Local Government Capacity Building, Haiti

Tetra Tech is fostering decentralization in Haiti by helping targeted communes improve their administrative capacity and delivery and financing of public services in Haiti.

Local governance in Haiti is characterized by weak municipalities and low citizen engagement. Municipal governments have little decision-making authority over their communities and depend on national government funding. The Haitian state, however, provides relatively few public services, especially in rural areas. Although constraints to local governance exist, municipal governments are seeking to improve their ability to deliver services to their citizens, especially in light of the strain put on all levels of government since the 2010 earthquake.

LOKAL+ is a model project for monitoring and evaluation data collection, management, and reporting using web maps and graphic visualization.

USAID/Haiti

Tetra Tech is serving as the implementing partner for the Limiyè ak Òganizasyon pou Kolektivite yo Ale Lwen Plus (LOKAL+) project, funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). This project builds on the experience and lessons learned through two earlier projects that Tetra Tech implemented between 2007 and 2012. LOKAL+ works in targeted communes to improve their administrative capacity to generate revenues and deliver public services. It addresses areas such as strategic planning, budgeting, tax collection, financial and program management, service prioritization, and outreach to citizens; it also is building the capacity of local service institutions.

During the base period of the project, Tetra Tech worked in 10 targeted communes to train municipal staff and build capacity in support of:

  • Strengthening the capability of communal governments to provide services
  • Generating a sustainable increase in local revenues for local services
  • Leveraging greater access to central government funding and services
  • Improving national-level policy and legislation in support of decentralization and de-concentrated services
  • Increasing transparency, oversight, and accountability of local governments and de-concentrated service providers

In January 2018, building on the success of the base period, LOKAL+ received a one-year costed extension to continue implementing activities and add four new target cities—increasing the total targeted communes to 14. The team is focusing on three key objectives: enactment of legislation, funding for priority municipal development projects, and accountability and transparency in public finance management.

Through LOKAL+ and working in partnership with the Ministère de l'Intérieur et des Collectivités Territoriales, Tetra Tech provides technical assistance at the national level to enact legislation for decentralization and develop a local government civil service. We are working with the national tax authority on an improved system to collect business taxes, which uses spatial data to map property data and an online financial management system to increase revenue mobilization.

We also are advocating for national government funding of local priority development projects and improving transparency and accountability in commune governance. Our team conducts project design and management training with LOKAL+ staff and helps each commune identify priority public improvement projects. In addition, community members’ ideas now are communicated directly to local governments through regular public hearings, which provide a platform to have their voices heard.