Call for Proposals: Subnational Capacities and Decentralization in Latin America and the Caribbean

In recent decades, countries in the region have embarked on processes of decentralization to empower regional and local governments, with the goals of enhancing the provision of public services and strengthening democratic governance. These efforts have taken various forms and have included elements of fiscal, administrative, and political decentralization, transferring responsibilities and resources to subnational authorities.

While decentralization has shown promise in improving local governance, some significant challenges persist. Factors that have hindered the effective implementation of decentralization policies include the uneven development of subnational state capacities among regions, weak intergovernmental coordination, and flawed systems of fiscal transfer.

General Objective

• Through this call, they aim to fund up to three research projects that contribute to understanding the determinants of the performance of subnational governments in the region and that help identify institutional arrangements and investments that can foster greater capacities and enhance the outcomes of decentralization.

Themes

In line with the proposed objective, they present here a non-exhaustive list of topics of interest for this call:

• Determinants of the quality of expenditure and service provision by subnational governments
• Administrative and spending execution capacities at the subnational level
• Generation of revenues and collection by subnational governments
• Transfers between levels of government
• Mechanisms of supervision, coordination and cooperation among government levels
• Metropolitan governance
• Measurements of human, organizational, and technological capacities at the subnational level
• Attraction, retention, and promotion of talent
• Local political systems and citizen participation
• Public investment at the subnational level
• Determinants of service provision at the subnational level in specific sectors (e.g., education, health, security, transportation, services).

Funding Information

• A maximum of three winners will be chosen. Selected proposals will receive funding of up to USD 15,000 each to carry out their project. The allocated amount will be transferred under a consultancy contract in favor of any member of the research team or institution. It is not necessary to submit a budget along with the research proposal.
• The winning proposals will have eight months to develop the project.

Eligibility Criteria

• Proposals can be submited individually, as a group, or through institutions (public, private, etc.).

Language of the Proposal

• English or Spanish

For more information, visit CAF .