Civil service reform and public service delivery in Somaliland

The purpose of the study was to investigate the status of civil service reform, the institutional framework, the challenges and contributions of civil service reform, and the impact of public service delivery in Somaliland. The study analysed the institutional structure and functions of the civil service, human resource management practices, the effectiveness of civil service reform, and recommendations for improvement of the country’s public service delivery. A descriptive survey method was employed to conduct the research, involving the use of questionnaires and in-depth interviews with key informants. The assessment of civil servants and directors used stratified random sampling, while the key informants adopted purposive sampling. The sample sizes for civil servants and key informants were 100 and 10, respectively. Primary data was gathered through semi-structured interviews and questionnaires, and secondary data was gathered through a thematic review of literature on civil service reform and public service delivery. Qualitative data were analysed using the thematic method, while quantitative data was analysed using descriptive frequencies with the aid of the Statistical Programme for Social Sciences (SPSS). The study's findings indicated that the proper institutional framework and mechanisms for civil service reform are in place, but research has revealed some gaps in policies and laws, including pension policy, promotion, pay and grade legal frameworks. The main challenges of civil service reform are institutional weakness and resistance to change among employees and leaders, qualifications mismatch which need review and realignment to accelerate reform, overstaffing, absence of job descriptions, performance evaluation, and limited budgeted service delivery plans. Service delivery is not the main priority of the current civil service reform, which is its biggest weakness. The research revealed that the majority of civil servants encountered some form of discrimination in promotion, training opportunities, and benefits. The civil servants had doubts about the openness and fairness of hiring and selection process. The absence of motivation and job descriptions among most government employees makes it difficult to measure the performance of civil servants, which affects the provision of quality service delivery in the public sector. The research recommended the adoption of meritocracy, service user feedback assessment, job descriptions for all staff, linking capacity-building training on service delivery, sound regular performance evaluation for civil servants, e-government platforms, and the development and implementation of relevant policies and laws to facilitate the creation of effective systems.