Out of France

The French administrative system has been one of the most influential models around the world for a number of reasons, notably the French Revolution and colonisation. Today, this model, which intrinsically devotes a large role to the State as a regulator, and to public law, is strongly challenged by the widespread concepts advocating for a more restrictive role of the State.

References:

Bouley, Dominique ; Fournel, Jerome ; Leruth, Luc E.How Do Treasury Systems Operate in Sub-Saharan Francophone Africa? IMF, Fiscal Affairs Department, Working Paper No. 02/58, 2002.

Franc, Michel. Le modèle français d'administration est-il encore attractif? Commentaire, vol. 14, n°53, 1991, p.59.

Lienert, Ian C. A Comparison Between Two Public Expenditure Management Systems in Africa. IMF; Fiscal Affairs Department, Working Paper No. 03/2, 2003.

Lienert, Ian ; Modi, Jitendra R.A Decade of Civil Service Reform in Sub-Saharan Africa. IMF, Fiscal Affairs Department, Working Paper No. 97/179, 1997.

Ndegwa, Stephen N. Decentralization in Africa : a stocktaking survey (English) . World Bank, Africa Region, Working Paper n° 40, November 2002.

Nzouankeu, Jacques Mariel. Note de conjoncture année 2000: Tendances majeures de l'Evolution récente des fonctions publiques africaines et perspectives de leurs réformes, Observatoire des fonctions publiques africaines, 2000 ( http://www.ofpa.net/tendmaj.htm ).

World Bank. Algeria - Budget Systems Modernization Project (English) . Project Appraisal Document, n°21484-DJ, December 21, 2000.

World Bank. Benin - Public Expenditure Reform Adjustment Credit (PERAC) Project (Vol 1) Benin - Public Expenditure Reform Adjustment Credit (PERAC) Project (English) . President's report, December 21, 2000.

World Bank. Reforming the centralised State for better Service Delivery: Stakes and Challenges in Benin (English). Sector report, no. 23760-BEN , February 5, 2003.

World Bank. Réformer une administration centralisée pour améliorer le service public: enjeux et défis au Bénin . Rapport sectoriel n°23760-BEN, 10 février 2003.

World Bank. Burkina Faso - Fourth Poverty Reduction Support Credit Project (English) . Program Document n°28293-BUR, April 14, 2004 .

World Bank. Burkina Faso - Improving service delivery at the local level: challenges for public sector management reform in Burkina Faso (English). Sector report n° 22188-BUR, December 16, 2002.

World Bank. Madagascar: Second Poverty Reduction Support Credit Project (Vol 1 of 1) Madagascar: Second Poverty Reduction Support Credit Project (English) . Program document, n°32516-MAG, June 9, 2005.

World Bank. Maroc - Pret d'Adjustement pour la Reforme de l'Administration Publique (French). Program document n° P7589-MOR, 4 juin, 2004.

World Bank. Morocco - Public Administration Reform Adjustment Loan Project (English). Program document, n° P7589-MOR, June 4, 2004.

World Bank. Morocco - Basic Education Reform Support Program (English). Project Appraisal Document n° P30721, January 7, 2005.

World Bank. Senegal. Decentralization, civic engagement and the challenges of intergovernmental relations reform for better service delivery. Sector r eport No: 24384-SEN, October 2003.

 

1 - Influence area of the French system

The French tradition has two main areas of influence.

After decolonisation, in the mid-1950s and early 1960s, most of North and Sub-Saharan African countries carried on with the administrative system put in place by the French colonization. Until today, the main features of their civil service structure are still largely based on the French system of colonial civil service.

Since the 1990s, after the collapse of communism, countries in Central and Eastern Europe, and in Southern-Eastern Asia, have borrowed or returned to elements of the French civil service system in their rebuilding and modernization of their administrative systems.

The context of this influence is very different, because, first, these are not French-speaking countries, and secondly, in choosing the French model, or rather some elements of it, these countries have made their decision in the context of fierce competition, where cooperation organizations put forward their own or preferred administrative traditions or systems.

Overall, the French system of civil service is appreciated because it brings together independence and competence, and generally has so far conveyed positive image of the civil service. Training activities carried out abroad by the French civil service training schools, combined with the active technical administrative cooperation provided by the relevant French Ministries (e.g., Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of the Civil Service and the State Reform) and other institutions, have contributed to consolidating the influence of the French administrative model.

2 - Public Sector Management in Africa

French colonisation bequeathed an extremely centralised organisation, which is subject to special and specific rules, in all ex-French colonies or ex-protectorates in Africa. There are many nuances or variations though, and the following is only meant to highlight common features, not national specifics.

In many countries, one important chapter of their ongoing administrative reform is de-concentration and decentralisation, with the view to bring decision-making about public services closer to the user. Consequences on civil services should be a reduction of the size of the central administration, since its role would shift from a blue collar to a white collar institution, leaving service delivery responsibility to local levels. This should involve revising administrative structure and in some cases, establishing template of organization charts for Ministries and de-concentrated services, like in Burkina Faso. A further step would be the introduction of de-concentrated and decentralised procedures regarding personnel management, which Morocco is now experimenting for its education personnel, at the regional branch office level (de-concentration). Some Sub Saharan African countries (Benin) also have de-concentrated contract teachers' management.

General statutes and particular statutes lay down the rights and duties of civil servants, and the rules regarding career management. This set of rules either derogates from private law or are controlled by a distinct jurisdiction (e.g., Administrative Chamber of the Supreme Court in Benin, Administrative Tribunal in Burkina Faso, Council of State in Senegal).

Personnel policies and management (hiring, career development and retiring) are the exclusive responsibility of a central government administration, usually the Ministry of Civil Service.

Centralisation occurs both by core ministries vis-à-vis line ministries and by the centre vis-à-vis local levels. De-concentration and decentralisation processes have made very little progress, and they are generally not associated with transfer of competence over management of locally stationed civil servants.

3 - Current civil service systems

(note de conjoncture année 2000: tendances et évolutions récentes des fonctions publiques africaines et perspectives de leurs réformes » www.ofpa.net/tendmaj.htm )

A critical legacy of French colonial administration is the career system, and salary structure and scales. In most Sub-Saharan African countries, these features have not, or very little, changed over the post-independence period. The reasons are that civil service has been regarded as the national elite or part of it. As a result, they have always been the regime's pet constituency, with the army, whether the regimes were stable or not, giving this caste a high bargaining power. Moreover, in Sub-Saharan Africa, the State is the first formal employer, giving civil service another function, usually the prominent one before providing public services: providing social peace and safety nets.

The career system of the civil service has survived the frequent political regime changes, the repetitive coups, as well as the structural adjustment programmes. Today, the career system¹ is well alive, and civil service trade unions are also greatly mobilized to protect it against regimes which may not have the political power to change anything about it.

The civil service is organized in different corps. Civil servants are ranked within different categories, then ladders (grade), then steps. Career advancement is organized through a system of marking and appreciation. However, it is mainly achieved through step progression, which is automatic, based on seniority, regardless of performance. It is important to note that most countries have not adopted the French system of class progression, which entails an examination of the merit of the civil servant at least at one point in one's career.

To each step is attached a wage index, which increases from echelon to echelon within a grade, from one grade to the next, and from one category to the next. Base salary is calculated by attaching a value to the wage index unit. In addition to base salary, civil servants are entitled to fringe benefits, which can vary according to position and grade. In Morocco, bonuses represent between 45% and 93% of base salary, reflecting trade union negotiating power, and strong esprit de corps in a context where the salary scale remained unchanged to try and aviod an across the board salary raise. In Sub Saharan Africa, the salary scale remained unchanged after independence, reflecting the high expatriate salary cost of French civil service in the colonies (twice that of metropolitan France); the wage index being high, bonuses have been marginal.

The principle of recruitment through competitive examination (external or internal) has been generally abandoned: lack of skills in the early years led to automatic hiring in the civil service for every graduate. In countries where administration schools were in place, for decades after Independence, these schools became a privileged, even exclusive, access to civil service. In countries that embraced the socialist or communist ideology, automatic recruitment was a pillar of the regime.

Yet, even in countries where there never was a socialist regime the absence of competitive exam is creating problems, and widespread suspicion of patronage.

In all countries, appointments to management positions are mainly based on political criteria, although in general the managers do meet the professional requirements or their position.

4 - Civil service schools

The system of civil service schools is viewed as a token of staff competence.

In most North and Sub-Saharan African countries, there are schools established on the model of the French ENA. This is also the case in Cambodia and Vietnam. The model of ENA has been widely exported, even outside the zone of traditional influence of the wider French administrative model, such as China, Brazil, and Argentina. More recently, countries of the Middle East, like Lebanon and Syria, as well as Poland have created schools of general administration. The French ENA is an active cooperation partner, and intervenes in many countries, through bilateral or multilateral projects. A great number of foreign civil servants also attend courses and get degrees in the French ENA.

In some developing countries, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, the transposition of ENA-like institutes has met difficulties and created problems. The selection criteria for initial training were not set as high as necessary, resulting in a too large number of civil servants graduating. This was incompatible with budget constraints, especially after financial crisis, when structural adjustment policies forced to reduce public expenditure and freeze new recruitments in the civil service. Another major risk, according to Michel Franc,² has also been that higher civil service schools created an elite, who may be comfortable dealing with international partners, but less well integrated in their national administrative structures, where middle-ranking officials are often lacking.

5 - Budget management features and reforms in Africa

Budget management too has been extremely centralised since independence. This has led to poor service delivery at the local levels among other major negative consequences. But centralisation is not the only problem of budget management in the ex-French territories in Africa. The internal and external auditing systems have either never existed, or have been transformed in punitive systems serving non managerial purposes, or have simply disappeared. Finally, accountability remains slack, both that of the executive branch vis a vis the Parliament (budget reports are either years late or never produced), and that of public finance managers within the executive branch (there are very few countries where the National Auditor or the IGF is an independent body).

The weakest points have been the disconnect between budget allocations and policies, often aggravated by the dual budget authority (Ministries of Finance and of Planning) and external aid financing through project channels instead of national budget, and the lack of ex-post control and general accountability. Generally, North and South of the Sahara, lack of transparency, short term budget management, poor allocations in favour of social sectors, lack of control of the wage bill, disconnect between political intentions and budget allocations, and even between commitments and actual payments are among the wide spread weaknesses of the French budget management system as applied in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Yet the basics were carefully preserved, such as budget spending control at the commitment level, reliable accounting systems, strong ex-ante controls. This has allowed for the progressive introduction of greater de-concentration of budget management, both between the Ministry of Finance and the line Ministries, and between theses and their branch offices. It has also allowed for better budget allocation through the introduction of program budgeting and medium term expenditure frameworks, while ex-post controls, internal and external auditing capacities are being developed.

Almost every francophone country in Africa is currently in one form or another of budget management reform, aiming at better expenditure performance, greater de-concentration and improved auditing and reporting³.

6 - Human resource management reforms

In countries whose administrative system is inspired from the French model, notably in countries benefiting from international aid, there is an ongoing process of reform and modernisation of the civil service, and public administration at large. Like in France, the overall civil service organisation and core features are put into question. The challenge is rather to integrate some efficient tools from the New Public Management principles in the existing system.

Like in France today, the main thrust of the civil service reform is the establishment of a performance-based civil service promotion, without automatic advancement. Initiatives include introducing the concept of employment position, which is closer to the position-based system than the career system. In this view, Cameroon has established post profiles, missions and objectives, which should help strengthening accountability and performance assessment of civil servants.

Structural adjustment programmes aimed at reducing public expenditures. Some countries have reviewed the definition of the missions of the State, in order to leave greater opportunities for the civil society and the private sector to intervene. This has led in some cases to deregulation and downsizing of the civil service. Efforts have been made to control the wage bill. This has often started with organising the census of civil servants, in order to scrap ghosts from the payroll.⁴ This may have also involved reducing wage disparities, revising the wage index grid, lengthening the number of steps (therefore the number of years) necessary to reach the top of the ladders (therefore highest salaries), granting salary increases on the basis performance evaluation, simplifying and making more transparent fringe benefits. An important element consists also in developing long-term planning of staff requirements.

The number of contract employees has remarkably increased, especially within social public services, such as education and health; this trend is encouraged by donors. Contract employees are hired instead of civil servants in order to bypass civil service statutes, which are considered too rigid. The expected benefits are more flexibility, increased direct management and accountability, fewer difficulties to fill positions outside the capital, and some link between performance and salary.

The efficiency of civil service, and more particularly of a career system of civil service, which offers a life-long career in the administration, relies a lot on the level of competence of the personnel. Therefore, emphasis is put on training of civil servants, through the design of long-term training planning (including a training needs assessment), the strengthening or creation of civil service training centres. However, training remains costly, therefore rare, whereas trainees' selection is not always based on real individual needs, but as a favour to loyal collaborators.

NOTES:

1. Jacques Mariel Nzouankeu, Note de conjoncture année 2000: Tendances majeures de l'Evolution récente des fonctions publiques africaines et perspectives de leurs réformes, Observatoire des Fonctions Publiques Africaines, 2000 (http://www.ofpa.net/tendmaj.htm).

2. Michel Franc, Le modèle français d'administration est-il encore attractif? Commentaire, vol. 14, n°53, 1991.

3. Most countries in Sub Saharan Africa are now engaged in budget management reform as part of their poverty reduction programs. Morocco and Algeria have also launched budget reforms. See References above, World Bank reports list.

4. See Lienert, 1997.