Ethiopia’s Protection of Basic Services: A donor-supported program that builds on government capacity

Context

Ethiopia introduced the Protection of Basic Services (PBS) program in 2006 to help ensure that poor people would continue to have access to basic services and to sustain the momentum toward meeting the country’s immense Millennium Development Goal challenges. PBS, which is supported by 10 development partners, contributes to expanding access to and improving the quality of basic services in education, health, agriculture, water supply and sanitation, and rural roads delivered by subnational governments, while continuing to deepen transparency and local accountability in service delivery[1].

Development Results

The Government of Ethiopia through PBS almost certainly contributed to the long-run reduction of poverty through sustaining, and expanding, coverage of basic health, education, clean water andrural agricultural services. Recent research indicates that under PBS Ethiopia has helped improve the lives of more than 70 million rural Ethiopians[2]. PBS may also have contributed to the narrowing of the gender gapobserved in primary education. Between 2005 and 2009, the net enrolment rate for girls in grades 1-4 and grades 5-8 improved from 65.1 percent to 80.3 percent and 29.4 to 53.3 percent, respectively[3].

The capacity development initiative under PBS was meant to accelerate the path to strengthening transparency and participation in Ethiopia building the basis for a more effective accountability relationship between local government, service providers and citizens.The evaluation documents all show that PBS capacity development activities had a strong impact on all the stakeholders involving:

  • a changein the ability of CSOs to train stakeholders and mobilize citizens
  • a change in the ability and motivation of citizens to hold service providers accountable
  • a change in the ability and motivation of service providers to respond to citizens’ demands
  • a change in the motivation and ability of local councils to represent their constituency

The activism and engagement of citizens in the service delivery process on the one hand and the responsiveness of service providers and local governments on the other produced strong results.

Enhanced performance

PBS supported decentralized service delivery, and the data indicate large gains in the efficiency of regional and woreda(district)spending, in terms of coverage and access-related measures. For example, the education sector accounts for the largest share ofregional spending, and the rise in primary school enrolment far exceeded the rise in public spending on primary education during the implementation of PBS I. This led to a substantial fall in spending per student in real terms even if performance of quality measures is more mixed.

PBS has also provided significant value added to institutional and systems strengthening inEthiopia[4], especially as the bulk of the funds were mixed withTreasury funds and channeled to regions and woredas using existing country systems. PBS hasdirectly supported capacity development and enhancing of transparency and accountability throughPublic Financial Management, Financial Transparency and Accountability(FTA) and Social Accountability(SA) activities.

These positive outcomes were underpinned by improvements in the access to service delivery. Over the course of the program, total basic service spending by regions and districtgovernments has almost doubled, from US$505 million in 2004–05 to US$1,149 million in 2008– 09. Between 2005 and 2009, local governments nationwide were supported in hiring an additional 264,000 primary school teachers and placing 35,000 health extension workers. Over the same period, rural access to potable water increased from 46 percent to 61.5 percent[5].The PBS project consists of four main components: 1st and 2nd components aim mainly at providing finances for core basic services; the 3rd and 4h components aim at enhancing transparency around public budget procedures and foster broad engagement (financial transparency), and strengthening the use of social accountability approaches through several projects by citizens and civil society organizations (CSOs) as a means to make basic service delivery more effective, efficient, responsive and accountable (social accountability). While PBS Component 3 sought to enhance financial transparency and downward accountability, C4 focused mainly on strengthening of the demand side of government service delivery to increase responsiveness and accountability. Both Component 3 and 4 were meant to build the necessary bridges between the supply and demand sides

This case story is about component 4 as a powerful example of a capacity development initiative whereby local stakeholders got empowered to bring about institutional change for development results

An independent evaluation conducted in 2011 concluded that the project improved the coverage and quality of basic services as a result of implementation of the joint action plans. For instance, in a site meeting at a newly built elementary school in Somali Region, outside of Dire Dawa (where the capacity development component of PBS was implemented), the coordinator of the Zonal Administration reported on the utility of the interface meetings: the school was built after the community and the government discussed the problem of school facilities. A new water point was dug to provide clean water to the students and staff. Separate washrooms for male and female students were also built. A PTA was established. Since the formation of the PTA, teachers and parents meet regularly to discuss problems facing the school. Both teacher and student absenteeism have decreased

Support to the capacity development process

a)National investments

The Government of Ethiopia worked hand in hand with donors on PBS design whichhelped to ensure that it built on itsdecentralization program and had strong government ownership overall.The government used the PBS to support its capacity development efforts at the regional and woreda level in the areas of public financial management, fiscal transparency and social accountability, and to acceleratetheir institutionalization. Moreover, the GoE used the PBS to support its on-going decentralization process and utilized TA to build capacity. The bulk of PBS resourceswere provided as ameans to enable a committed government to implement decentralized basic service delivery and strengthen its delivery of the MDGs. Implementation of PBS was aligned with the government’s existing priorities. The GOE combines the PBS funds with domestic revenues that are transferred, according to set, objective criteria, to subnationalgovernments in the form of block grants. These block grants contribute to meeting localneeds consistent with national programs and policies, and with the service delivery prioritiesidentified by locally elected woreda councils and set out in woreda strategic plans.

The government through PBSbuilt capacity for transparency and social accountability to deepen financial transparency at the Federal, regional and woreda/local levels and to induce increased citizen participation and voice in demanding improved access and quality of basic service delivery. FTA and SA are new concepts that GOE has included in its governance agenda since 2006, and PBS was able to support its piloting and implementation. The progress in this area was notable, especially given the historical context of Ethiopia.

b)Development partners’ support

As an effective instrument to support the government’s commitment to local basic services the PBS Program has been supported by 11 other development partners (the African Development Bank, the Governments of Austria, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the UK Department for International Development (DFID), the German Development Bank (KFW), the European Commission, and the World Bank). The core capacity development support has includedvarious institutional capacity building activities, consulting services and training to further advance concepts and issues of transparency and accountability at local administration levels while also strengthening monitoring mechanisms.

Main references

World Bank. Protection of Basic Services, Project AppraisalDocument, May 25, 2006.

World Bank. Protection of Basic Services, ImplementationCompletion Report, May 30, 2010.

World Bank. Protection of Basic Services, Project AppraisalDocument Phase II, April 22, 2009.

1

[1]Due to the excellent results of the PBS, a follow-up operation (PBS 2) was approved in 2009, and an additional financing for PBS 2 in 2011, following strengthened procedures to promote policy dialogue, build capacity and monitor results.

[2]Ethiopia Protection of Basic Services Phase 2 Project.

[3]World Bank. Protection of Basic Services, Implementation Completion Report, May 30, 2010.

[4]For instance, a Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA) assessment carried out to provide information on the country’s PFM status has shown particularly good performance on the budget’s credibility, comprehensiveness, and transparency.

[5]World Bank. Protection of Basic Services, Implementation Completion Report, May 30, 2010.