Challenges of Making Donor-Driven Public Sector

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Challenges of Making Donor-Driven Public Sector Reform in Sub-Saharan Africa Sustainable: Some Experiences from GhanaAntwi Kwabena Barima & Analoui Farhada a b

Department of Geography and Regional Planning, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghanab

Department of Development and Economic Studies, University of Bradford, Bradford, United Kingdom Available online: 20 Oct 2010

To cite this article: Antwi Kwabena Barima & Analoui Farhad (2010): Challenges of Making Donor-Driven Public Sector Reform in Sub-Saharan Africa Sustainable: Some Experiences from Ghana, International Journal of Public Administration, 33:12-13, 635-647 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01900692.2010.514463

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International Journal of Public Administration, 33: 635647, 2010 Copyright Taylor & Francis Group, LLC ISSN: 0190-0692 print / 1532-4265 online DOI: 10.1080/01900692.2010.514463

Challenges of Making Donor-Driven Public Sector Reform in Sub-Saharan Africa Sustainable: Some Experiences from GhanaAntwi Kwabena BarimaDepartment of Geography and Regional Planning, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana

Downloaded by [City University of Hong Kong Library] at 04:55 14 March 2012

Analoui FarhadDepartment of Development and Economic Studies, University of Bradford, Bradford, United Kingdom

This article investigates the difculties associated with the sustainability of implementing donor supported public sector reform respecting human and institutional capacity building interventions in Ghana. It is based on an exploratory case study design; it triangulates both secondary and primary sources of data. Employing self-completing questionnaire and interview schedule tools it covered 105 local government employees from national, regional, and district levels as well as interviewed 16 senior public ofcers in 9 public and quasi-public organizations. These primary sources were complemented with relevant secondary documents. The article nds that donor funded public sector reform initiatives can either facilitate or constrain the expected improvement promised by reform due to the nancial and technical resource inadequacies experienced in Ghana. In this regard, public sector reformers have to become innovative and adaptive in delivering public services, since the mechanistic donor-driven reform agenda tends to affect the quality of service delivery. Keywords: Ghana, public sector reform, sustainability, capacity building, human and institutional capacity; donors

BACKGROUND At the end of the 20th century, a post-bureaucratic paradigm of public management was rmly entrenched in many countries, reecting the outcome of the myriad of reforms intended to enact a break from the traditional model of public administration underpinned by Webers (1946) bureaucracy, Wilsons (1887) policy-administration divide, and Taylors (1911) scientic management model of work organization. In other words, public sector reform (PSR) has been a common experience across the globe despite its different focus and foci (OFlynn, 2007; Pollit & Bouchart, 2004).

Correspondence should be addressed to Analoui Farhad, Department of Development and Economic Studies (DES), University of Bradford, Bradford, West Yorkshire, BD7 1DP, UK. E-mail: f.analoui@ bradford.ac.uk

In the literature, scholars and practitioners have referred to the reforms of the last two decades of the 20th century as the new public management (NPM). As has been alluded to in the introductory paragraph, NPM was a reaction of the perceived weaknesses of the traditional model of public administration (OFlynn, 2007; Stoker, 2006), and it encompassed a critique of monopolistic forms of service provision and an argument for a wider range of service providers together with a more market-oriented approach to public sector management (Stoker, 2006: 45). In this respect, the NPM has been described variously as: structural, organizational, and managerial changes in the public sector; innovation and improvement in government; a new development paradigm to modernize governments; and reinventing government (Aucion, 1995). Observations gathered from opponents and proponents are, that though a loaded concept new public management generally implies a change that should be benecial a deliberate move from a less desirable past to a more desirable future (Ayeni, 2002).

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In articulating the new public management paradigm in the early 1990s, (Hood, 1991: 45) set out its key doctrinal components to include: Heads-on professional management; Explicit standards and measures of performance; Greater emphasis on output controls; Disaggregation of units in the public sector; Greater competition in the public sector; Private sector styles of management practice; and Greater discipline and parsimony in resource use.


According to Hood (1991) the doctrinal elements tend to dene four reinforcing megatrends: a. slowing down or reversing government growth; b. privatization and quasi-privatization; c. automation in the production and distribution of public services; and d. an international agenda in public sector reforms. It is from this conceptual background that Borins (1998), attempted to provide what new public management represents from the perspective of Commonwealth countries experiences as an integral part of the global public sector reform agenda suggested by Hood (1991). Based on the experiences of over 23 Commonwealth countries, Borins (1998:3839) summarized what new public management paradigm represents as basically having ve complementary themes, illustrated in Figure 1. The general consensus is that, NPM will continue to occupy the attention of development thinking because of renewed appreciation of the public sectors role in recent years. For instance, in the 2000/2001 World Development Report, the World Bank concluded that new public management has great potential to reduce poverty and that good government institutions are associated with higher income

growth, national wealth, and social achievements (World Bank, 2001). Notwithstanding the support NPM enjoyed in the last two decades of the 20th century, no one can deny the reality that cracks have occurred and the search for a new way of thinking about, and reenacting public management practice has begun, in part to address the supposed weaknesses of new public management (OFlynn, 2007). This paradigmatic change is an attempt to redene a new way of thinking about the state, its purpose, and ultimately ways of functioning, operating, and managing. This innovative thinking is both post-bureaucratic and post-competitive allowing us to move beyond the narrow market versus government failure approaches which were so dominant in the new public management era, (Dreschler, 2005; Hefetz & Warner, 2004). Contributing to the post-bureaucratic and postcompetitive conceptualization of new public management, Dreshler (2010) posits that new public management ignores the fundamental difference between the public and private spheres. Arguing that the state is devoted primarily to its monopoly of power, force, and coercion on the one hand and its orientation towards the public good, and the Commonwealth on the other, while the business world legitimately focuses on prot maximization. Thus, new public management critics have questioned the use of business techniques within the public sphere and thereby confuse the most basic requirements of any state, particularly in a democracy, with a liability: regularity, transparency, and not recognizing that due process are simply much more important than low costs and speed, which new public sector management acknowledge. From the Commonwealth countries experiences, Borins (1998) description of new public management (see Figure 1) seems to amply capture the subject of not only the signicance of decentralized management, but also the issues of human and institutional capacity building. Decentralized management, in both public and private sector organizations has become critical in an increasingly

PROVIDING HIGH QUALITY SERVICES THAT CITIZENS VALUE

INCREASING MANAGERIAL AUTONOMY BY REDUCING CENTRAL AGENCYCONTROL

BEING RECEPTIVE TO COMPETITION & OPEN MINDEDNESS ABOUT WHAT PUBLIC SERVICES SHOULD BE PERFORMED BY PUBLIC SERVANTS/PRIVATE SECTOR

NPM DEMANDING, MEASURING & REWARDING BOTH ORGANISATIONAL & INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE

PROVIDING HUMAN & TECHNOLOGICAL RESOURCES THAT MANAGERS NEED TO MEET THEIR PERFORMANACE TARGETS

FIGURE 1

Five Interrelated Meanings of the New Public Management.

Source: Adapted from Borins (1998).

GHANA: DONOR-DRIVEN PUBLIC SECTOR REFORM

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knowledge-based globalizing economy. In particular, human and institutional capacity building for effective and efcient public service delivery has been supported by developed, transition, and developing economies under the notion of the public sector reform (PSR). It is generally maintained by most commentators that the effective and successful initiation of most decentralized management program largely depends on its design, but most importantly, the human and institutional capacity arrangements governing its implementation (Kahkonen & Lynya, 2001; Pollit, et al., 1998). However, one critical issue of concern under the new post-bureaucratic thinking is about the sustainability of government reform initiatives, policy-making, and service delivery especially donor supported public sector reform in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and the aftermath of their exit. In Ghana, the key systemic constraints in the public sector identied before the launching of her Economic Recovery Program (ERP) in April 1984, include: institutional weaknesses, under-development, under-utilization and management of human resources, poor performance management and incentives systems, and the lack of an effective management information system (World Bank, 1999). To address these challenges, the Government of Ghana (GoG) has for nearly two decades been reforming the public sector. These reform efforts have resulted in major changes in policy, processes, and practices with the aim of strengthening the capacity of her public administrative system. The purpose of this article is to contribute to the literature and practice of public sector management reform by sharing the Ghanaian donor-driven reform experience and its sustainability implications, especially as it occurs in the local government ministry. The question this article seeks to answer is, how has the public sector reform in Ghana been funded and what implications has the source of funding had for sustainable human and institutional capacity building initiatives? The rest of the article is organized as follows. Section two places the article in theoretical context by briey explaining the concept of capacity building and the general public sector reform policies supported by donors. The third section presents the methodology, whilst section four presents some evidence of how donor supported public sector reform projects worked in Ghana and their sustainability challenges. Section ve discusses the key ndings in the context of the literature, with the concluding section examining the implications of the ndings for policy and public sector reform practice in developing, transition, and emerging economies.


address the multifaceted problems in the public sector in an adequate and sustainable way. According to Enemark (2003), capacity building has become a buzz word, and is increasingly seen as a key component of donor supported projects in developing and transition countries e.g.., World Bank projects. The term capacity has many different meanings and interpretations depending on who uses it and in what context. Generally speaking capacity building as a notion is closely related to education, training, and human resource development. This conventional concept has changed over recent years towards a broader and more holistic view, covering both institutional and country-based initiatives (Enemark, 2003: 2). In an attempt to look at the concept more effectively the discussion will attempt to dene what capacity is; describe the lack of capacity and the need for capacity building; levels and dimensions of capacity building; and look at the broad areas in which donors provide capacity building in PSR. Meaning of Capacity: Capacity is the power or ability of somethinga system, an organization, a person, to perform and produce or deliver an activity properly or effectively. According to the United Nations publication on Capacity Assessment and Development (UNDP, 1998), capacity is dened as the ability of individuals and organizations or organizational units to perform functions effectively, efciently and sustainably. In the view of Enemark (2002: 3) this conception of capacity has three important aspects: i. it indicates that capacity is not a passive state but is part of a continuing process; ii. ensures that human resources and the way in which they are utilized are central to capacity development; and iii. it requires that the overall context within which organizations undertake their functions will also be a key consideration in strategies for capacity development. Larbi (1998) cites the Asian Development Bank denition of capacity in the context of public sector as the abilities of governments to plan, manage and sustain the development process of their economies and societies; and in keeping with the aspirations and potential of their respective countries people (ECDPM, 1994:7; cited by Larbi, 1998:37). Lane and Wolf (1990) have dened capacity as the ability to govern, which rests on the human resources of governmental agenciesthe people who participate in and enable the process of governance i.e., their collective memory, commitment, technical prociency, and program competence. Given that state administrative capacity rests on human resources to the issue of motivation, attitudes and performance are critical components of capacity building. Grindle and Hildebrand (1995:100) dene capacity simply as the ability to perform appropriate tasks. Implying that capacity is task performance i.e., what is required to achieve purposes

THE CONCEPT OF CAPACITY AND CAPACITY BUILDING Generally, in most developing and transition countries there is a lack of human and institutional capacity to

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effectively, efciently, and sustainably either at individual, group, community, organization or governmental level. Capacity Assessment: Capacity is not the same as capacity-building. Rather the absence of capacity necessitates capacity building; hence effective capacity building must be preceded by assessment of existing capacity (Larbi, 1998). Therefore, capacity assessment or diagnosis is an essential basis for the formulation of capacity development. Thus capacity assessment represents a structured and analytical process whereby the various dimensions of capacity are examined within the broader systems context, as well as evaluated for specic entities and individuals within the system. Capacity Development: This concept is broader than institutional development since it includes an emphasis on the overall system, environment, and context within which individuals, organizations, and societies operate and interact. It is also important to be cautious not to suggest that capacity development implies that there is no capacity in existence; rather it includes retaining and strengthening the existing capacities of people and organizations to perform their tasks. A few specic denitions may sufce. For example, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) (1998) has dened Capacity Development as . . . the process by which individuals, groups, organizations, institutions and societies increase their abilities to: i. perform core functions, solve problems, dene and achieve objectives; and ii. understand and deal with their development needs in a broad context and in a sustainable manner. It has been argued by Enemark (2003:4) that the different denitions of capacity building adopted by various donors and commentators largely support the United Nations (UN) conception of denition of capacity presented earlier. Thus by following this approach, capacity is seen as a development outcome in itself and distinct from other program outcomes such as technical and professional competence in certain elds. Measures such as education and training become a means to an end while the end itself is the capacity to achieve the identied development objectives over timesuch as to establish and maintain national public institutional infrastructures for sustainable development (Enemark, 2002). Levels and Dimensions of Capacity Building: According to the UNDP (1998), within the context of how to dene capacity, determining a lack of capacity and ultimately developing capacity, three levels and dimensions have been identied as presented in Box 1. Given that developing the capacities of public services requires technical and nancial resources that many developing economies lack, the need to seek external (donor) support becomes inevitable.

In conclusion, it is useful to acknowledge that capacity building should be seen as a comprehensive methodology aimed at providing a sustainable outcome through assessing and addressing a whole range of relevant issues and their inter-relationships, especially in the public sector. The Public Sector Reform literature from the UNDP, the World Bank and other commentators tends to suggest that donors have over the past two decades supported developing and transition countries in four areas: (i) administrative capacity building; (ii) strengthening policy capacity; (iii) institutional reform; and (iv) public service downsizing, which are illustrated in Box 2.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY This article is drawn from an exploratory case study, which was carried out in Ghana in 2003. The data were collected from the Local Government Service, comprising the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD) at the national level in the national capital, Accra, the Central Regional Coordinating Council (CRCC) in Cape Coast, and the Komenda Edina Eguafo District Assembly (KEEA-DA) in Elmina. Both primary and secondary data sources were employed for the study. Self-completing questionnaire and interview schedule tools were used to elicit data from 105 local government employees selected from the main targeted organizations at national, regional, and district levels. A semi-structured interview guide was also employed to seek the views of key persons in 9 public and quasi-public organizations, reaching 16 individuals in all. Relevant secondary documents complemented the two primary data sources. Triangulating sources and data, qualitative and quantitative methods were used to analyze the data. Qualitative analysis took the form of transcribing recorded tapes and content analysis of interviews and documents, whilst quantitative analysis took the form of descriptive statistics such as frequencies, percentages, mean, mode, and median standard deviation supported by relevant charts and graphs where appropriate.

PUBLIC SECTOR REFORM CAPACITY BUILDING CHALLENGES: SOME EVIDENCE FROM GHANA Introducing the System-wide Public Sector Reform Initiative The evidence emerging from the study suggests that the genesis of public service reforms in Ghana has an historical antecedent to the well reported Economic Recovery Program launched in April 1983. Available data suggest that by the end of the second Economic Recovery Program (ERP II) in


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1987, the country needed to enter into a phase of accelerated export-led growth inuenced by a strong social equity that would deliver a modern economy in the 21st century (Government of Ghana, 1987a, 1987b). Findings from the Ghana Capacity Development and Utilization Initiative working paper (World Bank, 1999), complemented by numerous reports and policy documents published by the Government of Ghana (GoG) under the auspices of the national institutional renewal program, indicate the urgent action was required to address a number of national capacity issues that had constrained Ghanas post independent development efforts. Admittedly, Ghanas development capacity constraints had not changed at the beginning of the 1980s, but continued to be multi-faceted in character manifesting as: Lack of adequate human and institutional capacity; Under-utilization of existing national capacity; A bottom-heavy, over extended and inefcient public sector;

Lack of clear policies and mandates to guide government institutions, and coordination between these instructions; Weaknesses in policy analysis and research capacity as well as in translating policy into practice; Under-performing civil service, largely de-motivated by low pay, inadequate incentives, and perceived corruption; Over-reliance on long-term expatriate technical assistance; and An ill-equipped private sector expected to be the engine of growth for Ghanas economic development effort.

The issues identied above are indicative of the enormous development challenges that had been supercially tackled earlier through sector-based reform measures throughout the Economic Recovery Program I (19831986), and Economic Recovery Program II (19871999) periods, which

The broader system/societal level: The highest level within which capacityinitiatives may be cast is the system or enabling environment level. For development initiatives that are national in context the system would cover the entire country or society and all subcomponents that are involved. For initiatives at a sectoral level, the system would include only those components that are relevant. The dimensions of capacity at systems level may include a number of areas such as policies, legal/regulatory framework, management and accountability perspective, and the resources available.

The entity/organizational level: An entity may be a formal organization such as government or one of its departments or agencies, a private sector operation, or an informal organization such as a community based or volunteer organization. At this level, successful methodologies examine all dimensions of capacity, including its interactions within the system, other entities, stakeholders, and clients. The dimension of capacity at the entity level should include areas such as mission and strategy, culture and competencies, processes, resources (human, financial and information resources), and infrastructure.

The group-of-people/individual level: This level addresses the need forindividuals to function efficiently and effectively within the entity and within the broader system. Human Resource Development is about assessing the capacity needs and addressing the gaps through adequate measures of education and training. Capacity assessment and development at this third level is considered the most critical. The dimension of capacity at the individual level will include the design of educational and training programs and courses to meet the identified gaps within the skills base and number of qualified staff to operate the systems.

BOX 1

Levels and Dimensions of Capacity Building.

Source: Adapted from Enemark (2003: 45).

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ADMINISTRATIVE CAPACITY BUILDING Measures under this heading respond to management and organizational problems in the public service. Activities covered include: rganizational restructuring and renewal including, strengthening of capacity to be more responsive to citizens; strengthening of coordination between government agencies; staff training and recruitment; employee performance management, wage and non-wage incentives, job classification systems and payroll and personnel systems.

INSTITUTIONAL REFORM

These measures are aimed at making the state more open and accountable. They include: civil service codes of conduct and safeguard concerning pubic procurement; strengthening institutions and procedures that act as an accountability check on the executive, such as the judiciary, independent oversight bodies and rules related to public access to information.


STRENGTHENING POLICY CAPACITY These measures are aimed at building capacity to develop public policy. They include: rationalizing and standardizing the decisionmaking process, improving the flow of policy-relevant information, etc. strengthening capacity for policy-analysis.

PUBLIC SERVICE DOWNSIZING Downsizing has been motivated by fiscal restraint and a desire to move toward a more market-oriented economy. Interventions have included: workforce reductions involving compensation schemes, implemented through voluntary early retirement, hiring freezes, attrition, enforcement of the retirement age, etc; wage reforms such as wage-bill caps, wage freezes and monetization of non-cash allowances and benefits.

BOX 2

Donor-Supported Public Sector Reform Policies by Developing Countries.

Source: Adapted from Schacter (2001: 23).

is a direct consequence of the early experiences of structural adjustment (Kiggundu, 1998; Sachs, 2005;). The GoG came to the conclusion that the fundamental problem in the public service was systemic failure to utilize available human resources, rather than the lack of trained people, and thus emerged the capacity development and utilization project. Given the systemic nature of the capacity problems in Ghana, a holistic long-term process approach to systematically remove the recognized institutional bottlenecks was recommended. The optimal approach then was to go for a strategy that would be participatory in principle and would consider the concerns and interests of all stakeholders in national economic development, be they in the public or in the private sector (Government of Ghana, 2001, 2002). Documented evidence from the national institutional renewal program publications suggests that on the governments own initiative, a National Capacity Building Steering Committee was established in 1993. The World Bank and

the UNDP were invited to contribute technical and nancial support for an analytic study on capacity issues in Ghana (World Bank, 1999). The preliminary assessment recommended that priority attention be given to the utilization of existing capacity, by addressing the core processes through which government and the private sector can partner with the momentum for any initiative that must be internally directed. The continuous and systematic documentation of information provided the necessary resource material and dened an agenda for a national capacity development workshop. It was during that workshop that previously separate sector-bound projects and initiatives converged, to create greater synergy and better coordination of Ghanas Public Sector Reform. The eventual outcome of the 1994 workshop led to the launching of the National Institutional Renewal Program (NIRP), in the same year. This is a system-wide program subsuming previous capacity building initiatives and breaking new ground in the area of Public Sector Reform.


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The Civil Service Performance Improvement Program (CSPIP) It is appropriate to recognize that the World Bank sponsored the rst civil service reform program in Ghana from 19871993, which was a component of the structural adjustment reforms. The objective of that particular reform project was to contribute to improving the management of resources in the public sector. The project however, appears to have been an afterthought, when it was discovered that an economic reform without civil service reform was bound to fail. Information gathered from the Ofce of the Head of the Ghana Civil Service (Government of Ghana, 1999) suggests that the project was adjudged to have made a fairly significant attempt at reforming the Ghana civil service, including among others, the introduction of a new performance appraisal system based on the setting of objectives and targets, which was linked with an Integrated Payroll Personnel Database. The Integrated Payroll Personnel Database project was aimed at providing comprehensive and accurate personnel and establishment data for improving human resource management. One signicant impact of this initial reform was the reduction in the number of civil service employees from 140,000 to 91,000 (Government of Ghana, 2001). However, further in-depth investigation led to the discovery that the planning and implementation processes were not only imposed top-down, but had limited consultation and participatory management principles involved. Additionally, the reform merely focused on the core activities of the Ghana civil service at the national level, implying that it had some implicit strategic and methodological weaknesses. To address the shortcomings in the rst civil service reform therefore, the design and implementation process of the present Civil Service Performance Improvement Program factored in the principles of participation, consensus-building, and organizational ownership to achieve sustainability. Broadly speaking, the program had bi-focal objectives as reected in institutional strengthening and enhanced service delivery projects. Documentary data analyzed showed that under the Civil Service Performance Improvement Program, 180 Ministry Departments and Agencies under the umbrella Ofce of the Head of Civil Service, made up of 21 ministries (including the Local Government Ministry), 41 departments and agencies, 10 Regional Coordinating Councils, and 110 Metropolitan, Municipal, and District assemblies participated in the reform program as indicated in Table one. Given that reforms take time and require nancial and technical support in the context of building human and institutional capacity, coupled with the acquisition of equipment and logistics, the Civil Service Performance Improvement Program also had some donor funding. For example, when the Civil Service Performance Improvement Program was being designed and tested, the various workshops and sensitization and brieng sessions that needed to be organized were provided for by a World Bank grant and the


Department for International Development (DFID) of the UK, in the form of technical and nancial assistance and funding. It was discovered that a World Bank grant was used to test and conduct beneciary surveys. The full operational phase of the Civil Service Performance Improvement Program, which was executed over a period of ve-years i.e., September 1996August 2001 and costing 5 million, was funded by the DFID. Table 2 summarizes aspects of the reform funded by some of Ghanas international development partners (donors) supporting the reform effort and the specic component of the broader Civil Service Performance Improvement Program in which they were interested when the current reform took off. Arguably, what these outcomes seek to underscore are the apparent difculties faced by many developing countries, especially Sub-Saharan Africa, undergoing reforms in nearly all spheres of the public sector, rather than the quantum of funds provided by donors. Information gathered from the Ghana ofce of the Head of Civil Service and conrmed by various annual reports produced by the National Institutional Renewal Program Secretariat indicated that modest progress had been made by the end of December 2001 within the context of the benchmarks and objectives set under the operational phase of the reforms agenda. The evidence showed that nearly all civil service organizations had gone through the initial phases of the process indicated in Table 2 above. For instance, the number of ministries, departments, and agencies that had completed a performance improvement plan increased from 29 in 1997 to 154 by the end of 2000 (i.e., 85 percent of all ministries, departments, and agencies). An assessment of the Civil Service Performance Improvement Program indicates that this is in line with its program goals and therefore, bears testimony to the effectiveness of the program implementation methodology and technique which had an in-built mechanism that generates employee and organizational commitment and ownership to improve the performance of the ministries, departments, and agencies (Government of Ghana, 2001, 2002).

DECENTRALIZED LOCAL GOVERNMENT REFORM INITIATIVE Regarding the decentralized local government service reform, available evidence gathered indicates that within the same framework of the system-wide Public Sector Reform, the local government ministry implemented human and institutional capacity building interventions in the form of projects. As illustrated in Tables 3 and 4, the decentralized local government service has for nearly a decade been implementing a number of reforms, in the context of projects, with the collaborative support of many international donors. Key among these development partners are the International Development Association (IDA) of

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BARIMA AND FARHAD TABLE 1 Summary of CSPIP Achievements (19972001)

Institution Ministries Departments & Agencies RCCs MMDAs Total

Target 21 41 10 110 180

CDTs Formed 21 41 10 82 154

Beneciary Survey SAI complete 21 33 10 65 129 Started Completed 17 25 10 18 70 16 14 7 7 44

Diagnostic Workshop Completed 17 12 6 5 40

PIP PIP Discussed PIP Implementation Produced & Validated Started 15 6 4 4 29 10 5 3 4 22 10 4 3 3 20

(Key: CDTs -Capacity Development Teams; SAIs -Self Appraisal Instrument; PIP- Performance Improvement Plan). Source: NIRP 2002 Annual Report and CSPIP, 2000.


TABLE 2 Source and Type of Donor Funding to Ghanas Public Sector Reforms Source IDA DFID CIDA EU Amount Provided (in Donor Nation Currency) $20,949,100.00 2,000,000.00 C$1501,100.00 E4,800,000.00 Disbursement (up to December 2001 $7800612.00 2,365,531.00 C$1501,100.00 E750,317.00 Reform Component BPEMS MTEF Fiscal Decentralization Audit Service Implementation Period 19972002 19972002 19982002 19992002

KEY: IDA-International Development Association of the World Bank; DFID-Department for International Development; CIDA- Canadian International Development Association; EU European Union; BPEMS - Budget and Public Expenditure Management System; MTEF Medium Term Expenditure Framework. Source: NIRP Annual Report, 2002.

the World Bank, German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) and Kreditanstalt fuer Wiederaufbau (KW) of Germany, the European Union (EU), Department for International Development (DFID) of the United Kingdom, Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) of Canada, Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) of Denmark, and UNDP of the United Nations. The projects are invariably nationally formulated, and technical and nancial assistance sought internationally, but implemented locally by the Metropolitan, Municipal District Assemblies. It is perhaps appropriate to state that at the decentralized local government ministry the presence and inuence of development partners was demonstrated in its organizational structure. For instance, under the prereform structure there were four-donor funded project units, including i. Local Government Project Support; ii. GoG/German Promoting District Capitals Project; iii. European Union/GoG Human Resource Development Implementation Project, and iv. Developing and Strengthening District Assemblies II Project Implementation. A commentary by a number of the key persons interviewed and summarized in Box 3 tends to support the concern about the apparent inuence of donors and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in the development of human and institutional capacity building courses, seminars,

and workshops for decentralize local government personnel in Ghana. On the merits side of this nding is the argument

The rst difculty is the multiplicity of people offering all sorts of program from all manner of perspectives, with all manner of materials in all manner of ways; such that the MLGRD has not been able to regulate what gets taught for a number of reasons: First, a lot of the sponsorship for these kinds of training comes from development-partners (donors) that you cant tell them where and how they should apply their money. Again, it goes to enhance the richness of the soup so most of the time it goes that way. Second, sometimes when there is the kind of training going on, the ministry is not even aware, because some people even engage MMDAs as partners so that the ministry itself is not aware that these kinds of trainings are going. Thirdly, some of the programs come from other sister ministries, such as the ministry of health, education, feeder roads, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) etc. Some sometimes you nd that some MMDAs are mandated with program, while some districts barely receive any. I think that part of it has been a lack of centralized data base system at the ministerial levelBOX 3. Multiplicity of Human and Institutional Capacity Building Interventions. Source: Key Persons Interviewed or Contacted (KPIC).


TABLE 3 Performance Improvement Interventions by the MLGRD in Ghana - ENHANCED SERVICE DELIVERY Source of Funding Objective & Key Components -July 1994 September 2002 - IDA Credit KFW loan US$ 55.5 m Duration Source Amount Comment -Investment made in town roads, markets, lorry parks and waste management facilities & has enhanced DAs revenue mobilization efforts; -Planned investment made in community upgrading, provision of sanitation facilities for schools, public and households; implemented

Type of Project

Local Government Development Project

Urban Environnemental Sanitation Project

-September 1996 December 2002

US$ 100.3 m -IDA credit; NDF credit; AFD grant; AFD credit & NAM

Urban V

-January 2001 December 2003

-IDA credit; NDF loan; AFD credit

US$ 22.3 m

-Planned investment in infrastructure development completed

Promotion of District Capitals I, II & III

-Improve basic infrastructure and urban services in 12 secondary cities Bawku, Bolgatanga, Wa, Sunyani, Tecchiman, Koforidua, Ho, Keta, Anloga, Cape-Coast, Elmina, Swedru; expand urban services by strengthening nancial, technical and managerial capacities of DAs; -Improve drainage, sanitation and solid waste services in Ghanas major cities of Accra, Tema, Sekondi-Takoradi, Kumasi, and Tamale; -Build capacities of Metropolitan & Municipal Assemblies to manage environmental sanitation services -Strengthen technical, nancial and management capacities of 23 beneciary DAs to improve level and quality of service delivery and enhance access to basic infrastructure in low income areas -Improving and sustainable maintenance of infrastructural and institutional base of selected district capitals in GhanaEjura-Sekyedumase, Onso, Sekyere-East, Sekyere-West in Ashanti region & Kintampo, Atebubu, Nkoranza Wenchi, and Techiman in Brong-Ahafo region -February 1996 December 2003 -KFW loan; GTZ grant -DM 51.8m

-Investment and construction of work made in markets, lorry parks, pipe water supply systems, household sanitation facilities, biogas plants, and abattoirs.

Source: Adapted from 2001 Annual Report, MLGRD, 2002.

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BARIMA AND FARHAD TABLE 4 PSR Performance Improvement Interventions by the MLGRD in Ghana - INSTITUTIONAL STRENGTHENING Source of Funding

Type of Project Capacity Building For Decentralization in Ghana; Human Resource Development program for Rural Action II

Objective & Key Components -Development and Institutional embedding if the ILGS -Improving planning, implementation, and management for projects at 63 districts -Strengthen district and sub-district actors in decision making & Improve service delivery and self-help activities of beneciary communities -Improving democratic decision making, resource management, and strengthen HRD capacity of RCCs in Volta & Upper-West Regions; -Support MLGRD in policy analysis in HRD, Planning & Monitoring of decentralization reform process

Duration - May 1998 April 2002 -February 1997 February 2001 -July 1995 June 2003

Source

Amount

Comment -ILGS in place with two campusesAccra in the South and Tamale in the North -Over 300 local & 20 overseas training done for MMDCEs, DCDs, & other ofcials of MMDAs. -Training in participatory development planning done to equip communities in West Gonja, Kintampo, Hohoe, Atebubu, Nkoranza, & Ejura-Sekyedumase districts; -Wide range of training and other capacity building measures done for a large number of people;

- EU-Dutch -7.7NLG Grant -EU-EDF -3.8 m Euro

-GTZ

-10 m DM


Capacity Building For DAs DSDA II

-June 1999 June 2004

-DANIDA

-27.24M DKK

Source: Adapted from NIRP 2001 Annual Report, MLGRD, 2002.

that, the development partners are undoubtedly contributing to the human and institutional capacity building efforts of both the central and local governments concurrently. However, some of their functional activities have been found not only to duplicate efforts and waste scarce resources, but also tend to take a number of technical and professional frontline personnel of the local governments at all levels away from their position (ofces) to the detriment of their core functions.

DISCUSSION Generally this article found that the ubiquitous presence of donors (development partners) is apparently shaping Ghanas public service reform agenda in the areas of enhanced service delivery, institutional strengthening, and human resource capacity building (Government of Ghana, 1999, 2001, 2002). These notable areas have been found to be in line with the NPM literature, which argues that much of the Public Sector Reform supported by donors over the past two decades or so has broadly covered four areas: administrative capacity building, strengthening policy capacity, institutional reform, and civil service reform (Hope, 2001; Kiggundu, 1998; Schacter, 2001; World Bank, 2000). The evidence gathered shows that from the conception of the system-wide reform agenda that established the National Institutional Renewal Program, through the design of the Civil Service Performance Improvement Program, specic Public Sector Reform initiatives by various ministry departments and agencies, have all been implemented with funds and technical support largely from Ghanas international

development partners such as the World Bank, DFID, IDA, DANIDA, CIDA, EU, etc. In the context of decentralization reform for instance, the establishment of the Institute for Local Government Studies as the main human resource capacity building institution for the decentralized local government might not have been a reality without donor support. Not surprisingly though understandably, it emerged that the current position of the Institute for Local Government Studies as an enviable local government institute in the West-Africa sub-region is largely dependent on the largesse of some donors. However, this nding tends to contradict the debureaucratization argument of New Public Management proponents, since the evidence based on Ghanas experience shows that the reform has rather extended the bureaucratic structures, as the following examples might demonstrate. First, we nd that the bureaucratic extensions and structures start with the donors themselves (development partners) in what is usually referred to as the establishment of country support ofces such as that of the World Bank, the EU, DFID, DANIDA etc. Second, from Ghanas Public Sector Reform Program for instance, not only was the National Institutional Renewal Program Secretariat created (as a mandated organization in the public service) to coordinate the reform efforts, a National Overview Committee also emerged at the Ofce of the Vice President. Thirdly, under the Civil Service Performance Improvement Program, another organizational structure surfaced to manage the reform within the Civil Service at the macro level. This was extended in the form of mini-structures to all ministry departments and agencies, and at the Regional Coordinating Councils (Regions) in the


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form of Capacity Building Development Teams ofces. It was also revealed that, under the pre-reform organizational structure of the local government ministry, there were 4-Project Units. These projects units happened to be staffed mainly by expatriates of the particular development partner supporting specic projects in the ministry. The project units are also staffed with nationally recruited project personnel who are far from separate and better working conditions, of which the local government personnel in the civil service were aware. This observation has very serious performance motivation implications for the career civil servants who have to work in much poorer quality conditions. Another nding which tended to be shared by many of the respondents (employees), especially at the district and regional levels, was the perception of a lack of fairness or opportunity for training, an aspect of human resource capacity building intervention which was in practice not open to all staff. For example, given the managerial emphasis of NPM reform the education and training interventions have disproportionately favored public sector managers, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, who have human resource under-development and under-utilization problems (Politt, 1994). This revelation tends to support the view in the public

sector reform literature that, in many developing countries where the norms of bureaucratic behavior have not been internalized within the organization or its external environment, reform interventions do not appear to work well or in a fair manner (Kiggundu, 1998; Reschenthaler & Thompson, 1998).

CONCLUSION AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS The ndings and discussions thus far suggest that there are both positive and negative implications for policy in respect of future reforms. The positive note arises out of the need to recognize and sustain the interest and support of both international and local development partners, including NGOs as a short- to medium-term measure to keep the reform interventions in Ghana going. The expected relationship between the partners should, however, rest on cooperation, consensus-building, and effective communication and in a sense of collaborative-learning. The collaborative-learning framework suggested by Keen and Mahanty (2005:106) and presented as Figure 2 could be adopted in maintaining that type of relationship.

SCOPING Clarify goals and objectives; Identify stakeholders and institutional actors REFLECTING Evaluate and review progress against agreed goals and strategies; Reflect on current skills, knowledge and values development CO-LEARNING

ANALYZING Analyse social, ecological, economic context; Consider useful alliances and social networks

IMPLEMENTING Implement strategies and plans; Gather data on results and processes ORGANIZING Clarify roles and responsibilities, including supportive institutional linkagesFIGURE 2 Co-learning: Collaborative and Adaptive Management with a Learning Focus.

NEGOTIATING Develop a common vision and strategy; Negotiate the learning agenda, rules and processes

Source: Keen & Mahanty (2005: 104).

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