FEATURE ARTICLE
BUILDING SUBSTANTIVE CAPACITY IN GOVERNANCE AND PUBLIC SECTOR MANAGEMENT
The Management Development and Governance Division (MDGD) has initiated a training programme to strengthen UNDP's substantive capacity to deal with governance. The main focus is on systemic change of public sector management and the approach advocated is process consulting.
The first step in the programme was a 10-day course designed and delivered in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (April 3-14) and Nairobi, Kenya (June 5-16) involving more than 60 people - mainly country office staff and some government counterparts. The workshops were led by Mr Len Joy and Ms Sherrin Bennett, authors of the UNDP Manual on Systemic Improvement in Public Sector Management. The aim is that approximately 200 national and international staff will receive specialized governance training over the next few years.
The initiative is the result of discussions on the reform of UNDP, initiated by the Administrator, which have stressed the necessity for strengthening the substantive capacity of the organisation in areas of priority. The focus on capacity building for sound governance will make new demands on field offices and on regional and headquarters staff, as well as on the consultants recruited to support country programmes. It will call for a review of procedures, of performance indicators - with regard to both programmes and staff - and the management of accountability.
The strategy for meeting these demands for capacity building within UNDP must include the upgrading of staff and the involvement of staff in examining the practical implications of the enlarged scope of activities and the changes in roles of the various levels of the organization and in its relationship to countries. It is necessary to create within UNDP a critical mass of people capable of dealing professionally with the management of institutional change and to consolidate UNDP's comparative advantage in this field, where the organization is already quite active.
The training programme should be seen in the context of current preparations of a strategy for UNDP in the area of governance and ongoing work to develop regional strategies on governance.
Topics at the workshops included core concepts of governance; its political, administrative and judicial aspects; decentralization; rationale for systemic change; building change management capacity; process consultation for ownership and sustainability; going beyond the expert approach in technical cooperation; participation in civic society; NGO participation; gender and governance. Much work was based on country cases and the application of the experiences by the country team on the situations to which they returned after the workshops.
The Kuala Lumpur Workshop included participants from 12 country offices in Asia. Participants reported that the workshop provided a valuable conceptual framework for discussions with governments, clarifying concepts, and offering the opportunity to reflect and digest the implications for their country situations. Especially valued was the interactive learning format of the workshop and the exchange of experiences that it encouraged around specific aspects of governance and public sector management. The principles of process consultation and how it affects the choice and briefing of consultants, the design of programmes, the working relationship with government institutions and the understanding of how sustainability best can be promoted was also highlighted in the workshop. The host country provided an outstanding presentation - Malaysia 2020 - of a country with a vision of development, principled leadership and a successful strategy for quality improvement of public sector management.
There was a realisation of the significance of the ongoing paradigm shift in the provision of aid:
* from donor-driven projects to country designed and executed programmes
* from fragmented change, one ministry or organization at a time, to more systemic changes
* from improving public sector management to strengthening sound governance
* from training to capacity building
Several country teams recognised that democracy in Asia has an entirely different face than among Western industrialised nations. Traditional respect for authority and hierarchy encourage the stability of government and this is essential to economic growth and social development. Thus, multi-party politics and freedom of the press are often seen as undermining the continuity and respect which is valued more than individual freedom or a range of possible choices in the larger cultural context.
The evaluations of the workshop called for more attention to particular themes such as human rights, UNDP links to NGOs and civic society, approaches to participation and democracy.
Between the two workshops, the course was modified to respond to issues raised by the Kuala Lumpur participants. The balance was shifted to focus more on the broader, including political, aspects of governance at the expense PSM, giving more attention to civic society and the development of mediating structures and processes; more emphasise was given to the role of social capital and the building of capacity for participation/ownership of development at the local level.
Fourteen mainly English-speaking African country offices participated in the Nairobi Workshop. The diversity of country situations was high, but the grouping of the participants in multi-country teams bringing together people facing similar political situations made the mutual learning easier. The facilitators reported that the participants seemed to share the belief that there was strong public support for the promotion of sound governance, reflecting principles of self-determination, equity, subsidiarity, transparency and accountability, and that a continuous dialogue on the subject needed to be maintained between government and the country office. Leadership committed to these principles need not simply be vested only in the head of state. It is strengthened when seen as a function more widely shared among senior civil servants and parliamentarians. Dialogue with civil society around both principles and issues of good governance can increase public accountability. How to support this is a vital question in many countries that are not content to see democracy simply in terms of multi-party elections. There is a persistent feeling that traditional measures for consensus building at the local level might suggest a different pattern for the evolution of democratic institutions in Africa as well as in Asia.
The participants in the workshops will be invited to join the MDP-Network to make it easier for them to follow what happens and to participate in the exchange of experiences about governance and public sector management. They are also handed the challenge to see how they can further develop the capacity in their country offices to deal with institutional change in the light of the conclusions that they reached and reported at the end of the workshops.
The initial training has been financed under a special grant from Sweden. The programme will continue when more resources are found.
INTERNATIONAL
Public Sector Management Review for the English-Speaking Caribbean
In September 1994, an MDGD mission led by Ms. Maria Zwanikken, Technical Adviser at MDGD, undertook a mission to five countries of the English-Speaking Caribbean (Barbados, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago). The objectives of the mission were (i) to review and independently assess public sector reform efforts undertaken in the region in the past ten years, based on an analysis of the above five countries; (ii) to recommend measures for institutional strengthening at the regional level in view of current regional and global changes; and (iii) to assist the CARICOM/CARICAD Working Group on Public Sector Reform in developing a set of Guiding Principles for Public Sector Reform which could be relevant at both the national and regional level.
The Caribbean countries are struggling for their economic survival. Traditional trading links have been seriously disrupted by changing global trading patterns, fluctuations in the prices of exported goods, and the cost of essential imports. Economic difficulties put a severe strain on public expenditure, with debt management and control presenting a major challenge to most Caribbean countries. other challenges include deteriorating social conditions; rising levels of unemployment, homelessness, and crime; environmental degradation. As a result, increasing demands are placed on the quality of public sector management and the ability of civil servants to grasp the essence of the problems that are presented and to formulate and implement adequate policies and procedures.
Evidence available indicated that the overall efforts made in the region to improve efficiency and effectiveness of public sector management, both at the national and regional level, are very encouraging. Caribbean governments have also widely recognised the need for collaboration on public sector management issues. This has led to a variety of initiatives at the regional level, which includes the creation of the Caribbean Centre for Development Assistance (CARICAD), a regional inter-governmental agency with a mandate to promote, strengthen, and upgrade the managerial capacities and systems in the Caribbean for public policy formulation and implementation in support of sustainable development programmes throughout the region.
The Guiding Principles for Public Sector Reform prepared by the mission at the request of the CARICOM/CARICAD Working Group were based on specific country analysis and a thematic review. The Principles are primarily prepared for the consideration of ministers and senior officials as well as designed to sensitise other stakeholders in society to the relevant issues and so assist governments in the process of managing reform.
The following is a summary of the Guiding Principles:
* Reform must come from within - Many Caribbean countries depend on external agencies for support in dealing with their economic reconstruction, and there is much debate about the impact of structural adjustment prescriptions. The change process must be locally owned, with both political commitment and management leadership, must be participative, and, above all, must be driven by the needs of the public.
* Leadership and Commitment - Strong leadership and commitment to achieve reform is essential if change is to be sustained. This does not equate with centrally imposed solutions as leadership has to be provided in a sensitive way so that those who might otherwise resist are themselves tuned into engines for change.
* Focus, Implementation, and Feedback - There must be a vision in public sector reform of the society that people want to live in and of the public service that is needed to achieve such a society. Fundamental questions about the role of the state need to be addressed to achieve this vision, following discussion with all political parties and representatives from the private sector, trade unions, NGOs and other community organisations.
* Developing a Results and Client Oriented Culture - Public sector organisations are still largely dominated by an administrative culture in which the centre lays down the rules and delegates very little authority to the periphery. Performance is assessed in this culture in relation to conformity rather than the successful performance of tasks. The administrative culture needs to be changed into a purpose-led managerial culture where the achievement of results becomes the dominant ethic, constrained as appropriate by legal and financial requirements.
* Change as a Dialectical Process - Empirical evidence suggests that lasting changes in administrative reform can only be achieved through a participative approach that harnesses the knowledge and commitment of a wide variety of interested parties through a dialectical process.
* Empowerment: The Human Dimension - Organisations are a complex interaction of systems and people which will not work effectively if people in the organisation do not have the right combination of skills, knowledge, and attitudes, and if there is not a structured system in place for the regulation of interaction. The human dimension consist of more than training, it is also about the involvement of those people in the determination of the mission and goals of the organisation, the analysis of its shortcomings and the determination and implementation of solutions.
* Social Equity and Income Distribution - Throughout the region there is a need to strike a balance between the development of market based economies and the development of more equitable and democratic societies. A realistic appraisal of the social consequences of policies such as divesting state owned enterprises needs to be carried out.
* The Use of Regional Expertise - Administrative reform has relied heavily on inputs from consultants from outside the region. In the region, there is a growing number of people sensitive to local conditions and equally capable in the technical aspects of reform.
* Information Technology - The process of management depends on the availability of timely and accurate information and so investment in information technology is essential. This is investment no just in hardware and software but also in the people who will manage and use the computer systems.
* Creation of an Enabling Environment - As governments adopt a different role in relation to the direct provision of services and production of goods through divestment and privatisation programmes, they also need to examine their role in relation to private sector activity. Governments increasingly need to become facilitators of national dialogue and creators of an enabling environment for private sector activity and local foreign investment.
* Fostering Regional Cooperation - Many centrifugal forces resulting from national self-interest threaten regional harmony. To counterbalance these forces, areas for cooperation need to be identified so that a range of centripetal forces can be harnessed to sustain regional initiatives.
The challenges facing Caribbean countries are daunting. Therefore the agenda of the CARICOM is an ambitious one, covering trade, tourism, transport, debt management, agriculture, environmental issues and sustainable development, drug control, information systems, social development and human resource development. Underlying all these issues if the need for sound governance and the capacity of civil services to address them at the national and regional levels. Thus the CARICOM/CARICAD initiative to promote pubic sector reform throughout the region is timely and should be supported by those agencies wishing to promote sustainable human development in the region. The guiding principles provide a framework to assist the initiative, and were well- received during the discussions of the CARICOM/CARICAD Working Group in November 1994. It is expected that the guidelines will be presented in the form of a final report for consideration by the CARICOM Heads of Government in the course of 1995. It is hoped for that the CARICOM Heads of Government will translate the guiding principles into concrete plans of action at both the national and regional levels.
INTERNATIONAL
LIFE GLOBAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE WORKSHOP
On 23-26 May 1995, the second annual LIFE Global Advisory Committee Workshop was held in Cairo, Egypt. It was attended by fifty participants from eighteen countries including mayors, national LIFE coordinators, UN agency officials, members of the Egyptian LIFE Taskforce, bilateral donor representatives and representatives of NGOs, CBOS, NGO networks and cities' associations. The purpose of the workshop was to conduct a substantive and operational review of Phase 1 of LIFE, to make site visits to some of the small-scale LIFE projects in Egypt, and to advance the strategic planning for Phase 2 through a process of group discussions and brainstorming.
The committee identified several lessons learned from Phase 1 of the Programme. These included: urban environmental problems can bring local actors together in new partnerships; CBOs, NGOs and local authorities can create conditions for environmental projects in low-income areas; a flexible methodology that moves the local actors from national consultation to implementing and documenting micro projects to upscaling and policy dialogue can create synergies and momentum; project sustainability involves community participation, financial self-support and viable institutional arrangements; inclusive dialogue is often a process from distrust to compromise, to cooperation, and, finally, alliance; and, decentralization is becoming a major issue in many developing countries.
The external assessment of Phase 1 of LIFE, completed shortly before the meeting, concluded that LIFE is a "state-of-the-art response to urban environmental management needs". The committee was given the opportunity to discuss challenges to the programme identified by the assessment including the linking of micro initiatives to macro policy, providing more resources for capacity building of NGOs and CBOs; providing consistent monitoring, evaluation and documentation; and using a proactive approach to advocacy, dissemination and transfers of local initiatives. A further challenge identified was to transfer LIFE approaches to UNDP's country programmes.
The workshop participants developed strategic objectives and proposals for Phase 2 which included: refining the local-local dialogue methodology from initiation to institutionalization; establishing systematic monitoring, documentation and dissemination activities at the country and international levels; selecting small-scale projects with the potential to be "policy experiments"; scaling-up projects to institutionalization through long-term partnerships; and taking LIFE to other cities and countries through strategic partnerships.
Phase 2 of the programme will include expanding LIFE to new cities in the first seven countries (see Vol.2, No.2); monitoring and documenting existing projects and beginning policy dialogue; taking LIFE to five new countries - Bangladesh, Colombia, South Africa, Lebanon and Kyrgyzstan; linking LIFE to other programmes including the Healthy Cities Project of WHO; and participation in HABITAT II, including holding a global workshop on methodologies of local governance.
UPDATE
DECENTRALIZATION PROMOTION PROGRAMME
Decentralizing governance - from the centre to regions, districts, municipalities and local communities - can be one of the best means of achieving critical objectives of the sustainable human development (SHD) vision. Local actors - government officials, politicians, and representatives of civil society institutions - working in the field are closer to the problems and can disaggregate and tailor development programmes to the needs and priorities of regions and local communities. Close contact between government officials and local populations can allow better access to information with which to formulate more realistic and effective development programmes. Furthermore, decentralization can increase the number of public goods and services provided at lower cost and improve efficiency with which services are delivered
The Management Development and Governance Division (MDGD) has supported many public management reform programmes focused on decentralization and strengthening of local government. MDGD, with the cooperation of UNCDF, has therefore initiated the Decentralization Promotion Programme (DPP) to facilitate the dissemination and exchange of the wide body of experience that now exists in this area.
Justification for the initiative lies in the fact that tremendous opportunities currently exist in developing countries to implement decentralization policies and programmes. The global trend towards democratization is conducive to implementing decentralization programmes. The capacity of regional and local governments, as well as civil society institutions, has expanded considerably during the past four decades. Similarly, there is an enhanced political awareness at the local level which will increasingly result in "pressure from below" to ensure that more power and resources are decentralized to regional and local governments and that administrative and political accountability is ensured. Developing countries have also accumulated considerable experiences in designing and implementing decentralization programmes.
Decentralization has, however, often been impeded by the inability of local government in developing countries to significantly increase their local revenue. Central governments usually keep the most buoyant sources of revenue for themselves and local government lacks adequate capacity for tax collection. Local governments are therefore are unable to perform new functions and continue to act as bureaucratic instruments of the centre rather than as generators of alternative values, preferences and aspirations. Decentralization efforts are also often hampered by bureaucracy at the centre resulting in the inadequate release of allocated funds.
In addition, staff shortages, or inadequately trained staff, can result in a lack of capacity for implementing decentralization efforts at the local level. There is often a low status associated with local government positions leading to high staff turnover and lack of commitment to innovate or deal with local problems creatively. Local leaders are frequently seen by central government officials as merely communicators and solicitors for support for national policies, rather than as channels through which the conditions and needs of the local communities are articulated or as mobilisers of local resources for promoting development from the "bottom-up". Decentralization can also open up its own set of problems such as reinforcing provincial inequalities and disparities in levels of development.
However, decentralization programmes implemented in the 1970s and 1980s have begun to demonstrate some successful results. The access of people living in previously neglected rural regions and local communities to central government resources has increased, if only incrementally, in many developing countries which have decentralized. Also, decentralization has increased participation in some cases and has enlarged the capacity of local administrative and political leaders to put pressure on central government agencies. In some countries the administrative and technical capability of regional and local organisations is slowly improving and new organisations have been established at the regional and local levels to plan and manage development. Finally, regional and local level planning is now being increasingly emphasised as an important component of national development strategy, bringing new perspectives and interests into the decision-making process.
The primary objective of the Decentralization Promotion Programme is to provide technical assistance and, in some cases capital investment, to assist developing countries in (a) designing and implementing "downstream", region/area based local development projects and (b) "upstream" analysis and sharing of systemic decentralization issues and experiences.
More specifically, objectives of the programme are as follows:
1. to assist developing countries in designing decentralization programmes at the national level and/or in selected areas/regions/districts to promote the SHD vision;
2. to assist developing countries in mobilizing financial resources at the global, national and local levels to implement decentralization programmes;
3. to provide technical support, and in some cases capital investment, for specific programmes anchored in selected number of countries;
4. to facilitate documentation, analysis and exchange of innovative decentralization programmes and practices at the regional and global levels;
5. to increase global awareness of the need for decentralization programmes in support of sustainable human development; and
6. to provide a framework for unified UN system response to assist developing countries to promote decentralization for SHD.
Assistance to be provided through the programme will be provided at the country, regional and global levels:
* At the country level: Activities will include assistance to governments in design and implementation of administrative, financial, legal, and political decentralization from the centre to regions and local governments; design and implementation of area-based local development programmes by local institutions by providing TA and capital investment; "local-local" dialogue between local governments, NGOs and CBOs; and assistance to strengthen financial and managerial capacity of local governments including capacity for tax administration and cost recovery.
* At the Regional and Global Levels: Documentation and analysis of innovative decentralization experiences; support for regional and global level syntheses, tools and policy framework papers; sharing of decentralization experiences through networks and policy seminars; evaluation of methodologies of local development funds; global advocacy of decentralization and sound governance; substantive coordination among bilateral and UN agency partners.
The Programme will be implemented and monitored through a decentralized structure as in the case of MDP. UNDP's Country Programme Offices and Programme Country institutions, with the assistance of Regional Bureaux, will have primary responsibility in designing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating country level projects within broad global guidelines and concerns.
An outline of the proposed programme is being discussed with operational units of UNDP at Headquarters, Programme Country Offices and their counterparts, and bilateral donors.
For more information, contact G. Shabbir Cheema, fax: (212) 906 6471.