Fiscal Autonomy, Institutions, and Development in Africa: A Systematic Review of Decentralization Reforms
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Fiscal decentralization is often touted as a way to improve accountability and service delivery in Africa, but the results are varied. This systematic review assessed decentralization reforms across eight African countries from 2015 to 2025, examining 48 studies in accordance with the PRISMA 2020 guidelines. We found that 50% of the studies reported improvements in service delivery and revenue collection. Insufficient institutions facilitate elite capture, corruption and suboptimal resource allocation. Success depends on institutional quality, political commitment, and the order of reforms. Common challenges include difficulties in revenue retention, capacity constraints, political interference, and dependence on central transfers. Participatory budgeting, sequenced reforms, property taxation, and digital systems demonstrate enhanced effectiveness when they are supported by institutional safeguards. This review synthesizes fiscal federalism and institutional theory to elucidate varied outcomes and offers policymakers directions for formulating context-specific capacity-building reforms that are resilient to political capture.
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