Municipalities and Finance: A Sourcebook for Capacity Building

Annotation * Provides solutions for analysing problems and building municipal finance capacity in development contexts * Presents real-life examples of innovative practice from a variety of countries * Ideal for municipal financial managers, donors and development practitioners Finance and the effective delivery of services at the local level, particularly for the poor, is a critical issue for local governments around the world particularly as powers and responsibilities are increasingly decentralized to municipal governments. This sourcebook provides a framework for analysing municipal finance capacity and ways of addressing financial constraints. The ideas come from real-life innovative practice in four countries - India, Brazil, Kenya and Uganda - with examples from elsewhere. Emphasis is given to how those innovations and improvements were developed and sustained. The book identifies a strategic framework for diagnosing municipal finance capacity and focusing financial goals and applies the analysis to a number of, critical areas of municipal finance including local taxes, charges for services, budgeting, cost control, accounting reforms and investment finance. Related titles: This is the third in a series of capacity-building sourcebooks. The companion sourcebooks are: Focusing Partnerships: A Sourcebook for Municipal Capacity Building in Public-Private Partnerships ISBN 1-85383-838-1 Municipalities and Community Participation: A Sourcebook for Capacity Building ISBN 1-85383-744-X.