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Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Decentralisation has been considered by many as one of the most important strategies in public sector reform in several of the developing countries. Both donors and governments have regarded decentralisation as a tool for national development through the realisation of the objectives of enhancing popular participation in development and the management of development at the regional or local level. Countries are expected to reap the benefits of decentralisation through improved service delivery, namely, through bringing service delivery closer to the consumers, improving the responsiveness of the central government to public demands and,thereby,reducing poverty and inequalities, improving the efficiency and quality of the public services and empowering lower levels of government to feel more involved and in control. However, decentralisation also has the potential to widen the gap in fiscal resources at the sub-national leveland this may, in turn, result in inequities in service delivery tocitizens of the same countryanddepending on where they live. Over the years Ghana has experimented with amix of decentralisation reforms with the current policy integrating elements of political, administrative and economic decentralisation. The current system of local government in Ghana is based on a decentralisation programme that was launched in 1988 with the introduction of district assemblies (DAs) by the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) government. Nevertheless, years after the launch of the decentralisation process there are still significant disparities and inequities between districts and regions in Ghana as regards health variables. This study set out to investigate the link between decentralisation and health inequities by exploring the spatial dimensions of health equities in Ghana. The thesis used a concurrent mixed method approach by combining a quantitative inequality indices analysis and a qualitative analysis of interviews with policy makers in both the health sector and the decentralised system. The analysis used household level data from the Ghana Demographic and Health Survey 2003 and 2008 to construct inequality curves and indices in order to illustrate the existing inequities across and within regions in Ghana after an increase in the intensity of decentralisation. The study then decomposed the indices to determine the extent to which these inequities were accounted for by variations both within the regions and between the regions. The thesis also used available data from the common fund records of district assemblies to assess the level of inequities in selected health resources across districts. The thesis then investigated the micro-foundations of health decentralisation using the qualitative and quantitative descriptive analyses. The analysis conducted revealed that inequities in maternal health utilisation decreased between 2003 and 2008‒the two data points used based on theresearch design. However,these inequities were attributed primarily to within region inequities as the level of between regions inequities was significantly lower for both the concentration index and the Theil’s index. However, although, at the regional level the general trend revealed that inequities had also decreasedbetween 2003 and 2008, some individual region s had recorded increases. The concentration index, which provided information on the gradient of the inequities, revealed that the health inequities in Ghana‒the total health inequities and also for both years between and within regions‒were pro rich. In the instances of the regional inequities these inequities generally manifested a pro rich nature, with the exception of the Upper East region which had showed pro poor inequities in 2008. The analysis of the district level inequities in selected health resources and as regards health facilities, doctors and nurses indicated that the distribution of these facilities favoured the richer districts as the inequities revealed a pro rich gradient. The inequities in the health facilities at the district level were highest in respect of the nurses, followed by doctors and health facilities with scores of 0.32, 0.29 and 0.084 respectively. The analysis of the qualitative data corroborated the results of the quantitative analysis as it emerged that policy makers at all levels believed that, over the years since the decentralisation, inequities had reduced, albeit marginally. The policy makers highlighted the high levels of the inequities in health resources,especially human resources,as a major area of concern. However, they also raised major concerns regarding inequities within regions, arguing that a number of factors, includingthe nature of the decentralisation regime in Ghana, the variations in the economic strength of districts and certain political factors,continued to cause inequities within the decentralised system. They argued that these factors impacted on the ability of both districts and regions to address inequities at a local level. In addition, they also pointed to the need to re-examine the definition of inequities in the Ghana health sector, inequities which result from focusing the attention on a number of regions and areas to the detriment of others.

Under neoliberal inspired educational decentralisation, the government of Zimbabwe transferred powers previously vested in the higher tiers of the education system to individual schools and local communities through school development committees. The study was therefore undertaken in order to investigate factors that influence the implementation of educational decentralisation by school development committees. A qualitative research approach that focused on purposively sampled participants was chosen for this study. The study was carried out in the interpretivist research paradigm which facilitated access to semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions from two different cases whose contexts varied substantially. One is an affluent school (Oxford) and the other is a poor school (Havana)1 . Data obtained from the foregoing methods were triangulated with review of documents. Data analysis was qualitative using a thematic approach to elucidate emerging patterns. Findings suggest that shifting power and authority to schools increased roles and responsibilities for school heads, teachers and school development committee members in both schools. One of the findings is that the professional expertise and socio-economic status of parents and school development committee members of Oxford Primary School curtailed any autocratic tendencies by the school head. The study also found that the introduction of neoliberal market orientation into the school sector created new roles, such as that of entrepreneurial manager for school heads. Another compelling finding is that the neoliberal-induced withdrawal of government education grants affected the financial position of Havana Primary School more negatively than that of Oxford Primary School. This has led to a highly differentiated structure of schooling between the two schools which institutionalised educational inequality and widened disparities. The findings are particularly relevant for policy makers as they provide insights into educational decentralisation. The research’s original contribution is that it has to some extent, through practice-based findings at the micro-level, focused on the specific factors related to the implementation of educational decentralisation according to the lived experiences of various education practitioners; thus providing an in-depth 1 Havana and Oxford Primary Schools are pseudonyms.understanding of processes. Even though the prescripts from which educational decentralisation is crafted are the same, its implementation differed across two public schools by virtue of their unique contexts. The research has shown that educational decentralisation as a government policy has not fostered equality and the protection of vulnerable children from discrimination. The research highlights the seriousness of implementing educational decentralisation in order to increase participation in decision-making by stakeholders in the education enterprise. Specifically, this research could be taken forward through a series of new projects that would consider educational decentralisation and its effects on the professional roles of district school inspectors, school heads, and teachers / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2021. / Education Management and Policy Studies / PhD / Unrestricted

The GB electricity system is in a state of change, both physically and operationally. The future of the electricity system needs to be low carbon and secure. Current system structures revolve around large-scale centralised generation to deliver this security. This thesis argues that with a broad definition of energy security, which reflects the future needs of the electricity system, a decentralised approach would be more beneficial to deliver these needs. This thesis identifies the governance processes that make up current energy security and evaluates how these might change in a system of decentralised electricity. The research consists of 31 in-depth interviews with key stakeholders of the electricity system from the government, regulatory, market and civil society based actor groups. In addition to this, the research utilised a secondary analysis of consultation responses and Government publications. This thesis uses multi-layer perspective theory to interpret the transition from a centralised to decentralised electricity system. In addition to the multi-layer perspective, an advancement of the governance perspective was also required. This develops the understanding of the changes to the actor relationships rules and the incentives of a decentralised electricity system. This research developed for key findings. Firstly, a decentralised electricity future would introduce a larger number of small investors, who in a centralised system would not exist. The second key point is, the UK Government is responsible for security of supply and their actions are focused on centralised electricity technologies. The third point is that energy security (in its boarder definition) is the responsibility of a network of actors working together. The fourth point is that current energy security is incorrectly dominated by supply meeting demand. The outcome of the research is that a decentralised electricity system would be beneficial to the broader concept of energy security which is used in this thesis.

Magister Philosophiae - MPhil / Decentralisation is the transfer of power, responsibilities, capacities and resources from the centre to the sub-units of the government. The main objective is to foster the capacity of local government to deliver services to the local communities in an effective manner.1 In a multilevel system of government, various institutions are established at different levels of government to deliver goods and services to the people. In delivering goods and services, these institutions usually combine efforts within the same and different levels of government. As a mechanism for improved service delivery, decentralisation has become increasingly important in the recent past together with the enhanced citizen participation in decision making process in the matters that affect the people. However, for decentralisation to be effective in achieving its intended objectives, it should be supported by intergovernmental relations and cooperative governance. Intergovernmental relations exist between and across various institutions and actors.2 They are relationships which develop or exist between governmental units of all types and levels in a multilevel system of government.3 These relations are significant in a multilevel system of government because it is impossible to distribute powers and functions among governments within a nation state into watertight compartments.4 The IGRs help in dispute resolution that may emerge from the overlap of powers and functions across tiers of government consequently hampering the smooth functioning of the government system.

Doctor Legum - LLD / Decentralisation of political, financial, and administrative powers to sub-national units has been, and remains to be, a major trend in both developing and developed states. Very often decentralisation is not optional for a state. However, a state has the option to choose what to achieve through its decentralisation programme. After choosing what it intends to achieve through its decentralisation programme, a state may design it in such a way that it may attain the intended purpose. Many countries design their decentralisation programmes with the purpose of ‘deepening’ democracy and empowering their citizens. Other states decentralise power with the purpose of achieving development. They do so based on the postulate that development is preferable when it is achieved through the participation of those who benefit from it and that decentralisation enhances the extent and quality of citizen’s direct and indirect participation. States also decentralise powers based on the assumption that decentralisation brings efficiency in planning and implementing development projects. Several states also use their decentralisation programme to respond to the ethnic, religious, or other diversities of their people. They use territorial and non-territorial arrangement to accommodate the diversity of their people. Therefore, in some cases they create ethnically structured regional and local units and transfer to such unit political powers including the power to decide on cultural matters. Like in so many countries, the wind of decentralisation has blown over Ethiopia. The country has been implementing a decentralisation programme starting from 1991. Ethiopia has selected to achieve two principal purposes through its decentralisation programme namely, to achieve development and to respond to the ethnic diversity of its people. It is axiomatic that the success of a decentralisation programme, whether for achieving development or accommodating ethnic diversity, is greatly impacted on by its institutional design. This thesis, therefore, examines whether Ethiopia’s decentralisation programme incorporates the institutional features that are likely to impact the success of the decentralisation programme for achieving its intended purposes.

This research provides a Thai case-study of social insurance benefit delivery (SIBD) and of the tension between the international norm of a standardized and centralised system and recent trends to diversified and locally responsive public service delivery. Thailand has been chosen as an example of decentralised and diversified SIBD since regional variation of its SIBD seemingly occurred after a more general decentralisation policy had been introduced in the country. Thus, this research examines the extent to which SIBD diversity exists in the way that decentralisation has been implemented in Thailand since the late 1990s. Built upon four theoretical perspectives (social insurance, collaborative public management, decentralisation, and inter-organisational relations) the conceptual framework uses three models of SIBD diversification (Weberian, customer-oriented, and strategic) to explain diversified patterns of SIBD in Thailand. The thesis is a multi-site case study research. Out of 76 Thai provinces, four provinces in the North were purposively selected to typify three socio-economic areas: commercial (Chiang Mai), industrial (Lamphun), and agricultural (Phrae, Nan). Employing qualitative methodology, a mixed method of data collection was undertaken with two major methods: interview with key actors (e.g. government officials, employers, employees) and documentary research (e.g. official reports, minutes of meetings, government plans and strategies). Further, in addition to analyzing content in texts (transcripts, documents), positional mappings and coding were carried out to illustrate the broad patterns of the phenomena studied. This research found that not only decentralisation but also inter-organisational collaboration has impacts on SIBD diversification. Political variables such as national and provincial elites were also investigated but they are evidently not predictors of the diversity. Indeed, decentralisation is a key factor of SIBD diversity which is evident in two of the provinces studied (Chiang Mai, Phrae). In Chiang Mai, being only slightly decentralised, SIBD rigidly follows national norms and routine patterns. In contrast, in Phrae, being highly decentralised, SIBD is highly diversified, especially because of an innovative SIBD project operating in the province. However, this research also finds that collaboration is a key factor of SIBD diversity in the other two provinces (Lamphun, Nan). In Nan, although similar to Chiang Mai with regard to low decentralisation, SIBD has become highly diversified as original and innovative SIBD projects in the province evidently involve several collaborative activities. In Lamphun, while being moderately decentralised, SIBD is just slightly diversified, in congruence with the low level of collaboration in the province. This research concludes that even in uniform systems SIBD can be very different reflecting the variable impact of local initiatives which are evidently results of decentralisation and/or collaboration.

Decentralisation has been viewed as one means for promoting citizen well-being by bringing public goods and services closer to local needs. Yet empirical evidence across developing countries shows mixed results. This study aims to examine the association between decentralisation, public services and well-being in decentralised Indonesia. It argues that decentralisation enhances citizen well-being through improved local government capacity better able to deliver public goods and services. With lack of local government capacity and accountability, decentralisation decreases well-being. This study contributes to existing research on decentralisation and well-being in three ways. First, while most studies discuss decentralisation and well-being in a cross-country context, this examines the relationship in a cross-local government context, and specifically within a developing country. Second, while most decentralisation studies focus on objective measures of well-being, this study uses both a subjective measure (i.e. happiness and citizen satisfaction with public services) and an objective measure (i.e. child health and healthcare demand). Third, while most studies use either aggregate or individual analyses to examine the effect of decentralisation on well-being, this study uses multilevel analysis to examine the effect of local government determinants on individual well-being.This study uses unique datasets which combine individual and household level data and local government data. Individual and household level data is taken from the Governance and Decentralisation Survey (GDS) 2006, the Indonesian Family Life Survey (IFLS) 2007, and the Indonesia socio-economic survey (Susenas) 2009. Local government level data comes from the national village census (Podes) 2006-2008, the national election database 2004-2007, the national health database 2009, local development budget and expenditure information 2004-2008, and the consumer prices indices 2004-2009. The main findings show that well-being among Indonesians varies across local governments, and that disparities in both public services and well-being appear between more developed and less developed regions. Well-being is not only associated with individual and household determinants, but also with local government determinants. The results are consistent, namely, that variation in well-being is associated with the capacity of local governments to deliver public goods and services. Citizens report being happier and more satisfied when local governments are able to provide better public goods and services for them (i.e. able to spend more of their budget on providing public services). In contrast, well-being decreases in the face of local corruption and of weak capacity to govern. These findings suggest that improving local government capacity to provide effective policies and good public services is vital to improve citizen well-being in decentralised Indonesia.

Health reformers, especially in developing countries, have applied decentralisation to enhance the performance of health systems which in turn improve health outcomes. Proponents of decentralisation argue that increasing the authority of local government promotes resource allocation according to local needs. Yet critics point out that decentralisation is harmful as resources are more likely to be redistributed in favour of poorer areas in countries with centralised governments. Shedding light on those endless debates, this study aims to examine the association between decentralisation, performance of health providers and health outcomes in Indonesia. In 2001 Indonesia embarked on decentralisation in the form of devolution and fiscal decentralisation. Devolution transfers the responsibilities of providing health services from central government to local government, while fiscal decentralisation allows local government to manage its local economies. Following those reforms, Indonesia raised the authority of public hospitals’ managers through corporatisation in 2004. Those reforms aim to provide better health services for the population. Evaluating whether all three forms of decentralisation in Indonesia have achieved their aim or not, this study uses both primary and secondary data. The primary data was collected in 54 public hospitals in East Java province during summer 2013. The secondary data combined individual and household level data and local government data. The Indonesia socio-economic survey (Susenas) 2004-2013 and Indonesian Family Life Survey (IFLS) 2007 are the sources of individual and household data, while the national village census (Podes) 2003-2010 provides district-level data. I supplement these with local government fiscal data from the Ministry of Finance and the consumer price index 2004-2013. The assembled data possesses a multilevel structure in which individuals or households are nested within districts. The main findings show that health outcomes among Indonesians continue to vary across districts after decentralisation. Passing authority down from central government to lower-level institutions does not automatically bring about better performance of health providers and health outcomes regardless of the type of authority devolved and the characteristics of the delegated institutions. However, further analysis on multiyear data suggests that there is an important learning curve throughout the process of decentralisation implementation. Both local governments and hospital managers need time to learn how to utilise the authority they are given after decentralisation. These findings suggest that improving capacity and accountability of local authorities and an understanding of why some local authorities are better than others at learning during the process of decentralisation are vital to improve performance of health providers and health outcomes in decentralised Indonesia.