An Analytic Framework to Assess the Effects of Decentralization on Family Planning

Decentralization is often justified as providing services closer to citizens; rarely, however, are the effects on service delivery well considered. With respect to family planning, governments often sign international commitments, but translating them into action at the subnational and facility level is difficult. Operational concerns at these levels can be reinforced or abated by increasing local authority over family planning. Critical analysis concerning the relationship between these areas requires illuminating factors by which decentralization affects family planning services. The four factors most often referenced to explain how decentralization affects family planning include: the enabling political environment, social participation, intergovernmental relations, and local government institutional capacity.

This research presents a model that accounts for these factors by analyzing their effects against each actor in the decentralization process. The structure and nature of the scope of decentralization is analyzed through the Public Administration approach and the Decision Space Model, through which we can identify areas of family planning services where narrow or wide decision space exists across a range of different areas. These frameworks provide the “lens” through which we can understand how the contextual factors.