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Service Delivery Project
Modernising Government Programme
India

The Problem

The Service Delivery Project has been a unique effort aimed at improving the services on such a large scale spanning 8 government departments and 21 categories of government service institutions. An effort of such mammoth nature has been undertaken perhaps for the first time in the history of India. The SDP is exceptional in the government context as for the first time budgets of government departments are being linked to actual performance in the delivery of services. Also, unlike most reform projects, which take up pilot programmes on a small scale, the SDP attempted the taking up of large scale samples with the ultimate aim of covering the entire universe. The novelty has also been in learning from SDP that small successes have largely been non-replicable in the past and therefore large-scale interventions require to be sought in improving public services. This framework created by Kerala would provide a very useful base for adaptation by other Indian States.

Solution and Key Benefits

 What is the initiative about? (the solution)
The Service Delivery Project (SDP) of the Modernizing Government Programme (MGP) aims to create model institutions in 22 categories of service providers from eight departments (Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs, General Education, Health and Family Welfare, Home, Land Revenue, Local Self Government, Registration and Social Welfare). Since implementation of the Service Delivery Project, within a very short period of time improvement in the functioning of almost all institutions in which the project is being implemented could be felt. In addition to the facelift happened to these institutions in total, their reputation and credibility reached high extend in society. For example, in Government Schools enrolment increased considerably. More and more poor people began to approach Government Hospitals. Due to transparency in procedures corruption rate has come down considerably. The training which employees got through the programme brought about very conspicuous change in the attitude and approach of them towards public i.e. their attitude became more people friendly. Above all these through these reform measures the Govt could rebuild the confidence of people especially the downtrodden in the service capacity of Government Institutions, which was shrinked to zero once.

Actors and Stakeholders

 Who proposed the solution, who implemented it and who were the stakeholders?
1. Introductory workshops were conducted in April – May 2004 to identify broad areas where improvements in delivery of public services could be made.
2. Intensive Focus Group discussions for each of the eight departments to identify the minute details of each kind of service and the elements involved in improving their quality were held in the next two months.
3. Conversion of outputs of these two workshops into Standard Reference Material by a team consisting of experts from Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI -which is one of the premier training institutions dealing with public management in the country) and domain experts for each of the departments. The Standard Reference Material listed out the details of services rendered to citizens from the twenty-two types of institutions.
4. Using the SRM and the expertise gained by ASCI and its team, master trainers were developed. District level workshops were held in six places in the State and with the involvement of about 8,000 staff from the identified institutions, institutional plans were crystallized.
5. The validation of the institutional level plans was done by institutional -level committees consisting of public servants and user groups helped by experts.
6. Finally the institutional plans were vetted at the level of the district, the department and a State level High Power Committee headed by the Chief Secretary (head of the Civil Service) of the State.
7. Thus 2587 institutional plans were developed, approved and funded following a rigorous participatory procedure combined with high quality professional inputs, mediated by outside expert support.

(a) Strategies

 Describe how and when the initiative was implemented by answering these questions
 a.      What were the strategies used to implement the initiative? In no more than 500 words, provide a summary of the main objectives and strategies of the initiative, how they were established and by whom.
The Modernising Government Programme focused mainly on improving governance in all respects. Many initiatives were identified after elaborate consultation with policy makers, experts and other stakeholders including heads of Local Governments and Civil Society groups. Detailed Implementation Plan listing activities and outlining costs were prepared for every initiative. These initiatives, most of them out-of-the-box were mainstreamed into the State’s development budget. As MGP evolved it was realized that general initiatives at reform and change can succeed only if they are originally linked to a core programme which has high policy priority, meets a strongly felt public need and has significant development impact. Taking cue from the development experience of the State it was decided to launch the Service Delivery Project focusing on key public services of maximum relevance and impact to the citizens, especially the poor.

(b) Implementation

 b.      What were the key development and implementation steps and the chronology? No more than 500 words
The Service Delivery Project seeks to improve the quality of services delivered by Government to the people of Kerala, particularly the poor. Specifically the project aims to improve the standard of services in selected classes of institutions. The focus areas include setting standards of service delivery, relating resource allocation (physical, financial and human) to services provided and social monitoring. Under the Project, institutions were identified in selected departments and made models in terms of service delivery.

(c) Overcoming Obstacles

 c.      What were the main obstacles encountered? How were they overcome? No more than 500 words
A series of highly participatory and intensive workshops of stakeholders were held, some times collectively and some times sectorally.2587 institutional plans were developed, approved and funded following a rigorous participatory procedure combined with high quality professional inputs, mediated by outside expert support. After detailed consultations, twenty two categories of institutions from eight different Government Departments having the maximum relevance for the ordinary man were identified. 2587 institutions were picked out from these categories on the basis of objective criteria.

(d) Use of Resources

 d.      What resources were used for the initiative and what were its key benefits? In no more than 500 words, specify what were the financial, technical and human resources’ costs associated with this initiative. Describe how resources were mobilized
Implementation is in the last leg in all the institutions. Considerable improvement has been shown in the functioning of almost all institutions in which the project is being implemented. For example, the enrolment in Government Schools improved considerably. More and more poor people began to approach Government Hospitals. The training which employees got through the programme brought about very conspicuous change in the attitude and approach of them towards public.

Sustainability and Transferability

  Is the initiative sustainable and transferable?
In order to ensure the sustainability of the project and widen its scope, the intention is to incorporate service delivery into the development planning process of the State. For this, grooming champions in different departments is being attempted through the various capacity building and action research projects mentioned earlier. Incidentally, Kerala has just been declared by Government of India as the State having the best rural local government system (Panchayati Raj) in the country. The key agenda of the future is to use the decentralized set up to improve public services, since the potential for citizen participation and social accountability are much higher in the grassroots-level local governments.

Lessons Learned

 What are the impact of your initiative and the lessons learned?
The planning and implementation of the Service Delivery Project faced several challenges. The important ones are summarized below.

1.There was widespread public fear that Government was withdrawing from its responsibilities to the poor in the name of reforms. It took three years of proactive public consultations and campaigns to allay fears and mobilize support for the project.

2.Public officials were initially hesitant to cooperate as they expected increased workload and possible reduction in their numbers due to reassessment of their roles and responsibilities. Regular interaction and training programmes has more or less convinced them of their stake in improving public service delivery.

3.Civil servants also were apprehensive about opening up of their institutions to public participation and citizen intervention. Although this has come down in intensity, it still persists and would disappear only after good working models of engagement with citizens are firmly in place.

4.Civil Society groups and elected representatives, especially at the level of the local government became impatient of the tedious participatory process. It took a lot of effort to convince them that the participatory process although time consuming and costly, would ultimately yield better results and ensure sustainability.

5.Half way through the process, it was realized that there were several barriers to good quality service delivery due to archaic systems and procedures. Reforming and simplifying these without reducing order and accountability continues to be a major challenge defying easy solutions.

6.The financial implications of improving service delivery are very significant. There is need for continued additional funding to widen the programme for improving service delivery.

7.Monitoring improvements in service delivery is quite complex. A satisfactory methodology has not yet been operationalised.

The key lessons from the experience of Kerala are:

1.Improving public services is very critical for poverty reduction as the poor depend almost solely on public services.

2.Improving public services provides quick wins for elected governments and policy makers

3.Contrary to the general notion, improving public service delivery is a good investment, going by the value generated by the money spent, even though economic returns may take more time to reveal themselves. This has lot of implications for aid agencies which are reluctant to support governance improvement programmes.

4.A partnership of public officials, elected leaders, experts and citizens is necessary for any service delivery improvement programme-and all of them stand to gain in the long run.

5.For effective improvement in service delivery it is necessary to identify the discrete components of various services, quantify their current levels, find out constraints, list out possible solutions and identify the different resource requirements for their enhancement.

6.Though the initial buy-in by the stakeholders may take time, once it is achieved there would be a self-sustaining momentum resulting in improvements in Service Delivery.

Contact Information

Institution Name:   Modernising Government Programme
Institution Type:   Government Agency  
Contact Person:   Anand Singh
Title:   Director MGP  
Telephone/ Fax:   +9104712552492,2559081
Institution's / Project's Website:   +9104712552490
E-mail:   directormgp@gmail.com  
Address:   MGP Mission Office, II floor TRIDA Rehabilitation Buildings, Medical College P.O
Postal Code:   695011
City:   Thiruvananthapuram
State/Province:   Kerala
Country:   India

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