After many decades of reform efforts and capacity-building, the delivery of public services in most sub-Saharan African states remains in crisis. Yet explanations of this failure which focus on failure of implementation, continued overstaffing, lack of political will or the inherent problems of ‘neo-patrimonialism’ are unconvincing. In fact the key problems of African public services remain those of understaffing and lack of organisational commitment. This paper argues that the best way forward is to identify and work with the competent managers to be found in ‘islands of effectiveness’, encouraging and spreading more effective kinds of incentives and developing more positive organisational cultures. Pressure from the public for better performance is only likely to work if the need to respond is incorporated into organisational incentive structures. The argument of the paper is based on two main propositions:
- that African public services are not overstaffed or lavishly over-resourced but, on the contrary, lack the staff and resources to do a good job, particularly at front-line or local and even regional levels; and
- that the best way to improve performance is to identify and work with existing competent and committed middle managers and front-line officers within particular departments and agencies, whether it be in particular rural districts or quarters of big cities. These pockets or ‘islands of effectiveness’ should be nurtured with incentives and resources, thereby developing localised centres of positive and effective organisational cultures.
The analysis falls into three main sections:
- The failure of public sector reform programmes since 1980: the scale of the crisis.
- Explanations of failure: Faulty design? Faulty diagnosis? Or is it all down to the politics of ‘neo-patrimonialism’?
- A new approach to public sector reform.
