"Dissatisfied with centralized approaches to delivering local public services, a large number of countries are decentralizing responsibility for these services to lower-level, locally elected governments. The results have been mixed. The paper provides a framework for evaluating the benefits and...

Since the Constitution (2005) provided for decentralizing powers and functions for the Governorates, the government of Iraq has enacted several legal, policy, and institutional reform initiatives, the intent of which is to shift political and administrative powers and responsibilities from the...

Limited state capacity to carry out core government and service delivery functions poses a major constraint in post conflict countries, especially those with low income levels. With regard to scope, the research carried out for this note primarily focuses on developing a detailed understanding...

This report discusses selected issues regarding accountability in public services. The introduction discusses the accountability framework that will be used for the report. Chapter 1 assesses South Africa's progress on service access and quality, and summarizes recent policy initiatives....

There is a general consensus that The Gambia's civil service has a number of key capacity weaknesses. Pay is too low to hire, motivate and retain key technical and professional staffs. Staffs are not managed to achieve results, neither rewarded for good performance nor sanctioned for poor...