Development Goals. The Government of Bolivia has sponsibilities are transferred identified this as one of the fundamental pillars in revising the PRSP, along with pro- to the local level through the poor growth. Although the legal framework for results-based management has been decentralization process, par- in place since the Administrative and Financial Reform Law of 1990 and was further ticipatory mechanisms in the formulation, implementation detailed in the Popular Participation Law of 1994 and the National Dialogue Law of and evaluation of municipal 2000, implementation to date has been weak. Nonetheless, the Bolivian experience public policy are central to with results-based management offers important lessons and solid entry points for the development of sustain- several reasons: a) the existence of a solid legal framework; b) several in-depth able and credible systems of studies of the political and institutional environment in the country; c) an ambitious public management. public sector reform that follows a results-based approach; d) pioneering social The initiative aims to pro- control institutions for consultation and vigilance over public expenditure at the local mote greater information dis- level; and e) the existence of some information systems with performance indicators semination, participation and and targets. awareness among local gov- ernments and oversight com- mittees. It also seeks to raise the awareness of national government agencies as to the information needs at the national and local levels. The role importance and usefulness of collaborating more with of INE's La Paz-based headquarters and regional offices local and municipal organizations and the role that civil was discussed. It was stressed that the pilot was designed to society can play in monitoring and evaluating poverty generate data that the municipalities themselves might find reduction efforts. useful rather than to provide the Government with more information about municipalities. The pilot contemplates The INE traditionally has been responsible for imple- two surveys -- a core set of questions relating to national- menting all surveys and generating statistical informa- level indicators, and a modular set of questions of local tion. This proves to be costly and therefore restricts the concern to collect specific local data. depth of the information gathered. This new initiative conversely offers a low-cost and high-return method to Participants were trained to use the data collection and increase local participation to generate data. analysis tools--the PDAs and Perseus survey software. Each group was given the opportunity to conduct a small Despite its current status as a pilot project, there are clear survey using the tools. Data were collected, aggregated and opportunities to scale-up this model to all municipalities. presented to workshop participants to highlight different However, this will require a full assessment of the results aspects of the entire process. of the 15-municipality pilot and a study of the financing options available from the government and international The workshop stressed the need for each municipality to donor community, including the World Bank. It has been commit human resources to carry out the pilot. The role of proposed that the expansion be conducted in two stages. government agencies was also detailed to foster In the first phase, municipalities would be selected ran- transparency and manage expectations. INE and UDAPE domly to receive three different kinds of interventions (Unit for Political and Economic Analysis in the central that would ensure that valid inferences and comparisons government) will provide technical assistance and support could be drawn. The second phase would gradually to municipalities in the use of hardware and software. After expand the number of municipalities participating to the discussing the schedule and objectives of the pilot, total of 324. interested mayors were asked to signal their commitment to participate through a written document along with INE, Transparency and communication are fundamental en- UDAPE and the World Bank. All fifteen municipalities abling factors for the success of this type of initiative. agreed to the terms of the pilot. Information sharing among stakeholders, including the government, donors and NGOs, during the design and implementation of the project is crucial. In many in- Municipal Empowerment stances, this helps coordinate different efforts and ensures they "all fit together." One of the initiative's principal objectives has been to 3 Some Initial Lessons and Planes Operativos Anuales ­ POAs) are not focused on outcomes and impacts. To date, Bolivia's National Dialogue Although the project is only in the fieldwork phase of data process has focused on compiling demands, with little collection, some lessons can be derived from initial attention given to achieving better results and outcomes. challenges and obstacles. Technical difficulties proved a principal complication in Capacity building should be the process. Some PDA provided mainly in the areas of: models had inadequate a) results-based methodology in capacity for data collection local planning tools, building on and the survey software had existing tools developed by the to be reconfigured for better Fondo Nacional de Inversión results and easier use. Productiva y Social (FPS); b) participatory methodology for Some other obstacles identi- developing indicators and linking fied during the June work- them to targets, personnel shop included: (a) some mu- management and the budget nicipalities did not have the process; and c) piloting user necessary computers (and evaluation scorecards. ports) to use the PDAs; (b) some municipalities -- espe- cially the largest ones in Conclusions eastern and northern Bolivia -- did not have sufficient Through the process of decen- human resources to carry out tralization, Bolivia has taken no- surveys; and (c) there were table in-roads towards a results- concerns about the willingness of Government agencies based management approach, with particular attention (especially INE) to allow greater participation of municipali- given to municipal governance. The government has ties in designing the modular surveys. established a solid and progressive legal framework to facilitate this transition with the formalized contribution of However, two promising aspects for success and the civil society. Specifically, participatory approaches are possibility for expansion are also evident at this early stage being employed for the definition of key targets, the collec- in the program. One is the level of interest generated at the tion of data and the analysis of information. Through the local level, among elected politicians and civil society. The process, both municipal governments and civil society are second relates to the level of understanding achieved among strengthening their capacities and skills to promote more participants on the role that information plays in improving effective public management. municipal government. *********** Once targets are set, it is important to ask what needs to be done at the municipal level to achieve the targets and to establish the link between results-orientation and the assignment of resources. This last link in the chain will require changes in the participatory municipal planning process, but will not be financed by this initiative. Want to know more? The major impact of scaling up the initiative would be the See http://www.worldbank.org/lacss considerable public benefit of obtaining hard evidence on the impact of the participatory processes. To date, most About the Authors participatory processes are viewed as resulting from the 1994 and 2000 participation laws, which make an implicit link between participation and better outcomes, but: a) the This note was prepared by Magüi Moreno Torres, Junior implementation of the laws has not been fully completed, Professional Associate, and Indu John-Abraham, Consult- and b) there is only scattered evidence on the impact of these ant, in the World Bank Civil Society Team for Latin participatory processes. The possibility of expanding the experiment to all municipalities should be discussed with America and the Caribbean Region. the government and representatives of the Social Control About "en breve" Mechanism who also have an interest in demonstrating the impact of participatory processes. This is particularly so given that planning and monitoring mechanisms at the local To subscribe to "en breve" send and email to level (such as Programas de Desarrollo Municipal ­ PDMs, "en_breve@worldbank.org" 4