The aim is to provide guidance on how the declared government policy of more equitably allocating Local Government Authority (LGA) staff and funds, for the purpose of achieving more equitable service delivery, can be supported.
The study found very uneven allocation patterns of fiscal resources across LGAs that are primarily driven by unequal allocations of salary expenditure and result in the inequitable allocation of staff. While there has been some progress in improvement in staff allocations in hard to reach and stay (HTRS) LGAs, patterns of inequity have persisted across LGAs, with some LGAs still being overstaffed relative to others. There are also significant inequities and inequalities in resource allocations within LGAs, in particular the HTRS LGAs.
This report recommends three mutually supporting main strategies to address the fiscal inequities across LGAs:
Enabling and supporting local level initiatives for retention and deployment to address intra-LGA inequity.
Streamlining and prioritising human resource allocation and deployment for addressing inter-LGA inequity.
Enhancing operational funding and fiscal transparency around resource allocations and utilisation.
