Public Sector Reform, Citizen Engagement, and Development Results in India : Lessons and Frontiers

There is a global consensus that governance and some form of citizen engagement matter for making development more effective, equitable, and sustainable. Yet the devil lies in the details: there is limited agreement on what forms of governance matt...

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Main Authors: O'Meally, Simon, Chowdhury, Aheli, Piplani, Varun
Format: Working Paper
Language:English
en_US
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2017
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/534171505972670075/Public-sector-reform-citizen-engagement-and-development-results-in-India-lessons-and-frontiers
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/28486
id okr-10986-28486
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-284862021-05-25T09:04:17Z Public Sector Reform, Citizen Engagement, and Development Results in India : Lessons and Frontiers O'Meally, Simon Chowdhury, Aheli Piplani, Varun PUBLIC SECTOR REFORM CITIZEN ENGAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT GOVERNANCE KNOWLEDGE GAPS RESULTS-BASED FINANCING There is a global consensus that governance and some form of citizen engagement matter for making development more effective, equitable, and sustainable. Yet the devil lies in the details: there is limited agreement on what forms of governance matter most for achieving developmentresults; and there are major gaps in our understanding of how and why different strategies of citizen engagement are successful. Drawing on evidence from India and internationally, this report seeks to move this debate forward. India’s progress in development has been impressive, although it faces several challenges. Its progress, and ongoing challenges, are explained in part by governance dynamics. Moreover, India has been a pioneer in innovative approaches to public sector reform and citizen engagement, ranging from the right to information movement to the widespread implementation of social audits. There are at least three important knowledge gaps in the Indian context. First, the knowledge base is fragmented and patchy, particularly regarding the types of results that citizen engagement might help achieve. Second, our understanding of why certain citizen engagement approaches work and others do not remain partial. Finally, there is room for a deeper debate on the policy and practical lessons that have emerged from India’s rich experience. This report begins addressing these knowledge gaps through a systematic review of available evidence. It analyses 68 well-documented cases of citizen engagement in India, focusing on a subset of citizen engagement initiatives that aim to increase public accountability for development results. In so doing, the report addresses three core questions: what types of results did citizen engagement initiatives contribute to in India? What factors affected whether citizen engagement initiatives in India had an impact and how? And what lessons can be learned from these findings? Given the patchiness of the data, the report does not claim to provide comprehensive or conclusive findings. However, it does identify a range of important trends that could be the focus of further research and policy debate. 2017-10-10T18:30:23Z 2017-10-10T18:30:23Z 2017 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/534171505972670075/Public-sector-reform-citizen-engagement-and-development-results-in-India-lessons-and-frontiers http://hdl.handle.net/10986/28486 English en_US CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Working Paper South Asia India
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
en_US
topic PUBLIC SECTOR REFORM
CITIZEN ENGAGEMENT
DEVELOPMENT
GOVERNANCE
KNOWLEDGE GAPS
RESULTS-BASED FINANCING
spellingShingle PUBLIC SECTOR REFORM
CITIZEN ENGAGEMENT
DEVELOPMENT
GOVERNANCE
KNOWLEDGE GAPS
RESULTS-BASED FINANCING
O'Meally, Simon
Chowdhury, Aheli
Piplani, Varun
Public Sector Reform, Citizen Engagement, and Development Results in India : Lessons and Frontiers
geographic_facet South Asia
India
description There is a global consensus that governance and some form of citizen engagement matter for making development more effective, equitable, and sustainable. Yet the devil lies in the details: there is limited agreement on what forms of governance matter most for achieving developmentresults; and there are major gaps in our understanding of how and why different strategies of citizen engagement are successful. Drawing on evidence from India and internationally, this report seeks to move this debate forward. India’s progress in development has been impressive, although it faces several challenges. Its progress, and ongoing challenges, are explained in part by governance dynamics. Moreover, India has been a pioneer in innovative approaches to public sector reform and citizen engagement, ranging from the right to information movement to the widespread implementation of social audits. There are at least three important knowledge gaps in the Indian context. First, the knowledge base is fragmented and patchy, particularly regarding the types of results that citizen engagement might help achieve. Second, our understanding of why certain citizen engagement approaches work and others do not remain partial. Finally, there is room for a deeper debate on the policy and practical lessons that have emerged from India’s rich experience. This report begins addressing these knowledge gaps through a systematic review of available evidence. It analyses 68 well-documented cases of citizen engagement in India, focusing on a subset of citizen engagement initiatives that aim to increase public accountability for development results. In so doing, the report addresses three core questions: what types of results did citizen engagement initiatives contribute to in India? What factors affected whether citizen engagement initiatives in India had an impact and how? And what lessons can be learned from these findings? Given the patchiness of the data, the report does not claim to provide comprehensive or conclusive findings. However, it does identify a range of important trends that could be the focus of further research and policy debate.
format Working Paper
author O'Meally, Simon
Chowdhury, Aheli
Piplani, Varun
author_facet O'Meally, Simon
Chowdhury, Aheli
Piplani, Varun
author_sort O'Meally, Simon
title Public Sector Reform, Citizen Engagement, and Development Results in India : Lessons and Frontiers
title_short Public Sector Reform, Citizen Engagement, and Development Results in India : Lessons and Frontiers
title_full Public Sector Reform, Citizen Engagement, and Development Results in India : Lessons and Frontiers
title_fullStr Public Sector Reform, Citizen Engagement, and Development Results in India : Lessons and Frontiers
title_full_unstemmed Public Sector Reform, Citizen Engagement, and Development Results in India : Lessons and Frontiers
title_sort public sector reform, citizen engagement, and development results in india : lessons and frontiers
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2017
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/534171505972670075/Public-sector-reform-citizen-engagement-and-development-results-in-India-lessons-and-frontiers
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/28486
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