Institutional strengthening

Public service delivery is rarely the responsibility of a single organisation. Local agencies may be responsible for implementing a service on the ground; multiple ministries may be involved in planning and budgeting and policy direction. Yet attempts to reform and streamline delivery often focus on one organisation rather than examining the whole spectrum of related entities, and strengthening the way they work together.

In some cases a focus on a single organisation will offer too narrow a perspective, which will limit the effectiveness of the reform effort. No matter how efficient a central department is, bottlenecks will emerge if the local delivery bodies lack the capacity to deliver services, or if the centre lacks authority to enforce required changes in the way things are done. An advanced agency may have a comprehensive strategy for achieving its goals, but cannot proceed without the timely release of funds from the Ministry of Finance or central bank; conversely, poorly coordinated delivery organisations might have an adequate budget allocation for a policy initiative but lack the capacity to use it, leading to slow disbursement and disappointing results.

Examples such as this underline the value of looking at the service delivery chain as a whole, and at the entire institutional framework of roles, responsibilities, powers and duties within which public sector bodies operate.

But taking a sector-wide or government-wide approach to administrative reform is no small task, requiring the engagement of a wide range of stakeholders, from the political leadership to senior officials to regional and local managers. It also requires effective diagnosis of the real problems inhibiting service delivery, from skills shortages at different levels to conflicting priorities or disconnected processes, from inadequate financial resources to an unclear policy mandate or an outdated legislative framework of powers and duties. Sequencing can be essential: the design of well-constructed programmes that address those problems in a logical order. Often, performance or results-based management can provide a valuable tools which help to secure the commitment of different stakeholders to specific, shared goals.

For instance, in OPM’s work with the Russian Federation, it was clear that while the central state functioned effectively, there was a need for - amongst other changes - increased delegation of responsibility and at the same time greater accountability for actions. This meant increasing the capacity of staff - both centrally and in regional bodies - and reforming HR practices, to encourage a new focus on performance and merit. That in turn provided the basis for other changes within the civil service, introducing greater transparency and more modern working practices and management techniques.