MSI and its partners worked with high stakes. Locally elected communal councils are charged with providing public service through accountable, local decision-making; however the councils were grappling with growing needs and limited resources. MSI tailored its support to the needs identified by communal officials and other actors on a commune-by-commune basis. The result is a locally-owned program that successfully helped establish locally-elected public bodies acting as development catalysts.

Notable achievements by MSI partner communes include:

• Truly participatory development planning. Partner communes consulted village-level communities to identify needs and lead an open process to set commune priorities. This resulted in a more equitable five-year development plan that reflects the most urgent needs.
• Improved accountability. Almost half of communes made their annual financial reports public.
• Better partnership in service delivery. A growing number of partner communes formalized their relationships with local associations that manage schools and health centers. These agreements led to increased local contributions to education and health, better collaboration on issues, and increased administrative supervision of service delivery.
• More commune involvement in water and natural resources. Sustainable use of these resources is of paramount importance. MSI helped communes evaluate their resources and then plan and establish management agreements with local associations. This process fostered the locally-supervised use of collective resources and contributed to commune revenue.
• Conflicts resolved locally. A majority of partner communes established conflict prevention and management mechanisms that use participatory methods and involve local community leaders. Communes are more involved in preventing conflict than ever before.
• Improved accounting practices. The great majority of partner communes now boast up-to-date records and the capability to produce regular reports. This enables communes to report in a timely fashion to the communal council and to the public, and to reconcile their accounts.

The Shared Governance Program gained recognition as an innovative and effective approach in the consolidation of Mali’s decentralization policy. The five- year program ended in September 2008.

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