Ready for Europe? Ready for Europe? Applying a Public Administration Assessment Tool (PAAT) Presented to: Presented by: World Bank Staff Barbara Nunberg PREM Knowledge & Learning Week Sector Manager-EAP Washington, DC April 17-19, 2007
Development and Application of Development and Application of PAAT PAAT � The context and the problem � The approach and basic principles � The tool � Methodology � Content � Country findings � Lessons and Applications Barbara Nunberg Page 2 The World Bank Civil Service Reform Course
Acceding to the EU: The Civil Service Acceding to the EU: The Civil Service Challenge in Central & Eastern Europe Challenge in Central & Eastern Europe � Countries wishing to join EU needed public administrations that worked at advanced country levels � Acquis Communautaire requirement � Member Countries wanted to look across the table at “equals” � More broadly, CEE countries needed modern administrations to compete in global economy � So CEE chasing 2 Rabbits: EU and OECD Barbara Nunberg Page 3 The World Bank Civil Service Reform Course
EU- -Bound Country Administrative Bound Country Administrative EU Performance: 3 Critical Areas Performance: 3 Critical Areas � Establish center-of-government institutions for cohesive policy making � Create dedicated management structures to move EU accession process forward � Develop Politically Neutral, merit-based, professional civil service (today’s focus) Barbara Nunberg Page 4 The World Bank Civil Service Reform Course
Top Ten Civil Service Problems in Top Ten Civil Service Problems in Post- -Communist CEE Communist CEE Post Politicization (fusion of Party cadres and govt. bureaucracy) 1. Lack of civil service legal framework and oversight 2. institutions (cs statute, redress mechanisms, cs commission or merit protection board) Fused pay and benefits; low and compressed basic pay 3. Overstaffing in “budget sphere; ” in deconcentrated local 4. govt. Lack of modern HRM systems (HRMIS, payroll; job 5. evaluation system) Lack of performance and or merit-based HR practice 6. (appraisal, pay, promotion) Lack of competitive recruitment mechanisms 7. Lack of horizontal mobility across agencies 8. Highly centralized authority; little delegation 9. 10. Narrow technical skills; limited policy or management skills Barbara Nunberg Page 5 The World Bank Civil Service Reform Course
The Problem The Problem � Public administration requirements for EU accession: crucial for entry but vague � How to define concrete targets and standards for assessment? � How to determine the starting point and measure progress? � How to design targeted reform/ assistance programs? � Need a diagnostic tool to set bar and monitor actions � Overarching question: What constitutes a modern civil service? Barbara Nunberg Page 6 The World Bank Civil Service Reform Course
The Approach The Approach � Develop analytic framework to assess administrative capacity and performance for 3 pre-accession countries: � Estonia � Hungary � Czech Republic � Identify essential – the minimal – characteristics of advanced administrations � Highlight criteria by which presence or absence of these “desirable” characteristics determined � Specify range of performance indicators for characteristics � Apply indicators across country cases as objective tracking of countries’ relative progress on admin. development � Framework shows gaps between desired state of administrative performance and current reality � Framework generates more precise prescription for steps needed to reach desired status Barbara Nunberg Page 7 The World Bank Civil Service Reform Course
The Approach (2) The Approach (2) � Standards distilled from EU members and other advanced countries from OECD � No particular model offered; systematic but flexible definition of international good practice includes basic levels of: � Probity � Political neutrality � Professionalism and transparency � Competitiveness � accountability Barbara Nunberg Page 8 The World Bank Civil Service Reform Course
Approach (3) Approach (3) � More precise prescription for steps (and technical assistance) needed to reach desired status � Assessment performed by experts in consultation with self-analysis by country officials (PAAT resembles PEFA) � Methodology remains “work in progress” Barbara Nunberg Page 9 The World Bank Civil Service Reform Course
The Tool: Performance Matrix The Tool: Performance Matrix Template Template Performance Indicators Good Evaluat- and Practice ion Sum- Action Benchmark Ref Criteria Score mary Required TA Information X. Objective Score: Desirable characteristics � � � Barbara Nunberg Page 10 The World Bank Civil Service Reform Course
The Tool The Tool � Objective � Desirable Characteristics � Good Practice Criteria � Performance Indicators and Benchmark Info. � Score � Evaluation Summary � Action Required � Technical Assistance Barbara Nunberg Page 11 The World Bank Civil Service Reform Course
Conceptual Basis of Performance Conceptual Basis of Performance Matrix Matrix � Objective = specific dim ensions or goals associated w ith w ell-perform ing, advanced country public adm inistrations � E.G., All modern civil services governed by legal and ethical framework. � E.G., Modern civil services have fair and effective HRM policies and practices � Desirable Characteristics= those attributes that define reasonably advanced state of developm ent on particular objective � E.G., advanced govt. legal frameworks ensure impartial treatment of citizens � E.G., staff selection and promotion is open and transparent and merit-based Barbara Nunberg Page 12 The World Bank Civil Service Reform Course
Conceptual Basis of Performance Conceptual Basis of Performance Matrix (2) Matrix (2) � Good Practice Criteria= basis by w hich to assess w hether govt. possesses desirable characteristic � E.G., Existence of public redress mechanism to air citizens’ grievance against cs ruling � E.G., Promotion through open, merit based procedures � Perform ance I ndicator/ Benchm ark I nfo= evidence that govt. m eets criteria ( and som e m easure of quality/ extent) � E.G., Statute providing for establishment of ombudsman with powers independent of civil service � E.g., Promotion process overseen by third party (measured by percent of promotion decisions reviewed by assessors unconnected with the decision) Barbara Nunberg Page 13 The World Bank Civil Service Reform Course
Conceptual Basis of Performance Conceptual Basis of Performance Matrix (3) Matrix (3) � Nature of indicators varies � Numerical quotient suggests better or worse performance (i.e. % of staff recruited through advertisement) � Affirmative or negative assessment (i.e. legal provision for ombudsman) � Som e indicators un-usable due to lack of data but w orth incorporating for robust, longer term assessm ent and future data collection � Som e indicators precisely linked to EU norm s Barbara Nunberg Page 14 The World Bank Civil Service Reform Course
Scoring Scoring Scores betw een 0 and 5 for each criterion � Scores averaged for each larger � dim ension/ characteristic No total country PAAT score � Collective judgm ent of Bank staff, experts, � country officials reached consensus Scores based on actions already taken and, � inform ally, on 3 underlying variables: Country understanding of issues & types of 1 . reform s needed Level of govt. com m itm ent to serious reform 2 . Country capacity to undertake reform s 3 . Barbara Nunberg Page 15 The World Bank Civil Service Reform Course
Scoring Matrix for Public Scoring Matrix for Public Administration Development Administration Development Barbara Nunberg Page 16 The World Bank Civil Service Reform Course
Beyond the numbers Beyond the numbers � Num erical ratings understandably contentious ( Bank staff blood on floor) � Additional, im portant m atrix colum ns: � Evaluation sum m ary ( qualitative discussion of assessm ent basis for each criteria) � Action required ( recom m endations for specific actions to reach good practice on each criteria) � Technical assistance ( aggregated into program m atic fram ew ork for future international aid) � Findings based on extensive applied research --not back-of-envelope � I n-country, in-depth analysis and interview s over several m issions distilled in 3 country case studies � Extensive research on advanced country practice and norm s to develop applicable m etrics/ standards Barbara Nunberg Page 17 The World Bank Civil Service Reform Course
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