Public Sector Management and Reform

Abstract

In various phases, African countries have been engaging in efforts at public sector management reform. This is being done to overhaul their administrative systems to better serve the needs of both government and the citizenry with improved delivery of public services to reduce poverty, improve livelihoods, and sustain good governance. The African Development Bank (AfDB) has suggested that, to date, there have been three phases of such efforts at reform (AfDB, 2005). Those three phase or waves of reform have been identified as (1) focusing on fiscal consolidation, cost reduction, and containment measures within the framework of structural adjustment programs, including rationalizing the machinery of government; (2) emphasizing capacity building; and (3) focusing on improving service delivery. However, the most impactful of these reform efforts has been undertaken in the third phase within the framework of the new public management (NPM) paradigm and this chapter is concerned with those outcomes.