Performance Measurement in the Public Sector in Developing Countries

In recent years a great deal of international research attention, and more recent development practice, has been placed on the role of citizens in supporting/demanding positive changes in the performance of service-focused, public sector organisations in developing countries . What is clear is that citizen engagement must be enabled through accessible, cost-effective mechanisms that formally place sustained pressure on public sector service providers . This awareness has resulted in a number of performance-grounded, accountability mechanisms being established in public sector organisations in developing countries to increase citizen “voice”  regarding service delivery and the use of public resources . However, despite these changes a central challenge regarding effective performance measurement and linked accountability in public sector organisations remains, namely, how to structure citizen participation so that it provides meaningful performance information, rather than tokenistic participation that provides unreliable information. This is vital, as the vast majority of performance-based accountability mechanisms established in recent years are entirely dependant on volunteerism; it is simply not economically viable for public sector organisations to pay for the information generated through citizen engagement with formal accountability mechanisms, such as a hotline, focus group discussions, or customer satisfaction surveys. Therefore, any effective and sustainable performance measurement system must recognise the volunteer factor, and be designed in a way that is accessible for all groups of adult citizens, i.e. rural, urban, low-income, young, old, and all ethnic groups. Other important factors to consider in the design of a cost-effective, and viable, performance measurement system concerns the use of new technologies, such as mobile telephones and computer networks, the later of which can provide real-time performance information to managers interested in tracking employee performance and service delivery results.

This course will explore and discuss these issues so that participants gain an in-depth understanding of the factors that contribute to the successful establishment of a performance measurement system or programme in a public sector, service-focused organisation. This course is aimed at practitioners; following the course they will be expected to immediately use their new knowledge and skills to support a new, or existing, government partner to establish an effective performance measurement programme that provides new sources of information that can be used for informed decision-making, and sustained improvements in the provision of government services to citizens.

By the end of the course participants will:

• Be aware of the context for performance measurement in the pubic sector in developing countries

• Understand the emergence of performance measurement in the public sector in OECD countries

• Have a good understanding of the pitfalls in the design of a performance measurement system

• Know the best features of a performance measurement system 

• Know the main categories of information for a performance measurement system

• Be able to list, and implement, the 8 main steps in implementing a performance measurement system 

• Have a good foundation knowledge of how to design a performance measurement system 

• Understand the importance of paying attention to national statistics-related issues

• Have a good understanding of common and emerging performance measurement frameworks

• Be confident enough to lead the establishment of performance measurement systems in public sector organisations.

The learning methods will include the following

• Introduction to key concepts through the “teaching and discussion” methods

• The use of original source material of key writers/thinkers in this area (to show that it is a subject, outside the “donor world”)

• The use of examples from many different countries with different experiences to illustrate the points put across

• The use of exercises to provoke thinking and consolidate skills

• The use of major case studies – to illustrate in more detail some of the key points of the course.