Engaging for Results in Civil Service Reforms : Early Lessons from a Problem-Driven Engagement in Sierra Leone

Engaging for Results in Civil Service Reforms : Early Lessons from a Problem-Driven Engagement in Sierra Leone

Two related propositions have been central in the recent debates on public sector reforms. The first of these is that the appropriate measure of institutional strength is the ability of public sector management systems to deliver ("functionali...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors:	Roseth, Benjamin, Srivastava, Vivek
Format:	Policy Research Working Paper
Language:	English en_US
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2013
Subjects:	ACCOUNTABILITY ACTION PLAN ADMINISTRATIVE REFORM AID EFFECTIVENESS BANK MANAGEMENT BEST PRACTICE CAPABILITY CAPACITY BUILDING CIVIL SERVANTS CIVIL SERVICE CIVIL SERVICE REFORM COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COMPETITIVENESS CONFIDENCE CONSULTING SERVICES CORRUPTION DECENTRALIZATION DONOR SUPPORT ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT EMPLOYMENT EXPENDITURE EXPENDITURES EXTERNAL CONSULTANTS FINANCES FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT FINANCIAL SUPPORT FUNCTIONALITY HUMAN CAPITAL HUMAN RESOURCE HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT HUMAN RESOURCES HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT IMPLEMENTING AGENCIES INFORMATION SHARING INFORMATION SYSTEM INITIATIVE INSTITUTION INSTITUTIONAL CAPACITY INSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTIONAL REFORM INSTITUTIONAL REFORMS INTERNATIONAL BANK KEY STAKEHOLDERS LABOR MARKET LEADERSHIP LIMITED ACCESS LOCAL GOVERNMENT LOCAL GOVERNMENT FINANCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS MANDATES MDAS MINISTER OPEN ACCESS PATRONAGE PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL PERFORMANCES POLICY ENVIRONMENT PRIVATE SECTOR PROCUREMENT PRODUCTIVITY PUBLIC FINANCE PUBLIC POLICY PUBLIC SECTOR PERFORMANCE PUBLIC SERVICES REFORM PROCESS RESOURCE ALLOCATION RESULT RESULTS SERVICE DELIVERY SUPERVISION TARGETS TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE TECHNICAL STAFF TIME FRAME TRAINING WORKSHOPS TRANSACTION TRIALS UNION USES WEB
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2013/05/17751127/engaging-results-civil-service-reforms-early-lessons-problem-driven-engagement-sierra-leone http://hdl.handle.net/10986/15563

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Summary:	Two related propositions have been central in the recent debates on public sector reforms. The first of these is that the appropriate measure of institutional strength is the ability of public sector management systems to deliver ("functionality") rather than the institutional "form" or what these institutions look like. This is a central idea in the World Bank's Public Sector Management (PSM) Approach 2011-2020. Second, and consistent with this, is the recognition that the process of engagement matters in the sense that how problems, solutions, and reform approaches are identified matters at least as much as what the solution is. This suggests that development institutions should focus on bringing a broad range of stakeholders together and facilitate a process of collective problem and solution identification. Recent contributions to the literature describe a "Problem-Driven Iterative Adaptation" approach as a means of putting this idea into practice. While both of these propositions have considerable intellectual and intuitive appeal, they are based on an inductive logic and neither is currently backed with a large body of robust evidence. This paper contributes to this literature by documenting the experience of a civil service reform project -- the World Bank-financed Sierra Leone Pay and Performance Project -- the objective of which is to improve the performance of the civil service in Sierra Leone by targeting a narrowly defined set of critical reforms. The paper concludes that intensive, client-led engagement together with use of a results-based lending instrument provide a promising way forward on a difficult reform agenda.