This research was conducted as part of the Decentralization, Fiscal Systems and Rural Development research program. The program is funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, the Royal Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway, the Government of Austria and the World Bank.
I would especially like to thank Hans Binswanger for assenting to this secondment and for his excellent advice on the intellectual development of this paper. In addition, I would like to thank Veit Burger, Sabine Keinath, and Jeffrey G. Lewis for their challenging and insightful comments on earlier drafts.
I am grateful to Keith Virgo at WS Atkins Internation Ltd. and S.K. Datta from the European Commission funded Doon Valley project in India for providing me with very useful information about their program.
Finally, I greatly appreciate the support of the Aga Khan Foundation in pursuing this secondment.
