Decentralization and the implementation of rural development in Senegal: The role of rural councils
| Author | Richard Vengroff,Alan Johnston |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/pad.4230070304 |
| Date | 01 July 1987 |
| Published date | 01 July 1987 |
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND DEVELOPMENT, Vol. 7, 273-288 (1987)
Decentralization and the implementation
of
rural
development in Senegal: the role
of
rural councils*
RICHARD VENGROFF
California Stare Polytechnic University
and
ALAN JOHNSTON
Texas Tech. University
SUMMARY
Decentralization efforts in Francophone African countries are both rarer and
far
less
ambitious than those
in
Anglophone states. The decentralization programme launched by
Senegal over a decade ago is
an
important exception. Since 1972, when the administrative
reform law took effect, Senegal has been engaged
in
an effort to decentralize its administrat-
ive structures in order to promote rural development. to
escape
from the burdens of the
remnants
of
an overly centralized colonial system and to stem the rising tide
of
rural
opposition
(malaise
paysan).
This new initiative. which led to the creation of local elected
councils
in
rural communities
(communautks rurales).
has thus far achieved
only
marginal
success. The
319
rural councils suffer from serious under-financing, and often from domi-
nation by administrative authorities, especially the
sous-prkfkts.
Based on
an
examination
of
the attitudes. perceptions and behaviour of
a
sample of rural councillors
(n
=
144).
particularly regarding budgetary matters, it appears that the rural communities in fact
provide the possibility for some popular input into local and regional planning.
INTRODUCTION
From the onset of independence
in
1960
until
the present, Senegal has undertaken
a series of efforts designed to promote rural development. However, the French
colonial legacy continues to have a profound impact on Senegalese administration
and administrative practices (Gellar.
1982).
The need to institute reforms which
would reorient local administrators toward development and away from the past
emphasis on tax collection, the maintenance of order and export crop, principally
I
The data
on
which
this
paper is based were gathered under USAID. An earlier draft of this paper
was
prepared for Delivery
at
the 28th Annual Meeting of the African Studies Association,
23-26
November, 1985,
New
Orleans. Project 685-0256-ENEA Rural Management.
Richard Vengroff
is
the Director of the International Centre and Professor of Political Science at the
California State Polytechnic University, 3801 West Temple Avenue, Pornona, California 917684058.
USA.
Alan Johnston is
a
Research Associate at CAIDS and at the Ecole Nationale d'Econornie Appliquke.
Dakar, Senegal.
027
1-2075/87/03027316%08.00
@
1987 by John Wiley
&
Sons, Ltd.
274
R. Vengroff and
A.
Johnsfon
peanut, production, became more and more apparent to the new government.
Initial efforts were aimed at community development
(animation rurale)
through
the establishment
of
an
Animation Rurale
Service and the expansion
of
rural
cooperatives (Gellar, Charlick and Jones, 1980). These programmes gave way
in
the 1960s to a set of specialized para-statal agencies (regional development societ-
ies) which provided little opportunity for either local participation
or
local initiat-
ive. The first period
of
the
malaise paysan
(a period during which peasants refused
to repay government loans and otherwise cooperate with government programmes
in the rural areas) which began in 1968 and lasted through the early 1970s, further
underlined the need for change (Schumacher, 1975; Gellar, 1983; Waterbury,
1983; Caswell, 1983).
Since 1972, when the administrative reform law took effect (Fell, 1978). Senegal
has been engaged in an effort to decentralize its administrative structures in order
to promote rural development and escape from the burdens of the remnants of
an overly centralized colonial system. This new initiative, which led to the creation
of local elected councils in rural communities
(comrnunautks rurales)
has thus far
achieved only marginal success. There are now 319 rural communities with elected
councils, virtually all
of
which suffer from serious under-financing.
The CERs
(Centres &Expansion Rural),
consisting
of
a multi-disciplinary team
of agents drawn from a number of different services, are charged with providing
technical expertise for the implementation of rural community development
efforts. Central government control under this limited programme
of
deconcen-
tration is maintained by the
sous-prkfkfs
who act on behalf
of
the Ministry of the
Interior. Agents being trained by the state for a role in organizing and educating
the population still experience considerable difficulty in working within the context
of highly centralized services while trying to respond to local needs and desires
(Vengroff and Johnston, 1984).
The critical element neglected in earlier reforms, however, was one the govern-
ment tried to address in 1972 to encourage popular
participation
in the management
of local affairs. It was not enough to improve access to well-intentioned develop-
ment agencies. Reformers realized that the local population had to take an active
role in the
making
of
development policy, not just operate within policies made
by others. Only in this manner could the government hope to cope with the rising
tide of the
malaise paysan
(Vengroff and Johnston, 1985).
DECENTRALIZATION
Direct local participation in the affairs
of
government implied a need for the
deconcentration of political power, which was, and to a large extent still is, centred
in
Dakar. Decentralization soon became the catchword for the 1972 reform.
Interior Minister Jean Collin, in a memo outlining the organization and functioning
of
the reform during its institution in the Thies region in July 1972, stated that
the objectives of the reform were the decentralization of administrative insti-
tutions, the responsible participation of socio-economic
groups,
and the deconcen-
tration of certain powers of decision to governors,
prkfkts,
and
sous-prkfkts
(Collin,
1972).
Deconcentration, which
is
only
one
of the many possible types
of
decentraliz-
To continue reading
Request your trial