Towards better results from the World Bank

Abstract

This article briefly reviews the World Bank document The World Bank Approach to Public Sector Management 2011–2020: Better Results from Public Sector Institutions. The document proposes an eclectic, experimental, contingent approach to reform – ‘what works’ – as opposed to doctrinaire, ‘best practice’ orthodoxies. However, the document is frank in discussing the obstacles to realizing this vision, including among other things the incentives to which Bank staff themselves are subject. In overall terms, the document is noteworthy for its frank appraisal of the Bank’s efforts to support public sector reform in developing countries. Points for practitioners This article is of interest to practitioners involved in public sector reform in developing countries, particularly those who deal with the World Bank and other aid donors, because it reviews a document which represents an important statement of the World Bank’s thinking on the subject of public sector management and reform.