United Nations Public Service Awards Case Studies

The burning platform to improve service delivery through government effectiveness across the Botswana Public Service (BPS) emerged from various inputs, including the following, among others;
1. Public outcry on poor service delivery across government
2. Concerns by citizens on poor project implementation resulting in wasted public funds
3. General observations made through media on the poor state of government infrastructure due to lack of proper maintenance
4. Complains lodged by the public in general and some civil servants to the head of public service, The Permanent Secretary to the President about decisions being centralized hence impeding service delivery
5. Feedback from the public servants on why performance levels are low, which was reported as due to lack of empowerment resulting in low moral
6. Observations made by visitors and in international reports on negative mindset towards work and service delivery
7. Concerns by politicians on ineffectiveness of government to execute government policies and programmes
As a result of the state of affairs enumerated above, an array of social groups in and outside Botswana have been adversely affected; These include, the poor (or those living below poverty datum-line), people living in remote areas, senior citizens, children, visitors/tourist, patriotic citizens, the reputation of the executive leadership and the business fraternity.

Among the many initiatives and mitigating factors employed by the Botswana Government to address and overcome the above listed challenges, there are three significant institutional mechanisms or initiatives driven by this office (Office of the President) that are worth noting and can be considered to have had a positive impact on Botswana Public Service by way of improving transparency, accountability, and responsiveness through participation by all stakeholders. These are namely, Decentralization, Performance Management System (PMS) and the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) framework.

a. Decentralization of government functions in Botswana Public Service (BPS) refers to the process of transferring powers, authority, responsibilities and requisite resources from central government to local authorities and regional or district branches, with the goals to; promote good governance, reduce poverty and improve service delivery throughout the a country.
b. Performance Management System (PMS) as an instrument to measure and monitor public service performance with the aim of improving service delivery by ensuring that essential services are delivered to the people and the nation at large in order to improve quality of life and promote national competitiveness for sustainable development.
c. Balanced scorecard (BSC) as a tool to execute strategy by closing the missing link or gap in order to realize the national vision, dubbed Vision 2016 and the ideals of the global community as articulated in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

What is the initiative about? (the solution)
Initiative 1 benefits The concept of decentralization in Botswana public service dates back to 1997, and the implementation has been in piecemeal or rather gradual. Although decentralization initiative is still ongoing, significant achievements have so far been realized by the Botswana government. Decentralization was implemented through three modes: de-concentration, delegation and devolution. The three modes of deployment were used at various stages to decentralize the Botswana Public Service, namely De-concentration, Delegation and Devolution i) Under de-concentration, selected services and functions previously reserved to be exclusively performed by Central Government were being executed by central government Public Servants located in Local Governments/Authority. ii) Under delegation, the first phase of the initiative involved selected services and functions reserved to be exclusively performed by Central Government were delegated to Local Government/Authority and the requisite resources transferred to them for effective provision of these delegated services. iii) Under devolution, which also forms part of the second phase of delegation The combination of these three modes of decentralization to a certain extent has so far yielded profound results in terms of economic, political and managerial/administrative empowerment. For example, Local Authorities are semi-autonomous in terms of the day to day running of the administrative function. Politically they are headed by an executive team of councilors who are politically appointed through a democratic system of election. The Authority makes independent decisions from central government. Local programmes and Projects independently identified and implemented by the authorities. Another achievement worth-noting in Botswana is in the area of support functions. In terms of seconded officers, who provide specialized support to Ministries or Departments Initiative 2 & 3 benefits The Performance Management System (PMS) which includes performance based reward system (PBRS) & Balanced Scorecard (BSC) brought many beneficial improvements in the way government is managed for example: • Structured, consistent and standardized planning rather than ad-hoc planning, budgeting is now informed by strategy rather the than the other way round as it was the case previously • Collaboration with all stakeholders to ensure transparency, information sharing for common understanding which has increased public confidence in government. • IT has increased productivity and high performance culture in the public service due to recognition of good performance through PBRS. It has made pubic servants to be customer focused a new concept in government as compared to before. • It has placed the government of Botswana on the spotlight in terms of international performance rankings in various areas e.g. good governance, most improved quality of life, national stability and many more. The impact of this initiative was mostly measured qualitatively by using various research tool i.e. focus group discussions, interviews, feedback from various stakeholders. The output which was in the form of reports was generated by technical committees (A sub committee of the PIC-Force 4th April 2000; PIC FORCE Sub-committee On Decentralization Of Certain Ministerial Functions report compiled by DPSM was produced in April 2001) and task force for the consumption and benefit of top public servants and the executive leadership for decision making.

Who proposed the solution, who implemented it and who were the stakeholders?
The Permanent Secretary to the President (PSP) through the Public Service Reforms Unit (PSRU) in the Office of the President (OP) proposed the solutions. The solutions were implemented by all Ministries, departments and agencies across the Botswana government. The main stakeholders were the Local Authorities, Ministries, Government Departments/Agencies, Workers Unions, Politicians, Suppliers and the General Public.

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 main strategies used to roll out decentralization was piecemeal whereby a numbers of critical services were identified and targeted as pilot projects to establish the feasibility and replicability of the initiative. Decentralization was implemented through three modes: de-concentration, delegation and devolution. The three modes of deployment were used, depending on the nature of the function under consideration, and these were taken on board at various stages to decentralize the Botswana Public Service, namely De-concentration, Delegation and Devolution iv) Under de-concentration, selected services and functions previously reserved to be exclusively performed by Central Government were being executed by central government Public Servants located in Local Governments/Authority. v) Under delegation, the first phase of the initiative involved selected services and functions reserved to be exclusively performed by Central Government were delegated to Local Government/Authority and the requisite resources transferred to them for effective provision of these delegated services. vi) Under devolution, which also forms part of the second phase of delegation This office (OP) nominated a team of experts from different field and experience across government referred to as performance improvement sub-committee, PIC FORCE Sub-committee On Decentralization Of Certain Ministerial Function. The objective of the subcommittee was to established and identify the modalities of implementing the initiative. The main objective of the PMS initiative was to re-invent government so that it can cope up with the demands of the citizens as well as change the mindset of public servants towards customer focused organizations. For the PMS (PBRS/BSC) initiative, a technical team was also nominated from top civil servants to oversee and make necessary recommendation s in the roll out of PMS. A number of ministries that appeared to be keen were used to spearhead the PMS initiative and pave way for other to buy into the initiative. Another strategy used was to train a special group of change agents and they were positioned in each Ministry or agency to spearhead the change agenda.

b. What were the key development and implementation steps and the chronology? No more than 500 words
The following were the key steps in the implementation stages, 1. Decentralization of the selected key functions in selected Ministries 2. gradually roll out the decentralized functions to the rest of government ministries /department 3. There was need to make slight changes or complete overhaul to some current and redundant operational procedure and standard government form to be compatible with the incoming changes 4. Empower a selected number of employees to advocate for the new changes 5. Publicize the new changes through radio programmes and other forms of media 6. The head of public service sold the ideas to districts and politician in general 7. All the new reforms were became mandatory to all Ministries and government agencies 8. Pillar teams were formed to report on national priorities in special forums chaired by the PSP. 9. Performance results for respective agencies were periodically presented in the local newspapers for publicity and acceptance of the new reforms.

c. What were the main obstacles encountered? How were they overcome? No more than 500 words
Although the decentralization did not experience much resistance, the PMS initiative main obstacle was resistance to change. People did not what to change s their way of doing things; other feared that they would loose their jobs etc. We introduced PBRS to reward good performers and as well as introduced accelerated promotion for dedicate workers who demonstrated commitment to the new initiatives.

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
The Financial resource implications were enormous in the sense that we did not have the technical expertise or know how as government to implement the new reforms, hence we had to use consultants to assist us, which came at a very high price. Another challenge was a shortfall in capacity to implement projects associated with the new reforms. Capacity here we mean both human resource readiness and the limited number of able officers. Most government employee was of older age group and was not prepared to go through any form of training. We had to mobilize change agents to introduce the changes for implementation. We are still building the capacity, though it is being negated by the high attrition rate due to the demand of such change agents skills in the private sector were salaries are highly competitive.

Is the initiative sustainable and transferable?
Although we are faced with the challenge of frequent changes in management, more like a rollercoaster, we have been able to sustain the initiatives for almost a decade now. The proof that the initiatives are transferable is the fact that it does not take long for new employees to adapt and initiatives and have been fairly consistent despite the changes in management.

What are the impact of your initiative and the lessons learned?
There are many lessons learned from these initiatives, just to mention a few as follows; 1. Change is difficult an it takes a long time to internalize 2. Too much change or continuous change can be a recipe for disaster, because it causes fatigue and may lead to loss of confidence and collapse of the change initiative 3. Incremental changes seems to be the key to sustainability 4. Reliance on consultants alone can be misleading, it is better to adapt the new theory to your own situation or your own context 5. Consultation with stakeholders is the best way to get buy-in on any initiative 6. Leadership style in terms of vision is a important feature in implementation of any change initiative, the leaders must walk the talk, be exemplary and must also be visionary 7. Alignment and common understanding will always yield better results in term of organizational performance 8. Culture issues must be taken into consideration when instituting change 9. Governance in terms of reporting and management of the change initiative is of paramount importance for sustainability


Institution Name:		Office of the President, Botswana Government
Institution Type:		Government Department
Contact Person:		Wayne Mlazie
Title:		Performance Improvement Coordinator
Telephone/ Fax:		267-3950800/832 or 267-71787657
Institution's / Project's Website:		267-3190423
E-mail:		wmlazie@gov.bw
Address:		P/bag 001
Postal Code:		001
City:		Gaborone
State/Province:		South Central
Country:		Botswana

The Problem

Solution and Key Benefits

Actors and Stakeholders

(a) Strategies

(b) Implementation

(c) Overcoming Obstacles

(d) Use of Resources

Sustainability and Transferability

Lessons Learned

Contact Information