Building Effective, Accountable and Inclusive Institutions in Europe and Central Asia: Lessons from the Region
Countries around the world are facing the need to build effective, accountable, and inclusive institutions. This book explores how governance and institutions play a key role in building economies and delivering quality public services to the people across all countries in Europe and Central Asia (ECA).There has never been a more important moment to tackle this agenda, as countries grapple with increasing fragility and migration flows, more complex service delivery requirements, and greater demands for transparency and inclusion, all in a more resource-constrained environment. The COVID-19 pandemic crisis has provided new evidence of the need for effective, accountable, and inclusive government responses.
Building on the World Bank’s vast engagement in the region and on a 2019 Regional Governance Conference in Turkey, this book provides a useful insight into frameworks, lessons, and results of governance reforms in ECA countries. The book consists of six chapters, each corresponding to one of the governance areas around which governments across the world organize their institutional functions. Each chapter contains background and analysis by World Bank specialists, complemented by country case studies authored by regional experts and policymakers.
Highlights:
Chapter 1, Strengthening Public Policy Processes, discusses how societies find ways to determine national priorities and engage in effective and inclusive policy formulation and coordination to address the needs of their people.
Chapter 2 addresses the issue of Managing Public Resources Effectively. Effective public resource management depends on strengthening core government systems in four areas: revenue mobilization
Chapter 3 tackles the Governance of Service Delivery. There is an increasing need to make service delivery more effective, reaching all segments of the population with high quality – a necessary condition for building trust.
Chapter 4, on Public-Private Collaboration and Economic Governance, presents alternative ways to ensure the productive relationship between government and the private sector that is needed for producing sustained growth and providing opportunities for all. Governments should consider the entire toolbox of the public-private interface to scale up the investment in critical public services and infrastructure
Chapter 5, discusses Drivers and Enablers of Policy Effectiveness, starting with a discussion on how to make policies and services more effective and what main elements societies need to consider when planning and implementing reforms. The identification of societal problems, the formulation of policies to address these issues, the allocation of resources across competing demands, and the implementation of specific solutions do not happen in a vacuum.
Chapter 6 focuses on the Promise of GovTech and how technology can support all public sector efforts, discussing both the advantages and risks associated with technology. Governments face many disruptive technological challenges to their traditional governance systems and are realizing the importance of managing technology responsibly: with integrity, authenticity, and accountability.
