Sierra Leone : Strategic Options for Public Sector Reform
The purpose of this paper is to outline strategic options for the reform of the public sector. The strategic options will be based upon an analysis of the public sector emerging from the civil war, and a longer period of deterioration and decline....
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Format: | Other Public Sector Study |
Language: | English en_US |
Published: |
Washington, DC
2013
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Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2003/08/2499369/sierra-leone-strategic-options-public-sector-reform http://hdl.handle.net/10986/14633 |
Summary: | The purpose of this paper is to outline
strategic options for the reform of the public sector. The
strategic options will be based upon an analysis of the
public sector emerging from the civil war, and a longer
period of deterioration and decline. The strategy will be
expressed in very broad-brush form; detailed planning will
only be possible once the basic strategic decisions have
been taken. Years of corrupt, and ineffective government,
causing - as well as compounded by - civil war, have left
Sierra Leone with poor access to basic services, especially
outside Freetown, with substantial dependence on NGOs.
Expenditure management is weak; there is no effective
accountability; human capacity is weak throughout the public
service; and, the management of policy, and programs is
highly centralized in Freetown, and in the Office of the
President, and the Ministry of Finance. Nonetheless, there
is now a strong consensus in favor of reforming the policy
process, expenditure management, and accountability. And,
there is an ever stronger determination to decentralize the
delivery of basic services. The "options" concern
the rate of decentralization. But, there is little worldwide
experience to suggest that rapid devolution can work in
terms of improving service delivery. Sierra Leone will need
to be creative about the capacity issue: capacity does not
have to be produced by the public sector, but capacity
existing elsewhere can be effectively utilized by the public
sector. So the recommended option is to act aggressively to
build capacity to support the soon-to-be newly elected local
councils. And to be sure to allocate the funds needed to
support their responsibilities for basic service delivery,
which would be expanded as the councils demonstrate their
capacity to perform. |
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