How a country organises its finances, forms the basis for how local authorities govern their cities, towns and villages. Through fiscal decentralisation and local finance mechanisms, local governments have more authority to decide how and where to spend their resources. This enables them to be more responsive to citizens’ needs.
For successful decentralisation, national governments need to design and supervise clear fiscal arrangements that support local service delivery. At the same time, local authorities are challenged to strengthen their financial capacities and use their limited resources in an effective and efficient way.
In the Fiscal Decentralisation and Local Finance course, we will discuss the assignment of expenditure responsibilities to local authorities, intergovernmental transfers and local revenue sources. Moreover, we will address principles of financial accountability and transparency, and exchange examples of inclusive and participatory budgeting. Finally, we will zoom in on financial management at local level and local tax systems.
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 Fiscal Decentralisation and Local Finance includes visits to a municipality, a provincial government and the Ministry of Interior in the Netherlands. Visiting the different levels of government will help you to understand how fiscal decentralisation is organised in the Netherlands and the fiscal interconnections between these levels of government. You will learn about best practices and also about how to overcome bottlenecks in the fiscal decentralisation process. Furthermore, you will engage in analytical exercises, debates and a fun municipal finance quiz. Finally, we will discuss recent experiences with local property tax reforms in Ghana and Palestine, which will give you practical examples to design a local property tax strategy.
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 €150.
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.
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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