Contents -- Abbreviations -- Acknowledgments -- Foreword -- Glossary -- Executive Summary -- Management Response -- Chairperson's Summary: Committee on Development Effectiveness (CODE) -- 1 Background and Objectives -- Literature Review: Arguments for and against Decentralization and Findings from Empirical Studies -- Decentralization: Everyone Is Doing It -- Overview of Bank Support for Decentralization -- Evaluation of Bank Support to Decentralization -- 2 The Quality of Bank Support -- The Quality of Bank Analytical Work on Decentralization -- Coherence of Lending with Country Priorities and Bank Analysis -- Internal Consistency and Results Orientation -- Collaboration among Development Partners -- 3 Bank Support for Decentralization Frameworks and Subnational Government Capacity -- Strengthening Intergovernmental Relations -- Administrative Capacity and Accountability -- Overall Findings and Lessons -- 4 Bank Support for Decentralization in Education Services: A Sector Example -- Improving Intergovernmental Fiscal Frameworks in the Education Sector -- Enhanced Administrative Capacity of Local Governments -- Enhanced Accountability of Local Governments/Schools to Citizens -- Conclusion -- 5 Findings and Recommendations -- Findings -- Recommendations -- Appendixes -- A: Treatment of Decentralization in Bank Strategies and Policies -- B: Methodology -- Endnotes -- Bibliography -- Box 1.1 What Is Decentralization? -- Box 1.2 Identifying World Bank Support for Decentralization Poses Challenges -- Box 1.3 Bank Strategies Reflect Multiple Perspectives on Decentralization -- Box 2.1 Good Practice ESW in Bolivia -- Box 2.2 An Incomplete Understanding Reduces Effectiveness of Support -- Box 2.3 CDD and Local Governments in the Philippines -- Box 2.4 Development Partner Views on World Bank Decentralization Performance -- Box 3.1 Good Practice in Russia.

Box 3.2 Strengthening the Role of Local Governments -- Box 3.3 Analytic Support to South Africa -- Box 3.4 Appointment of Chief Accounting Officers in Uganda -- Box 4.1 Aligning Fiscal Transfers with Local Sectoral Priorities -- Box 4.2 Gender and Capacity Building at the Local Level -- Figure ES.1 Evaluation Framework for Assessing Results of Bank Support for Decentralization -- Figure 1.1 Evaluation Framework for Assessing Results of Bank Support for Decentralization -- Figure 1.2 Bank Support for Decentralization to 20 Countries, Fiscal 1990-2007 -- Figure 3.1 Distribution of State and Local Revenue Sources -- Figure 3.2 Trends in Fiscal Deficits in Selected Indian States -- Table 1.1 Typology of Countries Where Bank Support for Decentralization Was Reviewed in Depth -- Table 2.1 Timeliness of ESW in 20 Sample Countries -- Table 3.1 Assessing Results of Bank Support for Strengthened Intergovernmental Relations -- Table 3.2 Assessing Results for Enhanced Administrative Capacity and Accountability -- Table 3.3 Contribution of Bank Support for Decentralization Frameworks -- Table 4.1 Assessing Results in the Education Sector -- Table 4.2 School Autonomy and Accountability in Three Pilot Regions in Russia Supported by the Bank -- Table 5.1 Support for Decentralization Needs to Be Country Specific -- Table 5.2 Better Quality of Bank Support Associated with Better Results.