Poverty has remained stubbornly high inAfrica for decades. Top-down plans and donor driveninvestment programs have been less than successful. Pastexperience suggests that decentralization will not workwithout vibrant, participatory communities. And enhancedparticipation will at some point need a local governmentstructure for sustainability. The two can evolve togetherdynamically, strengthening one another. The new vision seeksto put local governments and rural and urban communities indriver's seat, and give them a new set of powers,rights, and obligations. These include: the right to betreated as people with capabilities, not objects of pity;the power to plan, implement, and maintain projects to servetheir felt needs; the right to hold politicians andofficials accountable; the power to command localbureaucrats instead of being supplicants; the power to hire,pay, and discipline all who provide them with frontlinelocal services like education, health, municipal, andagricultural services; the right to a share of centralgovernment revenue; the power to levy user charges and localtaxes; the obligation to enable women, ethnic minorities,the poorest, and other long excluded groups to participatefully in economic development; and the obligation to beaccountable to local people, not just central governments ordonors. To embark on local empowerment, one need first toenunciate its key principles. One can then consider the mainelements of a set of interventions to enhance participationand decentralization, tailored to the stage of developmentin each country.
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