This edited book explores the link between institutional reforms, governance and services delivery in the Global South, mapping how and to what extent resource-poor governments deliver public services to their citizens. The book concludes that delivery of public services responsibly and efficiently remains largely unachievable because of weaker institutions and poor quality of governance in the Global South countries. Reforms to governance and institutions are generally considered fitting measures to overcome public service delivery challenges.
South Africa has achieved a lot on its path of socio-economic transformation since the end of Apartheid in 1994. While many challenges remain to foster inclusive growth to address the triple challenges of unemployment, poverty, and inequality, some innovative approaches have been used to build more inclusive public institutions. These have helped to expand service delivery, strengthen quality, and improve the lives of millions of South Africans. Although much is known about the motivation and nature of the policies and institutional changes that drove this transformation, very little is known of the manner in which they were executed. With this book, Making It Happen, From Policies to Implementation, we offer a selection of twelve case studies to illustrate how policies and institutions were developed and implemented to improve specific public services. Done through interviews with senior policy makers, the book captures the how to of executing these policies in a variety of areas including increasing budget transparency, developing an intergovernmental fiscal system, strengthening tax administration, developing a modern performance monitoring and evaluation system, expanding HIV/AIDS treatment, reforming the social transfer system, strengthening statistics, creating a modern national identity system, developing a system for the management of biodiversity, modernizing the national road network management, developing the framework for renewable energy, and the formulation of the country’s much lauded constitution. Tracing a twenty year journey of transformation, this book places particular emphasis on recording the design of these reforms and endeavors to shed some light on the decision-making processes. In particular, it attempts to provide insight on the trade-offs policy makers faced, and the sequencing and complementarities among the various reforms. It finds leadership at different levels, adoption of pragmatic and innovative solutions, and the focus on results as among the key drivers in implementing these changes. This book is primarily intended to enhance knowledge exchange by exporting South Africa’s development experience to the world. It is a product of the country’s Knowledge Hub, developed in partnership with the World Bank Group, to provide evidence-based solutions for enhancing service delivery.
Developing countries commonly adopt reforms to improve their governments yet they usually fail to produce more functional and effective governments. Andrews argues that reforms often fail to make governments better because they are introduced as signals to gain short-term support. These signals introduce unrealistic best practices that do not fit developing country contexts and are not considered relevant by implementing agents. The result is a set of new forms that do not function. However, there are realistic solutions emerging from institutional reforms in some developing countries. Lessons from these experiences suggest that reform limits, although challenging to adopt, can be overcome by focusing change on problem solving through an incremental process that involves multiple agents.
"Good local governance" reflects the dual functions of local government. On the one hand, democratic regimes gain input legitimacy by responsiveness and by being inclusive towards the preferences of their citizens. On the other hand, they achieve output legitimacy by effectively delivering public goods and services. Their governance strategies follow three major paths - "decentralisation," "political administrative reforms" and "participatory reforms". But national contexts, actors, political culture and path dependency matter a lot. In this book continent-wide developments are compared by using relevant country studies. This comparative approach focuses on "developing countries" in Asia, Africa and Latin America, comparing and contrasting their experience with that of European countries
South Africa has achieved a lot on its path of socio-economic transformation since the end of Apartheid in 1994. While many challenges remain to foster inclusive growth to address the triple challenges of unemployment, poverty, and inequality, some innovative approaches have been used to build more inclusive public institutions. These have helped to expand service delivery, strengthen quality, and improve the lives of millions of South Africans. Although much is known about the motivation and nature of the policies and institutional changes that drove this transformation, very little is known of the manner in which they were executed. With this book, Making It Happen, From Policies to Implementation, we offer a selection of twelve case studies to illustrate how policies and institutions were developed and implemented to improve specific public services. Done through interviews with senior policy makers, the book captures the how to of executing these policies in a variety of areas including increasing budget transparency, developing an intergovernmental fiscal system, strengthening tax administration, developing a modern performance monitoring and evaluation system, expanding HIV/AIDS treatment, reforming the social transfer system, strengthening statistics, creating a modern national identity system, developing a system for the management of biodiversity, modernizing the national road network management, developing the framework for renewable energy, and the formulation of the country s much lauded constitution. Tracing a twenty year journey of transformation, this book places particular emphasis on recording the design of these reforms and endeavors to shed some light on the decision-making processes. In particular, it attempts to provide insight on the trade-offs policy makers faced, and the sequencing and complementarities among the various reforms. It finds leadership at different levels, adoption of pragmatic and innovative solutions, and the focus on results as among the key drivers in implementing these changes. This book is primarily intended to enhance knowledge exchange by exporting South Africa s development experience to the world. It is a product of the country s Knowledge Hub, developed in partnership with the World Bank Group, to provide evidence-based solutions for enhancing service delivery."
The aim of this scholarly collected work is to contribute to the scientific discourse on public administration in a globalised environment. The book reflects on governance challenges in South Africa and in Africa, with its point of departure being the ‘master narratives’ (the so-called grand debates) such as New Public Management and, specifically, the role of technology. It also reflects on the so-called middle range discourses concerning organisational-level issues in government (e.g. leadership and work procedures) and explores new solutions to old governance challenges like corruption and service delivery. The uniqueness of this collected work lies in its ability to reflect on existing philosophies and practices in an innovative way. Through its multidisciplinary lens, the book opens up a new vision for the future of public administration in the South African context and on the African continent, not neglecting the current local, regional and global environment. Until recently, globalisation was considered an entrenched world order, but international political events during the course of the past few years have resulted in one of the biggest challenges to its endurance in recent history. This includes developments such as the successful referendum in Britain to exit the European Union, highlighting the growth of a severe nationalist and protectionist agenda that may be a signal of the unravelling of the current globalism world order. These developments inspire deeper interrogation of the challenges to effective public administration globally and the ripple effects in South Africa and Africa as a whole. Pointedly, it is evident that ensuring the voice of citizens in policy decision-making remains a critical governance challenge. On the policy front, there are perennial challenges of land reform, service delivery and poverty, while on the governance front, corruption has metastasised with a growing culture of impunity and lack of accountability in leadership. In the midst of growing corruption, and more than 20 years into democracy, South Africa’s income inequality remains one of the highest in the world. This setting constitutes the context of the research outcome published in this scholarly work.
Batley and Larbi examine how governments of developing countries are organized to deliver public services. The book is based on comparative international studies of four service sectors: Health care, urban water, business promotion and agricultural marketing. Governments everywhere are being driven to adopt an 'indirect' approach - managing, contracting and regulating public agencies or private partners, rather than providing services directly. It questions how governments are responding and whether this approach is appropriate to the capacities of developing countries.
The underpinning assumption of public management in the developing world as a process of planned change is increasingly being recognized as unrealistic. In reality, the practice of development management is characterized by processes of mutual adjustment among individuals, agencies, and interest groups that can constrain behaviour, as well as provide incentives for collaborative action. Paradoxes inevitably emerge in policy network practice and design. The ability to manage government departments and operations has become less important than the ability to navigate the complex world of interconnected policy implementation processes. Public sector reform policies and programmes, as a consequence, are a study in the complexities of the institutional and environmental context in which these reforms are pursued. Building on theory and practice, this book argues that advancing the theoretical frontlines of development management research and practice can benefit from developing models based on innovation, collaboration and governance. The themes addressed in Public Sector Reforms in Developing Countries will enable public managers in developing countries cope in uncertain and turbulent environments as they seek optimal fits between their institutional goals and environmental contingencies.
Why is societal transition not simply a matter of change management or normal policy design? South Africa is living proof of the ability of a society to reinvent and reinstall itself. With the advent of new societal challenges, came the need for real societal innovation, especially in sectors where it was never deemed necessary or possible before. This book asks: What type of governance is helpful for developing new societal institutions and systems that can overcome systemic crises in emerging economies and fragile communities? What emerges is a compilation of chapters that introduce different parts of a solution which can be used in developing both a growing body of practices of 'governed' societal transitions and the associated transition of governance. The Governance of Transitions - The Transitions of Governance, in part, aims to provide building blocks which government and society could use to develop strategies for creating sustainable outcomes. It considers what kind of leadership, organisation or methods for accountability enable new types of governance and what the most important barriers are.
This volume presents a framework designed to help international development partners consider the relevance of political economy issues for their programmatic support to decentralization and local government reform. The intention is neither to advocate decentralization in general or in any particular form, nor to presume or privilege any particular decentralization objective. Instead, the purpose is to document the potential value of better understanding how (primarily national and intergovernmental) political and institutional dynamics do or could affect the scope for realizing decentralization reforms aligned with commonly advocated service delivery, governance, and poverty reduction goals. The underlying premise is that systematic analysis of these issues can productively complement the dominantly technical diagnostic work typically carried out by development partners. Specifically, development partners can benefit from better understanding the practical significance of motives that drive politicians and bureaucrats to support or oppose reform at various stages of the decentralization process, from making an initial reform decision to detailed design and implementation. In addition, the authors address how these incentives can weaken, strengthen, or shift in response to changes in political and economic conditions that arise after reform begins. A general approach to conducting political economy of decentralization analysis is outlined, recognizing the need to tailor such analysis to the particular country context. This volume is based on literature reviews and knowledge derived from selected country experiences.
