Local Governance in Transition: Evaluating the Success of Decentralization in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (2013–2023)

• Jafar Nazir

  Author

In this paper, the performance of the local government reforms conducted in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Pakistan, during 2013-2023 regarding their effectiveness in meeting the decentralization objectives is assessed. The study determines reforms in three dimensions of political devolution, fiscal autonomy, and service delivery, through the mixed-methods approach, with analysis of government data, citizen opinion survey, and interviews of stakeholders. Results indicate that KP has put in place the most participatory local governance system in Pakistan and statistically significant milestones have been achieved in the portrayal of women (33 percent seats), involvement of citizens via electronic means, and better education/health services in the city territories. Yet, the reforms were subject to systemic problems such as bureaucratic opposition (two-thirds of councilors were interfered to), low fiscal decentralization (just 14 percent local revenue contribution) and disparate application in conflict-based combined districts. The comparative study indicates that KP performs better in terms of political devolution than Punjab and Sindh but weak in terms of revenue collection and international benchmarking indicates that Pakistan has weaknesses in terms of the fiscal federalism as compared to models such as Brazil where participatory budgeting is being practiced. The research defines three important obstacles to success e.g fear of losing key administrative functions to the provinces, elite capture in the rural councils and lack of capacity building of the grassroots institutions. Nonetheless, as seen in its experiment, KP shows that decentralization in Pakistan has the potential to increase accountability and improve service delivery, given that future reforms are made to accommodate fiscal devolution and institutional protection. The paper ends by providing policy recommendations to enhance local autonomy and equity, which can be used by other regions that have to process decentralization within the post-conflict setting.

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