Administrative & Civil Service Reform

General Overview.   The challenge of transition from a central planned to a market-based economy in Eastern Europe and Central Asia has been, at the heart, a change in the role of the state.   However, while rapid political, economic and social transformations have played out, reform of the administrative and bureaucratic structures of government have taken much longer.   Raising the capacity of the government machinery has become critical to consolidating and sustaining prior reform achievements... more>>

Regional Challenges.    Reform of public administration in the region continues to face a number of key challenges, including ongoing political transformation in many countries, entrenched and often balkanized government structures, the proliferation of informal --- rather than institutional -- mechanisms for policy-making, and a persistent culture of command control versus service delivery.  While many countries have made progress on updating the legal framework for public employment and rightsizing the civil service, much remains to be done to achieve modern, efficient and transparent public services... more>>

World Bank Strategy.   The World Bank supports public administration and civil service reform in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, through policy dialogue and financing for investment, technical assistance and development policy operations, but also with analytical notes, reports and studies.  These efforts are focused primarily on (i) establishing merit-oriented, depoliticized public services; (ii) restructuring government bodies to meet new demands of the region's market economies; and (iii) strengthening central policy-making and implementation mechanisms.  More recently, the World Bank is working to extend administrative reforms to regional, municipal and local levels of government... more>>