Awards Signal Demand for International Studies Program
at the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies

What do the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) have in common? Besides their role as world leaders in shaping fiscal reform and in providing technical assistance programs in developing and transitional countries, they are increasingly turning to the economic experts at the AYSPS International Studies Program to lead their programs abroad. Their significant funding support has helped the Andrew Young School emerge as the “go to” institution for providing technical assistance and training around the world.

Andrew Young School’s ISP faculty and researchers lend countries expert knowledge and assistance in areas including fiscal decentralization policy and intergovernmental fiscal transfers, budgeting and management, tax administration, and economic and fiscal analysis.

When a developing or transitional country seeks technical assistance and training, the broader goal is often sustainable economic development. A country seeking help is often well into decentralization reform and is seeking a better way to transfer funding out to local government authorities. A profile of the ISP study in Tanzania, available online at http://isp-aysps.gsu.edu, offers a case in point.

Tanzania’s decentralization reforms started with the reintroduction of local government authorities in 1982. Although early reforms resulted in assigning significant expenditure responsibilities to local government authorities, the budgetary discretion of these authorities was limited. With little discretion to raise revenues, they were, and are, highly dependent on intergovernmental fiscal transfers to fund their responsibilities.

In 1999, Tanzania introduced its Local Government Reform Program to improve the quality of and access to the public services provided through local government authorities. The DANIDA-funded project will help develop a system for allocating grants to these authorities.

“Tanzania is an interesting case because normally central governments don’t want to give local governments a lot of responsibilities in basic education, basic health care and transportation infrastructure,” says Boex, who is also an AYSPS assistant research professor in economics. “In Tanzania they have given local governments the responsibility to perform these functions, which is quite unique. But what they hadn’t thought about is how to fund it properly.”

Boex said that is why the Andrew Young School is doing the study now. “Tanzania has made the step that many countries in Africa haven’t taken, and that is to let local governments provide basic education, basic health care, water supply and local roads. Unlike most countries, Tanzania’s local governments are actually providing services. They started with providing local governments the authority to do this, and they are fixing the finances now.”

Boex is working with a project team that includes Dean Roy Bahl, Professor Jorge Martinez-Vazquez and Longinus Rutasitara from the University of Dar es Salaam. The objective is to analyze the shortcomings of the country’s present system of intergovernmental transfers and to propose equitable and transparent options for allocating grants to local government authorities.

A snapshot of grants recently awarded illustrates this program’s ongoing success:

• A $2.3 million USAID award to extend the Indonesian Masters Program in applied economics at AYSPS for a second year
• A $40,000 award for a two-phase program advising Bangladesh on fiscal decentralization policy
• An $800,000 contract with USAID-Indonesia to provide technical assistance and advisory services on decentralization policy to Indonesia is under review
• A $200,000 award from DANIDA to study the development of a system of intergovernmental transfers in Tanzania

For more information, go to http://isp-aysps.gsu.edu/.