Executive Summary This paper evaluates the extent to which the system is consistent with government’s decentralisation policy using the findings of a companion occasional paper, “The Local Government Grant System, Paper One: A researcher’s guide to the local government grant system.” To do this the paper considers the legibility of the grant system, the adequacy of the allocations it generates, th. [...] Page and Goldsmith have developed a system for characterising the degree of decentralisation enjoyed by a sub-national government in terms of three parameters:3 • The coherence and significance of the set of functions assigned to the sphere of sub-national government (relative to the functions assigned to national government and other spheres); • The access enjoyed by the sphere of sub-national go. [...] We assess the grant administration system in terms of its legibility by looking at three of its facets: • The form of the information regarding the size of allocations: the timing of its publication; the length of time over which the allocation is projected; the degree of change to which allocations and their projects are subject. [...] We confine the analysis to looking at: • The manner in which the functional relationship between grants/flows is defined, and assessing this for coherence and fragmentation; • The processes through which information is collected and analysed to formulate problem statements and monitor progress; and • The modes of intervention used by the grants, and try to assess the internal coherence of the prog. [...] The reforms include: • The publication of grant frameworks in the DORA giving more details regarding the purpose, conditions, allocation criteria etc, for grants; • The publication of three-year allocations for each municipality at least one quarter before the start of the municipal financial year; • The publication of the Medium Term Budget Policy Statement nine months before the start of the mun.
- Pages
- 36
- Published in
- Port Elizabeth, South Africa
