Robert P. Beschel Jr.

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Good Governance for Development in Arab
CountriesFourth Regional Working Group on Civil
Service and Integrity

• Robert P. Beschel Jr.
• Lead Public Sector Specialist
• World Bank MENA Vice Presidency
• Rabat, April 2008

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The Need

• Critical need for the next generation of more
  detailed, actionable indicators.
• Early generation indicators (TI and KKM) were
  valuable in starting the debate, but had a number
  of limitations
• Conceptual limitations (Melissa Thomas)
• Empirical complications (OECD Paper)
• Not actionable or based on objective standards
  (TI)
• Occasionally produced quirky results (KKM Hassan
  II vs. Mohammad VI)
• Legitimate concerns about lags (Yemen CPIA)

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HRM Actionable Governance Indicators (AGI)

• Modeled after PEFA indicators for PFM
• Still in early stages
• Lots of unresolved issues
• Scope can be daunting
• Absence of good practice in many areas
• Lack of available empirical data
• In Light of the Above, What Should We Do?

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Priority 1 Accurate, Up to Date Information on
Public Pay and Employment in MENA

• Largest General Government Employment in the
  Developing World
• Largest Central Government Employment (3 of
  population)
• Smallest Sub-National government (in terms of
  number of personnel)
• Largest Military (not counting other security
  personnel)

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How Do We Measure Civil Service Size?

• Assessment of the Number of Civil Servants
• Number of Civil Servants per Capita
• Gov. Employment as of Total Employment
• Assessment of the Wage Levels in Relative Terms
• Wage bill as of GDP
• Wage bill as of Revenue or Own Source Revenue
• Wage bill as of Recurrent Expenditure
• Aggregate Numbers Tells Us Very Little and Should
  be Viewed in Context of Individual Country
  Experiences

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Which Employees Are Being Measured?
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General Civilian Government as of Total
Employment
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Government Employment as of Total Population
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Central Civilian Government Wages as of GDP
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Government Wage Evolution for MENA Countries, as
of GDP, 2000-2004
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Public-Private Wage Ratios
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Global Reduction in the Role and Size of the
State (Privatization Proceeds through 1996)
Eastern Europe / Central Asia -- 19
South Asia -- 5
Sub-Saharan Africa -- 2
East Asia / Pacific -- 17
Latin America / Caribbean -- 54
Middle East/ North Africa -- 3
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Priority 2 Decentralization
"As a political phenomenon, decentralization is
widespread. Out of the 75 developing and
transition countries with populations greater
than 5 million, all but 12 claim to be embarked
on some form of transfer of political power to
local units of government.
Source William Dillinger, Decentralization and
Its Implications for Urban Service Delivery,
1994
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with Limited Impact in MENA
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Priority 3 E-Governance
Source UNPAN Global Survey of E-Government 2002
Primary indicators for most (144) UN Member
States were developed. The measures include
Web presence telecommunications infrastructure
and human capital.
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Priority 4 Service DeliveryFor the Quality of
Administration, MENAs Governance Gap is Small
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But for Public Accountability, the Governance
Gap is Wider
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The Paradox of Corruption in MENA
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On Paper, the Region Should Fair Poorly

• Strong executive branch vis-à-vis legislature and
  judiciary
• Lack of independent accountability institutions
• Limited service orientation throughout the civil
  service (public official vs. civil servant)
• Underdeveloped civil society
• Low transparency, with limited press freedom
• Hydrocarbon revenues and co-mingling of state and
  ruler funds

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Yet Surprisingly, the Region Fairs Better than
One Would Expect
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Priority 5 Anticorruption Indicators

• Strengthen regional comparative work (Global
  Integrity Indicators)
• Basic Data Collection (legislative framework
  enforcement)
• Country specific surveys
• UNCAC Implementation
• Risk profile confronting civil servants

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Why the Difference?

• Much lower rates of reporting in the Philippines
• ICAC invests heavily in public relations
• On a per capita basis, Hong Kong citizens are
  over 5 times more likely to report allegations

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percent
22.0
1.7
of sample who have been asked for money or gift
to speed up transactions
of those who have been asked for money or gift
who opted to report about it
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Reasons that were given by those who have been
asked for money or gift but opted not to report
the incident.
()
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Why the Difference?

• ICAC practices more robust triage up front, moves
  forward selectively and wins
• ICAC investigates only about 50 of the
  allegations it receives
• Moves forward with sanctions in about 10 of the
  cases
• Wins 4 out of 5 cases it prosecutes

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Why the Difference?

• Ombudsman practices limited triage up front,
  moves forward broadly and loses
• Recently implemented initial screening procedures
  
• Moves forward with sanctions in about 28 of the
  cases
• At best wins about 12 of cases it prosecutes,
  significant numbers overturned on appeal

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Resources are Often a Problem
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Priority 6 Case Studies of Successful Reforms

• Egypt One Stop Shops for Business registration
• Morocco VRP
• Jordan reforms in policy coordination
• PFM reforms in Palestine

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In Conclusion

• Accurate, up to date information on pay and
  employment
• Decentralization
• E-governance (link w/ transparency)
• Basic service delivery
• Anticorruption
• Case studies of successful reforms