Demanding to be Served : Holding Governments to Account for Improved Access
This paper presents an overview of the constitutional-legal provisions on access to services in developing countries and shows that rights to public services are not justice-able. It further documents the performance record to show that governments...
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| Format: | Policy Research Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2012
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2008/06/9575628/demanding-served-holding-governments-account-improved-access http://hdl.handle.net/10986/6874 |
| Summary: | This paper presents an overview of the
constitutional-legal provisions on access to services in
developing countries and shows that rights to public
services are not justice-able. It further documents the
performance record to show that governments' response
to such a weak accountability framework has been predictable
- poor performance in service delivery with little
accountability. The paper also shows that while there has
not been a shortage of ideas on how to deal with this
problem, most approaches have failed because they could not
diagnose and deal with the underlying causes of government
dysfunction. The paper presents an analytical perspective on
understanding the causes of dysfunctional governance and the
incentives and accountability regimes that have the
potential to overcome this dysfunction. The paper also
documents practices that have shown some promise in
improving access. The paper then integrates ideas from
successful practices with conceptual underpinnings for good
governance and presents a citizen-centric (rights based)
governance approach to access. It further explores how such
a citizen empowerment and government accountability
framework can be implemented in practice, especially in the
context of developing countries, where most governments
still operate in a command and control environment with
little or no orientation to serve their people. It also
presents ideas on how to overcome resistance to such reforms. |
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