Public Service Delivery

Background: Local government as the sphere of government that directly impacts the lives of communities must create a milieu of interacting with communities in terms of planning, execution and the monitoring and evaluation of the success or failure of its programmes. Local government has a moral and a legislative duty to involve communities thereby extending and deepening democratic and accountable government processes.Aim: This study aimed to analyse how democratic and accountable governance can assist in creating sustainable processes of involvement of its communities. Local government is government’s main contributor to the socio-economic growth and development, not only of a country but more so, its people. The article emphasises improvement in the current processes of community involvement in strategic planning and the execution of such plans in general and at the city of Ekurhuleni (COE) in particular. It further aims to indicate to the city that its processes are not taking i...

Water service providers must understand the needs and consumption patterns of their customers in order to make informed decisions on new investments. The Mandalay City Development Committee is undertaking an expansion of its water supply and sewerage infrastructure with a goal of reaching every citizen. The service provider needs to revise tariffs to cover higher provision costs. To this end, a survey conducted in 2019 in Mandalay City, Myanmar revealed that 80% of users relied on more than one water source. The selection of water source depended on intended use, quality, availability, and reliability more than it did on price. Users are heavily reliant on groundwater, which is also increasingly scarce and contaminated. The findings shed light on the challenges of meeting operational costs through tariffs when municipal supplies are not the sole source of water, water quality is poor, and non-revenue water is high.

Between 2009 and 2014, South Africa experienced widespread protests. In contrast to prominent examples of global protest during the same period, they were localized and did not push for broad political and economic transformation. To explain these features, this article draws from three ethnographic and interview-based case studies of local protest and organizing within informal settlements in and around Johannesburg. The author argues that urban poverty and the experience of market insecurity, on the one hand, and democratization and the experience of state betrayal, on the other hand, gave rise to specific political orientations. Residents responded to market insecurity by demanding collective consumption for place-based communities, and they responded to state betrayal by demanding fulfillment of a national liberation social contract through administrative fixes. Both strategies confined activism to the local level and limited broader challenges. The findings have implications for research on both the urban poor and social movements.

One of the pertinent distinctions of the concept of democracy is that it serves as an ideal for the exercise of people’s power as a totality of political association. This article holds that democracy, as a set of principles rather than mere institutions, remains nebulous if it is not given pragmatic effect in ordinary citizenry’s specific contexts. In a “democratic” South Africa, such a context would unavoidably involve the application of democratic principles in the service delivery planning and implementation so that the latter activities conform to the decisions shaped through popular public participation for consensus building. This article contents that decisions about priorities relating to services to be delivered, the mushrooming of popular social protests that are violent as well as the evident upward spiral in voter apathy are inescapable pointers to a faltering democracy. This article uses conceptions of democracy, its pragmatic realization in service delivery planning through public participation, as well as the declining trends in voter perceptions about South Africa going in the right and government performance, to demonstrate that the citizenry has experienced twenty years of faltering democracy.

This chapter shows that white collar crime can be approached using an agent-based model. Fraud in public delivery programs often involves several entities that are loosely interrelated and interact dynamically. However, the crime literature has not paid sufficient attention to these characteristics, thus providing limited utility for public managers. This chapter frames a public delivery program as a complex system. The patterns of fraud in such a system are simulated using an agent-based model called FraudSim. We demonstrate that FraudSim closely replicates the statistical and spatial patterns of fraud and provides a framework for future work in this area.

Franks, P.E. (2005) A Warning on the Decay of Social Fabric in South Africa, Final Panel Discussion, Third South African Public Management Conversation, African peer review mechanism, Fancourt Hotel, George, Western Cape South Africa, 7-9 December.

As transcribed by Tammy Lee Human.

At the time (2005) I was told by a Director General that I was being "too critical". One of those who expressed appreciation for what I had said was Thabo Mufamadi who commented, "Hey, it sounds just like Limpopo, Peter!" Others just looked at me with hatred in their eyes.

https://soundcloud.com/user-5758807/peter-e-franks-a-warning-on-the-decay-of-social-fabric-in-south-africa

Audio length: 11m38s

This study is an attempt to study and explore the extent of people’s participation in the SF policy of Bangladesh and what are the roles of the main stakeholders: bureaucrats, Union Parishad and NGOs in ensuring the expected level of people’s participation in this
policy. In this regard, several hypotheses are developed and for answering these questions, a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods has been adopted. These questions can be explained or analyzed on the basis of some independent and
dependent variables. The dependent variable in this study is people’s participation, which is believed to be dependent upon certain actors and factors such as political and classical
bureaucrats, patron-client relationship between the participants, bureaucrats and local elites of SF policy, and socio-economic background of the SF farmers. It was assumed that variables would influence and affect who participates in SF programs and their level of participation. The above mentioned questions are addressed in the light of political and classical bureaucrats as concept analyzed by Putnam (1975, 87), as well as on the
basis of patron-client relationship, and theories of social capital.

In the study it is found that the people’s participation in the SF policy illustrates the dissonance between myths and reality. SF’s performance in achieving the participatory goals was poor. A number of common institutional and social problems seemed to have shaped the performance. Participation of the main target group the landless, women and disadvantaged class of the society is minimal in the project. The selection of the members in the SF policy is the responsibility of the local Union Parishad Chairman. But no certain rules were followed in selecting SF members. Classical nature of the bureaucrats (role-orientation), patron-client relationship among the stakeholders, poor socio-economic background, NGOs ineffective role, lack of trust to the institutions like Union Parishad and bureaucracy are the main reasons for lack of people’s participation in the SF project. Among these factors patron-client relationship among the stakeholders is found as the most dominate because this vicious network impede the extent of
people’s participation from the very beginning of the SF project to the last and demolishthat objectives of the government dreadfully.

Abstract: First documented in 1741, the practice of episiotomy substantially increased worldwide during the
20th century. However, research shows that episiotomy is not effective in reducing severe perineal trauma
and may be harmful. Using a mixed-methods approach, we conducted a study in 2013–14 on why
obstetricians and midwives in a large maternity hospital in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, still do routine
episiotomies. The study included the extent of the practice, based on medical records; a retrospective analysis
of the delivery notes of a random sample of 365 patients; and 22 in-depth interviews with obstetricians,
midwives and recently delivered women. Of the 365 women, 345 (94.5%, 95% CI: 91.7–96.6) had had an
episiotomy. Univariate analysis showed that nulliparous women underwent episiotomy more frequently
than multiparous women (OR 7.1, 95% CI 2.0–24.7). The reasons given for this practice by midwives and
obstetricians were: fear of perineal tears, the strong belief that Asian women have a shorter and harder
perineum than others, lack of time in overcrowded delivery rooms, and the belief that Cambodian women
would be able to have a tighter and prettier vagina through this practice. A restrictive episiotomy policy and
information for pregnant women about birthing practices through antenatal classes should be implemented
as soon as possible.

This article aims to analyze perspective of energizing bureaucracy as an alternative model in the development of bureaucratic competence. The development of competence of bureaucrats is not only based on merit system that created the professional and results-oriented. But also leads towards to formation of attitudes of affection and affirmation in the public service. This perspective synergizes the values of professionalism and voluntarsm in order to produce maximum performance both in the public and organizations.

Modern governments have undergone significant change over the past 30 years. Such change has impacted on the way governments structure their organisations, deliver services and relate to their citizenry. But how has public policy formulation changed and affected the design and delivery of government programs and services in Australia? Policy in Action is the first book to address this question, offering descriptive accounts of how public services programs are designed and implemented and how they might be better managed.

The past two centuries have seen an explosion in the world’s population, fueled by advances in healthcare, science, and technology. World population currently stands at around 6.6 billion, and is projected to hit the 9 billion mark before mid-century. Europe and North America represented near 30% of the world’s population in 1950; today that share is closer to 17%, and by 2050 it will barely exceed 10%.

The phenomenon known as the demographic transition—the pattern of growth and eventual decline of populations—has transformed the developed world and is rippling through the developing one. In this report, we explore the effects of the demographic transition on Western populations; namely aging and immigration-driven diversity. We will take each of these issues in turn, and look at their implications for governments in their roles as service providers, policy makers, and employers.

Across many developing countries, the power sector persistently underperforms despite years of market reform efforts. India, where de facto responsibility for the power sector rests with subnational (state) governments, provides a useful laboratory to examine why. The state of West Bengal provides an example of public sector reform as an alternative to the so-called " World Bank template " for electricity liberalization, and a lens on the political preconditions for reform success. Drawing on 30 elite interviews in 2016 alongside comparative evidence from other Indian states, this article documents the reform design and assesses its success. West Bengal's reforms aimed at internally strengthening the utility against political interference. The study finds that this reform model delivered initial performance among the best of any Indian utility, and that successful reforms in several other states were also more statist than often recognized. However, longer-term sustainability remains challenging. While weak rural lobbies had some effect, the study explains this trajectory as the result of the transition from one-party dominance to intensified party-political competition, a finding that resonates with evidence from other Indian states. In contrast to influential political theories developed in the Global North, this suggests that party-political competition does not make Indian politicians more likely to deliver public services, but rather leads to short-termism and political capture of utilities. Conversely, under some conditions one-party dominance can encourage longer-term reforms. The study thus assesses the promise and limits of public sector reforms as an alternative to liberalization, and suggests how electoral competition can influence development priorities in Indian states.

With the deadly Coronavirus pandemic adversely affecting the functioning of local governments globally, South Africa has not been spared from socioeconomic ills. Ensuring pockets of excellence through revenue collection has become a nightmare in the South African local government. A key cash injection exercise, revenue collection enables rural municipalities to render quality basic services to needy communities. Revenue collection needs to be proportionate with the service delivered to stimulate the community culture of paying rates, which is essential for avoiding consumer debts that strain municipal finances. This article draws from a constructivist paradigm that utilises expansive literature and analyses various government documents and peer-reviewed articles on revenue collection and management in local government. Through the qualitative content analysis technique, the article reveals that rural municipalities in South Africa are encountering various revenue collection challenges that have a negative bearing on rural public service delivery. The results indicate that rural municipalities are ill-equipped to effectively collect revenue due to a skills deficit and lack of commitment, poor performance management, ineffective and inappropriate revenue enhancement strategies and lack of execution of plans. The article recommends that rural municipalities develop revenue enhancement strategies to implement policies focusing on indigenous credit control policies. Key employment generation plans are fundamental to enable citizens to obtain income for paying municipal rates.

Отличительной особенностью модели по принципу «одного окна» (ПОО) в Грузии является четкое разделение на бэк-офисы и фронт-офисы в цепочке предоставления государственных услуг. Центр государственных услуг и Общественные центры служат фронт-офисами для бэк-офисов тех агентств, которые отвечают за развитие государственных услуг. Они советуют, как улучшить существующие услуги и разработать новые. Они представляют администрацию по отношению к гражданам и проводят постоянный мониторинг ожиданий граждан. Существующая модель является результатом тщательного и непрерывного планирования тех менеджеров и администраторов, которые, в первую очередь, инициировали реформу. Сегодня Министерство юстиции с его подведомственными учреждениями, несомненно, занимают лидирующие позиции с точки зрения знаний и опыта. Министерство приобрело большой опыт в процессе разработки и создания структуры предоставления услуг населению в Центрах государственных услуг и Общественных центрах по принципу «одного окна».

Despite significant increases in resourcing over the last two decades, service delivery in PNG is still failing to reach most citizens. Factors of political governance such as the design of the nation’s parliamentary and provincial government institutions are often offered as part of the explanation for poor service delivery outcomes, yet a stronger evidence base is needed to address these challenges effectively. Cross-country analyses that identify the most common political constraints to service delivery and incentive problems may provide lessons for Papua New Guinea towards improving development in the country.

In early 2014 the Constitutional and Law Reform Commission (CLRC) of Papua New Guinea (PNG) was given a Directive by PNG’s Head of State to review the operations of the provincial and local level government systems in PNG.  This paper draws upon relevant scholarly and policy literature to examine the relationships between systems of political governance and service delivery in support of the CLRC’s review of the Organic Laws on Provincial and Local Level Government (OLPLLG) currently being undertaken by them on behalf of the National Parliament.

The paper deliberately does not seek to make any recommendations or provide policy options, as this is the role of the CLRC process. Instead the aim of this paper is to provide a ‘top-down’ context and empirical framework to assist the CLRC in its task. The intention is for this report to complement the CLRC’s work by providing an international and comparative perspective that can be integrated with the CLRC’s own ‘grass-roots’ public consultation, which is focused on the local and provincial levels of analysis. By presenting the available evidence we hope this paper will contribute to the ongoing national debate about whether changes to PNG’s existing system of political governance will improve the delivery of basic services to the population.

The paper focuses on the systemic and institutional aspects of systems of governance rather than delving into other underlying administrative constraints upon service delivery by government (e.g. bureaucratic staff shortages or training, poor financial management etc.). We were asked to address three major analytical tasks.  The first was to review PNG’s Westminster parliamentary system from 1975 to the present, identifying institutional strengths and weaknesses, and explore potential alternative governance arrangements such as presidentialism, federalism and bicameralism. The second was to briefly review the history of sub-national governance in PNG and reflect on the Organic Laws on Provincial Government (OLGP) between 1977-1995, the ongoing evolution of the Organic Laws on Provincial and Local Level Government (OLPLLG) from 1996-2014, and the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) arrangements. The third was to assess the international literature on decentralisation, devolution and sub-national governance in order to provide a knowledge framework that hopefully helps inform assessments of potential future governance alternatives. In so doing, we try to summarise the international evidence on the relationships between systems of political governance and service delivery as they relate to Papua New Guinea.

At its core this paper looks at issues of national and sub-national governance and the relationship between PNG’s own arrangements and the international experience. The Westminster parliamentary system of political governance in Papua New Guinea was implemented almost 40 years ago as part of the process of its gaining independence from Australian administration and its emergence as an independent state. It is therefore understandable that a growing number of Papua New Guineans feel the need to re-evaluate the existing governance arrangements given that the average citizen’s quality of life and access to basic services continues to decline. The key question for this study is whether the decline in service delivery is causally related to the design of the country’s political architecture.

We argue that it is not. Although many elements of institutional design impinge on a state’s ability to deliver basic services, one element that becomes clear from such a comparative viewpoint is that there is no ‘silver bullet’ solution to problems of service delivery. While Papua New Guinea’s political institutions are a mixture of introduced Westminster systems and local adaptations, none of the basic institutional features of its system of government can be held directly responsible for service delivery failures. Put another way, it is our contention that the redesign of political institutions is unlikely, in and of itself, to foster better service delivery without concomitant deeper changes to public service culture, popular attitudes and political leadership.

In aid programming, improving basic services – including health, education, water and sanitation – is sometimes assumed to increase the legitimacy of state institutions and to improve social cohesion and stability. But does this intuitive ‘common sense’ hold up to scrutiny? Do local populations actually find their state more legitimate if clean water starts coming out of their taps? Do social relations improve and become more stable once basic infrastructure needs like roads, rubbish collection or public lighting are met? Can better services improve stability in conflict-affected areas?

To find out, this annotated bibliography identifies academic and more policy-oriented literature about the relationship between service delivery on the one hand, and state legitimacy, social cohesion and social stability on the other hand. It brings together relevant literature that considers these potential relationships at different levels (from local to national), and across a wide variety of services. This literature covers a range of low- and middle-income countries, but particular attention is paid here to fragile and conflict-affected settings. The key outcomes or effects of interest – that is, the effects of service delivery on legitimacy, social cohesion and/or stability – have been conceived and measured in numerous ways in the literature. A broad interpretation of these concepts is applied to capture all potentially relevant literature. The full methodology for compiling the bibliography – including search terms and inclusion criteria – is outlined in the Appendix.

The study investigated the role of monitoring and evaluation on quality of service delivery in Local Government in Uganda using the case of Mpigi District. Monitoring and Evaluation was conceptualized into three dimensions; Compliance M&E (CME) which is conducted by external oversight entities, Social Accountability M&E (SME) which is anchored on public accountability and Internal M&E (IME) whose focus is learning. The study objectives centered on how each of the three dimensions affect Quality of Service Delivery (QSD). The study adopted cross-sectional and correlational research designs. Data was collected from 60 district staff using a questionnaire. Focus Group Discussions targeting citizens and Key Informant Interviews were also conducted. Qualitative and quantitative data was analysed thematically and using SPSS respectively.
Findings indicated that there is a moderate positive relationship between CME and QSD, (r=0.470, p=0.000, N=52), a strong positive relationship between SME and QSD, (r=0.650, p=0.000, N=49) and a strong positive relationship between IME and QSD, (r=0.699, p=0.000, N=53). The study concludes that strong and effective oversight institutions are central in ensuring compliance to systems, standards and procedures which form a foundation for a results culture thereby guaranteeing quality service delivery in the long run. Additionally, initiatives aimed at providing information to citizens on their entitlements and performance of government services have the potential of increasing citizen participation in social accountability initiatives and hence contributing to quality service delivery. When used for learning, M&E can help to improve organizational processes and performance and thereby contributing to quality service delivery. The study recommends that initiatives aimed at providing information to citizens on their entitlements and government performance be promoted and that M&E efforts shift from the strong emphasis on monitoring and incorporate evaluation in the M&E agenda of the district.

This research, conducted by the author when a Senior Researcher at Newcastle University, UK, was funded by a UK governance organisation to help them assess, integrate and improve their understanding of the governed population.

ABSTRACT: Governance organisations have been urged to develop more holistic evidence-based approaches with partners to better deal with issues affecting the governed population. This presupposes an understanding of the population, yet there has been little research work addressing how governance organisations come to understand their governed population, nor how this understanding can be improved upon within such organisations.

This case study examined in-depth how understanding of a governed population was developed within one UK local governance organisation and it explored how such understanding might be developed and improved through more holistic and evidence-based organisational learning within the organisation and its governance partnerships.

The research methodology involved placement within the governance organisation, participant observations on several projects and innovative initiatives, observations within, across, and outside the organisation, and also interviews with varied key stakeholders.

The study examined:

- stakeholder engagement and networks
- current and varied understandings of the population
- mechanisms actually used for developing understandings
- the influence of context on organisational learning

and analysed these to arrive at a recommendations to improve organisational understanding of the governed population.

In the case studied, significant strengths were found: including innovative past learning trials for development, extensive ongoing networking activities, and many varied and accumulating quantitative datasets available across partnerships.

However, entrenched organisational approaches and practices constrained the development of holistic evidence-based understanding, for instance: the absence of systematic maintained collective learning processes; weak recording and forgetting of understandings; methodological exclusion of stakeholders from the development of understanding; the relative neglect of qualitative data, explanations, investigations, interpretations, and reflexivity; and also implicit organisational acceptance of such limitations and low aspirations.

Nonetheless, untapped opportunities existed to enable change including: latent practitioner knowledge and innovative management champions, the desire for improvement and raised aspirations within learning networks, and the development potential of alterative learning approaches.

It was concluded that more holistic evidence-based understanding was possible, but required new learning approaches beyond those then in use in both local government or academia.   

Recommendations are made to utilise and develop improved organisational learning approaches trialed and reported in the case study.

It is argued that the case study findings, conclusions, and recommendations may be applicable to other similar local governance organisations and partnerships that seek to better understand local populations, services and interventions.

The work was also submitted for, and awarded, an MPhil (at Newcastle University, supervised by Prof. Patsy Healy)

ABSTRACT
The introduction of democracy in South Africa brought some hope to millions who were previously marginalised. The new government transformed the public service by developing and enacting policies that would ensure fairness and equity in the provision of services. Notwithstanding the progress, government’s failure to adequately meet communities’ needs has led to recent service delivery protests. The empirical evidence has revealed that communities
are unhappy because of, among other things, the deployment of unskilled, unqualified and inexperienced cadres to municipal management positions, the accumulation of wealth by a few individuals through the abuse of the tendering system, inadequate revenue due to centralisation of funding, and absence of proper systems of collecting revenue by municipalities, which have impacted negatively on service delivery.

THE AIM OF THIS DOCUMENT IS TO PROVIDE THE RELATIONSHIP THA EXIST BETWEEN LEADERS AND THEIR DUTIES. WITHSTANDING WITH THE ETHICAL CODES THA GOVERN THEM IN THEIR DAY-TO-DAY ACTIVITIES. NEVERTHELESS THE DOCUMENT PROVIDE WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF LEADERS DO NOT PLAY THEIR PART RESPONSIBLY, WHAT ARE THE IMPART TO THE SOCIETY AND NATION IN GENERAL

The concept of e-government began in the early 1990s which is the use of information technology to improve governance, promote efficiency and effectiveness in the delivery of public service. In the year 2000, the Federal Government of Nigeria recognized the need to transform the public service into the modern day system through the use of information technology. This was necessitated by the urgent need to improve public service delivery, ensure transparency, make government accessible, and ensure that information dissemination to the public is in real time. This study explored the hurdles faced by public agencies in materializing the government's e-government vision. This study found that despite the government investing hugely in the ICT to realise the objectives stated in the policy document, minimal progress have been achieved. The lack of massive success can be attributed to infrastructural gap, power failure, digital divide, low ICT literacy level, theft and vandalization of ICT equipment, privacy and security.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) is the current and developing environment in which changing technologies and trends such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI) are changing the way governments function. Governments are increasingly facing new risks and opportunities due to the advancement of the 4IR. Governments need to find ways to adapt to the 4IR. Innovation is a prerequisite for adapting to the 4IR. The aim of this article is to determine the level of public service delivery innovation (SDI) in South Africa in the context of the 4IR. The analysis in this article is based on secondary data and documentary analysis, including unsolicited government documents, reports and legislation, and authoritative scholarly literature. A number of innovation measures for improved service delivery have been adopted in South Africa. These efforts are not, however, embedded within the wider public service, and efforts to improve SDI should be considered. In a global environment of resource constraints and constant change, open governance through multi-stakeholder collaboration may present strategic opportunities to facilitate innovation. The aim of these initiatives is to enhance transparency and accountability, and to facilitate public service delivery and citizen participation

Banadir Regional Administration (BRA) is one of Somali local governments founded in Somali constitutional law by article
number 48, 1(b) of the constitution15 of the Federal Republic of Somalia. It is one of the 18 administrative divisions16 of
Somalia established at independence in 1960. Banadir consists of 17 administrative districts; these 17 districts make up the
city of Mogadishu, which is also capital of the Federal of the Republic. Banadir Regional Administration. BRA has
overlapping responsibility of managing the affairs of the region as well as the municipality of Mogadishu. Its head is both the
Governor of the region as well as Mayor of the City. Quality of Public Service Delivery in Banadir, poor governance and
government units' incapacities are frequently reported by researchers and International Organizations whose activities pertain
to the field of governance. The most reports and materials cited focused on use of public funds and knowledge of people about
the source and how these funds are used by Somali Government departments, these reports and articles claimed the existence
of a major corruption in large number of Governments. The study selected a sample size of 77 respondents and proportionate
stratified sampling. The structured questionnaire was utilized for data collection. The pilot study was used for checking of the
reliability and validity. The SPSS-version 20 was used to analyze data. The study examined the effect of local government
public participation, local government accountability, local government transparency and local government equity on the
quality of public service delivery, as indicated by the mean averages, show respondents tend to agree that these factors
contribute to the quality of public service delivery, additionally positive correlations of the four independent variables; public
participation, accountability, transparency and equity and quality of service delivery; shows that there is positive
relationships, between the four independent variables and quality of public service delivery.

The purpose of this paper is to assess if the Black Economic Empowerment act has brought new economic horizons for the historically disadvantaged South Africans, or it has contributed to further impoverishmentof the lower classes in communities. The paper based its argument on an extensive literature review which envisaged that, despite many years of its implementation, BEE has caused the emergence of classes resulting fromfraud and corruption, fronting, difficulties in registering status, political interference, and poor accountability strategies. The paper interrogates the implementation strategies of BEE in the local government context to assess whether historical imbalances have been addressed or not. The paper concludes that the government needs to revisit BEE as an economic empowerment policy to see whether it has benefited the black majority or not. The paper reiterates further that, BEE as a black economic emancipation blueprint requires proper implementation and alignment with other economic policies such as the National Development Plan to accelerate economic opportunities for the black majority. The paper recommends the government of South Africa through local municipalities to exercise monitoring and evaluation in the BEE procurement systems are prerequisites in safeguarding the manipulation and corrupt tendencies arising from the awarding of tenders in the local government.

Poverty takes many forms, and demands a corresponding breadth of responses. Making services accessible to the poor is integral to the effort to achieve the MDGs. (…hence fight Poverty). Basic government services allow people to be productive members of society; therefore, the provision of fundamentals like agricultural support and irrigation, roads, health, and primary education are essential for accelerating attainment of the MDGs. For citizens that face adversity, the provision of social protection is particularly important. Government services in the fields of economic development and culture, for instance, are also deemed to be ‘public goods’ that bring benefits to individuals and communities. It is recommended, that, substantial improvements in the provision of public services are key to achieving most of the MDGs

http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/188401468053415165/Local-service-delivery-in-Nepal

The effectiveness of public service delivery depends in large part on the capability, resources and inputs, and the motivation of frontline service providers at the local level. In Nepal a combination of de-concentrated line agencies and local bodies at the district, municipal, and village level provides inputs which are translated into delivery of service outputs and outcomes. Yet the relationships between line agencies and local bodies in service delivery are not well understood. The purpose of this report is to examine in detail the current dynamics of frontline service delivery to identify institutional limitations and present approaches to addressing them. This study seeks to map out the dynamics of service delivery at the local level through analysis of the institutional framework and actual practices in service delivery in 14 jurisdictions in the two districts of Dhankuta and Dhanusa. The study includes a detailed review of the provision of local roads networks and primary and lower secondary education. In this context, the report is divided into four parts: part one gives introduction; part two presents institutional framework for local service delivery; part three focuses on sub-national service delivery: local roads and primary education; and part four presents conclusions and recommendations to improve frontline service delivery.

Citizens in low income democracies such as India depend, to a large extent, on the state for the provision of basic services either due to absence of a market for these services or poverty. This paper researches on governance and public service delivery in India. Existing research suggests that the quality of public services affects economic growth via its impact on poverty alleviation, human capital formation and corruption. There is near consensus, however, that India has had limited success in reducing poverty and enhancing human capital in spite of myriad programs that provide free or heavily subsidised essential services to its citizens.
There are several pathways through which governance and the quality of public services can impact a country’s economic growth. The overarching objective of public provision of free or subsidized services in low income countries is to deliver social protection to the poor and vulnerable and to alleviate poverty. The quality of governance, thus, has direct implications for economic growth. To elaborate, poverty typically manifests itself in low food intake, low nourishment and low productivity of the poor. In the absence of a social security program in most developing countries, public provision of low-cost food can help the poor escape the vicious circle of undernourishment, underemployment and poverty.
The paper tries to identify incentives, transparency and state capacity as the key challenges to reducing the governance deficit in India. It emphasizes upon building state capacity to implement and monitor public programs, rewarding performance of civil servants and providing information to stakeholders as key policies that can be implemented, and scaled up, to both improve the quality of public service delivery and spur economic growth.

In the year 2011, five Departments in the Limpopo Provincial Government were placed under administration in terms of section 100 (1) (b) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (1996). Limpopo Provincial Treasury was amongst those placed under administration. Procurement was mentioned as one of the weaknesses that contributed impasse. Limpopo Provincial Treasury has a transversal responsibility to support all Provincial Departments in respect of procurement of goods and services. Scholars perceive ethics as the principles of right and wrong that guide individuals , when making choices regarding their behaviour. It is also associated with the collection of moral values, obligations , moral principles, attitudes and norms that serve as a conduct and behavioural rules which must be observed by public representatives and public officials.This article was undertaken in an attempt to investigate the impact of unethi-cal conduct of procurement officials on service delivery.Having adopted mixed-methods, semi-structured interviews and structured questionnaires to collect primary data, this paper revealed that ethics is a relevant concept to procurement environment and that it has an impact on service delivery. The study also showed the extent at which unethical conduct negatively affect service delivery. However different responses gave various opinions with regard to whether codes of conduct are sufficient to address unethical conduct of procurement officials at the Limpopo Provincial Treasury .The paper concludes that ethical conduct of procurement officials can also be used as a tool to reconstruct govern-ment's integrity and to address socioeconomic challenges that South Africa is currently facing. This article therefore propose practical recommendations that can enhance the ethical conduct of procurement officials and consequently improve service delivery.

There is need for faster, accurate, efficient tracking of government personnel productivity and efficiency in processing public requests and transactions. Currently, office productivity and efficiency can be gathered through the manual logbook receiving system. Frustration usually mounts due to processing delays which are aggravated by time consumed for hand deliveries, telephone follow-ups, and manual location of documents. The processing of requests cannot be completed in the desired speed and accuracy. Hence, the need for a tracking system that would facilitate the productivity and efficiency ratio of each government Personnel. Such tracking system should also provide a information of the number of output (productivity) and the timeliness to accomplish (efficiency) of each government Personnel.

The Innovation: a document forwarding system for requests. The system will be a network-based platform wherein users shall record only documents forwarded to the next person. This tracking system will measure the productivity and efficiency of each Personnel by providing output counts and efficiency ratios. These output counts and efficiency ratios can be reliable information as to the quantitative performance evaluation of each Personnel as well as the collective average performance of the Unit which can aid decision making on performance evaluation, equitable work  distribution and delegation.

The current state-owned entities' (SOEs) governance landscape ranges from fragmented accountability frameworks and human factors to a convoluted array of SOEs typologies, i.e. parent entities and subsidiaries. The article reviews the SOEs' governance landscape to unravel underlying inconsistencies and contradictions and provides a compelling argument for opting to create an overarching SOEs governance and seamless legislative framework. The study perused primary and secondary data employing qualitative methods. As the proposed governance and seamless legal framework as not an absolute resolve of all SOEs challenges, the study tests whether the option could assist in arriving at a liberating praxis that would straddle and fulfil the corporate and developmental aspirations of the state.