Experimental Evidence from Ghana’s Civil Service Experimental Evidence from Ghana’s Civil Service Imran Rasul (UCL and IFS), Daniel Rogger (World Bank and IFS), Martin J. Williams (Oxford) [AEA registered with pre-analysis plan] December 2019
State capability as a driver of development ◮ From a macro perspective: ◮ Large share of aggregate economics activity [20% of GDP in LICs] ◮ Key driver of growth, welfare and equality (Acemoglu and Robinson; Besley and Persson; etc.) ◮ Affects productivity of international assistance
State capability as a driver of development ◮ From a macro perspective: ◮ Large share of aggregate economics activity [20% of GDP in LICs] ◮ Key driver of growth, welfare and equality (Acemoglu and Robinson; Besley and Persson; etc.) ◮ Affects productivity of international assistance ◮ From a micro perspective: ◮ Presumption behind many program evaluations is that successful ones can be scaled-up and delivered by government (Bold et al., 2018; Romero et al., 2017; Vivalt, 2017, Meager 2019)
State capability as a driver of development ◮ From a macro perspective: ◮ Large share of aggregate economics activity [20% of GDP in LICs] ◮ Key driver of growth, welfare and equality (Acemoglu and Robinson; Besley and Persson; etc.) ◮ Affects productivity of international assistance ◮ From a micro perspective: ◮ Presumption behind many program evaluations is that successful ones can be scaled-up and delivered by government (Bold et al., 2018; Romero et al., 2017; Vivalt, 2017, Meager 2019) ◮ As such, this paper investigates alternative approaches to designing capacity building programmes in the public sector
Bureaucrat’s human capital matters ◮ Tasks of public administration characterized by ambiguity and uncertainty (Dixit, 2002; Rasul et al., 2019) ◮ Many public goods have elements of incomplete contracting ◮ Public officials are ‘residual claimant’ on shocks in society
Bureaucrat’s human capital matters ◮ Tasks of public administration characterized by ambiguity and uncertainty (Dixit, 2002; Rasul et al., 2019) ◮ Many public goods have elements of incomplete contracting ◮ Public officials are ‘residual claimant’ on shocks in society ◮ Implies human capital is fundamental in the production of public services ◮ Public officials must ‘fill in the gaps’
Bureaucrat’s human capital matters ◮ Tasks of public administration characterized by ambiguity and uncertainty (Dixit, 2002; Rasul et al., 2019) ◮ Many public goods have elements of incomplete contracting ◮ Public officials are ‘residual claimant’ on shocks in society ◮ Implies human capital is fundamental in the production of public services ◮ Public officials must ‘fill in the gaps’ ◮ Public officials constitutional protections imply that they must be able to learn and update their skills ◮ Often seen as a non-pecuniary benefit of public service
Substantial investments in public sector capacity building ◮ Most frequent response is training
Substantial investments in public sector capacity building ◮ Most frequent response is training ◮ Public sector agencies invest in compulsory skills upgrading – Service-wide training programmes – Senior leadership courses
Substantial investments in public sector capacity building ◮ Most frequent response is training ◮ Public sector agencies invest in compulsory skills upgrading – Service-wide training programmes – Senior leadership courses ◮ International development community complements with external investments – Default component of many donor programmes – World Bank in Africa: USD7.5 billion over past decade
This paper ◮ Does civil service training improve bureaucratic productivity? ◮ Tracks learning outcomes in standard service training ◮ Implements an improved, ‘productivity-focused’ curriculum, based in realities of service and focused on specific reforms ◮ Trials ‘embedded’ capacity building, within division-level classes
This paper ◮ Does civil service training improve bureaucratic productivity? ◮ Tracks learning outcomes in standard service training ◮ Officials are learning: 0.7 s.d. increase in core curriculum ◮ Implements an improved, ‘productivity-focused’ curriculum, based in realities of service and focused on specific reforms ◮ Trials ‘embedded’ capacity building, within division-level classes
This paper ◮ Does civil service training improve bureaucratic productivity? ◮ Tracks learning outcomes in standard service training ◮ Officials are learning: 0.7 s.d. increase in core curriculum ◮ Implements an improved, ‘productivity-focused’ curriculum, based in realities of service and focused on specific reforms ◮ Officials learn more in this setting: additional 0.4 s.d. increase in expanded curriculum ◮ Trials ‘embedded’ capacity building, within division-level classes
This paper ◮ Does civil service training improve bureaucratic productivity? ◮ Tracks learning outcomes in standard service training ◮ Officials are learning: 0.7 s.d. increase in core curriculum ◮ Implements an improved, ‘productivity-focused’ curriculum, based in realities of service and focused on specific reforms ◮ Officials learn more in this setting: additional 0.4 s.d. increase in expanded curriculum ◮ Trials ‘embedded’ capacity building, within division-level classes ◮ Dynamics of hierarchy tend to mediate effects
Where does this fit in the literature? ◮ Little evidence on whether training programs effectively increase state capacity (World Bank, 2016) External training content not closely aligned with workplace realities Rajasthani Police Reform (Banerjee et al., 2018) Training can improve ‘soft skills’ of police ... but not bureaucratic processes Danish change-oriented training amongst teachers (Jakobsen et al., 2019) Training can impact individual classroom teacher practices
Where does this fit in the literature? ◮ Little evidence on whether training programs effectively increase state capacity (World Bank, 2016) External training content not closely aligned with workplace realities Rajasthani Police Reform (Banerjee et al., 2018) Training can improve ‘soft skills’ of police ... but not bureaucratic processes Danish change-oriented training amongst teachers (Jakobsen et al., 2019) Training can impact individual classroom teacher practices ◮ Training should be ‘embedded’ in work programs (HBR, 2016; OECD, 2018) Constrained by existing incentives of bureaucratic hierarchy
Welcome to Ghana
Productivity differences across and within organisations
Management differences across and within organisations
Management differences across and within organisations
Civil Service Training Centre (CSTC)
Training in Ghana’s Civil Service Focus on mid-level professionals in central government policymaking/oversight roles, not frontline implementers ◮ 56 orgs, ∼ 400 divisions, ∼ 3000 individuals CSTC staff conduct routine 10-day trainings (“Scheme of Service”, SOS) throughout the year ◮ All staff below Director required to complete as prerequisite for promotion ◮ Cycle through once every 3-4 years ◮ Cohort: 10-40 other staff of same rank from across the Service ◮ We developed roughly a day’s worth of material focusing on generating productivity gains
New Training for Productivity (TFP) curriculum Designed by international consultant with research team input ◮ Training materials based on numerous pilots across client countries ◮ Adapted and delivered by CSTC’s regular trainers ◮ Replaces standard SOS productivity curriculum Content more applied, tangible, context-specific. Bundle of: ◮ Examples and data from Ghana’s Civil Service ◮ Diagnostic tools ◮ Motivational video ◮ Action Plan development ◮ Role-playing
TFP curriculum 0. STEPS DELIVERING OUTPUTS • What are the steps in delivering one of your key outputs? ??? ??? OUTPUT ??? Which officers are involved? What outcomes do we want? • ??? • ??? • ??? • ??? • ??? • ??? When finished, complete Action Plan Q1
TFP curriculum 11. Identifying Problems: Fishbone diagram • Helps to structure and then prioritise the multiple possible causes of a problem • Make each category of causes a “bone” of the fish, and list the possible causes in that category along it • Use a standard set of categories like that shown, or generate your own set specific to the problem and context 13
TFP curriculum
T1: Enhanced Scheme-of-Service training (TfP) ◮ T1: 33% of civil servants trained in 2017 were randomly sorted into TfP training ◮ Designed action plan to capitalise on wider training ◮ For those in treatment, promotion interviews included discussion of action plan and follow up activities ◮ Encouraged to return to division, implement reform in action plan ◮ Potential spillovers to colleagues in terms of training and reform implementation
Recommend
More recommend
