Rethinking civil service reform in Africa: ‘islands of effectiveness’ and organisational commitment

After many decades of reform efforts and capacity-building, the delivery of public services in most sub-Saharan African states remains in crisis. Yet explanations of this failure which focus on failure of implementation, continued overstaffing, lack of political will or the inherent problems of ‘neo-patrimonialism’ are unconvincing. In fact the key problems of African public services remain those of understaffing and lack of organisational commitment. It is argued that the best way forward is to identify and work with the competent managers to be found in ‘islands of effectiveness’, encouraging and spreading more effective kinds of incentives and developing more positive organisational cultures. Pressure from the public for better performance is only likely to work if the need to respond is incorporated into organisational incentive structures.