Governance for Local Development: A case study in locally led development

In many countries the local needs and priorities of citizens are often disconnected or disjointed from national and provincial resources and the resulting activities of local authorities: Senegal is no exception to this. Historically, municipalities across Senegal have encountered numerous obstacles in resource mobilization and basic service provision to its citizens. This case study highlights the achievements of USAID’s Governance for Local Development (GoLD) project, implemented by RTI International, in addressing these obstacles, improving resource mobilization, and enhancing the services provided to citizens using a locally led development approach.  As a result, aspects of the government are more accountable to the people by funding the priorities of communities.  Additionally, citizens are more willing to pay taxes because they see where their money is going. This helps to move Senegal’s democracy further along to one that delivers for all of its people. Highlights from this case study include:

• Listening tours strengthen locally led development by integrating local voices and priorities into all aspects of the project and activity design. Local participation in listening tours promotes long lasting impacts through better-targeted capacity strengthening and social accountability support.
• Foreign Service National (FSN) leadership instills confidence in local partners through valuable shared cultural understandings. Empowering FSNs leads to helping achieve locally led development.
• Programmatic impact is multiplied by directly linking governance to service delivery through intentional collaboration with other sectors, including education; health; water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH); and food security and nutrition.