Towards Wellbeing in Forest Communities: A Source Book for Local Government

Concepts: How can local governments influence poverty?

Local government can promote projects that strengthen the forestry sector, such as the processing of rattan. Photo by Christian Gonner

Local governments have enormous potential to address poverty. Yet it can be difficult for them to set priorities, define strategies and take action. The following guidelines can help governments identify aspects of poverty it might attempt to influence.

What can local government do?

A local government’s scope for addressing poverty is shaped by the legal framework provided by decentralisation policies, the resources available to it and decisions it makes to use these rights and resources (Box 2). It is important to determine whether the factors driving poverty can actually be influenced by local government to decide a strategy for actions.

There are many reasons why a local government that has the legal mandate and authority to address poverty, does not take effective action. The government may lack political will due to competing interests, biases or corruption and, as a result, does not prioritise poverty reduction when making decisions. The government could lack the ability to act effectively if it has insufficient resources or staff, or if the costs of action are too great. Often, the government lacks information about local poverty; for example, it may not know where the poor are or why they are poor. Similarly, even if information about poverty is available, the local government may lack the ability to synthesise the information or design strategies to respond.

In some situations, local government could potentially address poverty, but decentralisation policies or related reforms do not provide the mandate or conditions for local government to act. For example, local government may have an interest in assisting communities to resolve conflicts over property rights or have detailed knowledge to assist with improving forest management, but may not act because it lacks jurisdiction over forest resources. Legal frameworks that determine funding for governmental agencies may channel funds generated from forest use fees and taxes to other levels of government, so that local governments have no vested interests in promoting sustainable forest management or the equitable distribution of benefits.

Although we refer to decentralisation policies, we recognise that reforms often produce larger suites of policy change that can have a direct impact on local governments. Changes in national regimes and reforms in political participation, freedom of expression, markets, land or forestry commonly accompany decentralisation. It is essential to understand these clusters of policies in order to understand the full range of action possible for local government. Unfortunately, the implications of new policies are often unclear and require time to determine how they will work and where gaps remain. Where local governments do not have legal mandates, they may need to collaborate with other agencies that do have jurisdiction, support policy reform or promote a role for civil society institutions. Local governments need to be continuously engaged with national and regional development policies and initiatives to ensure that local programmes that result are efficient and viable.

Despite the design of decentralised systems, many causes of poverty are beyond the control of local government. Examples include natural disasters, degraded resources or prices set by international markets. In such cases, if it is apparent that local government cannot directly affect the causes, it should focus actions to mitigating the negative impacts. Local government may need to appeal to external bodies for assistance, seek alternative economic strategies or demand compensation for losses.

Where local government has a mandate and authority, immediate and direct action can be taken. Where it does not have a mandate, but does have the potential to address poverty, strategies should shift more towards collaboration and advocacy with other groups which do have the authority. Where local government is unlikely to be able to affect certain causes of poverty, preparing for or mitigating the impacts of these causes is most appropriate.

Box 2. Scope of local governments’ ability to influence poverty and obstacles to action

Local government has authority, but does not exercise it	Local government can address poverty but has no mandate under current policy	Beyond control of government
Lack of willingness to enforce regulations Low allocation of funds to poverty reduction programmes Lack of capacity and qualified staff Insufficient institutions or mechanisms to handle conflict Poor communication with communities and lack of information about rural conditions.	No jurisdiction over forest resources Lack framework for coordination with other governmental agencies Absence of checks and balances to reduce corruption.	Natural disasters Rugged topography Poor soils Volatile prices in international markets

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