Civil Service Reform And The World Bank

Annotation Surveys the World Bank's experience in supporting developing country civil service reforms and begins to assess the progress made. The World Bank recognizes the importance of the civil service to the general welfare of the 4.6 billion people in low and middle income countries. Between 1981 and 1991, civil service reform was a prominent feature of 90 World Bank lending operations. This paper surveys the Bank's experience in supporting this reform and assesses the progress made. The lending operations concentrated on two separate dimensions: (1) Shorter-term, emergency steps to reform public pay and employment policies, which center on measures to contain the cost and the size of the civil service (2) longer-term civil service strengthening efforts directed toward ongoing, sustained management improvements. After examining the record of these reforms, the authors conclude that the results have been mixed at best. They recommend greater emphasis on devising a coherent, far-reaching strategy for reform and on detailing the set of tactics by which these goals will be achieved.

Inefficient civil service administrations are jeopardizing future development in many African countries. The reforms suggested in this paper would make these administrations more accountable, enforce the rule of law, and reward bureaucrats solely on their

This collection of papers was presented at the World Bank Conference on 'Civil service reform in Latin America and the Caribbean', held in 1993. The goal of the conference was to promote the flow of ideas among researchers and practitioners in the civil s

The World Bank and the IMF hosted a workshop in September 2001 to review the effectiveness of programmes for civil service reform and to propose ways to improve future joint efforts. Participants considered case studies of civil service administrations in 11 countries. The main conclusion reached was that both organisations should be involved in collaboration earlier in the reform process, helping national administrations to: develop a medium-term fiscal framework; foster politically feasible reforms; and strengthen data collection.

According To This Book, The Task Of Civil Service Reform Is Not Merely One Of Trimming The Service Or Building Capacity, But Also Of Holding The Civil Service Accountable For Its Actions.

The critical importance of well-performing public institutions and good governance for development and poverty reduction has come to the forefront in the 1990s. Reforming public institutions is a complex and difficult task. This publication is primarily intended as a guide for World Bank staff but it is also intended to serve the broader development community. It outlines a strategy which envisions significant changes in the focus of the Bank's work in this area. Some of these changes such as an enhanced focus on governance, capacity building and anticorruption, are already underway. The agenda for the next three years is to continue to foster these changes through a the advancement of analytical tools, new approaches t the design of lending operations, expanded emphasis on partnership with clients and other donors and progressive shifts in staffing, incentives and evaluation techniques. Included as an annex is an inventory of the Bank's governance and institutional reform programs which are in place.