Private sector investment in the development of the Bahamas: Lessons learned from successful programme implementation

One of the most significant problems developing nations have faced in recent years has been finding effective ways of implementing development plans and programmes. This is in large part due to the dearth of knowledge about programme implementation, and the lack of attention given to the design of implementation strategies by planners and administrators in third world nations. But, implementation is now becoming a central concern of governments in developing countries and of officials in international funding institutions. Also, development administration theory in the 1980s is likely to have as its dominant focus the improvement of implementation management of development programmes and projects. One way to improve the management of development programmes and projects is to analyse those development projects that have succeeded, identify the factors that appear to influence successful implementation, and disseminate this information as broadly and quickly as possible to relevant administrators and administrative theorists. It is revealing that relatively few studies of this type have been completed. This article outlines the lessons learned from a programme that the Government of the Bahamas is successfully implementing-the encouragement of foreign private sector investment in the Bahamas. The article (a) briefly outlines th'e plan for encouraging foreign investment, (b) describes the basic approaches and techniques the Bahamian Government has learned to use to improve the prospects of implementing this programme, and (c) indicates how this experience may be potentially useful in guiding the implementation of similar programmes in other developing countries.     

Management training for women—what the west forgot?

Drawing on experience of providing women for senior management programmes in developing countries and in the UK, this article considers the issues associated with management training for women. In particular, it discusses the approaches currently adopted in the west, the attitudes that inform these and their shortcomings. It describes the outcomes achieved through an approach to training designed and implemented with women from developing countries, which is somewhat different to experience in the west. It goes on to suggest that at a time when developing countries are importing management training at an increasing rate from the west, measured critique should be applied to assessing the efficacy of programmes, not in respect of their appropriateness in a development context, but on a basis of whether they are effective in their place of origin. Moreover, it is argued that, in fact, the west has much to learn for its own applications from developing countries.     

Building horizontal coordination in Sri Lanka

Horizontal coordination is a focal topic in contemporary public management. However, greater attention has been given to developed states while developing countries struggle to improve the quality of public service delivery amidst skills shortages and siloed organisations. This article presents a foreign‐funded training programme designed to promote horizontal coordination at the most local level of government in a developing country, Sri Lanka, and analyses the factors that contributed to its success. Using data collected through participant surveys, focus groups, and programme‐related projects, the article shows how the formation of a “locally directed, donor‐supported” programme aligned with national development priorities that enabled the country‐level partner institution to deliver a programme that improved horizontal coordination and enhanced delivery of public services. Although findings confirm the importance of contextualising programme design, content, and delivery for achieving aid effectiveness, a novel conclusion was that the participation of elected officials alongside career public servants greatly contributed to the programme's success by creating new levels of trust and facilitating more productive working relationships between key stakeholders, culminating in improved outcomes for local communities. This suggests that elected officials can play a key role in building horizontal coordination in developing nations.     

Training and public sector reform: an integrated approach

This article is partly a response to McCourt and Sola ( 1999 ), who raised a number of important observations about the role and limitations of training in promoting public sector reform in Tanzania. In particular, their discussion of the relationship between individual and organizational change is referred to. The article outlines a possible alternative to the straight training approach to capacity building, and suggests it as a possible model for the kind of OD intervention mentioned in McCourt and Sola, The author describes a programme of capacity building for rural district councils in Zimbabwe, which tried to avoid the mistakes of earlier public sector training programmes. In discussing ways of integrating human resource development into programmes of capacity building and public sector reform, the article adds to the debate about process and blueprint approaches as discussed in this journal by Cook, ( 1997 ), Blunt ( 1997 ) and others. The article concludes with an attempt to assess some of the achievements and failures of the training programme after the initial three years. It draws attention to some of the external factors in the programme operating environment which combine with the internal coordination and management aspects, in determining the overall achievement of such a complex programme. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Quality assessment and assurance in hospitals of developing countries

Quality assessment and assurance programmes - although widespread in many industrialized countries, particularly in the United States, and achieving their objectives of improving the quality of care - have not been introduced into hospitals of developing countries. The paper discusses the factors that might have impeded the introduction of such programmes into these hospitals. The structure, process and outcomes of health care in developing countries are compared with those of developed countries. The attitudes of government agencies are analysed. The difficulties in the applicability of the criteria, standards and techniques - designed in developed countries - to the conditions existing in the hospitals of developing areas, and the reluctance of governing agencies of these hospitals to provide initiative because of anticipation of consequently increased expenditure, are considered to be the two main impeding factors. The paper further argues the need to promote such programmes in these hospitals and suggests guidelines for their development and implementation in terms of general principles, criteria for the assessment of hospital care, and standards appropriate to local conditions.     

Impact of compulsory competitive tendering on the structure and performance of local government systems in the State of Victoria*

Around the world, the public sector is introducing private sector management practices. Abandoning the binary model of public and private sectors the State Government of Victoria introduced the compulsory competitive tendering system under which local government bodies are required to tender out their services to private sector service providers. The aim was to encourage local government bodies to operate in contestable situations so that they can increase efficiency, decrease operating costs, develop clear programme goals and objectives, become responsive to client goals, and improve the quality of goods and services. The article describes how the practice of the compulsory competitive tendering system has introduced major changes to organizational cultures, attitudes of employees, power and authority structures, sytems of decision making, delegation of financial and managerial authority, and the nature of control and accountability. In addition, the article explains the degree of competitiveness and efficiency that local government bodies have achieved and describes how the corporatized structure has helped to achieve the financial objectives. The article also discusses how the role of the elected councils is diminishing under this new management structure and argues that in the absence of a genuine monitoring system and accountability mechanism the local government bodies find it difficult to assert their role as quality service deliverers. This has forced the councils to comply with the requirements of the competition laws which have reduced direct accountability of government to the public. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Decentralizing water supply services in developing countries: Factors affecting the success of community management

This article examines the problem of extending access to potable water through conventionally controlled government services and describes the roles of non-governmental organizations and community management associations in improving service delivery and maintaining local water systems. Six sets of factors that are crucial to the success of community management are identified: adequate incentives, sufficient skills and resources, appropriate processes for water systems operations and maintenance, effective interorganizational relationships, appropriate technology, and effective systems of monitoring, evaluation and feedback. The components that must be taken into consideration in designing and implementing programmes for decentralizing water supply systems through community management are set out.     

Productivity: The Missing Link in Enterprise Bargaining for the NSW Police

The promised productivity gains of enterprise bargaining have yet to be realised by the NSW Police Service and its staff. This failure can be traced to a lack of understanding of workplace reform and productivity. Karpin (1995:3) forecast that improvement in management skills in Australia was required for growth. Enterprise bargaining demands increased productivity. Productivity demands performance management, which involves increased accountability with the establishment of practical performance indicators. As such, productivity and performance management are interrelated and require clear objectives (Directions in Government 1992a:26).     

Bureaucratic Readiness in Managing Local Level Participatory Governance: A Developing Country Context

Participatory governance in developing countries is broadly viewed as an essential prerequisite for successful implementation of public projects. However, it poses many challenges for public bureaucrats in terms of their skills and willingness to engage citizens. Despite the growing evidence of the pervasiveness of participatory governance, research to date has not explored bureaucratic readiness to adopt participatory practices. This research presents findings of a bureaucratic readiness assessment for participatory governance in Bangladesh by exploring how public bureaucrats perceive the value of participation; how they are educated to collaborate with stakeholders; and the extent to which their attitudes are amenable to enhancing participatory governance. Our findings suggest that we can classify readiness in terms of both motivational and educational factors. The study has implications for how readiness can be developed in public officials that may assist in fostering participatory governance in Bangladesh and be informative to other countries experiencing similar issues.     

Administrative reform in Jamaica: A component of structural adjustment

Jamaica is currently undergoing a major innovative administrative reform programme (ARP). The impetus for the ARP stems from the realization that weak public administration (as prevailed in Jamaica) is a major obstacle to the implementation of economic reforms. The ARP thus became a significant plank of the World Bank's structural adjustment lending to Jamaica. The Jamaican programme is probably the leading and most ambitious attempt at administrative reform in the Third World, and the experiences and lessons learnt can be applied to the many developing countries which are contemplating or implementing similar programmes. The Jamaican experience indicates that the most important ingredients for success are political commitment at the highest level, a determined external agency, a carefully designed but flexible participatory programme which learns as it progresses, and good communication of the reform proposals. Administrative reform is a long-term process, and it would be dangerous to pitch expectations too high.     

The consolidation of adjustment: Implications for public administration

The governments of most developing countries have been subject to pressures, especially through structural adjustment programmes, to reduce the direct role of the state in the supply of services. New forms of service supply are emerging, in which government has only an indirect role as enabler and regulator of other actors; but there has been little practical guidance on how these ‘new’ roles are to be performed in the specific context of developing countries. The danger is then of the adoption of inappropriate practices from more advanced countries. The argument of this article is that governments face several difficulties in managing the ‘post-adjusted state’: the inheritance of social and political strains, and of reforms made abruptly under pressure; the complexity of identifying the appropriate role of the state for particular services under particular circumstances; the technical difficulty of managing new administrative roles; and the contradiction, particularly in respect of systems of accountability, between the new and the old requirements on public administration.     

Policy reform and rural development assistance in Tanzania

Tanzania for a long time refused to reform its economic policies along the lines recommended by the World Bank and IMF. Eventually the foreign exchange crisis forced the government to make the changes advocated by its own pragmatic economists and the Western donor community. The reforms were necessary, but not a panacea for all the problems which had plagued rural development programmes over the past decade. Three big problems still face basic-needs programmes: the government administration has very little capacity to manage or back up programmes; neither the national nor district governments can afford them; and rural residents have not compensated for either of these deficiencies through their own participation and contributions. This article looks at two basic-needs programmes in the rural water supply sector to illustrate how these long-standing problems continue to affect implementation. Both programmes are funded and implemented by donors. The conclusion is that donors have not been sufficiently self-conscious and innovative in grappling with the more intractable problems facing rural programme assistance in Tanzania.     

COMRADES OR CULPRITS? DONOR ENGAGEMENT AND BUDGET TRANSPARENCY IN AID‐DEPENDENT COUNTRIES

Budget transparency has come to be considered a key aspect of governance. Over the past decade, donors have invested increasing resources in strengthening processes through which budget transparency in developing countries can be enhanced. According to the 2008 Open Budget Index (OBI) Report, however, aid dependency and budget transparency appear to be inversely correlated. This article looks at the role of donor agencies in promoting or preventing budget transparency in aid‐dependent countries. It looks at significant correlations across the whole sample of 84 countries covered in the 2008 OBI, and analyzes more specific data for a sub‐sample of 16 aid‐dependent countries, before selecting six countries for which more detailed findings are then presented. All of these countries have implemented reforms aimed at enhancing budget transparency, with substantial donor support. These, however, often had only limited success, partly because they were not well adapted to the local context, and partly because donors put limited emphasis on improving public access to budget information. Donor efforts were also often offset by other characteristics of donor interventions, namely their fragmentation, lack of transparency, and limited use of programme aid modalities such as budget support and pooled sector funding. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Decentralization for regional development: A comparative study of Tanzania,Zambia and Papua New Guinea

Decentralization has been a common aim in administrative reform and this article points to common themes in the decentralization programmes of Tanzania, Zambia and Papua New Guinea. The programmes involve both developing field administrative structures on an area basis in which horizontal links between the field staff of different ministries are at least as important as the vertical lines of authority linking field staff with headquarters' departments, and also decentralizing authority over planning and implementing development programmes to local decision making bodies. The impact of these decentralization programmes has not hitherto been adequately monitored or evaluated, and experience of attempts at doing this in Tanzania emphasizes the importance of building into a decentralization programme a method of monitoring it which produces usable information. The article points to the plans for monitoring to be pursued in Zambia.     

The nature of managerial work in the public sector: An African perspective

It has been asserted too often that the development of non-western countries—those of Africa, in particular—is highly dependent upon their assimilation of western management techniques. Yet, the applicability of western management techniques to a non-western cultural milieu remains the subject of debate in the public administration and management literature. Much of the management development literature since the mid 70s has dealt with the replicability of Mintzberg's partition of the nature and contents of the manager's activities in diverse western work settings, in the US primarily. Few attempts have been undertaken to test Mintzberg's findings in non-western settings. In this article, the authors attempt to partially fill this gap in the literature. More specifically, the authors investigate the degrees to which the management roles identified in the US can be applied generically to the public sector in the African context. The findings indicate that perceptions of management roles at the macro level are highly consistent across cultural boundaries. Significant differences, derived primarily from the historic experience of colonial administration and the contingent micro level impact are also noted. The implications of these findings for the design and implementation of management training programmes in Africa are explored.     

Regulatory impact assessment and regulatory governance in developing countries

Regulatory impact assessment (RIA) offers the means to improve regulatory decision‐making and practice. RIA involves a systematic appraisal of the costs and benefits associated with a proposed new regulation and evaluation of the performance of existing regulations. So far, the adoption of RIA has been confined mainly to OECD countries. The purpose of this article is to assess the contribution that RIA can make to ‘better regulation’ in developing countries. Results from a survey of a small number of middle‐income countries suggest that a number of developing countries apply some form of regulatory assessment, but that the methods adopted are partial in their application and are certainly not systematically applied across government. The article discusses the capacity building requirements for the adoption of RIA in developing countries, in terms of regulatory assessment skills, including data collection methods and public consultation practices. The article also proposes a framework for RIA that can be applied in low and middle‐income countries to improve regulatory decision‐making and outcomes. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

(Un)principled principals, (un)principled agents: The differential effects of managerial civil service reforms on corruption in developing and OECD countries

Do management practices have similar anticorruption effects in OECD and developing countries? Despite prominent cautions against “New Zealand” reforms which enhance managerial discretion in developing countries, scholars have not assessed this question statistically. Our article addresses this gap through a conjoint experiment with 6,500 public servants in three developing countries and one OECD country. Our experiment assesses Weberian relative to managerial approaches to recruitment, job stability, and pay. We argue that in developing countries with institutionalized corruption and weak rule of law—yet not OECD countries without such features—“unprincipled” principals use managerial discretion over hiring, firing, and pay to favor “unprincipled” bureaucratic agents who engage in corruption. Our results support this argument: managerial practices are associated with greater bureaucratic corruption in our surveyed developing countries, yet have little effect in our OECD country. Alleged “best practices” in public management in OECD countries may thus be “worst practices” in developing countries.     

Learning how to be efficient property owners and accountable governments: the case of Kyrgyzstan's cities

As a result of government decentralization and property devolution from central to local governments, many city governments in transition countries became the largest real property owners in urban areas. For transitional countries lacking sufficient democratic traditions, efficient asset management represents a dramatic and multifaceted challenge. Kyrgyzstan happened to be among the first transitional countries where cities obtained systematic technical assistance in adapting the most advanced methodology of municipal asset management, which was recently developed under the auspices of the World Bank. Based on experience of work within five pilot cities, the article summarizes factors and methods that help develop a sense of strong ownership and internalization of new asset management vision and approaches among local officials and elected members of city councils. The article presents the experience of how the government of Uzgen, a city of about 40,000 people in South Kyrgyzstan, has changed its attitudes and approach regarding management of municipal property. The article demonstrates how two key processes—improving professional aspects of municipal asset management and developing local democracy though public involvement—have been reinforced by each other. One of the main lessons from Uzgen's experience is that municipal property asset management—because it deals with tangible issues—is a perfect focal point for developing local democracy and communication between a local population and its government. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.