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Yemen Stories
Elected Local Councils Learn to Govern
The local council debates issues in Jaar, southern Yemen. U.S. assistance to decentralization projects helps the council raise funds, take control of tax revenues and tackle issues such as sewage and education.
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JAAR, Yemen - A group of 26 untested council members gathered around a table recently in Jaar, capital of Khanfr District in Abyan Governorate, along the south coast. They were learning how to govern.
Since 2000, a new law has allowed the election of local councils. This one is responsible for 116,000 people in the district. But decisions about budgets, sewers, education and other issues have always been made by the central government.
A U.S. funded program is assisting the local council here to improve its ability to run the affairs of this region. Experts train the council members on budgets, dealing with the media, programming and operating local projects. They also learn how to discuss controversial issues and come to agreement through the rules of debate and the art of compromise.
Some 12 million rials is given to the council by the central government but another 25 million are raised in local revenues. The elected council members know that if they are able to apply these revenues to the projects of concern to the voters, it will mark an important step on the road to accountable government. It may also get them re-elected when the new council is chosen.
The U.S.-funded program has helped provide furniture for the meeting room but more importantly, it is helping the council members assert their authority.
"At first the central government told them what to do," said an adviser to the Decentralization project. "Now, with the training they have received, it feels more like real decentralization." 
The fish market was built with U.S. assistance in the southern Yemen town of Jaar in Abyan governorate.
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Decentralization means that local councils or other bodies take on the responsibility of governing from the central government. This should mean that decisions reflect the needs and the will of local communities who are best suited to know what is best for themselves.
The money goes to schools, clinics, water and infrastructure, not to our operating expenses - that comes from the central ministry, said one council member.
The head of the budget and planning committee said that he and other members "go to the field to find out the problems."
"For example, if we find no teacher in a school we notify the head of the local council who then talks to the Ministry of Education to solve the issue."
In this way even without spending money, the local council can become an influential voice that is listened to by the central government.
The council admits that the money it controls is not enough to tackle the many needs in the community for education, water sanitation and roads.
Already, however, the council has built schools, water systems, a fish market and sanitary pipelines.
"Before, it was random as the central government had no people in the field," said the council chairman, who was appointed by the central government. (A reform in the works will mean that local council chairmen will also be locally elected very soon.)
"Before, a local sheikh would call the government and say 'I want a clinic or a road next to my house.' Now, local people's voices and needs can be heard and decisions are made at the local level." 
A camel pulls a cart near a U.S.-supported fish market in the town of Jaar in the governorate of Abyan, south Yemen.
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"Also, when people know that the local council ensures that taxes go to benefit the community, they have more trust," the chairman added.
Previously, the government might say it built 500 schools but there was no monitoring to see if it was true. Now local councils can verify the information and communicate to the public through town meetings or the media.
"People used to throw trash in the roadside ditches but after we had a meeting we got the public to cooperate," said one member.
Another member said that "we are able to plan better and have a vision - we learn how to interact with the community and respond to their needs."
"Before, our council meetings were routine and formal -- now they have goals and objections."
Things are more democratic but "it all depends on the budget," said one member.
"Good governance is part of democracy," said another. "Through our training we are learning how to prioritize. Before, each member worked only for their own area. Now we work as a team."
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