| May 23 , 2005 - Washington, DC. What can municipal leaders in Latin America learn from the French experience with decentralization? How does cooperation across different municipalities promote more efficient and cost-effective delivery of services? As part of an on-going GDLN series, 70 elected and appointed municipal officials and representatives of Ministries dealing with decentralization issues in Bolivia, Colombia, Guatemala, and Peru discussed the role of inter-municipal cooperation with experts from the Institute for Latin American Studies in Paris and with World Bank colleagues in Washington. The session was part of a series of dialogues on decentralization policies and practices which runs from February to June 2005.
During the session on April 8, French municipal management practitioners explained how municipalities in France cooperate in the organization, financing, and delivery of local services. They also discussed the lessons learned from similar municipal “consortia” that are being formed in other countries.
“Irrespective of the size or legal status of a municipality, the notion of ‘intermunicipal collaboration’ is no more than a way of working together systematically,” said panelist Olivier Guyonneau. “In the past, this type of arrangement was the exception rather than the rule. Today, we can draw on the lessons of the French experience, where municipalities have been cooperating regularly and formally for more than a century; this type of cooperation is becoming an important way of ensuring service delivery for municipalities which lack the financial, managerial, or human resources to provide effective service on their own” Guyonneau is Director General of the Inter-Municipal Consortia of Pic de Midi.
This videoconference was part of a series organized by the French Institute for Latin American Studies (IHEAL), the World Bank Institute (WBI), and the Global Development Learning Network (GDLN).
For more information please contact Victor Vergara (vvergara1@worldbank.org) or Phil Karp (pkarp1@worldbank.org) in Washington, or Laurent Porte (lporte@worldbank.org) in Paris.
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