Identification of Gap between Mandated Municipal Services and Services Rendered on the Ground

Abstract

In this study we examined the gap between mandated municipal services and services provided on the ground. Local municipalities in Sindh are mandated to perform 253 different functions which are listed in 17 groups of compulsory services and 95 groups of optional municipal services. To assess the gap between what local municipalities are committed to deliver and what they are delivering this research was done adopting mixed methods research. Municipalities were selected by adopting multistage random sampling, where 400 respondents, for primary data collection, were selected through stratified random sampling method. The results revealed that only 19% mandated services are delivered. Half of the compulsory services and 89% optional services are not delivered. The access for delivered services also varies for both compulsory and optional municipal functions. The paper recommends prioritizing the service delivery for undelivered municipal services, while budget allocations process, so that maximum municipal outreach may be ensured.