A subsequent step to the implementation of Article 45 of Law No 21, as amended, stipulates the Governor as the highest provincial executive official mandated with executive and oversight authorities to oversee implementation of the local policy. This requires that roles, responsibilities, and authorities be clearly identified and distributed among all local government components – Governor, Director General, and Director, and not centered on the Governor’s Office only, which in and of itself, sets the implementation of administrative decentralization on the road to failure.

In support of Article 45 and administrative decentralization, GSP/Taqadum, in cooperation with the provincial Directorates of Health, Education, and Municipalities and Public Works, developed a Roles, Responsibilities, and Authorities Distribution Model (RRAD Model) that regulates the financial, administrative, legal, and technical functions once their authorities are transferred from the ministerial to the local level. Developed to enable Governors to fully exercise their planning, administrative, supervisory, and inspection roles vis-à-vis the provincial directorates, the RRAD Model ensures Governors perform their assigned oversight functions and at the same time empower and hold the professional directors accountable for providing services. This, in turn, will lead to better levels of service delivery to Iraq’s citizens.

In addition, the RRAD Model empowers Governors to retain the authority to make important decisions, among them:

• Imposing major administrative penalties on or terminating employees
• Issuing appointment orders or making decisions that have financial consequences
• Assigning authorities that were formerly exercised exclusively by the ministers
• Forming investigative committees
• Imposing administrative penalties on, or accepting the resignations of directors (whether terminated or retiring)
• Creating Fining Committees and making decisions related to fines
• Granting long and/or study leave or dispatching staff for long periods of time (whether in country or abroad)
• Approving plans and programs proposed by the directorates

The GSP/Taqadum-developed RRAD Model also delineates ministerial authorities and responsibilities to provincial executive directors (or Directors of Directorates). This distribution enables Directors to perform their daily work, the goal of which is, ultimately, to deliver the best possible level and number of services to citizens. The following criteria was followed when assigning authorities to provincial directorate directors:

• At a minimum, all authorities granted to the executive directors by ministers before the implementation of Article 45, of Law 21, as amended
• All specialized/technical authorities that enable them to exercise the transferred technical functions
• All financial and legal authorities that allow them to perform the day-to-day work of the directorate.