This paper is based on a global review of fisheries decentralization programs (co-management) in sub-Saharan Africa. Partly challenging the current narrative, but in line with experience in other sectors (e.g., forestry), the review shows that the outcomes of these decentralizations have not been systematically positive. In most cases, fisheries co-management failed to improve governance, but simply altered the distribution of power and responsibility amongst the different stakeholders. In this new political landscape, poorly designed reforms have enabled a variety of (usual and new) local actors to advance their own agendas, often at the detriment of the direct end-users (fisherfolk). © 2009 Elsevier Ltd.

South African local government has undergone radical transformation. The reform process included a local government financial management best-practice technical assistance programme (MFMTAP) targeting financial management and especially budget quality reform. Dollery and Graves (2009) earlier examined the efficacy of the South African National Treasury (NT's) municipal budget funding compliance technique for measuring adherence to the Municipal Finance Management Act's (MFMA) budget funding requirements using a single metropolitan municipality case study. This article further evaluates the robustness and validity of the funding compliance instrument as reform performance measurement tool by comparing the results of four geographically and demographically different municipalities. Also introduced is a performance 'trend' instrument similiar to a 'Likert scale' for comparing municipal performance. Optimal tax revenue theory is invoked to examine this key revenue variable for producing a compliant budget. The article finds the 'budget funding' reform component of the Best-Practice Technical Assistance (BPTA) programme presently ineffective and unsustainable. © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.