Assessing decentralisation and local governance in West Africa : taking stock of strengthening the monitoring and evaluation capacity of local actors

This publication synthesizes the results of the project “Building capacities for monitoring and evaluating decentralisation and local governance in West Africa (2005-2007)”. It examines a number of initiatives to build the capacity of local stakeholders to monitor and evaluate decentralisation and local governance processes, particularly in the health, education and water sectors. It builds on the results of case studies done in Benin, Cameroon, Ghana, Mali and Niger as well as discussions of these studies at a regional seminar in Bamako, 17-18 May 2006. The publication is divided into two parts: the first part deals with methodological issues and summarises cross-cutting findings arising of the exchange of experiences on the case studies during the seminar. The second part presents the experiences documented with different tools and approaches to strengthen local monitoring and evaluation capacity in the form of case studies themselves.