OVERVIEW
Countries around the world are striving to improve public service delivery, and no blueprint solutions are available. Sophisticated technical solutions have been proven insufficient to improve services for the poor. Experience suggests that without adequate political, administrative and social institutions, service delivery improvements do not come simply through policy reforms, administrative engineering, facility modernization, or staff training. Improving public services requires making policymakers, public servants, and service providers accountable to citizens; and promoting citizen engagement and trust in public institutions. Recognizing the interconnections between institutions, service delivery, and citizen trust and engagement is especially crucial in fragility, conflict and violence settings. The Governance Global Practice supports governments in improving access and quality of public services by developing integrated governance solutions to address service delivery problems in their local contexts.
OBJECTIVES
The Public Service Delivery GSG strives to meet client demand for innovative public service delivery solutions. The GSG supports task teams to develop integrated, context-specific solutions for clients by integrating sector-specific and cross-cutting governance approaches and by harnessing, adapting and applying global knowledge across disciplines.
In working with teams in the Governance GP and in partnership with other relevant GPs, the GSG especially seeks to:
a) identify and address governance obstacles to service delivery at the national and local levels through problem-driven approaches;
b) leverage and contextualize governance solutions according to specific service delivery challenges facing sectors and service facilities providers in local settings;
c) anchor sector-specific solutions (such as teacher management, school autonomy, results-based financing, and hospital management) in multipronged institutional reforms and strategies that gain legitimacy at the political, managerial and social levels, encourage enabling environments for collective action, ensure institutional sustainability of innovative solutions, and bolster a state’s capacity to respond to citizens’ voice; and
d) capture, organize and disseminate transferrable lessons to facilitate continuous learning by the community of professionals involved in public service delivery work.
The GSG pro-actively connects perspectives, people and knowledge across disciplines; facilitates learning and innovation; and distills context-specific experiences and development lessons to meet client needs.
Expert profile:
Ana Bellver
