The intergovernmental communication gap hits functional decentralisation

As part of the Local Governance Academy programme, separate meetings were held in Skopje, Macedonia, with the Minister of Local Self-Government, Mr Lirim Shabani, and the Executive Director of the Association of the Units of Local Self-Government of the Republic of Macedonia (ZELS), Ms Dusica Perisic.

The meeting with Minister Shabani discussed the process of decentralisation and reform in local government. The focus was on planning, coordination and policy implementation between the central, regional and local levels.

On this occasion, Mr Besnik Tahiri, Executive Director of the KLGI Institute, stressed that in the process of decentralisation and local government reform there is a gap in intergovernmental communication. Intergovernmental communication is a critical aspect of effective local government – without effective and efficient communication structures, the participation of local government in discussing and drafting state policies and regulations will not be effective, and the implementation of central government regulations and policies concerning local government may result in uneven or partial implementation of legislation, which would limit their effectiveness.

Unless an in-depth review takes place, carried out systematically, sector by sector and functional area by functional area, municipal and national government entities will continue to operate in the dark, leading to confusion, thereby paralysing initiatives, and with a lack of accountability at both levels of government.

The meeting with Ms Perisic, Executive Director of ZELS, discussed the role of this mechanism in the process of creating and strengthening the mechanisms responsible for supporting and interacting with municipalities, including in particular: (i) mechanisms for technical assistance, training and advice to municipalities; (ii) coordination and knowledge-networking systems; and (iii) information and monitoring systems to ensure compliance with standards.

The shared conclusion of the discussions was that the lack of coordination between institutions risks turning local government into a fragile mechanism, jeopardising service delivery and sustainable development as a whole. Local government therefore needs the most effective and harmonised possible coordination of policies, planning, implementation and monitoring. This would ensure a broad framework within which the main governance processes, those of financial and policy planning, operate.