What we have learnt from post-1994 innovations in pro-poor service delivery in South Africa: a case study-based analysis

Service delivery is vital for alleviating poverty in South Africa. This paper contributes to the dialogue on how to maximise the impact of pro-poor service delivery by considering evidence from a wide selection of case studies to distinguish the successes and failures of post-1994 pro-poor service delivery. Case evidence brings to light four important points: that decentralisation and participation can reinforce historical distributions of privilege; that community ownership is neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition for effective service delivery to individuals in rural communities; that when managed well private outsourcing can benefit the poor; and that the abolition of user fees is often not the best way to ensure access to basic services. The paper cautions against overly ambitious and idealistic policy making. When a policy fails because of its lack of flexibility or its disregard for the constraints of the implementation context, this failure should be attributed to short-sighted policy making and not to implementation failure.