Issue 24: March-April 2003

Brussels launch for
African reform book

The Brussels secretariat of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States was the venue for the February 17 launch of the new book Reforming Africa's Institutions: Ownership, Incentives and Capabilities.

The book, one of the outcomes of a UNU World Institute of Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER) study on domestic responses to African institutional reform, was presented by editor Prof. Steve Kayizzi-Mugerwa, who directed the WIDER project.

The study found that there was not one African government that had not attempted public sector reforms in the past decade, including retrenchment. Efficiency and choice have entered the institutional language, the civil service is on the verge of transition, decentralization is back on the agenda and there have been recent moves toward more democratic forms of governance.

Steve Kayizi-Mugerwa

"Donor pressure has been a key ingredient in bringing about these reforms," says Kayizzi-Mugerwa. "Donors now only wish to aid governments that demonstrate genuine ownership of policies for poverty reduction. Nevertheless, efforts at improving capacities in the public sector in general, and in the civil service in particular, could ensure that future reforms will be driven from within."

The study found that African institutions remain conflict ridden, making it difficult to predict the future. "While reforms demand strong political leadership, successful institutional reforms are characterized by enthusiasm across the board and not just at the top," Kayizi-Mugerwa says. "The most important question in the next decade will be how to create conditions that will enable institutional reforms to be generated from within Africa itself, with aid only acting as an additional resource for development, and without the confusing implications of aid conditionality."

MORE INFORMATION

Home

Copyright © 2002  United Nations University. All rights reserved.