Over the past decade, the overlycentralized governance structures commonly found acrossSouth Asia have begun to change, with program and fiscalresponsibility being devolved to local level governmentauthorities and community-based organizations. This has ledto greater participation of ordinary citizens in governanceand public decision-making. The move to localizedecision-making creates enormous opportunities forincreasing the effectiveness of public spending since itcreates the potential for establishing direct accountabilityof governance mechanisms to citizens. It also raises anumber of significant challenges in ensuring that publicfunds are spent effectively at the local level, and provokesimportant new questions regarding the manner by whichgovernments can maintain oversight over the quality ofassets. This paper provides an overview of the activitiessupported under the project, with the aim of contributing toa broader perspective on improving governance and servicedelivery at the local level. The paper is divided into threeparts. In part one the authors explore the challenges ofspending money effectively at the local level, with aspecial focus on the governance challenges that exist inpublic procurement. In part two, the authors exploredifferent approaches to addressing those challenges bydiscussing innovative work that has taken place with thesupport of the Project in the areas of regulation,contracting, transparency, and accountability. In partthree, the authors analyze some broader themes and keyquestions that remain to be addressed while developing astrategic research and operational agenda around local level procurement.
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