What is the role of service delivery in promoting social and political pro-poor change? How does it contribute to the avoidance of future conflict? How does it strengthen institutions in countries emerging from conflict? This report, by Bradford University, examines service delivery in Mozambique, Uganda, Cambodia and East Timor. It looks at the relationship between service delivery and violent conflict, showing how it changes. It tries to determine appropriate and sustainable service delivery systems.
Delivery of services such as health and education can play an important role in the context of conflict. The distribution of resources and their accessibility to different groups can address existing social inequalities. On the other hand, it can heighten them. Equity and inclusiveness are critical to ensuring that service delivery promotes sustainable peace. They are also indicators of sustainable peace. However, because peace-building has rarely been an explicit objective of interventions, it is difficult to gauge the effectiveness and impact of service delivery in this regard.
There are a number of issues that can help maximise the capacity of service delivery to promote sustainable peace. These include the need for strategic analysis and an integrated approach, supporting equitable distribution of, and access to, resources. Also important are: legitimacy, representing the poor, empowering women and harnessing non-state actors within a regulatory framework.
- Since service delivery programmes are generally run through the state, service delivery interventions touch on issues of legitimacy.
- Service delivery can play a role in strengthening the representation of poor people through user groups, parents associations and civil society organisations.
- The engagement of the poor in decision-making takes time, particularly when people are most concerned with meeting their immediate needs.
- This is particularly true for women, who usually have responsibility for child-care and the strongest interest in delivery of services, but who may be under-represented in user groups.
- Choices between state and non-state actors need to reflect the interests of poor people.
- Systems of public accountability are required and, where service delivery is privatised, the state will need to ensure socially responsible regulation.
It is clear that service delivery interventions directly impact on conflict.
- To promote sustainable peace-building, interventions need to be developed through ongoing strategic analysis of the causes of conflict and the role of different actors in conflict and development.
- Analysis enables the identification of indicators to gauge more accurately the positive and negative impact of the support provided.
- Early government prioritisation of policy reform and allocation of resources for service delivery are critical to development actors.
- Reform of services as countries emerge from conflict provides important opportunities for ensuring the representation of poor people in the formation of service delivery policy.
- Service reform provides opportunities for strengthening local ownership of these services through ongoing monitoring.
