Cover -- Title Page -- Copyright -- Contents -- Foreword -- Editor and Contributors -- Acknowledgments -- Abbreviations and Acronyms -- Introduction -- Literature on Decentralization and Post Conflict State Building -- Brief Background on Sierra Leone -- Unfolding Sierra Leone's Decentralization in the Context of Post Conflict State Building -- Has Decentralization Improved Coverage and Quality of Primary Health, Agriculture, and Primary Education Services? -- Has Decentralization Energized Civic Participation in Local Governance? -- Sustainability Challenges in Sierra Leone -- Conclusions: What Have We Learned from Sierra Leone's Experience? -- Notes -- 1. Establishing the Legislative, Political, and Administrative Framework for Local Government and Decentralization in Sierra Leone -- How the Decentralization Policy and Local Government Act 2004 Were Developed -- Statutory Instrument and Timetable for Decentralization -- Local Government Act 2004 and the Political Framework -- Local Government Act 2004 and Other Laws (Complementarity and Contradictions) -- Administrative Framework to Support Decentralization -- Role of Institutional Reform and Capacity Building Project: World Bank Intervention-Arguments and Process/Actors -- Decentralization Program in Design -- Notes -- 2. Fiscal Decentralization: Building the Financial Capacity of Local Governments -- Legislative Base -- Revenue Mobilization -- Institutional Framework -- Grants System -- Local Government Development Grants Program -- Size of Fiscal Transfers -- Paying the Grants to Councils -- Financial Management Capacity of the Councils -- Achievements -- Notes -- 3. Administrative Decentralization: Building the Non-Financial Capacity of Local Governments -- Local Governance before Passage of Local Government Act 2004 -- Emergence of the New Local Councils.

Planning for Capacity Building Prior to the Passage of Local Government Act 2004 -- Planning for Capacity Building after Passage of Local Government Act 2004 -- Providing and Developing Human Capacity -- Role of Coaches in Capacity Building -- Achievements in Infrastructure Capacity Development -- Development of Local Council Administrative and Governance Capacity -- Critical Challenges to Capacity Building for Local Governance -- Future Possible Changes to Capacity Development -- Conclusion -- Notes -- 4. Decentralization in Practice -- Overview: Motivating Hypotheses and the Size of the Pie -- Devolution of Healthcare -- Devolution of Agricultural Services -- Devolution of Education -- Reasons for Differential Progress across Sectors -- Likely Areas of Decentralization Impacts -- Notes -- 5. Impact of Decentralization on Public Services: Evidence to Date -- How Might Decentralization Be Predicted to Impact Services? -- Data -- Testable Hypotheses -- Outcomes: Public Service Quality Has Improved across Most Sectors -- Areas with Initially Low Levels of Service Have Experienced Catch-up in Some Sectors -- Are Providers or Households Turning to Local Councils When They Have Problems with Services? -- Conclusion -- Notes -- 6. Civic Engagement in Local Governance -- Political Motivation of Decentralization and Electoral Outcome of 2004 Local Council Elections -- Fiscal Decentralization as a Policy Choice to Improve Effectiveness of Public Spending -- Has Decentralization Brought Government to the Doorsteps of the Rural Masses? -- Have People Felt the Presence of the Local Councils? -- Civic Activism at the Grassroots -- Are the People Disciplining Their Representatives via Elections? -- Conclusions -- Annex 6.1. Figures from Chapter 6 -- Notes.

7. Landscape of Local Authority in Sierra Leone: How "Traditional" and "Modern" Justice and Governance Systems Interact -- Research Methodology -- Mapping Local Authority Structures in Sierra Leone -- Observations on Sources of Authority in Sierra Leone -- Local Councils' Interactions with Other Authority Structures -- Conclusions and Recommendations: Complex, Mixed System of Local Governance Is Here to Stay -- Notes -- 8. Reflections and Conclusions on Positives and Problems Resulting from Devolution to Date -- Appendix: IRCBP Evaluations Unit: Overview of Surveys -- References -- Back cover.