MUNICIPAL SERVICE DELIVERY

 

The effective delivery of municipal services is crucial to creating cities that work, a central goal of USAID. In developing and developed countries alike, citizens depend on the provision to homes and businesses of basic municipal services, including water supply, sanitation, solid waste management, district heating and roads. These services support the economic development of municipalities. Poor levels of service, interruptions, low coverage levels, and other problems can undermine quality of life in municipalities and erode trust in local government. Many municipalities and cities throughout the world struggle with how to provide affordable services in a financially sustainable way, to all citizens.

The assessments contained here will help USAID Missions analyze municipal service management and delivery. The assessments are designed to highlight areas in which municipalities and the municipal service providers (MSPs) are doing well, and where there is room for improvement. These assessments will lead to potential projects and interventions that can help improve the quality and reach of service delivery. These are listed in the Conclusions and Potential Projects pages, as well as the Implementation Toolkits. Fundamentally, these materials help USAID Missions evaluate the questions of whether the municipality and the MSPs are effectively supporting or hindering economic growth, and if they are effectively addressing the service needs of all citizens, including the poor. The potential projects and Implementation Toolkits help USAID design effective interventions where this is not the case.

The Managing Municipal Service Delivery assessment is divided into four categories that cover the basic issues of service delivery that USAID Missions should consider.

• Technical Aspects — This section reviews several fundamental technical aspects of municipal service delivery. They include Coverage and Service Levels (how many people are served [% of population] and in what areas of the city, by type of service), Performance (is the service reliable, serving actual demands, of sufficient quality, and appropriately operated and maintained), and Capital Investment Planning (how well does the municipality and the MSP plan for future investments).
• Financial Aspects — Financial aspects involve Service Pricing, including the recovery of costs through tariffs, and affordability, sources of revenue (including tariff payments, bonds, and the like), Payment Collection, and Indebtedness (debt servicing).
• Legal and Regulatory Framework and Institutional Issues — This section reviews the Legal and Regulatory Framework for Service Provision—how the municipality provides services, what oversight and regulation of the service provision exists, and how much autonomy the service provider has to establish tariff and staffing patterns. In addition, Institutional Issues, which affect the MSP’s day-to-day operations, are reviewed, as are Human Resources and Capacity issues.
• Community Participation and Customer Relations — This section reviews the extent to which community members are involved in the provision of municipal services, in the form of participation by the community in the initial identification of infrastructure projects, project development, and operations. It also examines the use of willingness to pay and demand assessments, as well as social and cultural issues and community education.