While, in theory, decentralisation offers many benefits – increased efficiency and effectiveness of public service provision, reduced horizontal inequalities, and an associated consolidation of the social contract between states and their citizens, empirical evidence of these benefits remains limited. Drawing on fieldwork conducted in Burundi in 2011, this paper argues that the current donor emphasis on institution building alone as a support to the Burundian process proves insufficient. Evidence is presented to show that current support, while consolidating the authority of local political elites, reinforces political and horizontal inequalities thereby paving the way for further disaffection and conflict. Reflecting back to the initial aims of the process, a re-orientation in support is proposed, moving the focus beyond elite state actors and institutions and bringing citizens back into the process of state building and transformation.