Abstract
Abstract Payment by results (PbR) for financing public services has attracted increasing interest over recent years in the water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) sector. PbR is attractive to funders as a mechanism because it focuses attention on results rather than inputs, and because it transfers a proportion of risk to suppliers. This paper reviews the experience of the UK Department for International Development (DFID) funded WASH Results Programme (WRP), which used PbR, drawing on a process evaluation and the experience of the first author in commissioning the programme, and the second author in evaluating it. The WRP met its targets for people reached with first-time access to water and sanitation and generated high-quality programme data. The PbR mechanism provided strong incentives to the suppliers to improve their monitoring systems. However, the suppliers tended to use tried and tested approaches, with limited innovation. It is critical to consider certain key elements in the design of PbR programmes, including the proportion of funding that uses PbR and the proportions of PbR that focuses on outputs and outcomes.
Highlights
Payment by results (PbR) is an approach to financing public services that has gained increasing attention over recent years (Cabinet Office )
The WASH Results Programme (WRP) is delivered through three supplier contracts: the South Asia WASH results programme (SAWRP) consortium, led by Plan International; the Sustainable WASH in Fragile Contexts (SWIFT) consortium, led by Oxfam; and the SNV Sustainable Sanitation and Hygiene for All (SSH4A) programme
At the end of the output phase under the original contracts, the WRP projects had provided over 1 million people with first-time access to water supply, over 4 million people with first-time access to sanitation, and over 10 million people reached with hygiene messages (DFID, )
Summary
Payment by results (PbR) is an approach to financing public services that has gained increasing attention over recent years (Cabinet Office ). PbR and other approaches to outcome-based performance management are derived from the sustained efforts of governments, in high-income countries, to improve efficiency and effectiveness in service provision as part of reforming public services, which has been referred to as the ‘New Public Management’ model (Hood ). It transfers a portion of the delivery risk to suppliers, which is accompanied by increased responsibility of suppliers for delivery (National Audit Office ). In a review of the drivers for developing PbR, Albertson et al ( b) note that there may be several objectives for PbR, including expansion of the supplier market and diversifying the supplier base; improving efficiency in public service delivery; and managing complex issues with multiple factors that influence outcomes. In the context of water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), this includes expanded access to safe drinking water and/or sustained use of services
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