Managing Democracies for Development: An Intervention to Equip Peruvian Mayors with Management and Democratic Skills

Poor and uneven local service delivery, coupled with growing citizen dissatisfaction with democracy, remain a pressing challenge in many low- and middle-income countries. This project examines whether enhancing mayors' managerial and democratic skills can help break these cycles by improving local governance and, in turn, strengthening citizen trust. To do so, we propose an intervention that equips mayors with public management skills and democratic governance training. Using a randomized controlled trial in Peru following the 2026 local elections, the intervention will randomly assign newly elected mayors to one of three groups: (1) public management training alone, (2) public management training combined with institutional knowledge and democratic deliberation, or (3) a control group receiving no training. This design will allow us to explore whether management and democratic skills act as complements or substitutes in shaping government effectiveness. Outcomes will be measured through administrative data, citizen surveys, and mayoral surveys, capturing changes in service provision, political engagement, and citizen trust.