Anna Wetterberg

Performance-based public management reforms: experience and emerging lessons from service delivery improvement in Indonesia:

From both a practical and a theoretical perspective, improved public sector performance has preoccupied policymakers, managers, and analysts around the world. There is broad enthusiasm for performance-based initiatives to remedy service delivery failures, but conceptual boundaries are often vague, and empirical evidence for their effectiveness is mixed. This article reviews current thinking regarding service delivery improvement, and assesses several pathways to improved performance. We examine the pathways pursued in Indonesia’s rich experience with service delivery improvement, which shed particular light on the political economic factors shaping performance-based initiatives, and draw implications for reforms in other settings. Points for practitioners Our review of pathways for performance-enhancing reforms in Indonesia suggests that decentralization strongly influences the prospects of other pathways, but service improvements often depend on the center utilizing its leverage to monitor performance and strengthen incentives for implementing reforms. In the long term, unless accountabilities between districts and both providers and communities are strengthened, it is unlikely that existing performance incentives will operate as intended. Indonesia’s experience suggests that addressing political economic factors implies recognizing the multi-actor nature of governance and service delivery systems, and in pursuing both central and local levers for changed incentives.

Village Governance, Community Life, and the 2014 Village Law in Indonesia

In January 2014, the government of Indonesia issued Law 6/2014 on Villages, primarily to address weaknesses in the decentralisation paradigm by improving governance arrangements and shifting resources to a level of government less captured by special interests. Using longitudinal data from 40 Indonesian villages in the three Local Level Institutions studies, fielded in 1996, 2001, and 2012, we investigate the effects that prior policy has had on village life and identify the likely implications of the 2014 law on village governance. We focus on shifts in the capacities of and opportunities for local governments to increase their responsiveness to community needs, as well as consider the constraints on these governments. We suggest that there is potential for the law to increase government responsiveness—through a combination of strong financial management systems, new national institutional arrangements, and empowered citizens who can apply pressure on village governments to work in the interests of communities—but that substantial risks and obstacles remain.

The Political Economy of Public Reform Adoption: Patterns in Twenty Indonesian Districts

ABSTRACT New Public Management (NPM) reforms are often perceived as technical, with little attention to political and institutional factors. Comparing choices in 20 Indonesian districts, we explore which of four political economic factors influence uptake of NPM-based service delivery reforms. We find that democratic political competition laid the groundwork for political alliances, patterns of patronage, and party provision of benefits that condition reform choices. State-led policy entrepreneurship was evident from education agency technocrats. Public sector modernization may have increased orientation towards performance, with education reforms adopted by districts already achieving relatively good sectoral results. Health reforms were more common in districts providing greater opportunities for citizen participation. The complex interactions among the factors argue for working within these realities, rather than seeing them as impediments to be avoided in a drive for reforms. Education technocrats’ dominance, bolstered by central policy priorities, argues for more nuanced mechanisms for meeting national goals to avoid crowding out responsiveness to local citizens.

From compliant to capable: balanced capacity development for local organisations

How to strengthen local capacity through donor-funded projects remains opaque. Using the European Centre for Development Policy Managements core capabilities model to examine a project engaging local organisations, we identify capabilities differentiating performance and gains from project participation. The studied organisations were often weak in capabilities important for successfully working with local governments. Some strengthened capacity, but improvements were concentrated in capabilities related to complying with donors’ requirements rather than capabilities enhancing performance. We question assumptions underlying programme designs based on Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Developments donor-country cooperation principles, and offer suggestions for balancing capacity gains to sustain independent local organisations.

Social Accountability in Frontline Service Delivery: Citizen Empowerment and State Response in Four Indonesian Districts

Social accountability (SA) tools engage citizens in improving frontline service delivery. Contextual factors are increasingly recognized as key to the effectiveness and sustainability of SA. This article identifies micro†level factors associated with attitudes and continued commitment to SA, drawing on 60 interviews with providers, clients and local officials at 15 primary health centres in four Indonesian districts. We found that healthcare providers and local governments demonstrated responsiveness to citizens not only in conducive contexts, but also in less favourable ones. State actors’ perceptions of the appropriate role of citizens varied. We conclude that long†term sustainability of citizen engagement in accountability relationships will depend upon alignment of providers’ and citizens’ expectations, along with supportive institutional incentives.