Public sector governance

We support governments to build the capabilities, systems, and practices required for policy development, implementation, evaluation, and reform. We work to strengthen systems of public management and civil society,; accountability and inclusion; service delivery; and digital governance, at all levels of government and across sectors.

People in front of President's house, India

Political economy is absolutely central to how we work. To make headway in reforming how government functions, we work with the incentives at play with a strong understanding that governments have limited resources, capacity, and information for decision-making. We facilitate change by working with policymakers and agents for change outside government to build teams capable of addressing complex challenges and introducing context-specific and innovative solutions.  

We do this through:  

Systems strengthening, capacity development and organisational change: We provide targeted technical assistance for institutional and organisational development to ensure strong alignment between mandate and strategy, structure and functions, business systems and processes, and the culture that shapes and optimises how people work.  

Transparency, accountability and inclusive participation: We support people to build more open and inclusive societies in which governments are responsive and accountable to citizens and in which citizens are actively involved in public sector governance. We have a long history of working closely with civil society, private sector, media, and communities to strengthen their voice within political and administrative systems.  

Decentralised governance and service delivery: We work across all levels of government, from central ministries to state, provincial, and local governments. We support institutional and fiscal reforms that reorganise powers, responsibilities, and resources across government, to deliver decentralisation outcomes of democracy, efficiency, accountability, and regional and local development.

Political Economy Analysis and Thinking and Working Politically: We use politically informed approaches to understand reform needs and the context for programme design. Our approach is problem-driven, from policy design to implementation, creating and using a range of political analysis and political economy tools to enable programmes to adapt to changing political conditions.  

Democracy, conflict, and peacebuilding: We have significant experience in building state institutions in fragile and conflict-affected contexts. We understand the importance of cultural institutions and the role of community-led peacebuilding interventions. Our approach is based on the understanding that delivering positive impact in fragile contexts requires going beyond ‘business as usual’. We provide tailored interventions, informed by an understanding of the political and governance context, with the ability to monitor and respond flexibly and rapidly as contexts change.    

Digital governance: We support governments in digitalising public services to improve citizen access to public services. We do this through diagnostics, process reforms, facilitating data integration and strengthening inter-operability to improve the efficiency of systems.  

Related specialisms