COMPARATIVE DATA ON GOVERNANCE AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION IN AFRICA March 2003
Table of Contents 1. INTRODUCTION... 3 2. BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE... 4 3. AVAILABLE DATA... 5 4. THE DATA FRAMEWORK... 7 4.1 CATEGORIES... 8 Country Profile... 9 Governance... 9 Planning... 9 Implementation... 10 Monitoring, evaluation and oversight... 10 5. DATA GATHERING, MANAGEMENT AND REPORTING STRATEGY... 11 Focus of the Data... 11 Presentation and maintenance of data... 12 Data gathering... 12 Reporting... 13 ANNEX A: CATEGORIES... 14 DEFINITIONS OF KEY TERMS USED... 14 2
1. Introduction The recent formation of the African Union (AU) and launch of the New Partnership for Africa s Development (NEPAD) has reinforced the commitment of African countries to foster stability and greater economic and development co-operation on the continent. NEPAD, in particular, commits African leadership to support the shared goals of good governance as well as address institutional weaknesses. The commitment of the AU and NEPAD to cooperation and development requires institutional reform and restructuring that is likely to have a substantive impact on governance and public administration on the continent. Focused efforts to improve governance and public administration practise are already underway and there is a growing movement towards measuring progress in governance and public sector practises. However, despite an increasing focus on measurement in Africa and globally, the baseline data on African governance and public administration is limited. This has given rise to a need to develop an appropriate database to capture basic governance and public administration data on an annual basis for comparative and evaluation purposes. This is particularly important in the African context because the public service plays an important regulatory and facilitating role in development. The availability of basic governance and public administration information is essential for planning and for enhancing the prospects of development in the region. However, most information and data is collated in the large data banks of the World Bank, IMF and United Nations. While these are useful as sources of information, they tend to focus on issues of concern to these institutions and reflect global public management trends. As a consequence, there is limited information on the practices of governance and public administration that pays attention to the specific content and context of governance and public administration in Africa. This document outlines the background and purpose of the proposed data project. In view of the increased interest in African governance and public administration, the need to improve and expand the data available in existing databases is outlined. A rationale for a particular data framework is provided as part of an attempt to develop an African specific approach to collecting data about governance and public administration. The document therefore recommends and outlines a framework which adopts a traditional approach to governance and public administration focusing on decision-making, planning, implementation and evaluation. Finally, a data collection strategy is outlined. Accurate and up-to-date data on government in Africa could provide the essential foundation for constructing appropriate and manageable programmes across the region and also serve as the empirical foundation for understanding unfolding practices on the continent and within regions. The data collection strategy assumes that information is dispersed and uneven across African countries and that there are no comprehensive information stores. It is anticipated that the initial pilot will serve as base for generating annual reports that capture basic data on government practices across Africa. As with other project interventions, it is expected that the initial report will serve to leverage additional resources for the generation of future annual reports. The proposed database will allow for a range of comparative 3
information and trends to emerge which will facilitate more effective decision making with regard to public administration in an African context. 2. Background and Purpose As the NEPAD Founding Document indicates, despite moves towards economic growth and more democratic forms of government organisation, many African countries continue to deal with dependency, conflict and poverty. The roots of these problems are complex and related to a history of colonialism, economic dependency and political upheaval. The common response to Africa's crisis has been to emphasise good governance practise and effective public administration as outlined in the NEPAD strategy. However, very little attention has, as yet, been paid to the institutional and human resource capacity required to implement these interventions. The belief that public sectors in Africa need to be reformed is an important component of the NEPAD strategy. It is also a factor in determining the success of the proposed new initiatives for development and growth in Africa. The will to push changes, rather than merely assert their importance, is essential. While political support for change is necessary, it is public sector institutions and public administration processes that define and effect the outcomes of change. Institutional complexity engenders more opportunities and pathways for reform proposals to arise, but also provides a greater number of blockage points to prevent reforms from being approved or implemented. This is particularly the case in Africa where institutional capacity is apparently limited and often a serious constraint. However, to date there has been no consolidated source of information on governance and public administration capacities on the continent. This has resulted in reliance on external databases and assessments which has limited opportunities for benchmarking, co-operation and joint planning. It is assumed that most public sector reform programmes in Africa, imposed through structural adjustment or adopted to improve service delivery, do not achieve the intended results. The reasons cited for this inability to transform African public sectors into efficient and effective administrative service units are numerous, and include: poor policy implementation, insufficient social and public infrastructures, inefficient services and institutions, excessive centralisation of services, decisions, resources and powers, mismanagement of public funds and enterprises, lack of adequate development policy, unproductive and unmotivated civil servants, corruption, backward economy and inadequate resources. Many of the reasons may be accurate, but there is nonetheless often a lack of baseline data to assess change. As a consequence, reform programmes are benchmarked against developed country criteria which may not be appropriate to the specific context and needs of the continent. The development of a databank of basic information about governance and public administration will facilitate effective assessment of the capacity of the public sector to deliver the services that are crucial to future African development. Given this, the purpose of the Comparative Data Gathering Project on Governance and Public Administration project is to: 4
provide public service leaders and other key stakeholders with the information necessary to make more informed decisions about governance and public administration in Africa; provide a framework for data collection and analysis which will facilitate the exchange of basic data and information and the sharing of experiences and practices amongst officials in the African region; and, enhance comparative research on governance and public administration in the region and the dissemination of research findings provide basic information on the nature of governance and public administration against which it will be possible to assess progress and performance over time In the longer term, it will be possible to use the database to enable information sharing, benchmarking, co-operation, joint planning and assessment of change. 3. Available Data As suggested earlier despite a growing focus on the measurement of governance and reform initiatives in Africa and public sector globally, there is no one database which captures information on governance and public administration. Even the United Nations 1, which has a large and comprehensive database on the public sector, has argued that there is no source of information and data solely dedicated to portraying the overall picture of the public sector in the world, measuring its size and major functions. There is, however, a range of databases that will provide some of the basic information required for this database project. Many of these databases have been scanned in order to assess the extent of coverage of governance and public administration information provided on African countries. In this regard, the UN information sources are the most comprehensive, but still do not provide the basic data required as a baseline of information about African governance and public administration capacity. In addition, many African countries do not feature on any of the existing databases. The United Nations (UNPAN) hosts the largest collection of basic data on the public sector which is available on line in a range of different forms and includes both qualitative and quantitative data. The database uses a defined concept of the public sector and a cluster of indicators to measure the public sector. This allows for the development of some internationally comparable statistics. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) maintains a database on good governance but no statistical data is available. The Human Development Report website provides statistics focused on monitoring human development. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) maintains a web site of 20 key indicators on the labour market which includes data on public sector employment. The World Bank has an information-rich web site devoted to governance and public sector reform. This includes information on governance, administrative and civil service reform. In particular, it provides cross-national data on government employment and wages. But it is acknowledged that systematic comprehensive information on public sector employment and pay is rare and generally controversial. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) maintains 1 Committee of Experts on Public Administration. Basic Data on the Public Sector. United Nations Economic and Social Council (E/c.16/2002/2): 10 May 2002. Some of the information on databases provided below has been adapted from this document. 5
the World Economic Outlook Database. One of its sections is devoted to general government fiscal balances and presents data on a national income accounts basis. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) programme on public management and governance focuses on institutional development, and on assisting governments in building and strengthening effective, efficient and transparent administrative structures. It covers the 30 members of OECD. Public sector statistics available through the programme s web site focus on public sector pay and employment. Other data related to the public sector, especially to expenditures, can be found in OECD publications (partly available in electronic form) that deal with national accounts, labour force statistics and general economics. The International Institute for Management Development (IMD) publishes the World Competitiveness Yearbook, which is an annual report on the competitiveness of nations. The Yearbook includes country rankings and analyses of how a nation s environment contributes to the competitiveness of enterprises. Four so-called competitiveness factors provide the framework for the collection and presentation of country data, namely: Economic Performance, Government Efficiency, Business Efficiency and Infrastructure. The Government Efficiency factor provides a cluster of data on the public sector. Some 84 indicators are included covering public finance, fiscal policy, the institutional framework, business legislation and education. Access to the database is available through subscription only. In 2002 the IMD Yearbook covered 49 countries. South Africa was the only African country that was featured. The World Economic Forum (WEF) publishes the Global Competitiveness Report, which is a rival to the IMD report. Eight factors of competitiveness have been identified by the WEF: Openness, Government, Finance, Infrastructure, Technology, Management, Labour and Civil Institutions. The public sector is covered under the categories of Government and Civil Institutions. Government incorporates data on the role of the state in the economy, including the overall burden of government expenditures, fiscal deficits, rates of public saving, marginal tax rates and the overall competence of the civil service. Civil institutions measures the extent of business competition, the quality of legal institutions and practices, and the extent of corruption and organised crime. Some 45 indicators are included in the Government and Civil Institutions clusters. Access to the database is available to through subscription only. CAFRAD, the African Training and Research Centre in Administration for Development, appears to be in the process of establishing a public sector information service on its website. Hyper links have been established to provide data in the following categories: Charter for the Public Service in Africa, Legislation, Country Profiles, Analytical Reports, Statistical Database, Technical Project Highlights, Major Developments/Trends, Serials, Calendar of Events and Bibliography on Public Administration. So far, only the first two links are active and the Legislation link merely provides a means of accessing the website addresses of national legislative bodies in Africa and international agencies such as the European Parliament and the United Nations. 6
The United Nations database does not generate its own original data but uses available sources. Its value is in bringing all the pertinent information into one framework and systematising it accordingly. In order to do this in the African context requires the development of a framework which will address Africa-specific concerns as well as more established global focus areas. 4. The Data Framework Given the global challenge to measure service delivery and the increasing flow of aid to Africa, African public sectors are under increasing pressure to tighten up their performance. The initial post-colonial growth of the state which resulted in archaic processes and procedures, growing public sectors and questions about the competency of public servants, has been limited by an emphasis on improved service delivery, efficient implementation and cost reduction. This has often occurred in a context in which political systems were being challenged and calls for democracy raised. Given this context, combined with shrinking resources and growing poverty and unemployment, African public sectors are increasingly called upon to focus on areas such as performance management and decentralisation under the mantle of structural adjustment and public sector reform. This has raised the following issues: Concerns with regard to public sector employment in terms of composition, skills, costs, conditions, labour relations and incentives for stabilising staff turnover. A focus on perceived corruption and patronage and its effects on service delivery. Poor responsiveness to changed priorities and the challenges of service delivery in highly unequal contexts. Operational efficiency and service delivery and the use of e-government as a means to improve delivery and knowledge management. A growing concern about deficits, high inflation and over-valued national currencies that deepen poverty and increase dependency on Aid. In particular, more effective public finances, budgets, management and accountability systems Improvement of revenue collection and taxation regulations. Focusing on these areas as part of the NEPAD strategy requires the identification of basic information on governance and public administration. In order to do this, it has been necessary to develop a framework simple enough to allow for the systematisation of data from different sources into one framework, but flexible enough to allow for an increasing complexity of analysis and growth. This framework is captured in the form of a table in Annex A but will be described in some detail below. The framework attempts to work off a realistic understanding of the key baseline information requirements for governance and public administration in Africa. There is an acknowledgement that there are as many definitions for governance and public administration as there are institutions and strategies to improve service delivery and development. Many of the current understandings of governance are all encompassing and include political, economic and management dimensions. The particular focus adopted by institutions is reflected in the nature of the data collected and types of indicators used. Some 7
include public administration as part of governance and others do the reverse. There are therefore many interesting and useful ways in which governments can be looked at, described and analysed. However, the challenge is to find a framework practical enough to enable the collection of reliable and comparable data that can accommodate the diversity of meanings given to the terms. Usually governments are assessed with the following questions in mind: Who makes the decisions? How does it work? How big is it? How much does it cost? What do we get from it? With the growth of interest in democratic governance and the changing role of public administration in terms of public accountability, there seems to be a growing importance not only in getting basic information about the performance of the public sector but how it operates. Increasingly, given the growing integration of the world economy and the information revolution, governments are required to focus on setting up governmental machinery, improving efficiency and effectiveness in service delivery; and increasing government accountability simultaneously. It is with this operational process in the mind that the framework has been developed. Given this, the database framework is designed to describe a descriptive snapshot of the operational processes related to policy decision making, implementation and review. It is therefore different from many of the existing databases since it is not evaluative, although it would allow for this if necessary. It is not attempting to assess performance against specific criteria. The focus within the main categories (described below) is on the decision making and public administration aspects of the process of service delivery. With the exception of a thumbnail political and socio-economic sketch of each country, data related to general development and/or reform initiatives is expected to be covered in other projects but could be included over time. It is hoped that the database will allow for a range of comparative information and trends to emerge which will facilitate more effective decision-making with regard to public administration in an African context. 4.1 Categories The broad categories selected for providing the basic framework for the collection of data defines the practical operational process from policy development to planning, implementation and review. The only exception in the category is the country profile. While the process as described is linear, there is an understanding that in fact the operational processes defined are in practise rather messy and iterative. However, the importance of a logical and realistic framework for capturing data that can be used comparatively cannot be under-emphasized. If it is not possible to develop appropriate broad and useful definitions for 8
the categories and sub-categories, it will not be possible to gather the information and populate the database. Given this, it has been assumed that this operational framework which describes a policy process from decision making to review will allow the collection and comparison of the baseline information needed to assess capacity in Africa, as well as over time the indicators needed to answer the key questions outlined above. Given this, the following assumptions have been made with regard to the design of the framework: The database will have a specific focus on governance and public administration in Africa. Many other database systems contain a broad range of socio-economic and development data with regard to Africa, but few have appropriately contextualised information on public administration in Africa. The database will provide descriptive data only. In later years the information may be extended to include evaluative data. However, initially the data collected will provide a snapshot of current trends in governance and public administration in Africa. Within this descriptive framework it will be possible to identify trends across a range of categories, sub-categories, countries or regions. This will in the long-term facilitate the comparative review of government practice. The categories are outlined below with some description of their envisaged contents. Country Profile The purpose of this category is to provide a brief picture of the socio-economic and political context of each specific country. This will enable the descriptive data to be contextualise against broad development and democratic governance indicators in line with the concerns of the AU and NEPAD. Governance This section is focused on the decision-making structures and processes which organise and manage the distribution of public resources to meet the nation s basic needs. The data in this category will define and graphically represent the structure of organisations and institutions involved in governance. It would also include a description of the legislative, executive, judicial and support systems in place for collective decision-making on political and economic affairs. The focus will be on the institutions responsible for decision making and the ways in which public administration supports the policy development process. Planning This category identifies the processes and institutions through which goals, priorities and targets for the implementation of policy are developed and aligned to budgets. It attempts to 9
capture information with regard to planning processes, approaches, institutions and periods. Basic budget information, including sector allocations, would be included. Implementation This category which focuses on the execution of government decisions includes a range of different sub-categories which capture the implementation process. It is assumed that information generated from this category will lead to a description of the shape, operations and size of African public sectors. The sub-categories are as follows: Public Administration Structure attempts to capture the shape of the public administration system Public Administration Policy defines public administration specific legislative and procedural frameworks that guide implementation. This would include, for example, public service acts or equivalent and codes of conduct Institutions describes the structure of government departments, public enterprises and regulatory institutions responsible for implementing government decisions. This section allows for the identification of organisations and agencies across tiers of government from national to local, as well as non-governmental organisations. It would also enable the identification of sectors. Human Resources describe the policies, procedures and practices that define human resource management and development in the public sector. In addition, it would enable the analysis of public sector personnel trends in terms of size, expenditure and structure. Sub-categories include personnel information, terms and conditions of employment and human resource development policies and practices. Finance this section provides information on the systems and procedures which define financial management as well as expenditure per sector and public finance statistics. Information Technology this section briefly reviews the systems and technology which facilitate the management of information in the public service with a specific focus on IT policy, institutions involved, expenditure and e-government strategy. Monitoring, evaluation and oversight This category describes the processes and institutions established to ensure accountability in policy development and implementation. It focuses specifically on government monitoring and evaluation processes with emphasis on reporting, as well as oversight agencies which monitor government commitments. This might include human rights agencies, public service commissions, or constitutional courts. 10
5. Data gathering, management and reporting strategy The success of the comparative data research project depends on an effective data gathering, management and reporting process. As with many large databases that have been reviewed at the inception of the project, past practice has led to a proliferation of unique and redundant data distributed among several computer applications and databases running on multiple platforms. As a result data is difficult to share, costly to assemble and hard to assess in terms of its integrity and accuracy. In addition, there is a lack of effective mechanisms to share information across countries within the continent. In assessing processes of data collection and data management, evidence suggests that one cannot continue to follow the approach of the past. Various organisations have undertaken the development of data collection, management and reporting strategy to consolidate, standardise and increase accessibility to the data. Most efforts start with sweeping statements about establishing data standardisation, developing data models, repositories, dictionaries, policies and procedures. However, such efforts fail because they are too broad in scope, lack commitment and grossly underestimate resource requirements. In view of the financial and time constraints associated with the project, the project will recognise and work within the overarching priorities. The project will be built on reviewing and co-ordinating information across the different databases, sharing information on best practices and applying standardised processes and methodologies. In addition, the process will be evolutionary in nature, with the emphasis on collaboration amongst all countries on the continent where it makes sense, standardisation on the core data elements, better communication along the information chain and annual collection of data to address gaps that emerges from this research project. Links will be established with academic institutions, regional bodies, independent experts and other networks throughout the continent to ensure the integrity and reliability of the data. The rationale for guiding the data gathering, management and collection processes is as follows: Focus of the Data The data collected will be focused in respect of the parameters outlined below: Current Data current data refers to the most up-to-date data that has been captured onto the various databases as well as primary data that would be collected through the survey schedule. The rationale for using the most current data is to establish a baseline for the reporting year (2002) and the point of departure for collecting data in subsequent years. Sectors - There will be no focus on sectors as an independent category the approach utilised will be to identify core sets of data within the respective categories and subcategories, which will facilitate the generation of reports against core elements across 11
the different sectors. This approach will not result in comprehensively reporting on sectors but will allow for core sets of information on the respective sectors to be documented, analysed and compared across the different countries. Selection of tiers of government all tiers of government will be included in this field, however the data collected for this research would be at the national level. The main rationale for collecting data at the national level is that data is more readily available. In addition, the time constraint in respect of the project and complexity and diversity of data at lower tiers of government mitigates the team form collecting data at the other levels. Presentation and maintenance of data Data will be presented in an easily accessible format to all users who need it. The core data will be standardised across applications to allow for interoperability, increased accuracy and comparative analysis. Maintenance costs would be reduced through the elimination of redundancies and retirement of obsolete data. Development costs would be reduced through using existing platforms and extending existing fields to accommodate changes. Availability and management of reliable information factors that would be considered in this research include a discussion on the establishment of a central data management entity, increase data sharing, improve data availability in terms of timelines, access and quality, promote collaboration on data gathering and management, establish a data architecture that could leverage of existing data infrastructure. Design of database/s - The architecture of the database would support the structure of the database format and the survey schedule. The structure provides the basis for indexing which will allow for any query to be generated. A range of standard queries will be built in and accessed via pull-down menus, while any other queries could be generated using specific commands. If additional information is required the structure of the database could be easily adapted to incorporate this. The basic table will be split into a number of sub-tables as determined by the prioritisation of data, the key questions raised and the degree to which the categories and subcategories have been populated. Data gathering The approach that will be utilised is based on the comments outlined in the above mentioned introductory statements. Two instruments would be developed - the database format, which is based on the database architecture, and the survey schedule. Both these tools would mirror each other with the database format collecting the secondary data from existing databases and the survey schedule collecting primary data. The rationale for using both tools is to ensure that the most current data is collected and that all the database fields are optimally populated. The survey schedule will be translated from English into French, Portuguese and Arabic this will facilitate a higher completion rate in respect of the different data fields. 12
Reporting It is recognised that the database will serve multiple audiences i.e. both political and administrative. As the database gets populated there will be a clearer sense of the nature, scope and content of the reports that could be generated. Hence, the database will be set up to enable different target groups to generate reports in respect of the need and priority. A snapshot report for each country would be generated the rationale is to enable the research team to generate reports on core data that would allow for comparative analysis across the different countries. Snapshot reports show information for a specific time period. This snapshot data can be viewed as the most current data as there might be delays between new data injected into the system and the generation of updated reports. Cumulative reports represent long-term views of administrative performance. These reports are derived from some cumulative reports that span years of data. Both snapshot and cumulative reports are generated at regular intervals and if web enabled are available through the Web server immediately after production. The information in these reports and graphs, and even their formats are volatile, to ensure greater stability core set of queries will be contained within each report. 13
Annex A: Categories MAIN DATA CATEGORIES SUB-CATEGORIES 1. Country Profile 1.1 Country profile 2. Governance 2.1 Government structure 2.2 Legislative institutions 2.3 Executive institutions 2.4 Judicial institutions 2.5 Support institutions 3. Planning 3.1 Planning institutions 3.2 Budgeting 4. Implementation 4.1 Public administration structure 4.2 Public administration policy 4.3 Institutions 4.2.1 Government departments 4.2.2 Public enterprises 4.2.3 Regulatory institutions 4.4 Human Resources 4.3.1 Human resources policy 4.3.2 Public sector personnel 4.3.3 Terms and conditions of service 4.3.4 Human resource development 4.5 Finance 4.4.1 Financial management policy 4.4.2 Revenue collection 4.4.3 Expenditure 4.4.4 Financial management systems 4.6 Information Technology 4.6.1 Information technology policy 4.6.2 Information technology institutions 4.6.3 Information technology expenditure 4.6.4 E-government strategy 5. Monitoring, Evaluation and 5.1 Government monitoring and evaluation Oversight 5.2 Oversight agencies Definitions of Key Terms Used Country profile Budgeting E-government strategy Executive institutions Expenditure Brief description of the socio-economic profile of each country and the political system in regard to the holding of elections. The process of defining priorities through budget planning. The purpose and objectives of government actions with respect to electronic government. The executive bodies responsible for policy formulation. The mechanisms and procedures that govern the allocation of public funds, and statistics on public expenditure. 14
Finance Financial management policy Financial management systems Governance Government departments Government monitoring and evaluation Government processes Government structure Human resource development Human resources Human resources policy Implementation Information technology Information technology expenditure Information technology institutions Information technology policy Institutions Judicial institutions Legislative institutions Monitoring, evaluation and oversight Oversight agencies Planning Planning institutions Public administration policy Public administration structure Public enterprises Public sector personnel Regulatory institutions Revenue collection The policies, systems and procedures that govern the management of public spending. The principles and actions adopted to manage public spending. The systems and procedures used to manage public finance. The decision making process with regard to the distribution of public resources. A major division of government that is responsible for implementing policy. Government processes and bodies in place to monitor policy implementation. Government processes and bodies in place to monitor policy implementation. The structure of the key government institutions involved in decision making. The practices and procedures in relation to the training and development of staff. The composition of staff employed by government and the policies, procedures and practices relating to the management of staff. The principles and actions adopted by government in relation to the management of staff. The execution of government decisions. The policies and systems which facilitate the management of information in the public service. Public spending on information technology. The institutions responsible for the management and regulation of information technology. The principles and actions adopted in relation to the management of information technology. The organisations and agencies responsible for implementing government decisions. The judicial bodies responsible for policy formulation. The legislative bodies involved in decision making and policy formulation. The processes and institutions established to ensure accountability in policy development and implementation. Independent agencies involved in the oversight of policy implementation. The processes and institutions through which goals, priorities and targets for the implementation of policy are developed and aligned to budgets. Institutions involved in the setting of goals, priorities and targets for the implementation of policy. The legislative and procedural frameworks which guide implementation. The shape of the public administration system Statutory public enterprises involved in implementing government decisions Personnel employed in the public sector (government and parastatal institutions) Agencies involved in the regulation of public services The systems and mechanisms for revenue collection and statistics on government revenues 15
Support institutions Terms and conditions of service Statutory research and/or consultative bodies that contribute to the policy formation process. Conditions defining public sector employment 16