Small Island Developing States (SIDS) experience capacity constraints relating to their small size, remoteness and dispersion (in the case of island archipelagos), which impinge on the quality of the public sector (Horscroft, 2014; Mycoo & Donovan, 2017). This rapid literature review summarises the evidence on public sector reform and capacity building initiatives in SIDS. ...» more
Public sector management
Local Governance in South Sudan: Overview
The system of local governance in South Sudan (independent since 2011) comprises both formal state structures and traditional authorities. The three tier local government structure faces significant capacity and resource constraints – manifested in weak effectiveness - which are being exacerbated by the government’s decision to increase the number of states in South Sudan from ...» more
Lessons from Local Governance Programmes in South Sudan
Donor-funded (governance) programming in South Sudan has been hampered by numerous challenges, notably renewed conflict and economic crisis. The literature points to a general failure by donors to appreciate these challenges and to donors’ overestimating state capacity, leading to overambitious programmes. Donors are urged to be flexible, integrate political and development ...» more
Infrastructure Project Failures in Colombia
Due to poor civil engineering practices, corruption, natural disasters, the sabotage of infrastructure associated with Colombia’s armed conflict, and the politicisation of large infrastructure projects, Colombia is spending a significant amount annually on improving and rebuilding relatively new infrastructure. As the country’s population and economy continue to grow, so do its ...» more
Privatisation of State Owned Enterprises in Ethiopia since 1991
After decades of socialist rule under the Derg regime, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) adopted market reforms including privatisation of state owned enterprises (SoEs) in 1991. This is a historic literature review, which traces the causes, scale, modalities and impact of the privatisation programme. The literature on the early privatisation ...» more
Institutional partnerships and twinning between civil service organisations
‘Twinning’ typically entails a form of formalised partnership between similar institutions in the North and South for an indefinite period (Jensen, 2007; Baud et al., 2010), with the aim of strengthening the capacity of partners in developing countries (Jones and Blunt, 1999; Ouchi, 2004). Institutional twinning inherently implies that the primary focus of the capacity ...» more
M&E methods for local government performance
A range of methods can be used to monitor and evaluate whether a programme/workstream has contributed to change in local governance, service delivery and economic development, and to generate understanding and knowledge that can be shared with others to support better governance, service delivery and economic development in a decentralised government system. This report ...» more
Local financing for infrastructure in Zambia
This rapid review of literature identifies constraints and interventions related to financing infrastructure in sub-Saharan Africa, with particular attention to the role of pension funds in the region. The need for infrastructure development in Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa is well-established in the literature (see, for example, World Bank, 2017; Brookings Institution, 2017; ...» more
Evidence and experience of procurement in health sector decentralisation
Improving the efficiency, effectiveness, equity and responsiveness of supply chains and procurement processes for pharmaceuticals, vaccines and other health products, which make up a large share of total health expenditure in low and middle-income countries (LMICs), has important implications for health system performance and population health. Decentralised governance of ...» more
Transparency and performance
This report presents and discusses the evidence on impact from greater donor transparency, particularly in terms of accountability. In this report we distinguish between two types of aid information: information collected and disseminated by donor agencies about the results of their activities (looking closer at results based management), and information open to the public ...» more
Transparency and accountability initiatives in the extractives sector
Research on the impact and effectiveness of transparency and accountability initiatives (TAIs) targeted at the extractives sector is hard to come by. With the exception of some more systematic evaluation of the impact of multi-stakeholder initiatives, in particular the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), the existing evidence is weak. Indeed, beyond the ...» more
Parliamentary transparency and accountability
This report presents and discusses what evidence exists about initiatives to promote transparency among legislators, members of parliament (MPs), and legislative processes and what impact this has had on legislative accountability. In this report we distinguish between two types of accountability: vertical (in which citizens play a direct role in holding the powerful to ...» more
Transparency and accountability in fragile and conflict-affected settings
Over the past 10 years, there have been numerous meta-studies and syntheses of the impact and effectiveness of transparency and accountability initiatives (TAIs), many of which attempt to incrementally add value to the existing evidence base or offer new perspectives on existing conclusions. These studies are almost unanimous in their conclusion that little of practical or ...» more
Effectiveness of tax reform interventions
The academic and practitioner literature on tax reform, and comments from several experts contacted in connection with this report, emphasise that improving the performance of tax systems is highly complex and context-specific, without simple or direct answers. Improvements are only likely to come from combinations of large and small changes made with close and detailed ...» more
Impacts of tax capacity on development outcomes
There is increasing recognition that strong tax systems can have impacts on economic growth, the sustainability of revenues for expenditure, state-building, and inequality, although there are debates about the trade-offs to achieving these differing and sometimes incompatible objectives. Tax revenue appears to be more likely to be used to support broad development goals than ...» more
Mapping donor activities in support of tax capacity
Domestic resource mobilisation has become a high priority on the international development agenda, with building tax capacity integral to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the G20’s Tax agenda. This rapid review provides a mapping of the most prominent agencies and initiatives working on tax capacity building, identifying key work streams and ...» more
Implementing Public Financial Management Reform
Changing existing governance systems can be challenging, especially if communication of the changes, the reasons behind them, and the planned or expected results to be achieved are lacking. In fragile and conflict-affected states (FCAS), this can be further complicated by the involvement of international agencies and their relationships with country governments, as well as by…» more
National climate change governance
Without the rapid implementation of pro-poor, climate-informed development policies, climate change impacts could result in 100 million more people in extreme poverty by 2030. Development policies need to consider climate risk scenarios while expanding ‘no-regrets’ social protection programmes that provide benefits to vulnerable populations under different climate ...» more
Decentralisation of budgeting process
This literature review examines evidence about the impact of public financial management (PFM) interventions in the field of decentralisation of budgeting. It asks: What is the effectiveness of devolved budgeting models in relation to the efficiency of PFM systems, service delivery, budget allocation, citizen involvement, accountability and anti-corruption? What factors ...» more
Civil society organisations and accountability in cash transfer programmes
Cash transfer programmes, like most social protection programmes, are vulnerable to fraud, errors, corruption and misuse of funds, which undermine their achievements1 (Perron, 2012: 1; Bhargava and Raha, 2015: vi). Effective mechanisms for transparency, accountability and participation help minimise those in need being wrongfully excluded from programme rolls; discourages ...» more
