What is Constraints to Local Revenue-Raising

Decentralization has been adopted in a number of African countries, in part to improve the capacity of the state to mobilize “additional” resources that are needed for development. Several years after the adoption of decentralization programs, the critical question is whether local government have indeed managed to mobilize this “additional” revenue. This question is answered by examining revenue mobilization by local governments in Zimbabwe. Practice in Zimbabwe, as in many other African countries, paints a gloomy picture on local revenue-raising, since local governments are constrained in this respect by a number of factors, many of which are outside their control and influence. The lesson from this finding is that the effectiveness of a decentralization program should not be judged solely on the quality of its design, but also on the basis of the prevailing contextual environment.