Significance of local planning for national development

Anila S.K

The Local Government in Sri Lanka is an important level of democratic governance. The word ‘local’ itself creates a feeling of closeness, proximity to the local context, and local people. The Local Governments affect the lives of people on a day-to-day basis; they are often the next-door agents for people, especially on matters pertaining to basic service delivery.

We would all like to have good local roads, well functioning public health system, and public utility services such as children’s parks, pre-schools and libraries, that cater to all sections of the public to improve our living standard and quality of life.

It is the Local Government, functional at three levels? Municipal Councils, Urban Councils and Pradeshiya Sabhas that are responsible to carry out these functions at the local level. People need to reach them first on any of the above needs, issues or complaints.

So, one could largely say that Local Governments ‘localize’ the context, issues and challenges faced by people and offer context-specific solutions, given the socio-cultural diversity of Sri Lanka.

The versatility of the concept of Local Government in Sri Lanka is that we find a local authority in Gomarankadawala, (a Pradeshiya Sabha), a remotest village in Trincomalee, as well as in Colombo (a Municipal Council), right in the middle of the country’s economic and political hub.

This goes on to explain how intrinsically Local Authorities, totalling 330, scattered all over, are connected to the social, cultural, political and ethnic landscape of the country.

Local planning and its benefits

As a unit of government, that too, as elected bodies of the democratic system, each Local Authority is to undertake planning and budgeting for the area under its jurisdiction.

Proper planning and budgeting are the important prerequisites of effective service delivery, socio-economic development as well as the general well being of the citizenry, as planning sets out the goals and objectives and the path ahead to reach the milestones within the specified time frame.

In the formation of the local development plans, the Local Authorities are responsible to involve citizens in the planning process. Following the Presidential Commission of Inquiry on Local Government Reforms in 1999, it is accepted that a Local Authority is the planning authority at the local level.

Thus it makes all the more important for the Local Authorities to be competent to undertake participatory planning as an active process, which in the long run will reap many benefits. The catch phrase here is the word ‘participatory.’ The process of participatory planning involves citizens and all other stakeholders so that the spirit of working towards common objectives is upheld.

The medium-term participatory planning process generally undertaken for a period of three to five years follows a sequential process of gathering data, stakeholder analysis, need assessments, setting goals and objectives, prioritizing, budgeting, building commitment, implementation and monitoring and evaluation. Each of these steps is extremely vital to the overall result-oriented planning process.

Why plan?

The benefits of the process of planning are many and varied; far reaching as well. Among the many benefits, the local development planning process brings in new opportunities to clearly understand the untapped resources within a locality, which are massive in some cases.

Once these untapped resources are identified, the Local Authorities can look at different means of mobilizing these resources to the maximum. In many cases, the Local Authorities are not able to undertake projects with their own income and hence need external support.

This support could be from the provincial government, national government, NGOs, international development agencies and the private sector. In order to harness this support, the Local Authorities have to become competitive enough to bid for projects which may include capacity building, community and infrastructure development or any other development priorities identified in the planning process.

Thus, an indirect result of the local planning process is that it encourages the Local Authorities to hone their ability to develop strong proposals and receive external support for the development of their localities.

Tapping the untapped resources in many ways would mean increased revenue for the Local Authorities. There had been successes in the past where localities were able to increase their revenue for the activities identified through effective resource mobilization. Kalmunai Municipal Council, Urban Councils of Hikkaduwa, Weligama, Hambantota, and the Pradeshiya Sabhas of Kalpitiya, Karathivu, Sorriyawewa are a few examples that can be cited.

Joint effort

The culture of working together has the potential of changing the attitudes of people, which is essential in any progressive initiative. The participatory planning process gives an opportunity to create this culture, where the Local Authorities and the citizens get to work together, where both sides understand each others challenges and constraints.

Thus the process is one that of learning and sharing for achieving the goals and objectives to improve the socio-economic status of the constituency as well as the standards of living of the people.

Service delivery is one area where the Local Authorities come under the most amount of public scrutiny. When a garbage pile on the roadside or near one’s home fails to get collected and disposed, it becomes a social problem ? and the Local Authorities come under criticism. For a moment, let us think what is the citizens? role in helping the Local Authorities deliver their services? How accountable are the citizens? The participatory planning process helps understand the two sides of the coin? the expectations of the service recipients and the challenges of the service providers - the dichotomy of giving and receiving.

The local governments of Sri Lanka, as we know, face several challenges and constraints in terms of human resources, finance and infrastructure. Given the fact that the local governments are mandated to undertake noteworthy functions at the local level, they need to be further strengthened and supported with resources and capacity, which will enable them to carry out these functions in an effective manner.

One of the many mechanisms that will help strengthen local governments is participatory planning, which has reaped many benefits in the past. In this light, participatory planning and implementation ought to be promoted and supported as an effective, sustainable tool that can strengthen Local Authorities to address many issues positively at the local level and help them act as catalysts for local, regional and ultimately, national development.