1 / 36

Tactics and Political Dynamics of Public Service Pay Lessons from Sub-Saharan Africa

This study examines the challenges faced in implementing pay reforms in the public service sector in Sub-Saharan Africa. It explores the role of political dynamics and the need for a strategic approach to ensure sustained success. The study draws lessons from various countries in the region to suggest strategic options for different political environments.

sterlinga
Download Presentation

Tactics and Political Dynamics of Public Service Pay Lessons from Sub-Saharan Africa

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Tactics and Political Dynamics of Public Service Pay Lessons from Sub-Saharan Africa Denyse Morin Kithinji Kiragu May 25,2005 Addis Ababa

  2. Thanks & Acknowledgements • DFID and the World Bank • Cooperation and Support • Governments • Trade Union Representatives • Academia • Civil Society Groups • World Bank Country Offices

  3. Overview • Pay is a Key Public Service Issue • Pay reform is one of the most difficult areas of public sector reform • Comparatively poor pay has remained a feature of most public services • Major feature of concern for public services in most countries

  4. The Problem • Why have efforts made to bring about pay reform not resulted in more success? • Why have pay levels remained low? • Why has implementation been difficult?

  5. Study Objectives • Collect and organize data and information on public service pay policy experiences • Explore and describe the context and limits to which technical models have guided pay reform strategies and policies • Explore and explain the political contexts and rationales underlying pay policies and strategies adopted

  6. Hypotheses • A successful strategy for public service pay reform is underpinned by choice of correct tactics and sequencing of the appropriate measures • Technical solutions to public service pay reform without due attention to a country’s politics are not sustainable

  7. Approach/Methodology • Two-stage process to see if there is a match between the technical choices, political developments, and pay policies and implementation:

  8. First Stage • Map out in detail the pay policy choices, the tactics, techniques and the sequences • Identify & analyze the political context and major political considerations and developments • Illustrate and trace implementation stages of public service pay policy changes including identifying implementation stages • Attempt to see if there is a correlation between the three variables mentioned above within each study country

  9. Second Stage • Compare the experiences of the countries under study on the basis of the three variables mentioned above • Establish if there is any correlation across countries along these variables • Draw out the lessons of experience and suggest strategic options in varying political environments

  10. Overview • Pay Policy Tactics and Models • Politics and Pay • Role of institutions • Strategic Options

  11. What is Pay? • Pay=salary+monetary benefits+ in-kind benefits [including retirement] • Nevertheless, salary remains the core element of pay • When salary is replaced by benefits and allowances there are explicit or implicit technical and/or political considerations • Salary trend is a good indicator to the decisions underlying pay changes

  12. Trends in MedianSalary ($)

  13. Salary Compression Ratios

  14. Nominal Wage Bill to GDP Ratio

  15. General Pay Trends in 1990s • Botswana: consistently high and decompression • Tanzania & Uganda: rising levels and decompression to a point • Ghana, Senegal & Zambia: overall deterioration, increased use of benefits • Bénin & Burkina Faso:declining salary levels and compression

  16. Models, Tactics & Techniques

  17. Models fall into 3 categories

  18. Mapping Models Against a Rational Framework

  19. Model Trends since 1960s

  20. Politics Matter • What constitutes the essence of politics is the constraints under which political actors operate and the strategicmaneuvering that they occasion and that occurs within them •  Politics is a complex game of strategic calculations. Politicians often face the so-called “politicians’ dilemma” in deciding among a set of policy preferences:

  21. Politician’s Dilemma Conflicting Objectives: • To survive in office; to build a loyal political organization—no suicide • To govern effectively & efficiently

  22. Trade-Offs • Cultivating partisan loyalty • Adopting technical solutions for effective performance

  23. Institutions Matter Variations among politicians’ preferences largely depend on: • the nature of the political system • the nation’s institutions.

  24. Actors

  25. THE DONOR • COMMUNITY • Donor Agencies • Consultants • ADMINISTRATIVE • INSTITUTIONS • President • Ministers • Public Sector Bureaucracies and Technocracies POLITICS OF RESOURCE MOBILIZATION AND ALLOCATION (The Budgetary Process) • CIVIL SOCIETY • INSTITUTIONS • The ruling political • party • Political Parties in opposition • Trade Unions • Media • Others • MARKET • INSTITUTIONS • Private Sector • The Business Community • REPRESENTATIVE • INSTITUTIONS • Parliament • Local Government • Councils/Assemblies THE POLITICAL SYSTEM

  26. Political Mapping

  27. Relevance of Political Institutionalization High Technically rational Botswana, Tannzania Politically rational Institutionalization Senegal, Uganda, Burkina Faso Politically reactive Benin, Ghana, Zambia Low Low High Competitiveness of Politics

  28. Institutionalisation High Uncompetitive Monopolistic Uncompetitive Pluralism (i) Botswana Tanzania Mature Democracy Medium Uncompetitive Pluralism (ii) Uganda Burkina Faso Weak Democracy Benin; Ghana Senegal; Zambia Low Low Medium High Competitiveness Institutionalisation & Competition

  29. Politics and Pay PoliciesPolitical System and Reform Performance Competition

  30. Beyond technical merit… • Politics matter • Institutions matter

  31. Politics, Institutions and Technical Models • Politics Matter. The nature of the political system, regime legitimacy and stability, and the dynamics of the political process are all critical variables in pay reform • Institutionalisation of political life and organizations matter. Acceptance and respect for rules of the political game by major political actors and the general citizenry is very important, especially for competitive political systems • Ultimately and ideally, technical models can fully and sustainably prevail in acompetitivepolitical system that ishighly institutionalised,stable, and enjoys high levels oflegitimacy.

  32. The Way Forward...

  33. Strategic Options

  34. Therefore… • Need to understand and appreciate the political context and political variables critical to success of pay reform programmes • Political system • Social structure • Nature and strengths of power centres

  35. Implications for the countries where you work?

More Related