LocationsBringing Power to the People:
Decentralization in Pakistan
By Dr. Shandana Khan Mohmand | Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Development Studies
The success of decentralization also depends entirely on the political goals of the regime at the center.
In the Development Advocate issue published in January 2021 on Devolution of Power, I wrote a piece titled Goals of Equality and Representation: Does Decentralization Work?1 Here, I wrote about whether decentralization can help Pakistan achieve its SDGs. I concluded that decentralized governance could help. However, local governments needed to remain in place and be institutionalized as part of the logic and culture of governance. I was concerned at the time that the recent decentralization reforms (instituted around 2013 and redefined around 2019 in the various provinces) were once again being rolled back.
Five years on, Pakistan still lacks an institutionalized, functioning local government system. The question of Pakistan’s experience with decentralization for SDG implementation is thus redundant, and in terms of what needs to be done for the final push towards achieving the SDGs by 2030, I would argue that the answer is fairly straightforward—create and institutionalize local governments, enable localized governance and decision-making, foster local democracy and protect it all against arbitrary reversals. This is foundational to many of the development goals that Pakistan was meant to achieve by this deadline.
Decentralization is by no means a magic fix for poor governance. There are some compelling arguments in the literature for why centralized governance may sometimes be more effective. Smaller regions may not need decentralization. For some public services, economies of scale can be achieved through centralized management. In such cases, equitable goals for every region can be better served through centralized decision-making and resource distribution. However, for a country of Pakistan’s size and diversity, decision-making that remains centralized in provincial capitals or even in Islamabad, will inevitably lead to uneven and poor outcomes.
Let me explain this by asking a few simple questions about the issues that citizens face every day. The first draws on my earlier research on rural politics and governance in Punjab. When a rural citizen needs naalis (drains) or paved streets to be built to deal with monsoon rains—this was by far the most popular citizen demand in villages 15 years ago, and I imagine the situation remains the same across large parts of the country today—who can they speak to about these issues? And how quickly can they expect actions before the next rains? When their school falls into disrepair or teachers remain absent, what is their closest and quickest port-of-call to ensure their children continue to receive quality education?
Drawing on my more recent work in urban Lahore, who can women speak with to clean clogged drains before the next rains? Or ensure their streets are made greener in the scorching heat and their parks usable by their children? Or at the very basic level, make their neighborhoods safe? These are the very local everyday questions people have, and they are foundational to several SDG goals including quality healthcare, education, gender equality, and access to sanitation.
If you are tempted to say it should be the frontline workers of departments and municipal offices, you would not be entirely wrong. There is no reason for centralized ministries who have the political will to eradicate poverty and inequality across the country, and who aim to ensure that quality public services are accessible to all citizens, cannot do so through country-wide administrative networks. However, in addition to the point on political will, you will have missed the point of decentralization. What we know from local government experiences around the world is that resolving the issues listed above is largely a matter of agency and decision-making.
There are at least two aspects of effective decentralization to highlight. First, effective decentralization that delivers results creates a structure of localized governance in which the power to make decisions lies with citizens in villages and neighborhoods across the country, and not with bureaucrats located at a distance in district or provincial headquarters. Second, decisions are aggregated and communicated upwards through thousands of elected representatives who sit in offices near their constituents and have the agency and funds to direct resources to where they are most needed. The institutionalization of local government multiplies the number of elected offices, resulting in an increase in representative space and reducing entry barriers into politics for women, minorities, and lower-income groups. This is central to the development of stronger, more inclusive, and accountable institutions (aligned to SDG 16).
The most successful examples of decentralized governance define and protect the powers of the bureaucracy, facilitating effective decision-making on resource divisions, using formulas that achieve equity across the country by earmarking more resources to poorer areas, the marginalized groups, or high-priority goals. Decentralized governance gives power to the people who know what they need and can decide how to allocate funds for their villages and neighborhoods. Therefore, if residents collectively agree that it is drains that are most needed this year, new teachers that need to be hired or neighborhood watch groups that must be created, then that is where the money will be spent. There are other positive externalities associated with this—collectivization of interests, building mechanisms of cooperation (and negotiation) within communities and sometimes a reduction in clientelist linkages with higher-tier politicians seen as the only available port-of-call.
There is an obvious political economy of decentralization—a reform that will cause some to lose power and others to gain it—that has kept it off policy agendas in Pakistan. The success of decentralization also depends entirely on the political goals of the regime at the center. However, there are a few other effective options for ensuring that citizens across every part of the country, millions made invisible to decision-makers in distant centralized systems, can live dignified lives in thriving neighborhoods, with opportunities for social mobility through quality local education and healthcare.
1. Full article available here: UNDP Pakistan, ‘Devolution of Power: Pathways to Actualization’, Publication, 23 January 2021. Available at: https://www.undp.org/pakistan/publications/devolution-power-pathways-actualization