Global Development Network: Global Research Projects

GDNet supports southern researchers to contribute and debate ideas in development thinking, policy and practice.

Varieties of Governance: Effective Public Service Delivery
Basic Education, Water Supply and Transport Infrastructure (Roads)

Status: Ongoing
Duration: 3 years

GDN’s 9th Global Research Project will explore the role of formal and informal institutions, at both country and sector level, in effective public service delivery in the areas of basic education, water supply and transport infrastructure (roads).

This cross-sector and cross-country analysis will be evaluated on the basis of 12-15 case-studies from across the Global South, East Central Europe and former Soviet Union. These studies will examine the role of decentralization, functioning of specialized agencies, private sector participation, quasi-markets, and community participation, to name a few.

The SELECTED TEAMS for this Project can be viewed here

As the Varieties of Governance Project enters a new phase of research, we would like to announce the completion of a series of Regional Launch Workshops that were held for each region through the months of February and March. These Workshops were organized in collaboration with our Regional Project Partners (listed below), and were held in Nairobi, Kenya for the teams in Africa; in Lima, Peru for the teams from Latin America, and New Delhi, India for the teams from Asia-Pacific.

The aims of these workshops were to bring together shortlisted research teams, the Project Management Team, technical experts and policy-makers to discuss the scope of the studies, streamlining individual study objectives with the larger goals of the project and reviewing the proposed methodology and dissemination strategies. Work plans for the individual studies were also agreed upon.

Project Objectives:

Contribute to the understanding of:
- The interplay of political and sectoral institutions and incentives, of formal and informal institutions, and of actors and information flows in determining the structure and operation of delivery systems.
- Which delivery systems work better under different governance contexts.
Support the development of methodological approaches adequate to data availability and supplementing data collection where needed.
Analyze the impact on service delivery outputs and outcomes of differences in delivery systems and forms of governance:
- Within countries (example, different delivery systems and institutional setups across states or municipalities in a given country)
- Across countries
- Over time (major institutional changes)
Contribute to building research excellence of country research teams through external advisors, workshops, training and peer reviews.
Disseminate findings to a wide policy and research audience at regional and global levels.

Key Questions Addressed:

What are the main links between governance and public service delivery (including both social services & infrastructure)?
How do formal and informal institutions impact the availability, access to and quality of public services in developing and transition countries?
What are the potential causes and effects of institutional changes and variations in the delivery of public services?
How do sectoral institutions and policies interact with the overall country institutional context in determining outcomes in the delivery of public services?
What are the best and second best feasible institutional and policy options for improving public service delivery, for different country institutional contexts?

For project interface, please register on the project intranet site.
(Please mention Institutional affiliation in order to be eligible to become part of the intranet site)

For more information on this project please contact:

Ramona Angelescu Naqvi

The regional Project Partners for this project are:

This project is supported by:

Deadline Extended: The research organizations in Burkina Faso and Senegal can now submit their proposals before Friday noon (Kenya time), November 18, 2011. More »

For more information, please read

» Concept Note


	Studies				Activities				Steering Committee & Project Management Team

List of Studies:

This section provides details of research papers and presentations generated as a result of the two project development workshops held in Washington DC and Kuwait.

List of Activities:

Resulting from the Varieties of Governance: Effective Public Service Delivery research project.

Project Timeline (Tentative)

Project Management Team:

Details about the project team involved in the generation of the Varieties of Governance: Effective Public Service Delivery projects.