Columbia International Affairs Online: Working Papers

CIAO DATE: 12/2014

Local accountability in Mozambique

Julia Bastian

September 2014

Institute for Development and Peace

Abstract

The debate on decentralization has identified local accountability as a key factor for successful decentralization processes in developing countries, stressing that the accountabiity of subnational governments towards the national level may prove detrimental to their accountability to the citizens. Based on the distinction of formal and informal institutions and the discussion of accountability as a concept, this Working Paper identifies accountability mechanisms relevant at the local level and analyses their functioning, interaction and factors that influence their effectiveness. This analytical grid is then applied to the case study of Mozambique, in a structured and focused comparison of the municipalities of Beira and Catandica. The analysis shows that accountability mechanisms at national level do not necessarily undermine accountability towards the citizens, but even may have an activating effect on other accountability me chanisms. Funding, access to information, political competition at the local level and informal influences that emanate from formal organizations, such as political parties, are factors that influence the effectiveness of accountability mechanisms at the local level.