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Strong public sector said
vital for effective service delivery |
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ADDIS
ABEBA(December 12,2008) - An
efficient and accountable public sector is essential for effective
delivery of services, a group of representatives and policy-makers
from eight African nations who discussed to improve public sector's
effectiveness said on Wednesday.
The group, comprising Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC),
Madagascar, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Rwanda, and Tanzania, met
in Addis Ababa to share lessons on how to improve the effectiveness
of the public sector and to learn from each others' experiences.
Entitled 'Lessons from a Decade of Public Sector Reform", co-host
of the meeting the World Bank's Independent Evaluation Group (IEG),
According to IEG which co-hosted the regional meeting, said the public
sector was the largest spender and employer in virtually every developing
country and sets the policy environment for the rest of the economy.
The conference provided a unique forum for African policy makers to
engage policymakers from the World Bank and other development partners
on the successes and failures of donor-supported public sector reforms
in Africa, the Wrld Bank said.
"About one-sixth of the World Bank's projects in recent years
have supported public sector reform, due to the quality of the public
sector which is essential for a country's development,|" Ali
Khadr, IEG's Senior Manager for Country Evaluation and Regional Relations
said briefing journalists on the sidelines of the conference on Wednesday.
"Our evaluative evidence shows that World Bank support for public
sector reform in developing countries has helped to improve performance
in key areas, such as public financial management, which is the most
common theme in Bank support in recent years, and tax administration,"
he said adding that, in other areas, the support was less effective.
"To realize the benefits in terms of improved delivery of public
services and accountability, public sector reforms need no make progress
across the board, including in particularly difficult areas such as
the civil service and the control of corruption," he said.
IEG also said among low-income countries that receive interest-free
credits and grants from the World Bank's International Development
Association (IDA), 69 percent showed an improvement in the functioning
of the public sector, albeit with considerable room for further progress.
The Bank's Country Director for Ethiopia and Sudan, Ken Ohashi hailed
the positive role by the Ethiopian government.
"It is rather fitting that this event is taking place in Ethiopia,
because this is one of the countries where the government has shown
strong commitment to capacity building," he said.
Ohashi said capacity building projects have had a very mixed record,
identifying "ownership and leadership by government" as
key for boosting capacity.
Participants also discussed on how to apply five important lessons
that were identified by a recent IEG evaluation, "Public Sector
Reform -- What Works and Why".
The five lessons are, being realistic about what is politically and
institutionally feasible when creating any reform and recognizing
that enhancing technology is not enough, but the most crucial and
difficult challenge is to change behavior, and technology can support
but not substitute for this.
The other lesson learned during the discussion was dealing with the
basics first.
For instance, IEG said, taxpayers should have unique identification
numbers before installing a complex collection system, and the government
should be able to execute a one-year budget well before launching
sophisticated, multi-year budgeting.
Not to expect measures that address corruption head-on, such as anticorruption
laws and commissions, to substitute for more fundamental institutional
change, said IED, adding direct measures often lack the necessary
support from political elites and the judicial system.
"Reducing corruption is a long-term effort, and countries undertaking
reforms should emphasize two things: building country systems that
reduce the opportunities for corruption and making information public
to build popular demand for more efficient, less corrupt delivery
of public services," said Ali Khadr.
The final lesson discussed by the participants of the meeting was
generating demand for public sector reform at different levels. Public
sector reform in decentralized governments works better if there is
demand for, and ownership of, reform at the local government level,
according to IED.
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