Constituency Development Funds as a Tool of Decentralized

Constituency Development Funds as a Tool of Decentralized Development Workshop E: The Role of Parliamentarians in Facilitating Grassroots Projects Mark Baskin, SUNY/CID Senior Associate 56 th CPA Conference 10 -19 September 2010 Nairobi, Kenya.

Constituency Development Funds and Distributive Policy Making • Constituency Development Funds (CDFs) are a policy tool that dedicates public money to benefit specific political subdivisions through allocations and/or spending decisions influenced by their representatives in the national parliament. • Distributive Policy Making: Decisions about resource allocations that are made with minimal conflict and in which a super-majority of stakeholders share in expenditure or allocation of funds in projects that are local and varied in size, scope and amount, and that are developed independently of one another.

Overview of Presentation • • • SUNY Project on CDFs CDF Definition and Questions Policy Making, Implementation and Oversight Central Challenges Next Steps in SUNY’s Project

SUNY - Comparative Project on CDFs • Descriptive, Analytical and Normative Concerns • Albany Planning Workshop – December 2009 • Albany Workshop on earmarks and Member Items in US Systems – May 2010 • Comparative Case studies: India, Jamaica, Kenya, Uganda, US • Thematic studies: Representation, Constituencies, Implementation, Service Delivery, Governance Issues • Tool Box: Library, Practices, Lessons, Operational Norms

CDF – Definitions • What’s in a Name? CDF, EDF, Slush Fund, MPLAD, CDG, Earmark, Member Item, Pork • CDF vs. US-Style Pork: Distributive, Divisible, Omnibus, Super-Majority • Politically Driven Development against Tyranny of Planning and Ineffective Executive Agencies • De-Concentration of Power from the Executive

CDF – Questions • What is the Purpose of CDFs: Poverty Alleviation, Decentralization, Participatory Policy Making? • Do Policy and Financial Authority Undergo Devolution/Decentralization or are there “Unfunded Mandates” and “Fiscal Illusion”? • Which Elements are Essential to a CDF: Constituencies, Parliaments, MPs? • Why 1 st Past the Post, Majority Electoral Systems?

Policy Making, Implementation and Oversight • International Diffusion of Innovation • What are the Policy-Making Processes in CDFs? • Varying Degrees of Formal Organization in Modes of CDF Financing and Operations • Formal Institutionalization vs. Informal Mechanism • Oversight: internal and external

Average Amount Allocated per MP Philippines Average Amount Allocated per MP (USD) $4, 270, 001 Bhutan $ Solomon Islands $ 140, 000 Kenya $ 794, 464 Malaysia $ 577, 951 Jamaica $ 456, 361 India $ 420, 790 Sudan $ 317, 543 Pakistan $ 240, 000 Malawi $ 21, 352 Tanzania $ 13, 761 Uganda $ 5, 187 43, 000

Central Challenges Facing CDFs • Accountability and Transparency • Efficiency • Equity • Representation • Coordination • Institutionalization

Next Steps • Phase 1: Completion of Descriptive and Analytic work - Case Studies and Thematic Papers • Study Groups with CDF Stakeholders: MPs, Communities, Government, Civil Sector, Donor Community • Phase 2 a: Library and Tool Box – Lessons, Practices, Norms of good governance • Phase 2 b: Public Dissemination of Information

Constituency Development Funds as a Tool of Decentralized Development Workshop F: The Role of Parliamentarians in Facilitating Grassroots Projects Mark Baskin, SUNY/CID Senior Associate 56 th CPA Conference 10 -19 September 2010 Nairobi, Kenya.