How a country organises its finances shapes how local authorities govern their cities, towns, and villages. Fiscal decentralisation gives local governments greater authority to decide how and where to allocate resources, enabling them to better respond to citizens’ needs.
For decentralisation to succeed, national governments must establish clear fiscal arrangements to support local service delivery, while local authorities must strengthen their financial capacities and optimise resource use.
This course explores key aspects of fiscal decentralisation, including expenditure responsibilities, intergovernmental transfers, and local revenue sources. Embedded in the broader context of decentralisation, the training also highlights the importance of political decentralisation.
The programme combines theoretical insights with global best practices, facilitating group discussions and learning from study visits to the Ministry of Interior, Provincial Government, and The Hague municipality. Tailored to participants’ needs, sessions cover topics such as corruption, participatory budgeting, local taxation, and financial accountability principles.
During the course, I learned about best practices and different models of fiscal decentralisation, local tax collection and intergovernmental transfers. These learnings have been crucial for my work increasing the financial management capacities at the local level in Albania.
This course is designed for professionals working on (fiscal) decentralisation processes, public sector reform programmes, public service delivery or public financial management. Participants come from national, regional and local governments as well as from donor and development organisations.
After this course, you will receive a professional certificate of completion from The Hague Academy for Local Governance.
*Professionals working in local government or for local NGOs on the DAC list of ODA-recipient countries (OECD) may qualify for a reduced course fee. Contact us for details.
The Fiscal Decentralisation and Local Finance course will help you:
Experts that are involved in this course:
The course includes visits to a municipality, a provincial government, and the Ministry of Interior in the Netherlands. These visits offer valuable insights into how fiscal decentralisation is organised and the financial relationships between different levels of government. You will draw lessons from these experiences that are relevant to your own context. The programme also features group work to explore best practices from other countries and address challenges in fiscal decentralisation. Additionally, discussions will include recent experiences with local property tax reforms in Ghana, providing practical examples to inform the design of local property tax strategies.
Find the practical information for the course here.
After submitting your completed application, you will receive a confirmation of receipt. Once we have assessed your application and admitted you to the course, we will send you an invoice with payment details.
Payments can be made by bank transfer or by PayPal request. We offer the option of paying in one or two instalments. An advance payment of 50% secures the reservation of a seat at the training until the payment deadline. Your participation in the course is guaranteed only after receipt of full payment.
Please note that The Hague Academy accepts registrations on a first-paid, first-served policy.
Some countries require a visa to enter the Netherlands. Please check with The Netherlands or the embassy for the visa requirements related to your country. Because of the length of time needed for the visa procedure, we advise you to start this process as soon as possible. Once we have received your payment for the course, The Hague Academy will send you an acceptance letter which will assist you in arranging your visa to The Netherlands.
Under certain circumstances, participants may need to cancel their participation in the course. For cancellations before the payment deadline, we will reimburse the paid amounts minus an administration fee of €350.
To prevent late cancellation, we strongly encourage you to start with your visa application procedure at least six weeks before the start of the training programme.
We will charge a cancellation fee of 50% of the course fee for participants cancelling between four and two weeks prior to the start of the training. If you cancel your participation within the two-week period before the start of the course, then you have to pay 80% of the course fee.
No-show will result in paying 100% of the course fee.
It is always possible to nominate a suitably qualified candidate to replace you without extra charge, in the event that you cannot attend the course.
The Hague Academy for Local Governance reserves the right to cancel a course if the number of participants is insufficient or due to any other unforeseen circumstances. In this case, your payment will be 100% reimbursed. Other costs such as transportation or hotel cannot be reimbursed.
The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs offers MSP scholarships for training courses in the Netherlands. The MENA Scholarship Programme (MSP) aims to enhance the skills, instincts, and abilities of professionals, empowering their organizations and communities to thrive in an ever-changing world.
For more information and eligibility criteria, please visit our Scholarships page. Note that scholarships have a separate application process.
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At the Hague Academy, we specialise in developing training programmes that fit your specific needs. Contact us if you are interested in a customised training!
