Other Public Sector Study
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Publication
Support to Civil Service Reform in Indonesia : Report from a Programming Mission to Jakarta
(Washington, DC, 2009-05-07)Civil service reform in Indonesia is needed to sustain the important institutional reform results achieved over the last ten years in various sectors and policy areas and to further consolidate Indonesia as a progressing middle income country. This report summarizes a mission to Indonesia on February 2-13, 2009. The purpose of the mission was to i) map, describe and assess current approach and status of ongoing civil service reform initiatives in selected central government institutions; ii) make recommendations related to scope, focus and approach of continued reforms; and iii) propose to the Government of Indonesia (GOI) a World Bank program of assistance in support of the government's reform agenda. The report is intended to provide a basis for a decision within the Bank on whether and how to continue and scale up an engagement on civil service reform in Indonesia. Aligned with the three objectives, the mission report first provides an introduction to the political economy of civil service reform in Indonesia and an overview and profile of ongoing reform initiatives. It then analyses key civil service challenges, using the dimension in the draft framework for Actionable Governance Indicators as a point of departure. Finally, a possible program for donor support is presented in light of the analysis of key challenges and the political economy of reform. -
Publication
West Bank and Gaza - Technical Aassistance in the Passenger Transport Sector Development : Final Report
(Washington, DC, 2009-04)The 2007 transport sector strategy note identified that transportation in the West Bank and Gaza faces extreme challenges, to the extent that mobility for people and goods is severely curtailed, with consequent impacts on the broader functioning of society and the economy. The constraints on personal mobility within the West Bank and Gaza has greatly reduced the market for travel, and hence the business and viability of the transportation sector. Operators are in a loss-making situation and cannot afford fleet renewal, so the quality deteriorates while some buses eventually stop running and some operators go out of business. One strand of the World Bank response to these challenges has been to provide assistance to the Ministry of Transport of the Palestine National Authority (PNA) to develop a practical strategy for action in co-operation with the operator sector. This report presents the main findings and recommendations, and provides a recommended time-bound action plan. The report provides a basis for the policy-makers at the Ministry of Transport to determine the future direction of the sector, and for investors and other stakeholders to consider the possibilities for investment and engagement with the sector. -
Publication
Guinea - Decentralization in Guinea : Strengthening Accountability for Better Service Delivery
(Washington, DC, 2008-09)The purpose of this report is to present reform options for the implementation of the new code that would strengthen accountability in service delivery. The report is structured as follows: chapter one discusses how decentralization can be an effective tool for improving service delivery and local governance. Chapter two assesses progress in fiscal, administrative and political decentralization, scrutinizes their impact on accountability relationships and makes recommendations to further decentralization, in line the new code. Chapter three analyses current arrangements for service delivery in two sectors (water and education), maps out strengths and weaknesses of existing accountability relationships and makes recommendations, drawing on existing innovative practices in Guinea and/or the region. Chapter four offers recommendations to manage change and maintain the momentum for reform. Chapter five concludes with an outlook. -
Publication
Initiatives Supporting Demand for Good Governance Across World Bank Group Sectors and Regions
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2008-08)This preliminary stocktaking report on the demand for good governance is an effort of the Demand For Good Governance (DFGG) peer learning network to bring together and highlight the wealth of existing knowledge and practices currently available to support DFGG across the World Bank. This report puts forth a framework with key principles for organizing the complex universe of DFGG efforts across sectors and regions. The paper also identifies entry-points areas of development assistance and illustrates a few good practice examples supporting and strengthening DFFG for the World Bank as it builds its understanding of the areas where the institution can scale-up these activities. This report identifies a wide-range of activities supporting DFGG, however, it is worthwhile to note some challenges in collecting information on these activities. The report provides a more detailed review of the overall findings of DFGG work across the Bank. This paper constitute the following sections: an overview of the key DFGG elements in the organizing framework; entry-points for strengthening demand for good governance with case study examples; summary of key findings of the stocktaking; and finally, some challenges that the World Bank needs to address to mainstream DFGG operationally. The annexes constitutes of the following parts: annex one is a compiled list of notable demand for good governance activities supported by the World Bank identified in the stocktaking exercise and by World Bank Vice President Units; annex two provides a brief description of projects to show how the projects and or elements within the projects support DFGG efforts; annex three provides an overview of broad categories of tools and mechanisms supporting DFGG elements in activities; annex four provides a list of World Bank staff contacted and interviewed in the stocktaking exercise; and annex five provides a list of references reviewed. -
Publication
China : Public Services for Building the New Socialist Countryside
(Washington, DC, 2007-12)This report aims to assist the central government to design a strategy for improving public service delivery in rural areas, with a pilot to fast-track implementation of specific aspects of this strategy. In assessing current public service delivery in rural China, the report adopts a methodological framework that focuses on the accountability relationships among the four key stakeholders: the central government, local governments, service providers, and rural citizens. The report has analyzed the role of the four key stakeholders in the delivery of public services in rural areas, the accountability relationships among them, and how the central government guides these roles and accountability relationships. The report concluded that the system of providing rural public services is in a process of transition and that recent efforts have brought substantial improvements, with many benefits already tangible. It added that the government's continuing focus on strengthening rural public services is well justified and that an additional challenge is that the demands for public services in rural areas are changing rapidly. Moreover, the government faces many opportunities but also substantial challenges to further strengthen the system of public service delivery. -
Publication
Local Government Discretion and Accountability : A Local Governance Framework
(Washington, DC, 2007-06)This economic and sector work (ESW) report presents an analytical framework of local governance through the lens of accountability. It intends to establish a methodological basis for analyzing linkages between decentralization and accountability and is based on desk reviews and interviews. The main objective of this report is to present a coherent and comprehensive approach for decentralizing countries to achieve a high degree of local government discretion accompanied by robust accountability mechanisms. This report, which is a direct response to this growing interest, presents various social accountability mechanisms that could complement public sector accountability approaches. It also highlights the operational challenges the Bank's projects on local governance reform must often confront. Accordingly, the findings of this ESW provide, in one comprehensive framework, guidance on both macro policy-making and implementation of decentralization reforms. -
Publication
Somalia Joint Needs Assessment : Macroeconomic Policy Framework and Data Development Cluster Report
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2006-08)Since 1991, the Somali economy has suffered from droughts, the absence of government, and local conflicts. Unlike the 1970s and 1980s when most of the output of the small industrial sector and many services were provided by the public sector, there has been significant (but unmeasured) private investment in commercial ventures, including in trade and marketing; money transfer services; transport; communications; airlines; telecommunications; other services including construction and hotels; education and health; and fishery equipment. In regard to the macroeconomic policy framework, the short to medium-term objectives are to: establish and maintain macroeconomic stability; develop a stable currency and a sound and growing public revenues base; establish core civil service institutions along with accountable budgetary processes, public finance management, and revenue systems; and reestablish financial services. In addition, it is important to establish data systems to secure the data needed to monitor social and economic developments and to inform sound policy and institutional development. -
Publication
China Land Policy Reform for Sustainable Economic and Social Development : An Integrated Framework for Action
(Washington, DC, 2005-12)China has undergone a profound economic and social transformation as it moves from a centrally-planned to a market-oriented economy. Land issues are implicated in this ongoing transformation in numerous important ways - as key factors in China's quest for economic growth, national food security and social stability; as important influences in the rapid growth of China's cities as well as the future of its agriculture; and as central features in local government finance and in the growth and stability of the financial and banking sector. It is clear that decisions concerning land - how it is allocated, how it is used, how it is governed, how it is administered and how it is financed - will play a central role in determining the shape and trajectory of China's economic and social future. The purpose of this report is to present in a synthesised fashion the main lessons that have emerged so far from the World Bank collaboration, and on that basis to suggest concrete proposals for moving forward, in the short, medium and long term. In addition, land policy reforms have sought to put in place mechanisms, incentives and sanctions that will stimulate more rational allocation of land between competing land uses. Receiving particular attention from the central government in this respect has been the problem of accelerating conversion of agricultural land to urban uses. -
Publication
Subnational Administration in Afghanistan, Volume 2. A Guide to Government in Afghanistan
(Washington, DC, 2004-04-01)This report proposes a two-pronged strategy of government action for securing progress in sub-national administration, using the structures, and discipline that form the distinctive heritage of the Afghan state. One strand calls for the center to commit itself to delivering some basic support for provinces, districts, and provincial municipalities, in their functional role as service provider or commissioner, and in their political role as local representative of the unitary state. The second strand of the strategy is comprised of tailored incentives for sub-national administrations, that reflect their institutional and historical roots. The task is to make this de-concentrated system work, through effective incentives at the sub-national level that will entail the provision of valued resources that are triggered by simple measures of administrative effort, not performance, and tailoring the incentives to suit the specific situation of the administration, with distinct differences between the incentives provided to provinces, districts, and provincial municipalities. To this end, the report proposes unconditional commitments from the Government in Kabul to: complete the pension reform, i.e., build, and strengthen capacity within the central administration entities, increasing Treasury authority, and establishing procedures to strengthen the budgetary process. Likewise, it proposes to restore provincial infrastructure, and priority support for provincial health and education departments. By designing specific project support, it is intended to help shift the focus towards pro-province and pro-service delivery objectives. -
Publication
The Role of Postal Networks in Expanding Access to Financial Services : Kazakhstan's Postal Finance Services
(Washington, DC, 2004-01-01)This paper discusses the role of the postal network in expanding access to financial services in Kazakhstan. It reviews the public postal operator within the postal sector and within the broader context of the communications sector. The roles of the postal network and state and privately-owned banks are also reviewed from the perspective of the financial sector development, with particular focus on payments systems development and microfinance. While this country case on Kazakhstan can stand alone, it is an integral part of this large study of the potential of postal networks to coordinate with financial service providers in 7 countries (Egypt, Kazakhstan, Namibia, Romania, Sri Lanka, Uganda, and Vietnam) and 5 regions (Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Middle East and Northern Africa). Within Central Asia and the other countries of the former Soviet Union, Kazakhstan's postal network is widely regarded as a leader and pioneer in postal innovation, setting an example for other postal operators in the region. An in-depth assessment of Kazakhstan's postal network development options could also be a model to guide other postal networks.