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Associates Inc. THE EXPERIENCE OF DECENTRAUZATION IN COTE D'IVOIRE, 1980-1993: AN EVALUATION Richard Stren Nezam Motabar Koffi Attahi OCtober 1993 Prepared for: u.s. Agency for International Development REDSO\West and Central Africa Abidjan Delivery Order No. 4 IQC PCE-lOO8-I-OO-2064-OO - I; •( j:\. ,; I I' 1"::: _ ~'\ l,-'" ,'" ; ','.! ~ : 1 \, i\,· " '. PREFACE Cote d'Ivoire has implemented the most broadly-based and sustained decentralization effort in Francophone Africa. By 1985, some 135 municipalities were incorporated into the process. The problems that have developed in recent years require attention within the country and by those donor agencies, such as AID, that have been strong supporters of decentralization in the past. It is in this context that AID's regional office in Abidjan contracted Abt Associates to undertake a detailed review of the country's decentralization program, with the intent of informing AID's strategic planning process in its deliberations about future support. The study team was led by Dr. Richard Stren, a specialist in African urban affairs and Professor in the Department of Political Science and Director of the Centre for Urban and Community Studies of the University of Toronto. Mr. Koffi Attahi, an Ivorian planner with extensive research experience on decentralization and an assistant professor at the National University of Cote d'Ivoire, served as the team's decentralization specialist. Mr. Nezam Motabar, a financial management expert, was the team's urban finance specialist. The team carried out its field work over approximately four weeks in May and June of this year. The intense work period produced a substantial report that will prove extremely useful to both AID (and other donors) and those Ivorians concerned with decentralization. The research could not have been carried out, of course, without the many Ivorians -­ in the government and the communes -- who gave their time and provided their insights to the team. For their participation, we are grateful. The study also benefited throughout from the guidance of Ms. Carleene Dei, Chief of the Urban Development Division in the REDSO office. John Miller Abt Associates Inc. October 1993 TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE No. PREFACE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY v ACRONYMS xx 1. THE EXPERIENCE OF DECENTRALIZATION IN COTE D'IVOIRE, 1980-1993: AN EVALUATION 1 Introduction 1 Background to the study ........................... .. 1 Objectives of this study ........................ 2 Organization and methodology ........................2 2. IVORIAN DECENTRALIZATION: HISTORY AND OVERVIEW 4 2.1 Economic and Political Context ............................4 2.1.1 The Changing Economic Environment 4 2.1.2 Political evolution 7 2.2 The Decentralization Initiative: Legal Context and Rationale 14 2.2.1 The French legacy. Colonialism and the centralized state . 16 2.2.2 Decentralization in C~te d'Ivoire: legal and administrative framework 16 2.3 Decentralization: deconcentration or devolution? 21 2.4 The emergence of new stakeholders 26 2.4.1 The informal sector and community groups 27 2.4.2 International agencies 28 3. THE STRUCTURE AND FUNCI10NS OF COMMUNAL GOVERNANCE: AN EVALUATION 31 3.1 Existing structure and division of powers .................. .. 31 3.2 The role of central government agencies .................. .. 36 3.2.1 Ministry of the Interior 36 3.2.2 The Accounting Office of the Supreme Court ........ .. 39 3.3 Case Studies of Communal Governance 39 Case Study # 1 - The commune of Tiassale 41 11 TABLE OF CONTENTS (continued) PAGE No. Case Study #2 - The commune of Akoupe ............... .. 45 Case Study #3 - The commune of Abengourou 49 Case Study #4 - The commune of Port-Bouet 53 3.3.1 The case studies of communes. Some general issues 58 4. RESOURCE MOBILIZATION 60 4.1 Introduction 60 4.2 The Municipal Budgets ............................... .. 62 4.3 Analysis of the System in Operation 66 4.3.1 General Considerations 66 4.3.2 The Coordination of Functions ................... .. 67 4.3.3 Detailed Analysis of the Municipal Budget .......... .. 68 4.4 Resource Mobilization in Cote d'Ivoire: Analytical Conclusions . .. 77 4.4.1 General Observations 77 4.4.2 Major Shortcomings in Resource Mobilization in Cote d'Ivou8 4.5 Recommendations 81 4.5.1 General observations ................. .. 81 4.5.2 The structure of our financial recommendations: A matrix approach 82 4.5.3 Development of a general plan of action 84 4.5.4 Development of specific action plans 85 4.5.5 Suggested projects for implementation 88 5. FINAL RECOMMENDATIONS 91 TABLES Table 1. Ivorian Municipalities: Existing and Proposed Sources of Revenue 60 Table 2. Approaches to Communal Support for Resource Mobilization as a Function of Size and Time Perspective 83 III TABLE OF CONTENTS (continued) PAGE No. ANNEXES ANNEX l.a - Distribution of the Total Budget (by budget amount) ANNEX l.b - Distribution of the Total Budget (by number of municipalities) ANNEX l.c - Distribution of the Total Budget (by central gov't contribution) ANNEX 2 - Total Budget Allocation for the Municipalities ANNEX 3 - Financial Information for Fiscal Year 1992 ANNEX 4 - Paiements effectues 1990 ANNEX S.a - Etat des Activites Financieres du FPCL - Prets accordes ANNEX S.b - Demandes de prets en cours d'instruction au 31/05/93 ANNEX 6 - List of Persons Interviewed BIBLIOGRAPHY OF SOURCES CITED IN TEXT LIST OF ORGANIGRAMS: Ministere de l'Interieur 38 Organigramme de la Mairie de Tiassale ........................... .. 40 Organigramme de la Mairie d'Akoupe 44 Organigramme de la Mairie de Port-Bouet ......................... .. 54 Ministere de l'Environnement, de la Construction et de l'Urbanisme 70 IV The Experience of Decentralization in Cote d'Ivoire, 1980-1993 Executive Summary 1. Introduction By the early 1990s, changes in many Af~can countries involving a more market-driven economy, a more open and active civil society, and more competitive politics also brought a movement towards decentralization. Paradoxically, the focus for most of these changes has been the urban centers where the formerly centralized system was most firmly implanted. Cote d'Ivoire, which was ruled by a single party for the first thirty years after Independence, and is still under the influence of the same President, began its decentralization exercise in 1978. Eventually, by 1985, some 135 municipalities throughout the country were incorporated into the framework. This is the most broad-based, as well as the most sustained decentralization exercise in Francophone Africa. But decentralization in Cote d'Ivoire has been experiencing a number of problems which need to be addressed both within the country and by donor agencies such as USAID which have in the past supported decentralization. The objectives of this report are (1) to present a detailed review ofthe status of the GaCI decentralization program; and (2) to make recommendations for future USAID interventions in this field. The study was carried out by three persons, a political scientist/urban planner, a financial expert, and an Ivorian planner. In addition to collecting materials and conducting interviews among GaCI officials and others in Abidjan, the study Mission visited four communes for brief field visits: Port-Bouet (a commune of the City of Abidjan), Akoupe, Abengourou, and Tiassale. 2. Ivorian Decentralization: History and Overview 2.1. Economic and political context. 2.1.2. The changing economic environment. From Independence in 1960 through the late 1970s, Cote d'Ivoire enjoyed a period ofeconomic growth almost unmatched in sub-Saharan Africa, with a growth rate of 6.8% per annum in GDP between 1965 and 1980. It also enjoyed political stability under the continuous leadership of President Felix Houphouet-Boigny and the ruling party, the Parti democratique de la Cote d'Ivoire (PDCI). Growth during this period was based on four main factors: the development of high quality agricultural exports; the establishment of a large battery of parastatal organizations which involved all aspects of Ivorian economic life; strong incentives to foreign investment and tolerance of a large expatriate community; and the development of a well-trained and highly-paid national civil service structure. While there was some pressure within the country to open opportunities to Ivorians v at a more rapid rate, the government's strategy was minimally acceptable so long as there was a high level of economic growth and substantial disposal government resources. By the late 1970s, as world prices for the country's primary products began seriously to erode, the GDP began to fall. From a figure of $1,222 in 1980, GDP per capita fell to $734 in 1991. At the same time, Cote d'lvoire developed a massive foreign debt, the servicing of which significantly reduced its ability to meet its domestic obligations. In response to the World Bank and IMF, the GOCI developed a Medium-Term Economic Policy Framework, which inter alia attempts to cut public sector wage bills and reduce expenditures on social services. During the buoyant period of the 1960s and 1970s, the urban population of the country was growing at a rate of approximately 10 per cent per year. With the onset of the conjoncture in the late 1970s, urban migration (at least to the large towns) subsided, with the result that during the 1980s Abidjan's population (estimated at approximately 2 million in 1993) grew at a rate of only 2.6% per annum. At the same time, during the 1980s the cities saw a much more explosive growth in their informal economies than had been the case previously. 2.1.2. Political evolution. The early political years of the current President of Cote d'Ivoire took place in France, as an active member of the French Constituent Assembly and subsequently the Fourth Republic. Following the elections of 1956 under the French 10i cadre, Houphouet-Boigny became the elected Mayor of Abidjan. This arrangement was possible under a colonial law which had elevated Abidjan, Grand Bassam and Bouake to "full exercise" communes.

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