Latest Resources
Briefing | Malawi | More than just ‘demand’: Malawi’s public-service community scorecard
Article / Working Paper, Civil Society, Governance and MDG, Public Administration, Civil SocietyCommunity-based monitoring instruments, such as scorecards, are used increasingly to complement and reinforce conventional mechanisms to strengthen accountability and performance in public-service delivery. While they have been backed by the international community, there is limited evidence on how they work in practice and what conditions they need to be effective. This Project Briefing seeks...
The Benefits of a Big Tent: Opening Up Government in Developing Countries
Article / Working Paper, Civil Society, Public Administration, Academic/Think TankBringing open data and open government under a single banner, Yu and Robinson argue, leads to conceptual muddling that ultimately impedes progress for both projects. They express a concern that superficial commitments to open data “can placate the public’s appetite for transparency.” Drawing on our experiences with the Kenya Open Data Initiative and the Open Government Partnership, we argue...
The role of civil society in decentralisation and alleviating poverty - An exploratory case study from Tanzania
Africa, Article / Working Paper, Civil Society, Local Governance and Decentralization, Public Administration, Academic/Think TankIn many developing countries decentralisation efforts have been planned and implemented as a means to improve service delivery to all citizens, to increase citizen participation, and to improve good governance at the sub-national level. However, until recently, poverty reduction has not been a central feature of decentralisation measures until recently. Donors have begun to realise the...
An Integrated Approach to Policy Analysis: Practical Exercises for Political Economy
Article / Working Paper, Civil Society, Public Administration, Civil SocietyPolitical economy analysis is increasingly recognised as central to the formulation of sound policy strategies. In recent years different toolkits have been created to facilitate this analysis. However, a tool that may address the totality of the multiple dimensions involved in complex reform scenarios is still much needed. In this paper, Mateo G. Cabello aims to explain how the Integrated...
Governance assessments and domestic accountability: feeding domestic debate and changing aid practices
Article / Working Paper, Civil Society, Public Administration, Academic/Think TankThis paper follows on from recently completed research that investigated the impact of donor harmonisation on domestic processes of democratisation. The aim of this research is to further inform donors on how they can operationally redirect their day to day work, if the rhetoric of both partnership and domestic accountability is to be taken seriously. The author highlights how...
Response to ‘What do the Worldwide Governance Indicators Measure?
Article / Working Paper, Civil Society, Human Rights, Justice, Public Administration, Academic/Think TankThis article, published in the European Journal for Development Research is a response to the article “What do the Worldwide Governance Indicators Measure?” by M. Thomas (2009) where he dismisses the Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) as an ‘elaborate and unsupported hypothesis’ because of the failure to demonstrate the ‘construct validity’...
Comparative Study of Contents of Civil Service Statutes
Article / Working Paper, Civil Society, Governance and Gender, Public Administration, Other UN AgencyThis is the fifth working paper in the Document Series of the Department for Government, Labour Law and Administration (GLLAD), and represents the first to focus on issues of concern in the field of labour law formulation and revision. It responds to the 2000-01 Programme and Budget work item – and operational objective (No. 4cb) of strengthening the partners to social dialogue –...
Off Track? Findings from South Africa’s First APRM Implementation Report
Africa, Article / Working Paper, Civil Society, Corruption, Democracy, Public Administration, Civil SocietyThis paper summarises and analyses the First Report on the Implementation of South Africa’s African Peer Review Mechanism Programme of Action (Implementation Report). Although the Implementation Report was initially praised at the African Union Summit in January 2009, a closer look reveals many of its faults and deficiencies. It appears that the report was rushed in order to meet a...
Measuring the Progress of Societies - Newsletter
Article / Working Paper, Civil Society, Governance and MDG, Public Administration, Inter-Governmental OrganizationSince its formal establishment almost two years ago, the Global Project on “Measuring the Progress of Societies” has been a successful vehicle for raising awareness and mobilising political support towards better progress measures. At the 3rd OECD World Forum in Busan, Korea last October, close to 2000 participants from over 100 countries came together to exchange best practices and...
China Urban Services and Governance
Article / Working Paper, Asia and the Pacific, Civil Society, Public Administration, Inter-Governmental Organization, DonorThe study addresses governance challenges in public service delivery in China. It builds on the citizen scorecard survey conducted in five Chinese cities in 2006 to gauge citizens’ experience with public services, and demonstrates the usefulness of citizens’ feedback for policy development and implementation. Public service delivery has drawn government attention in China. China has a...