Public Administration Reform Practice Note Part 1 Global Practice Meeting on

Public Administration Reform

The Practice Note

Provides a strategic framework for UNDP Country Office staff and Regional Programmes for PAR programming Provides UNDPs development partners with clear sense of UNDPs strategic focus Provides a portal to more detailed programmatic guidance: toolkits including primers, case studies; other resources.

UNDP support for PAR Basic statistics

380 projects in 112 countries 7% Promoting a professional, merit base, civil service. 17% Functional reviews 63% Training civil servants 13% ICT

PAR and the MDGs

More resources in poor countries are freed to be used in pursuit of MDG goals By increasing transparency and eradicating corruption, more scarce resources in poor countries are directed towards achieving MDGs A responsive public administration, especially to women and marginalized people, is critical to ensuring the sustainability of MDG achievements Increasing the accountability of state institutions is essential to closing the

Process of developing the PN Mapping of UNDP activities, lessons from

experience and evaluations Inputs by the Democratic Governance Group, PAR Advisers based in NY, Oslo and the SURFs. Comments from Network Discussion between October 8th and October 22nd, involving over 20 participants. Review by the Democratic Governance Programme Team over 25 responses. Peer review by senior practitioners in partner agencies

Main issues in PAR for UNDP UNDPs comparative strength is

evolving:
Difficult to define a UNDP role compatible with its resources. Other players have increased their role in this field, e.g. World Bank, ADB, IADB, and DfID Surveys in Africa, Asia, and the Arab States have shown that focus on reform of central government declined while decentralization has become a core area for UNDP

UNDPs Niche
UNDPs twin pillars of a pro-poor and human rights-based approach to PAR are a focus on open government and decentralization UNDP practitioners, informed by this Practice Note and accompanying toolkit will be able to engage in a dialogue on all aspects of PAR, and be advocates for UNDPs pro-poor and human rightsbased approaches.

development at the individual, institutional and societal levels for poverty reduction in four areas:
Civil Service Reform
Improving the policy making system

Substance and Scope of The PN is built around capacity PAR

Reforming the machinery of government

Reforming the public expenditure management system

Civil Service Reform

Mission Training Establishment control Management systems: career vs. position; civil service commission; performance management Pay and compensation Gender equity and affirmative action Politicization and patronage

Improving the policy making system

Growing area of interest Politically very sensitive Weakness one of the key handicaps to reform

Reforming the machinery of government

Functional Reviews Information and Communication technologies and e-governance Democracy enhancing public institutions

Reforming the Revenue and Expenditure Management System

More often the preserve of the IFIs But important new approaches: propoor budgeting; gender budgeting, etc. Critical dimension of decentralization

PN provides practical guidance for DG practitioners Technical guidance on the main areas of PAR
(Poli cy making systems, CSR, etc.) as well as: Entry points and sequencing Winners and losers Gaining support and fostering leadership Accounting for different administrative traditions Enshrining the Human Rights Approach Measuring Progress

Regional Trends
RBA driven by structural adjustment and strong donor pressure; decentralization focus; CSR; holistic approaches RBAP UNDP increasingly crowded out; shift towards decentralization; CSR, institutional capacity building, public awareness and pro-poor reform RBAS few countries, focus on technical reforms, anticorruption, ICT RBEC EU accession; transitional economy issues RBLAC shift from focus on economic and financial management (modernization) to more ambitious approaches: NPM, performance-based CSR, and introducing voice

Next Steps
Seminar on PAR in Bratislava to:
Build an understanding of and consensus behind the positions espoused in the PN Elaborate Primers such as: Lessons from advances in PAR in Francophone countries Gender mainstreaming in PAR PAR in countries worst affected by HIV/AIDS Roll out the PN Enhance the guidance in the PN for a future