Civil service reform

About this guide

Civil Service Reform (CSR) refers to interventions that affect the organisation, performance and working conditions of employees paid from central, provincial or state government budgets. Since an initial phase of institution building and training programmes following decolonisation, CSR has gone through 3 major stages. The first began in the 1980's, following the structural adjustment programmes supported by the IMF and the World Bank, and focused on 'cutting down to size'. The second stage began in the 1990's and presented a broader range of reforms aimed at 'building up', for example, performance assessment, monitoring, transparency, benchmarking, decentralisation, regulation and sound financial management. The third (and current) phase is more concerned with the political context in which reform is attempted. 

This topic guide outlines the issues currently facing reform efforts and introduces the key technical aspects of CSR. It was prepared by Tom Hewitt and updated by Erika Fraser in June 2009. Comments, questions or documents for consideration should be sent to enquiries@gsdrc.org.

Latest additions

The following document summaries were added in January 2010:

• Andrews, C., 2008, ‘Legitimacy and Context: Implications for Public Sector Reform in Developing Countries’, Public Administration and Development, vol. 28, pp. 171-180
• Mengesha, G. H. and Common, R., 2007, ‘Public Sector Capacity Reform in Ethiopia: A Tale of Success in two Ministries?’, Public Administration and Development, vol. 27, pp. 367-380
• Jacobs, C., 2009, ‘How to Bring About Change in the Bangladesh Civil Service?  Attempts to Change Mindsets, Behaviours and Practice’, Public Administration and Development, vol. 29, pp.218-227
  

New additions