Public Sector Reform in Developing Countries: A Handbook of Commonwealth Experiences

Since the 1980s, Commonwealth countries have implemented various reforms in their public sector, mostly patterned around market-orientation public management principles. Many of these have been accompanied by other political and economic reforms, which in the main has compounded the implementation process. In spite of the challenges, however, Commonwealth countries are widely respected for the success of their reform programmes, so much so that the experience of the OECD members, namely Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, is often presented as a model to the rest of the world. While a good deal has been written and documented about these four experiences, the contributions of the remaining 50 developing countries have remained largely under-appreciated. In continuation of the Commonwealth Secretariat’s Strategies for Improvement series, this book provides a country-by-country synopsis of the public sector reform programmes in 36 Commonwealth developing countries. First, it presents a brief profile of each country and the background to political and economic changes at the turn of the 21st century. This is followed by an outline of the key reform initiatives, the implementation processes, the achievements and problems encountered. Wherever possible each section concludes with a sketch of proposed initiatives and future programmes. The overarching aim of the publication is to facilitate the sharing of experiences and good practices through a comprehensive but easily accessible focus on the experiences, successes and achievements of the developing Commonwealth countries.