Other Public Sector Study

335 items available

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Bangladesh: Political Economy of Right to Information
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-04-30) Ahsan, Syed Khaled; Hasan, Sadik; Imran, Nadee Naboneeta
The Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2009, was a milestone in the legal history of Bangladesh to ensure people’s right to obtain information from the government offices and other organizations. This act covers most bodies owned, controlled, or substantially financed either directly or indirectly by the government and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The act aims at giving citizens the right to hold the government accountable. In the 1990s, civil society advocated for the RTI Act as one of the best-fitted tools to establish good governance. The act was drafted by the government and civil society organizations (CSOs) together, following an analysis of a few other RTI Acts. A caretaker administration further cemented the path for the introduction of the RTI Act. The Council of Advisors of the caretaker administration approved the RTI Ordinance in September 2008, and it became formally recognized as a law from October 20, 2008. The democratically elected new government passed the RTI Act in March 2009, in the very first session of Parliament. The context of introducing a law for RTI in Bangladesh was different from that of India. The demand came from the grassroots level in India with a 40-day sit-in protest by a citizens’ rights body in 1996. In the case of Bangladesh, it came from Dhaka-based elites and lacked connection with the grassroots (Article 19 2015). The RTI Act, 2009, helps investigative journalism, but that is not the entire goal of this act. The goal is to empower citizens with information and make livelihoods easier for the ones who will otherwise have no means of getting answers from the state or other social actors.
Strengthening the Citizen-State Compact through Feedback: Effective Complaint Management as a Pathway to Articulate Citizen Voice and Improve State Response
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016-06-21) World Bank
The Palestinian Authority is committed to improving state-citizen relations through various mechanisms including the complaints resolution. The objective of this technical assistance, which has been undertaken at the request of the DGC, is to strengthen the Complaint Handling Mechanisms (CHMs) in five Palestinian ministries/government entities that are supported by World Bank-financed projects, as well as the DGC. This summary report synthesizes key findings that have emerged throughout the technical assistance and formulates Ministry-specific recommendations. It forms the basis of a possible phase II of the project, which would support the implementation of recommendations. The report presents the innovative methodology used to bring together the demand- and supply-side perspectives on CHMs in targeted ministries; the key findings from the survey and the ministry-by-ministry assessments; the key suggestions for improvement; and finally the next steps. The technical assistance has generated high client interest among the concerned Ministries, the DGC and development partners.The technical assistance has generated high client interest among the concerned Ministries, the DGC and development partners. This summary report synthesizes key findings that have emerged throughout the technical assistance and formulates Ministry-specific recommendations. It forms the basis of a possible phase II of the project which would support the implementation of recommendations. The technical assistance also aligns with the focus on strengthening the citizen-state compact specified in the WBG Assistance Strategy FY15-16 for the West Bank and Gaza. The report is structured as follows: Part two presents the context; Part three presents the methodology used to bring together the demand- and supply-side perspectives on CHMs in targeted ministries; Part four presents the key findings from the survey and the ministry-by-ministry assessments; Part five presents the key suggestions for improvement; and finally Part six presents the next steps.
Doing Business in Poland 2015: Comparing Business Regulations for Domestic Firms in 18 Cities with 188 Other Economies
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2015-06) World Bank Group
Poland’s economic growth over the last 25 years has been spectacular. In that period, Poland has more than doubled its income per capita and became a European growth champion. It was the only EU country to avoid a recession in 2009. Its current GDP growth rate is strong. Poland seems to be on the brink of its new ‘golden age.’ Doing Business in Poland 2015 is the first subnational report of the Doing Business series in Poland. It measures business regulations and their enforcement from the perspective of a small to medium-size domestic firm. The idea is a simple one: if entrepreneurs spend fewer resources on regulatory burdens, they will have more time to devote to productive activities. If laws and regulations are clear, accessible, and transparent and, at the same time, enforceable before the courts, entrepreneurs will feel more confident to do business with people they don’t know, and expand their client and supplier network. The gap between the 18 cities benchmarked is significant. By adopting existing good practices found across the country in the four areas measured by this report, Poland would rank 24th out of 189 economies globally, eight positions higher than Poland’s current ranking according to Doing Business 2015, placing the country ahead of France and the Netherlands. Promoting convergence among regions and cities towards the top performers and thus improving the ease of doing business in the whole country is a challenge worth taking.
Practical Approaches for County Governments to Facilitate Public Participation in the Planning and Budget Process
(World Bank Group, Washington, DC, 2015-02) Omolo, Annette
Kenya's new Constitution and supportive legal framework contain multiple provisions requiring both national government and counties to make information publicly available and consult with citizens in planning and budgeting. Citizen participation affords county governments an opportunity to empower citizens on their operations and to deliberate, debate, and influence the allocation of public resources. This working paper presents practical approaches for Kenyan counties to implement public participation in their systems that encourage meaningful public engagement.
Responding to the Challenge of Fragility and Security in West Africa: Natural Resources, Extractive Industry Investment, and Social Conflict
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2015) Maconachie, Roy; Srinivasan, Radhika; Menzies, Nicholas
The inability to unlock natural resource wealth for the benefit of developing countries’ local populations, a phenomenon popularly known as the ‘resource curse’ or the ‘paradox of plenty’, has spawned extensive debate among researchers and policy makers in recent years. There is now a well-established body of literature exploring the links between natural resources and conflict, with some sources estimating that over the past 60 years, 40 percent of civil wars have been associated with natural resources. Following this introduction, Section two provides an overview of interstate tensions in West Africa in order to improve understanding of the drivers of fragility that trigger conflict between countries around extractive industry investment. Here, the discussion is grounded in examples in which interstate tensions have been apparent, including the case of the Mano River Union, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, a region with a history of conflict, and where the exploitation of commercial deposits of high-value resources may continue to have a potentially destabilizing effect. Section three focuses on the decentralization of natural resource revenues, a process that proponents believe can help manage grievances and defuse intrastate tension in areas directly affected by resource extraction, but one that is also not without challenges. Drawing upon the case of Ghana’s Mineral Development Fund, the section explores the potential for conflict (and conflict triggers) to arise when the redistribution of extractive industry revenues to subnational regions takes place. In doing so, it becomes apparent that the capture and misuse of revenues from the fund is as much a political issue as it is a policy or technical one. This sets the stage for section four, which focuses in greater detail on extractive industry-related conflict within catchment communities, and how contestation is most often a result of unequal power relationships. Section five, the conclusion, summarizes and reflects upon some of the challenges and struggles over resource management associated with West Africa’s recent resource boom, and draws out some of the cross-cutting themes. Here, suitable entry points for future lines of inquiry and engagement are identified.