FORUM ON INNOVATIONS AND MODERNIZATION OF PUBLIC SERVICES AND GOVERNANCE IN AFRICA

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1 African Training and Research Centre in Administration for Development زكرملا يقيرفإلا بيردتلل و ثحبلا يرادإلا ءامنإلل Centre Africain de Formation et de Recherche Administratives pour le Développement FORUM ON INNOVATIONS AND MODERNIZATION OF PUBLIC SERVICES AND GOVERNANCE IN AFRICA THEME: WHAT REFORMS AND INNOVATIONS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF AFRICAN COUNTRIES Tangier (Morocco), June 2007 Relationship between economic development and public sector reform and innovation: How can economic and social development be enhanced through administrative and governance reforms, and what kind of reforms and what innovations to be introduced in order to boost economic development in African countries? By Dr. Raphael ARINAITWE Expert in Leadership, Governance and Public Policy CAFRAD (Forum-07-Arinaitwe).

2 Relationship between economic development and public sector reform and innovation: How can economic and social development be enhanced through administrative and governance reforms, and what kind of reforms and what innovations to be introduced in order to boost economic development in African countries? Whereas the question raised above may not have direct and same answer for all African States, we are challenged, as a distinguished group here at this conference, to identify "How the economic and social development can be enhanced through administrative and governance reforms, and to think of some kind of reforms and innovations that can be introduced in order to boost economic development in African countries. In order to idnetify how and what kind of reforms and innovations, we must first understand one question as starting point. What is our business and what should it be? 1.2 What is our Business? Most importantly, we need to know: 1. What is our business and what should it be? Where are we? Where do we want to be in let say 10 years, 25years, 50 years and etc How do we get there? What reforms and innovations are required to get us there? To answer the above questions require a vision based on the number of factors but for the purposes of this paper, I will focus on Public Administration and Governance. Public Administration and Governance simply means the manner in which Governments (Central or Federal, Provincial or State, districts or Local Governments) organize resources (Human, financial, Material, Equipment and other assets), institutionalize and manage, with respect to revenue collection and (Forum-07-Arinaitwe) 1

3 disbursement, to provide essential services (social, defence, economic, infrastructure, diplomacy and etc) in any given nation (Drucker, 1974) for the benefit of the entire population. Thus, administrative institutions are the media through which government business is managed (Drucker, 1974; Basu, 2000). The administrative institutions are made up of civil services who are charged with the responsibilities of executing the public affairs at all levels from policy formulation, implementation, evaluation and control of government programs and projects as organs of execution. Thus, how the government policies, programs and projects are formulated and implemented determines the type of Governance the country enjoys. This whole process, as explained above, is what I am referring to as our business. If we know our business, then we can identify our problems and how to address them. 2 Identifying and Diagnosing the Problem of African States Considering a discrepancy between the current state of African Countries and the desired state, the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, adopted in 2000, are clear examples that they all have in common and we can use them as a gauge to bring the below surface symptoms and to uncover the underlying causes of African States problems. The United Nations says that despite some progress, Sub-Saharan Africa is behind schedule on all its UN Millennium Development Goals, which include halving extreme poverty. The forth coming report, (according to Yahoo News), UN says that 41.1 percent of Sub-Saharan Africans are living on $ 1 day or less down from 45.9 percent in Primary education was spreading but 30 percent of children still had none. Less than one third of women earned a non-farming salary and the number of people dying from AIDS continued to mount and had reached to 2 million last year. Only 42 percent of the rural dwellers had clean water and 63 percent of the entire population lacked basic sanitation. ( (Forum-07-Arinaitwe) 2

4 The UN Millennium Development Goals are intended to be achieved by 2015 and it is halfway towards the target date. The above results give the very reasons why most countries of Sub-Saharan Africa are still classified by the United Nations as the Least Developed Countries. 2.1 What are the Least Developed Countries? Since 1971, the United Nations has denominated Least Developed Countries (LDCs) a category of low-income States that are deemed structurally disadvantaged in their development process, and facing more than other countries, the risk of failing to come out of poverty. As such, LDCs are considered in need of the highest degree of attention on the part of the international community. They are eight goals in a series of agreed benchmarks to measure progress towards alleviating poverty grouped under the following three criteria used: low income, based on a three-year average estimate of the gross national income per capita (under $750 for cases of addition to the list, above $900 for cases of graduation); weak human assets, in the light of a composite Human Assets Index (HAI) based on indicators of: (a) nutrition; (b) health; (c) school enrolment; and (d) adult literacy; economic vulnerability, in the light of a composite Economic Vulnerability Index (EVI) based on indicators of: (a) instability of agricultural production; (b) instability of exports of goods and services; (c) diversification from traditional economic activities; (d) merchandise export concentration; and (e) economic smallness. A country qualifies to be added to the list of LDCs if it meets the above three criteria and does not have a population over 75 million. An LDC is considered as qualifying for graduation from LDC status if it meets graduation thresholds under at least two of the three criteria in at least two consecutive reviews of the list. (Source: UNITED NATIONS, New York and Geneva, 2005, UNCTAD secretariat) 3

5 We are still feeble when set against the challenges of the poverty we face because we essentially need support in social and economical development as well as the physical infrastructure. Also, in additional to the need to reduce the competitive disadvantage in the global economy, we need enhanced institutional capacities to reduce poverty in Africa. 2.2 Facts on Poverty in Africa It should be pointed out here that whereas it is true that Africa is largely poor, not all the 53 countries are on the same scale of poverty. Whereas some countries have succeeded to have relationship between economic development and public sector reform and innovation, others have not enhanced economic and social development, through administrative and governance reforms, to fight poverty. These are the countries that we are concerned about by asking questions as to what kind of reforms and what innovations to be introduced in order to boost economic development. When talking above poverty, it is impotart to take country by country and compare yourself to the whole of Africa, when it is taken as one block in the picture of poverty as given in the table below. Facts on poverty in Africa 315 million people one in two people in Sub Saharan Africa survive on less than one dollar per day. 184 million people 33% of the African population suffer from malnutrition. During the 1990s the average income per capita decreased in 20 African countries. Less than 50% of Africa s population has access to hospitals or doctors. In 2000, 300 million Africans did not have access to safe water. The average life expectancy in Africa is 41 years. Only 57% of African children are enrolled in primary education, and only one of three children does not complete school. One in six children dies before the age of 5. This number is 25 times higher in sub- Saharan Africa than in the OECD countries. Children account for half of all civilian casualties in wars in Africa. The African continent lost more than 5.3 million hectares of forest during the decade of the 1990s. Less than one person out of five has electricity. Out of 1,000 inhabitants 15 have a telephone line, and 7.8 out of 1,000 people surf on Internet. Source ( (Forum-07-Arinaitwe) 4

6 How does your country measure compared to the African Block? It should be noted also that there are differences in the way public administrative structures are set up in different countries. Such differences tend to affect the way services are provided and influence the way workers behave and operate. Here below are world s facts on poverty, how does Africa measure and how does your country measure? Facts on Poverty in the World More than 1.2 billion people one in every five on earth survive on less than $1 a day. The top 1% of the world s richest people earn as much as the poorest 57%. In the 1990s average per capita income growth was less than 3% in 125 developing and transition countries, and was negative in 54. During the 1990s the share of people living in extreme poverty fell from 30% to 23%. But as world population increased, the number fell only by 123 million, and if booming China is left out, the number actually increased by 28 million. Of the around six billion people in the world, at least 1.2 billion do not have access to safe drinking water. More than 2.4 billion people do not have proper sanitation facilities, and more than 2,2 million people die each year from diseases caused by polluted water and filthy sanitation conditions. Two-thirds of the world s 876 million illiterates are women. About 80% of economically active women in sub-saharan Africa and South Asia work in agriculture. Reaching the Millennium Development Goals depends on many factors, not least political will and money. It is estimated that US$100 billion in assistance a year, at a minimum, will be needed until During the 1990s, government development assistance dropped from 0.33% to 0.22% of donor countries gross national income. The target is 0.7%. Of the 49 least developed countries, 31 receive less aid today than they did in The annual dairy subsidy in the EU amounts to $913 per cow per year; EU s aid to Africa is $8 per African per year. Source ( 3 African Continent Challenges Some of challenges of African Continent are identified and expressed in the Declaration by African Heads of States Meeting in Durban in the south Africa on Democracy, Political, Economic and Corporate Governance. They are also expressed in long term strategic vision, documents of many African Countries. These challenges mostly include: enforcing the rule of Law, ensuring equity and 5

7 equality, equal opportunities, individual freedoms for all citizens before the law, practising just, honest, transparent, accountable and participatory Government and probity in public life, combating corruption which both retards economic development and undermines the moral fabric of society, restoring stability, peace and security including building capacity to prevent, manage, and resolve all conflict, ensuring respect for human rights including protection of the vulnerable, ethnic minorities, women, and children, promoting gender equality to tap the potential of women. All these challenges are related to issues of governance. The enormity and complexity of the challenges require the adoption of sound governance and public Administrative practices which the previous reforms and innovations may have failed to address appropriately. However, Mr.Peter Anyang Nyong o, Former Minister of Kenya, one time asked, Why is it that Africa s question, how, has always been answered based on donor-driven fads and paradigms? In the 1970s and 1980s, we were all excited when we were nudged in the direction of basic needs and integrated development. Before we could get our act together, our external advisers had thrown their weight behind the Berg report which herded us towards structural adjustment and down-sizing. We struggled with structural adjustment in the 1980s, without adjusting any structures. In adjusting Africa, oil economies remained just that oil economies and nothing more. Coffee and tea economies failed to diversify or develop linkages with other critical sectors! On June 8th 2007, the Summit of the World s Richer Nations at HEILIGENDAMM, GERMANY, the Leaders of the Group of Eight (G 8) agreed on a US $ 60 Billion package to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria in Africa. Unfortunately, within that money part of it is what had been pledged before. Hence we cannot plan based on the whole of US $ 60 billion. 4 Passed reforms and innovations 6

8 Reform, innovation and modernization have become a leitmotiv of development since 1990s to present. The African States have done all kinds of social, economic, political reforms, innovations and modernization: 1. Massive and repeated currency devaluation 2. Public Sector Retrenchments, Reforms and wage freezes 3. Exchange and interest rate liberalisation 4. Public enterprise privatisation and commercialisation 5. Decentralization governance 6. Poverty eradication programmes 7. Coming up with long term strategies vision documents 8. Drastic budgetary cuts 9. Monetary control (Setting ceilings on domestic credit expansion) 10. Generalized devaluation policies 11. Trade liberation and many others not mentioned here. 4.1 Problems of passed reforms and innovations For African countries are not outdone with regard to reforms. Although numerous administrative reforms have been tackled in the last two decades as shown above, other reform programmes are underway. The success varies and will continue to vary from country to country. In some countries, reforms have brought significant improvement in the simplification of procedures, accessibility of information and services to populations, one stop services, reduction of the number of institutions and personnel, the use of ICT in management and decision making, etc. However, the impact of these reforms in socio-economic development is still very limited. Why? Most often, They lack participation, They lack enough orientation prior carrying out such reforms and innovations They are donors driven reforms and innovations There are frequent changes of top management officials involved in them 7

9 There are fast changing world systems and the civil service may not be adequately prepared Policies, reforms and innovations often remain in paper form without being turned into action (Forum-07-Arinaitwe) The pandemic of HIV/AIDs, TB and Maralia has continued to hit many countries at a fast rate thus having a heavy impact on the national manpower resources. Ill placed personnel due to political reasons leading to misplacement of human resources. There is inadaquate funding and many other reasons not mentioned here 4.2 Need of Going Back to the drawing board and rethink At this moment, where African countries are resolved to fight poverty and accelerate their development, it is imperative to integrate reform programmes into the development process for better results. Instead of separating reform programmes from development, on the contrary, these reforms should be an integral part of development projects and programmes. Reforms should basically aim not only to support development but also and mainly to create an enabling environment for development. Whatever the area, being economy, politics, or public administration, the reform should be made in the light of socio-economic aspirations of populations (Drucker, 1974; Basu, 2000) In this respect, the efforts of reforms should serve to boost development and improve living conditions of populations. The thinking should therefore centre around the services provided by all Public or civil servants being so good, efficient and effective that people in the country would lead comfortable and satisfying lives during the their life time. Therefore, our thinking about poverty and how to fight it, the words used like poverty eradication, poverty elimination and poverty reduction should be aiming at wealth, job and employment creation respectively. 8

10 Poverty Eradication Poverty elimination Poverty Reduction Wealth creation Job creation Employment Creation (Forum-07-Arinaitwe) Reforms should promote innovations that trigger social and economic development. There is a lot of tension between the push for innovation and the capacity of the administrative and governance reforms to deliver it. The persuit of innovation and reforms is triggering administrative and governance clashes due to lack of open to global flows of ideas from people who are supposed to be the beneficiaries. Hence, reforms and innovations may not accelerate economic and social development, and raise incomes, creating and boosting economic development unless civil service is fully involved. As earlier on stated, Public Servants, (or Civil Service for that matter), act as government machinery and are charged with the responsibilities for policy formulation and implementation, evaluation and control of government projects and programs. Thus, such public affairs should be executed by public servants at all levels in the manner in which is for the benefit of the entire society which seems not to be the case. 4.3 What does Africa need to get out poverty? In order to play a major role to get out poverty and create the necessary momentum for the social and economic development creation paradigm, this conference must be part of the effort in identifying what works, how it works, when it works, and where it works in Public Administration and Governance and also consider in terms of the critical elements, the institutions, and the instruments that will endow our people with the physical, social, and economic development to become prosperous. As the Former Minister in Kenya, Peter Anyang Nyong o said : 9

11 In reality we know what works. If truth be told, Africa s problem is not in knowing what it must do to conquer poverty and enjoy the benefits of sustainable development. We have listed the critical choices that we must make to succeed and discussed them to death in thousands of papers and peerreviewed journals, and at workshops, seminars, and conferences. Our problems usually begin with how to do it, when to do it, and where to do it. When it comes to how to do it, we as Africans have abdicated our intellectual responsibility the responsibility to put the thinking cap on prior to coming out with our own development designs. We have instead depended on the development partners for ideas, and on charities to alleviate the burdens of poverty. New thinking Paradigm 10

12 Economic Development Social Development Public Administrative and Governance Innovations and Reforms What kind of Reforms and Innovations can enhance economic and social development? 4.4 What kind of Public Administrative and Governance Reforms and innovations do we need to boost economic and social development? Whatever the type of reforms and Innovations we think of taking to enhance public Administration and reforms, must: 1. Have clear objectives and goals, arrived at in participatory manner 2. Be sustainable (Forum-07-Arinaitwe) 11

13 3. Have defined measurements of performance- Priorities of concentration so as to enable us to select the targets and set standards of accomplishments and performance, to define the minimum and acceptable results, to set deadlines, to go to work on results and to make someone accountable for results. 4. Have a continuous monitoring and evaluation to see where we are and where we need to redirect ourselves to stay on the course. (Drucker, 1974; Basu, 2000; Batema and zeithaml 1993) Hence, reforms, innovations and development must be harmonized in the strategies of all ministries as part and parcel of the national plan that everyone adheres to and pursues them to the improvement of the welfare of the populations. 5. The Role of Public Administration and Governance The public service is very critical to the development process. It is at the center of planning, implementations, monitoring and evaluation of the public service delivery such as health, education, agricultural extension, environment protection etc. The first requirement for effective institutions of the public service is already identified, acknowledged and enshrined in the Charter for the Public Service in Africa. It only needs a continuous review to keep it up to date. (Drucker, 1974; Basu, 2000) The public service is an institution which is composed of sub-institutions. Therefore developing its capacity should be a continuous process but approached from a point of desegregation to determine which sub-institutions need to be strengthened in which way. Some institutions are operational, others are for controls and others for coordination. Hence, structures and systems need to be devised and implemented not only the way the ministries are differentiated but also the way they are coordinated to work together. They all must be 12

14 capable, effective in terms of the system and structures that guide their operateions and the human resources that run these systems and structures. The controlling and coordinating institutions should be supportive by empowering the operational institutions to achieve specific targets (Drucker, 1974). Hence, all the controlling, coordinating and operational institutions should be involved from start to the end of reforms, innovations and so that each is clear on the role it is expected to play and how to link to others. Once any of these institutions is left out, will throw of balance the national reforms and plans. Indeed will jopardise the whole governance efforts in the country. 5.1 Need for Participation Administrative and governance reform programmes should therefore be designed in a participatory manner, associating major partners involved in the social and economic aspects of development. By the same token, economic and social development programmes should be designed in consideration with reform programmes. A common vision of reform and development is needed to effectively achieve development goals. In addition to public civil service, the private sector, civil society and the populations at large should also participate. Ensuring Political, economical, social managerial /administrative and technical empowerment of the populations to participating in planning and management of their development process so as to: 1. Enable participation in initiating, making, implementing and monitoring decisions and plans that concern them taking into considerations their needs, priorities, capacities and resources 2. Let the leaders be accountable to the communities they serve and teach such communities to demand services due to them and demand accountability. 3. Enhance the sensitivity and responsiveness of the Public Administration to the public/ population by placing the planning, financing, management 13

15 and control of the services provision at the point where services are provided. Let the communities be involved in the development of structures and capacities according to environment and needs as the stake holders of the reforms and innovations (Drucker, 1974; Basu, 2000; Batema and zeithaml 1993). 5.2 The role and cost of social reforms and innovations Social innovation plays a large part in social and economic change and development. The needs of society, the needs for rapid social and economic development for the poor countries, the needs for our cities and the needs of the environment, the need of productivity in education and health care are opportunities for social innovations. They are opportunities for the administrative and governance reforms but must have future sustainability. Part of the challenges here are the demands on the knowledge, the skills, funds and the performance of management. Administrative and governance is not to provide services only but provide better and new and convenience services creating a new potential of satisfaction rather than an improvement. Typically, this new and different services cost more. Yet its overall effect is to make the economy more productive. For example, new malaria drug costs for more than that one that is no longer or non effective but were used in the past. The computers cost far more than adding machines and the cost of the typewriters. If and when we get a cancer or AIDS cure, it will cost more than a fast-class funeral. You consider the price of a drug to the saving it produces in reducing the days of hospital stay and in added years of working life (Drucker, 1974). Likewise, Good Public Administration and Governance, knowledge and skills will cost more and is a continuous process through capacity building, and its cost savings may not immediately or easily be measured but its is of the greatest value. (Forum-07-Arinaitwe) 14

16 No matter what, Innovation should be looked at as the task of endowing human and material resources with new and greater wealth producing capacity. Whatever we import, whether technology or others, we have to produce our own social innovations to make the imported technology work and this is done through capacity building. We must channel our energies and those of our people into social innovations that would enable our countries to become strong modern societies. Thus, the definition of innovation should be stressed on todays conscious understanding of the needs of our society, schools, health care, systems, cities and environment, and develop the capacity to that effect. 5.3 Organizing and structuring The public service has to learn how to organize, structure and direct the large scale government organization. Public Services institutions are massive and dominate the social, political and economic landscape. They represent existing bureaucracies, existing concentration of expertise, existing assignments and on going programs. If they cannot be innovative, then we become big government and big armed service that does not delivery. We need to be sensitive and have people who do the management job systematically and who focus themselves and their institutions purposefully on performance and results. They need efficiency, that is, control of costs but above all they need effectiveness that puts emphasis on the right results. 6. Conclusion Countries such as those of South Eastern Asia, which are making remarkable progress in economic development, have recognized the impact of reforms in their development. They are embarked in various reform programmes in relation with key sectors of development. Their administrative, institutional and governance reform programmes are designed according to development needs. In this context, reforms are conducted to support, lead and steer development. (Forum-07-Arinaitwe) 15

17 The basis of their reforms is therefore to pave the way for change, improvement and economic development. Both reforms and development pursue the same goals, that is, the improvement of the welfare of populations. This should be our focus as well. When analysing most reform programmes conducted in African countries, it is found that the majority of them are not sustainable and have not been designed in line with socio-economic development needs. They are carried out without clear vision as to what role they are to play in future development in relation to where we want to be. Worst to this, most of these reform programmes have short term duration in scope and concern touching only on some aspects of public administration and governance. Important innovations have also been introduced but, in general, they are isolated. Public Administration and Governance most important contributes to social and economic developments by contributing knowledge and skills, quality services in all reforms and innovations at all levels. Their contributions and cost savings may not immediately or easily be measured but they are of the greatest value in totality. References: Basu, Rumki, Public Administration Concepts and theories (Revised and Enlarged Edition). New Delhi, Sterling Publishers Private Limited, Bateman s. Thomas and Zeithaml P. Carl, Management Function & Strategy, 2 nd Ed, Homewood, IL, Richard D. Irwin Inc, Drucker F. Peter, Management Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices, New York, Harper & Row Publishers, UNITED NATIONS, New York and Geneva, 2005, UNCTAD secretariat. 16