Decentralisation in sub-Saharan Africa promises to build responsive institutions, hold officials to account and promote popular participation. Still, existent studies ignore the everyday interface between decentralised structures and citizens, as well as how decentralised institutions function in relation to their local contexts and other “authorities” on the margins. These contexts shape service provision and the impact of local power structures on local communities. Against this backdrop, our conference in Dakar, Senegal, on “Dynamics of Everyday Life within Municipal Administrations in Francophone and Anglophone Africa,” which took place in May 2019, demonstrated three key points of interest: namely, how actors within local bureaucracies interface with those who are outside; how ordinary citizens appropriate the bureaucratic techniques of the state and how these actors negotiate and adapt to the daily practices of municipal administrations. In general, decentralisation is not simply implemented, rather, it creates new frameworks and spaces for both formal and informal public action.

中文翻译：

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非洲法语和英语国家市政当局的日常生活动态

撒哈拉以南非洲的权力下放有望建立反应灵敏的机构、追究官员的责任并促进民众参与。尽管如此，现有的研究忽略了去中心化结构和公民之间的日常界面，以及去中心化机构如何与其当地环境和边缘的其他“权威”相关联的运作。这些背景塑造了服务提供以及当地权力结构对当地社区的影响。在此背景下，我们于 2019 年 5 月在塞内加尔达喀尔举行的“非洲法语和英语国家市政当局的日常生活动态”会议展示了三个关键点：即地方官僚机构内的行为者如何与那些在外面的人；普通公民如何利用国家的官僚技术，以及这些行为者如何协商和适应市政当局的日常做法。一般来说，权力下放不是简单地实施，而是为正式和非正式的公共行动创造了新的框架和空间。