Public Service Delivery

One of potential impacts of decentralization is improved service delivery. It is assumed that:

• Local governments know better about their citizens' preferences.
• Local governments are better prepared to meet their needs.
• Local people might be more willing to pay taxes for services provided in accordance with their needs by their local authorities.

Local governments, however, can only be efficient to provide services if:

• Responsibilities are assigned with clarity.
• Revenues are sufficiently available to them to fulfill the mandates.
• There are appropriate incentives to improve accountability in service provision.

A better match between local government outputs and local preferences rates local service delivery as more efficient, unless this situation is outweighed by spillovers or other efficiencies in central government provision. 

 Please read public service delivery in: 

education, health, infrastructure, water supply and rural livelihood. 

Several studies are being carried out to help countries to improve service delivery under the framework of decentralization.

For example, in Pakistan, a very comprehensive analytical study has been undertaken by the Bank jointly with the Asian Development Bank and Department for International Development to review progress towards improving service delivery through decentralization. The study, Devolution in Pakistan, provides a framework to evaluate service delivery under the new devolution reform in place in the country. Further, it presents the emerging lessons and implications for both policy and operational practices in service delivery. In India, The Bank has initiated a study to examine rural service delivery to look at the legal framework and institutional arrangements for the provision of services. The basic idea is to study what different tiers of government are actually doing, and what arrangements could work better for each of the key services provided.