44900 The World Bank JULY PREMnotes 2008 N U M B E R 121 PUBLIC SECTOR GOVERNANCE Information Access, Governance, and Service Delivery in Key Sectors: Themes and Lessons from Kenya and Ethiopia Sahr Kpundeh and Gilbert M. Khadiagala1 Introduction access is still a critical task in forging more What are the substantive links among infor- transparent systems in service provision. This mation access, transparency, governance, and Note seeks to spark deeper interest by World service delivery? Is information a lubricant to Bank researchers and operational staff to better service delivery? These questions were posed understand the impact of information access on and elaborated in field research conducted in program design and program outcomes in the Kenya and Ethiopia that focused on four key social and infrastructure sectors. sectors: health, education, water and sanitation, and private sector development. As part of the The Context of Information World Bank–Netherlands Partnership Program on nurturing information access, transparency, Access and Service Delivery: and good governance in service delivery, local Governance, Trust, and researchers sought empirical evidence and Technical Deficits comparative experiences that will inform policy Information is the essential bridge between reform debates and future programming in the governors and the governed, furnishing these and other sectors.2 Through interviews the links that deepen reciprocity, responsibil- with key decision makers and focus-group dis- ity, and responsiveness. As the translation of cussions with recipients of services, this research fiscal resources into social outcomes, service probed how information about service delivery delivery is the penultimate stage on the plan- is generated in each sector and availed to the ning–implementation continuum. Current public. This Note highlights the institutional discussions in development recognize that the context of information flows and differences manner in which the public garners informa- in sector performance in service provision on tion about services and service delivery reveals the basis of forms of information, its access and a great deal about the sturdiness of mechanisms availability, and dissemination. of transparency and accountability. Information Although the role of information is a key is salient in gauging the public’s ability to learn element of service delivery governance in these about government operations and decisions, countries, this research reveals that sector-spe- and, has been seen to be essential in pro-poor cific obstacles, in addition to the persistence development strategies (World Bank 2003). of institutional legacies of centralization and Information for service delivery typically public mistrust of government roles in service entails financial and budgetary data, service delivery, continue to hamper improvements in usage rates, qualitative ratings of services, and channels of information access. Furthermore, performance reviews. There are two ways of while service delivery in some sectors confronts linking the accessibility of such information to problems that are more structural than infor- service provision. First, private and public ser- mational, enhancing channels of information vice providers need avenues that explain their FROM THE POVERTY REDUCTION AND ECONOMIC MANAGEMENT NETWORK services and the modalities by which recipients debates that have implications on the quality can obtain access to them. The existence of such of service delivery (Cottrel and Ghai 2007, pp. mechanisms often signals the commitment to 1–25; Harbeson 2005, pp. 144–58). transparency by the service providers. Second, Second, service delivery is hampered by the access of outsiders, notably the public and social capital constraints conceptualized as the media, to service providers is a valuable tool in trust deficit, where there is a wide attitudinal the informational chain, particularly because gulf between service providers and recipients. such access increases citizens’ ability to moni- Lack of trust between the citizenry and govern- tor and enhance the accountability of agents ments is inextricably linked to the governance involved in service delivery. Understanding deficit, but it also reflects the legacy of state impediments to information flows at these two abdication of service delivery roles in the past. levels is important in interventions that seek Because citizens have been accustomed to weak to broaden the responsiveness and efficacy of service delivery systems, there are obstacles to service providers. It is also important to note the current efforts to resuscitate these mecha- that information about service delivery is used nisms even where information may be available. differently by various stakeholders. While pro- To recapture the public that remains skeptical of viders use it to inform citizens about services, the management of the public purse and service efficient allocation of resources among service delivery involves improvements in information options, and legitimation (particularly in the about government performance, but also sub- case of governments), citizens usually use it to stantively repositioning government agencies make choices between service options, measure to their core functions as agents of change. performance, and to hold providers account- Information can restore trust in government ca- able. These contrasting uses are significant in pabilities, but ultimately, it is how governments efforts to prioritize improvements in informa- re-create themselves as meaningful actors in tion access. people’s lives that may matter more in building The experiences in Kenya and Ethiopia re- enduring trust and accountability systems. veal three constraints on information access for Third, profound obstacles to information service delivery, depicted as institutional and access and service delivery accrue from the technical impediments. They are: i) governance technical difficulties that ordinary citizens deficit, ii) trust deficit, and iii) technical deficit. routinely confront in making demands on The governance deficit denotes the deliberate service providers. This problem is described as efforts by such agents to hoard or deny infor- the technical deficit, characterizing the bulk of mation to service recipients in a bid to curtail service delivery regimes. More frequently, sec- their input in decision making. From a wider tors such as health, water and sanitation, and perspective, the governance deficit is largely a education are dominated by information that reflection of unresolved issues in the transition is not readily accessible to the lay public, pos- from centralized to participatory systems. Spe- ing challenges to information flows. But these cifically, the rules of the public’s engagement cases also reveal that despite these difficulties, of authorities are still weak and rudimentary. technological changes, notably the widespread The governance deficit also has implications adoption of information and communication for the quality and credibility of information. technologies, (ICT) has boosted service delivery Specifically, because information about govern- in many of the sectors. While the merits of tech- ment policies, behavior, and performance is nological change outweigh problems pertaining typically generated in political environments to the technical deficit, these cases prescribe the that are polarized and contested, guaranteeing steady reduction of information asymmetries as that information is not for narrow legitimation a means to foster governance. and propagandist ends is a central puzzle in fostering democratic governance. While there Comparative Experiences are many similarities in the patterns of gover- nance, the Ethiopian and Kenyan examples re- and Findings veal sharp and distinctive modes of transitions The authors of these case studies reflect on how to participatory, transparent, and responsive to manage the governance, trust, and technical political systems. These transitions are central deficits as well as pondering creative policies to the debates on decentralization, privatiza- that may reduce informational disparities and tion, and public-private sector partnerships, promote efficient service delivery for poverty 2 PREMNOTE JULY 2008 reduction. In its narrow and comprehensive mental (NGOs), which are its major targets. dimensions, the governance deficit undergirds Outside actors such as the media also cannot all the sectors primarily because of unresolved access information about its services and the problems of institutional change. Democratic agency’s performance in general. Like many transitions in Ethiopia and Kenya have opened other public agencies in Ethiopia NHAPCO has up the spaces for societal contestation, but no requirements for public reporting, leading structural rigidities abound, particularly in in- to a slow follow-through in implementing cli- stitutions tasked with service delivery. Economic ent scorecards or other surveys. Consequently, reforms that have attempted to reduce the despite enormous resources, information asym- public sector and inject market mechanisms in metries’ persistence has severely hampered resource management have markedly advanced the ability of NHAPCO to reach vulnerable in both countries, but they have not obliterated HIV/AIDS victims. These information problems the culture of centralized control. Similarly, are compounded by poor management of the while decentralization has been popularized agency and its counterparts in the regions. as one way to guarantee the control of service Equally vital is the absence of any organized, recipients over services by making providers issue-based, demand-side pressure, even in more responsive, decentralization in both coun- urban centers in Ethiopia. tries has not always resulted in real devolution Similarly, the study on “Access to Informa- of power because of elite capture of institutions tion, Transparency, and Service Delivery: The and the reluctance of government agencies to Case of the Educational Satellite Television Pro- cede real power to the public (Steffensen and gram, Addis Ababa” details the weak attempts Trollegaard 2000). by Ethiopian authorities to accord autonomy The governance deficit pervades all these to the Educational Mass-Media Agency (EMA), sectors, witnessed in the opaqueness in deci- the body that coordinates the provision of sat- sion making in the Ministries of Health and ellite TV education programs to schools. As a Education and urban authorities in Addis result, EMA neither effectively communicates Ababa and Nairobi. The study on “Informa- its programs to school managers nor do the tion and Efficiency in the Supply of Drugs to latter afford students input into the running Public Health Facilities” reviews the efficacy of these programs. For example, a national of the delivery of drugs by the Kenya Medical study by EMA ascertained that 73 percent of Supplies Agency (KEMSA). Created as part the instructors had not received any training of the public sector liberalization reforms to regarding the utilization of the satellite TV. The expedite service delivery, KEMSA has been only training known to the teachers was training endowed with autonomy from the Ministry of given to a limited number of teachers on the Health (MOH) to manage the distribution of technical operations of the satellite TV. In short, drugs in government hospitals. But its record the absence of consultations and training made so far shows that it is dodged by some of the teachers and students unhappy and reduced the institutional problems that existed previously, effectiveness of the technology. in particular, inadequate information about the The experiences of service delivery by city availability of drugs, inefficiencies in distribu- governments in Nairobi and Addis Ababa also tion, and corruption. underline the intersection between unrepre- Questions of institutional autonomy and sentative institutions and weak performance inadequate information provision also charac- on service provision. Although public sector terize the Ethiopian health sector, elaborated reform in Ethiopia gave priority to local govern- in the study on “Access to Information and ments, especially municipalities, these reforms Service Delivery in the Global Fund to Fight have hardly generated meaningful changes in AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria.” To draw the way city governments and their agencies from the Global Fund, the Ethiopian MOH provide services. The studies on “Access to created an agency, the HIV/AIDS Prevention Information, Transparency, and Service Deliv- and Control Office (NHAPCO) and regional ery: The Case of the Addis Ababa Sewage and counterparts. Although nominally autonomous, Water Authority” (AAWSA), and “Information NHAPCO is controlled by the MOH, limiting Flows and Service Delivery: The Case of the its responsiveness to beneficiaries. Internally, it Addis Ababa Acts and Document Registration has not evolved better mechanisms to provide Office” (AAADRO) demonstrates that these information about its services to nongovern- agencies have top-down management systems JULY 2008 PREMNOTE 3 that prevent information from reaching the ternative niches in service delivery such as in beneficiaries. These agencies are also char- the health sector in Kenya, the government acterized by government interference, weak increasingly finds it difficult to dislodge these legal standing, and lack of professionalism. In actors. Surveys conducted in Kenya indicate the case of Nairobi, city authorities’ efforts to that the public prefers private health providers outsource street lighting services to a private because of the perception of incompetent and actor, the Adopt-A-Light (AAL) program, corrupt government health institutions. The have tremendously improved security on the case of Kenya’s HELB demonstrates another streets and forged an innovative experiment dimension to the trust deficit whereby some in public-private partnerships. But the absence members of the public deliberately withhold of a clear legal and regulatory framework has information to beat the system despite the constrained this program. Moreover, vested fact that the institution is relatively efficient in political interests in the city government seem disbursing student loans. bent on undoing the work of AAL. Bridging the gap occasioned by technical The governance deficit is also wider knowledge depends on the specific character- where there are lukewarm efforts toward de- istics and skills of the service sectors, posing centralization and privatization. The study greater difficulties in sectors such as health than on “Transparency and the Quality of Services education. But while the technical deficit partly in the Financing of Higher Education in Ke- influences how medical services are provided nya” suggests that the privatization of student to vulnerable populations in Kenya and Ethio- loan services via the formation of the Higher pia, these problems are not insurmountable. Education Loan Board (HELB) has improved Technical deficiencies by the public cannot be accountability and transparency while also pro- overcome entirely, but the key lies in service moting professionalism in service delivery. A providers’ ability to reduce these discrepancies key explanation for HELB’s success has been its through improved communication channels aggressive information campaign to publicize and transparency. Most of these cases demon- its role to recipients. Over the years, the media strate that the bulk of the problems of service and public have also been accorded wider access delivery lie with politics, not technology. The to HELB’s services, significantly deepening its overarching theme seems to be that technology channels of information. Similarly, the study facilitates the availability of information and on “Information Access and Efficiency in the enhances service delivery by injecting impar- Provision of Water and Sanitation Services: The tiality and professionalism in service provision. Case of Nairobi Water and Sewage Company,” In the Kenyan cases of student loans and the shows that privatization has led to discernible Nairobi Water and Sewerage Company, the changes in the quality of water and sanitation introduction of new information technologies services to city residents. These two cases dove- has fostered rapid improvements in access to tail with studies that underscore the gains in these services. Yet technology is also mediated responsiveness and efficiency that arise from through political and social institutions. Thus private outsourcing. Where there are appropri- the single-minded introduction of satellite TV ate incentives to private providers, the latter are technology in Ethiopia widened the divide inclined to expand their services to benefit the between schools and EMA, the agency that poor and vulnerable groups (Tayler 2005, pp. provides this service. Teachers and students 337–48; Tati 2005, pp. 316–24). were alienated by a technology that nullified Privatization and decentralization may and marginalized their roles. The Ethiopian foster allocative efficiency, but the trust deficit government has recently made efforts to revisit permeates even the successful cases of service the method of introducing satellite TV services delivery in Kenya and Ethiopia. Citizens’ mis- to put more emphasis on public participation trust and disengagement from government bids and input from teachers and students. to reclaim their stature in service provision is attributable to the past legacies of erratic ser- Policy Implications vice delivery. Furthermore, most of these cases Ideas about information access are embedded reveal that disengaged citizens frequently lack in the governance context of citizens’ claims the organizational tools to contest their rights and contests over the quality and performance and demand information about services. Where of public institutions. For this reason, where private providers and NGOs have carved al- it is readily available, information empowers; 4 PREMNOTE JULY 2008 and where it is absent, the citizens are bound performance agreements as management tools to be disempowered. Although improving ac- to create accountability to the public. From a pi- cess to information in the absence of resources lot group of 16 commercial enterprises in 2004, to actually deliver these services can create the agreements expanded to cover the entire public disenchantment, there is no substitute public service, including local authorities. A for building institutions that promote the central component of these agreements is the flow of information. Information on resource introduction of the Citizen Service Delivery scarcity is just as important as information on Charter that requires every public institution budgetary allocations and service delivery. to outline the nature, quality, and quantity of Viewed as a right, information affords citizens services that citizens can expect. In addition, opportunities to make responsible decisions all public institutions are expected to conduct while at the same time enabling public institu- annual customer satisfaction surveys (Muthaura tions to be transparent and accountable about 2004). In Ethiopia, a Citizen Charter that was their priorities and objectives. In a nutshell, launched after the civil war never got off the information access contributes to strengthening ground in part because of absence of strong the reciprocal relationship between informed political support and the legacy of mistrust. citizens and responsible public authorities, Both Kenya and Ethiopia have also had the reciprocity that is at the core of efforts to mixed records in the enactment of Freedom reconcile information access, transparency, and of Information legislation, instruments that service delivery. may potentially improve the ability of the The Kenya and Ethiopian cases raise pro- public, particularly the media and civil society found questions about overcoming information organizations, to obtain information from logjams in the short-to-medium terms as these government agencies. While most Freedom of countries gradually build long-term institutions Information laws worldwide are not directly to undercut the three deficits. Although in geared toward boosting service delivery, they some sectors, institutional factors—rather than have an additional impact in fostering the cli- information access—have led to improvements mate for wide-ranging reforms that contribute or impediments in service quality, questions of to quality service delivery. Kenya made efforts access are invariably tied to wider reforms in to draft such legislation in the early phase of the governance, the fundamental puzzle that links Mwai Kibaki administration, but the slackening citizens as service recipients and public/private of the political reforms reversed the Freedom service providers. Short-term strategies hinge of Information campaign. Ethiopia has hardly on crafting internal information systems in begun to contemplate such legislation, even government agencies that deepen transpar- though there is a growing recognition of its ency and accountability. If information for importance. Freedom of Information laws alone service provision is treated as a fundamental cannot eliminate the constraints identified in right, then service providers are beholden to this Note, but they are essential to increasing provide it routinely alongside performance and public trust in government institutions. accountability reports. Furthermore, opening A broader menu of governance reforms service providers to external media scrutiny accruing from Citizens Charters or Freedom and reviews has been instrumental in improving of Information legislation needs to be comple- trust and accountability, but more critically, has mented by sector-specific measures that link allowed the public more latitude in decisions information access to service delivery. One of about how these institutions operate. the overriding themes in Ethiopia and Kenya The growing popularity of Citizen Char- is the absence of sectoral public information ters seems to be one innovative institutional offices that serve to educate the public about framework that seeks to bind a wide array of services, but also promote routine interaction service providers to their consumers in a chain between service providers and recipients. There of reciprocities and expectations (Smith and is a tradition of public relations officers in the Vawda 2003, pp. 26–52). Although the Char- public and private sectors of both countries, but ters in themselves cannot enhance information it may be important, as in the case of Kenya’s flows, they are a fundamental building block performance management agreements, that for improving the context in which informa- all private and public service providers be tion access flourishes. Since 2003, the Kenya required to have well-staffed and competent government has introduced and implemented public information offices. Universalizing of JULY 2008 PREMNOTE 5 these offices would entail training in informa- Steffensen, Jesper, and S. Trollegaard. 2000. tion management by service providers, but it Fiscal Decentralization and Subnational Gov- would also boost information flows across the ernment Finance in Relation to Infrastructure board. An equally related issue is the weak and and Service Provision: Synthesis Report of Six tenuous links between government information Sub-Saharan African Country Case Studies. offices and the wider media in Kenya and Ethio- Danida/World Bank/ USAID. pia. The historical and cultural dominance Smith, Laila, and Ahmedi Vawda. 2003. “Citi- by executive branches (particularly ministries zen vs. Customer: Different Approaches to of information and the president’s/prime Public Participation in Service Delivery in minister’s offices) of most information channels Cape Town.” Urban Forum 14(1): 26–52. continues to impede the evolution of transpar- Tati, Gabriel. 2005. “Public-Private Partner- ent mechanisms of information access. In the ships (PPPs) and Water Supply Provision in era of competitive politics, information is too Urban Africa: The Experience of Congo- important to be centralized in these institu- Brazzaville.” Development in Practice 15(4): tions; instead, there should be discussions about 316–24. transforming most of the ministerial/parastatal Tayler, Kevin. 2005. “An Institutional Ap- public relations offices into more professional proach to Service Provision Partnerships in and sector-specific information agencies that South Asia.” Development in Practice 15(3): furnish credible information that is useful for 337–48. improving service delivery. Alongside reforms World Bank. 2003. World Development Report in the information arena, there is need for 2004: Making Services Work for the Poor People. improvements in the technological base of Washington, DC: World Bank. service delivery sectors, particularly through information technology instruments that pro- Endnotes mote impartiality and efficiency. 1. Sahr Kpundeh is Senior Public Sector Spe- cialist in the Africa Region’s Public Sector Group, Further Readings and TTL for this project. Gilbert M. Khadiagala Burger, Ronelle. 2005. “What We Have Learnt is Jan Smuts Professor of International Relations, from post-1994 Innovations in Pro-Poor the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannes- Service Delivery in South Africa: A Case burg. Study–Based Analysis.” Development Southern 2. The researchers—Jane Kiringai, James Nje- Africa 22(4): 484–87. ru, Melaku Sibhat, Mulat Demeke, and Tegnene Cottrel, J., and Yash Ghai. 2007. “Constitution Gebre Egziabher—disseminated the research Making and Democratization in Kenya.” findings at a workshop in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Democratization 14(1): 1–25. in June 2007, affording stakeholders from these Harbeson, John. 2005. “Ethiopia’s Extended sectors and expert participants the opportunity to Transition.” Journal of Democracy 16(4): deliberate on institutional and other challenges 144–58. to information flows. We wish to acknowledge the Muthaura, Francis. 2003. “Performance Con- critical contribution of workshop participants to tracts in Kenya: Restoring and Building this Note. We would also like to thank Roumeen Trust in Government through Innovation Islam, Navin Girishanker, and Anupama Dokeniya to Promote Quality of Public Service.” Avail- for providing comments on an earlier draft of able at: http://www.unpan.org/innovmed/ this Note. documents/Vienna07/28June07/03_Kenya. ppt (#275, 1, Performance Contracts in Kenya). This note series is intended to summarize good practices and key policy findings on PREM-related topics. The views expressed in the notes are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the World Bank. PREMnotes are widely distributed to Bank staff and are also available on the PREM Web site (http://www.worldbank.org/prem). If you are interested in writing a PREMnote, email your idea to Madjiguene Seck at mseck@worldbank.org. For additional copies of this PREMnote please contact the PREM Advisory Service at x87736. PREMnotes are edited and laid out by Grammarians, Inc. Prepared for World Bank staff