Research for this report was unable to find conclusive cases where public financial management (PFM) reform led to impacts on gender equality. This is because PFM reform does not necessarily lead to gender equality impacts, and conversely improvements in gender equality do not always require, or follow on from, PFM reform. It may also be that gender impacts are rarely covered ...» more
Public financial management and accountability
Incentives for gender responsive budgeting
It is difficult to conclusively evaluate the impact of gender responsive budgeting (GRB) on gender outcomes and in turn the impact of incentives on GRB and on women’s empowerment more widely. This is both due to a limited evidence base about impact and to the complexity in assessing and interpreting impact (Combaz, 2013). Literature on GRB is primarily prescriptive and there ...» more
Working with members of parliament’s constituency funds
The key points from this rapid literature review include: CDFs are a relatively recent phenomenon (with most being established from the 2000s onwards), and they are relatively few in number (Barkan & Mattes, forthcoming). As a result, little is known about them. Countries that have used CDFs include: South Sudan; Philippines; Honduras; Nepal; Pakistan; Jamaica; Solomon Islands; ...» more
Practical guidance to integrate gender into public financial management
A medium-sized body of rigorous literature provides guidance on how to integrate gender into PFM systems successfully. Guidance on effective approaches: - Overall requirements are: securing the known enabling factors (such as sustained political support, sufficient capacities and conducive institutional arrangements); adapting to context; involving a range of stakeholders ...» more
New thinking on governance issues
There is a wide and diverse literature on political economy, public administration, public financial management, procurement, and social accountability. This literature search is neither comprehensive nor exhaustive, but instead a rapid review that looks to identify literature that provides novel approaches or insights, as well as notable literature that provides a good ...» more
Prioritising and sequencing public sector reform
While there is a great deal of literature that alludes to the importance on prioritising and sequencing reform, there is very little literature that defines, in detail, what order public sector reform should take place. The exception to this is within specific public sector reform areas, such as Public Financial Management (PFM), where there is significant literature that ...» more
Increasing financial investment in women and girls through gender responsive budgeting
Overall, evidence indicates that it is difficult to attribute financial change to GRB initiatives. There are a limited range of impacts attributed to GRB, however less specific details provided on why initiatives have been successful. Drawing from the literature that is available, some of the identified successes, and factors contributing to their success, include: South ...» more
Civil service reform
Improving a country's civil service can further development goals. Reforming the civil service is important in improving governance, service delivery, economic policy and public financial management. What do we know about what has – or hasn't – worked in civil service reform, and where? What lessons emerge from the literature? ...» more
Budget accountability and participation
Experts agree that the evidence base on budget transparency, accountability and participation is limited and underdeveloped. However there are a growing number of case studies and meta-analyses covering a wide geographic scope and diverse contexts, with a variety of methods and gender sensitivity. Key findings from the evidence include the following: There are examples ...» more
Measuring the impact of PFM reforms on service delivery
Key findings At present there are no reliable, accurate tools that isolate and assess the impact of Public Financial Management (PFM) reforms on service delivery performance. This is due to the complex and indirect relationship between PFM systems and service delivery. A number of factors intervene in the relationship including local incentives and funding channelled outside of ...» more
Incentivising governments to improve service delivery
Although there is substantial research on service delivery, empirical research into how development activities incentivise better service delivery is fragmented (Tavakoli 2012; Joshi 2010). It is increasingly recognised that increasing technical or financial capacity does not automatically translate into improved service delivery performance or better development results (World ...» more
Interventions for collective action and accountability
Collective action has a relatively long history in political science and economic theory, but its application to governance programming in development is a relatively new phenomenon. As such there is little evidence of interventions that have been specifically designed to address collective action failures and increase accountability. There is, however, a range of literature ...» more
Participation in transparency and accountability initiatives
Key findings: Transparency and accountability initiatives have generally tended to centre on achieving ‘downstream’ accountability, referring to the efficient delivery of policies and priorities. The focus here has been on the role of citizens in the implementation of policies. There has been insufficient exploration of how the incorporation of citizen voice and participation ...» more
Impact of municipal billing systems on revenue collection
Key finding: Billing processes play a critical role in revenue for a number of public sector organisations, including municipalities. In the delivery of public services, for example, billing drives cash flow and is the key source of information for customers using these services. This helpdesk report shows that in many countries, reforming billing processes, coupled with ...» more
Examples of successful fuel subsidy removal
Where fuel prices are controlled and subsidised by the government, price increases have often met with broad public opposition and, in some cases, violent demonstration. Where governments have been successful they have needed to ensure that reform was politically feasible and the impact on influential groups was mitigated. There are a number of countries which have instituted ...» more
Public sector provision of services in PNG
Despite the initiation of a series of public sector reform policies in Papua New Guinea (PNG) since the late 1990s, service delivery and accountability remain weak. There has been a disconnect between the adoption of sound policy making and actual implementation at all levels of government. This has resulted in variation in performance between sectors and over time. Specific ...» more
Staff Retention in African Public Service
This helpdesk report identifies lessons learned on retaining staff in the public service in Africa, with a focus on external auditing (Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) and Offices of the Auditor General (OAG)). However, because documented experience from these institutions is scarce, it also includes literature on internal auditing in public bodies as well as experience from ...» more
Trust Funds to Pay Security Forces Salaries
While there is much literature on aid modalities, including MDTFs; and on police reform – there is little that discusses the use of trust funds to pay security forces salaries. This helpdesk research report focuses primarily on the Law and Order Trust Fund for Afghanistan (LOTFA), which is profiled most frequently in the literature that does address this area.LOTFA was set up ...» more
Impact of ‘Resource Curse’ Mitigation
Initiatives to address the resource curse vary in the harms they address and in whether they operate at a national or trans-national level. They include attempts to: reduce corruption through the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI); counteract the ‘Dutch Disease’ using Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs); curb funding sources for militia through the Kimberly Process ...» more
Resource Management and Conflict
There is an extensive literature dedicated to examining the links between the abundance of mineral resources and the incidence and duration of violent conflict. While the ‘resource curse’ thesis has become well-known, claims that an abundance of natural resources increases the likelihood of conflict have been widely disputed.However, beyond the case study literature, there is ...» more
