Implementation of Public Finance Management (PFM) Reforms by the Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture in Zimbabwe (2012)

Abstract

For the past three decades, Zimbabwe has instituted strategies which were meant to improve public service delivery in the country. The problem is that not much has been done to evaluate the performance of public institutions in implementation of the reforms. The study evaluates Ministry of Education, Sport and Culture (MESAC) in implementing Public Finance Management (PFM) reforms. The following four United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) principles of good governance are under the spotlight of this study; consensus orientation, efficiency and effectiveness, responsiveness, and accountability and transparency. The main instruments for data collection were semi-structured questionnaires and interviews. The study established that reform implementation in the Ministry is constrained by resource scarcity, brain drain and low motivation levels of employees. The study recommended, among other things equating private and public sector working conditions to attract and retain competent PFM reformers in the Ministry.