Resource information
This report assesses Sri Lanka's
experience with decentralization to date and discusses
options for decentralization and implications for service
delivery in three sectors: roads, solid waste and health.
The selected sectors illustrate the considerations relevant
to the decentralization decision and its future direction.
The services selected cover a range of central, provincial
and local responsibilities in delivery and illustrate how
the cause of success or failure of service delivery is
rooted in the institutional framework, division of
responsibility, funding mechanisms i.e. incentives and
accountability. The effective provision of these services
requires a clear understanding of the service delivery
goals, technical capacity, adequate assets and recurrent
inputs to deliver services. Each sector has its particular
needs and to some extent can be considered independently,
but the political realities effectively require that any
constitutionally mandated and elected level of government
have some corresponding responsibilities.
