Senegal's Information Days equip new community officials with a roadmap to effective local governance

In May 2002, Mor Mbaye Samb stepped into his new role as locally elected Rural Collectivity President of Pété Ouarack. A rural, northern Senegalese collectivity spanning 187 square kilometers, 14 villages and a population of around 4,000, Pété Ouarack had known only one other president since 1976 and had seen very little change in that time. National decentralization reforms had accorded a broad spectrum of new governing powers to collectivities beginning in 1996, and Samb and his supporters hoped that his leadership would help bring roads, electricity, new health clinics and other crucial improvements to Pété Ouarack.

Samb was not encouraged by what he found: a crumbling government building lacking closeable doors and windows, a complete dearth of archives or even basic records on past activities, and a handful of returning council members without institutional memory because they had never been included in the decision-making process. The national government had seen to it that each collectivity now had a newly elected president and council, an array of council committees, and printed extracts of the decentralization laws, which alluded to the budget process and the rural tax. But what role were the council and committees intended to play?

Shortly after Samb and his council embarked on their uncertain path, USAID's decentralization and local governance program (DGL Felo) offered to provide technical assistance to the elected officials of Pété Ouarack in the form of "Journées d'Information," or Information Days. These two-day, on-site sessions were designed by USAID to jumpstart fledgling collectivity governments in Senegal by supplying new local officials with a road map of the specific actors, processes and responsibilities associated with local government administration under new national decentralization laws.

Information Days bring together all the local actors concerned with the collectivity's administration -- including council members, women's and youth groups, and non-governmental organizations -- as well as key representatives of central government administrative and technical services. The sessions impart practical information and effective management techniques via colorful illustrations, interactive skits, and project planning and implementation exercises. Information Day "graduates" leave with a package of concise governance manuals, including several in local languages, for ongoing reference. Mor Mbaye Samb and the collectivity of Pété Ouarack welcomed and engaged in one of USAID's Information Days with enthusiasm in July 2002.

Samb found the Information Days vital to the successful start of his leadership in Pété Ouarack, saying, "USAID provided us with very pertinent information on managing a collectivity in Senegal. because of them, we now know how." In addition to gaining practical information on topics such as the budget process, record-keeping, council committees and promoting popular participation, Samb explained that merely bringing people together to meet face-to-face was invaluable. Due to the size of the collectivity, the relative isolation of its villages, and the lack of perceived need to collaborate, many key actors and counterparts had never met. As a result of the Information Days, an accessible network was created, barriers between local and regional officials were removed, and a collaborative tone for their future interactions was set.

Samb found the Information Days vital. "USAID provided us with very pertinent information on managing a collectivity in Senegal. because of them, we now know how," he said. In addition to gaining practical information on topics such as the budget process, record-keeping, council committees and promoting popular participation, Samb explained that merely bringing people together to meet face-to-face was invaluable.

The active governance of Pété Ouarack is well underway. Three new health clinics were slated to open and an ambulance has also been budgeted. Samb has continued to tap USAID for technical assistance and training, which he has leveraged to provide leadership in reviving the collectivity's civil registry and facilitating the renewal of national identity cards.

Since the local elections in 2002, USAID has held Information Days in 50 collectivities attended by more than 3,250 participants and reaching indirectly at least 6,000 more in over 100 neighboring collectivities.