EXAMINING HOW DECENTRALISATION AND LOCAL GOVERNANCE IMPROVE SERVICE DELIVERY IN THE GAMBIA

Abstract

The paper examines how decentralisation and local governance improve service delivery to the public in The Gambia. The study used “cross-sectional descriptive survey design”, through the administration of structured questionnaire of five-point Likert scale among the selected local government councils. Random sampling technique was adopted to calculate the sample size for the study. The study randomly selected five (5) institutions which included Kanifing Municipal Council, Brikama Area Council, Kerewan Area Council, Mansakonko Area Council, and the Ministry of Lands and Regional Government. Consequently, the sample size for the study was 325 from the study population of 2099 which included both administrative staff and service beneficiaries of the sampled local government councils and their line ministry in The Gambia. A total of 300 copies of questionnaire were retrieved from the field which represents a response rate of 92 percent. Primary data were collected through questionnaire administration and conduct of interviews. The questionnaire used semi-structured questions which were both open- and close-ended. The data were analysed using Stata version 13. Secondary data were obtained from published and unpublished policy documents, records, journals, relevant text books and the Internet to augment the study. The results of the study showed that decentralisation and local governance contributed immensely to improving service delivery. The study concluded that decentralisation as a strategy contributed a lot in improving local community participation in economic and political activities and empowered them to take ownership of their own community resources.