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Lessons from ColombiaPaper published in World Development, Vol. 25, No.7, pp.1029-1043, July 1997. Abstract:The paper analyzes the process of capacity development in a sample of Colombian local governments which resulted from a strategy of state decentralization initiated in the mid eighties. The central message of the study is that competition for political office opened the door to responsible and innovative leadership that, in turn, became the driving force behind capacity building efforts. More widespread community participation expanded the range of possibilities open to local governments and provided the basis to sustain capacity over time. The experience of these municipios suggests that capacity can be enhanced through skillful innovations even under difficult circumstances.Acknowledgments:This paper is based on a research project conducted jointly by The World Bank and the Colombian National Planning Department. The author is thus indebted to the members of an exceptional research team: Tim Campbell and Eduardo Wallentin in Washington, Alberto Maldonado, Jorge Acevedo, Juan Camilo Cárdenas, Camilo Villa, Johnny Palencia and Martha Laverde in Bogotá. The list of people, colleagues in the World Bank and in Colombia, that contributed to the project is too long to be included here, but their help is acknowledged. Previous versions of this paper benefited from comments by John Cohen, Pamela Lowden, two anonymous referees and participants in seminars at SPURS-MIT and HIID. The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily shared by The World Bank. |