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This study is highly selective
and organized into four thematic chapters.
Specifically, chapter 1 provides a snapshot of
Burundi’s political and macroeconomic context,
and reviews the evolution of the decentralization
process to better understand how institutional,
political, and bureaucratic dynamics have shaped
the historical trajectory of decentralization
and generated the outcomes observed today.
Chapter 2 provides a systematic investigation of the status of fiscal decentralization in Burundi,
and identifies key policy issues to be considered
to ensure the medium-term sustainability of
the reform process while at the same time
addressing the short-term financial needs of
communes. Chapter 3 provides an in-depth
diagnostic of a key service delivery responsibility
recently devolved to communes—the provision
of land registration services—and discusses the
challenges and opportunities related to ongoing
efforts to scale up access to these land services
across 116 rural communes and Bujumbura.
Chapter 4 shifts the focus to the nature of statecitizen
relations in an effort to better understand
how citizen engagement in the decision-making
process may be improved and local authorities
held accountable for the provision of basic
services.
