Sectors

Benchmarks for good governance in the public sector

A number of essential elements underpin good practice in the field of good governance in the public sector. All aim to encourage better – more efficient, effective and reliable – service delivery and improved accountability at all levels of public sector organisations – sub-national, regional, national or international – regardless of country or political and/or economic system. These are:

1. Legislation, policy and legal framework
2. Ethical values, integrity and motivation
3. Organisational structure, capacity and human resources
4. Resources and communications
5. Organisational performance – effectiveness, efficiency and sustainability
6. Transparency and M&E
7. Financial management, control and accountability.

This is our starting point for institutional/policy sector assessment and SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) — and the foundation of our strategy for improvement.

Further, meaningful institutional assessment requires contextual – political, economic, social, cultural and historical - analysis. There can be no detailed, definite or complete blueprint for evaluating public sector organisations in depth or even understanding them outside their context. Data outside context can be not only useless but even misleading. In analysis, therefore, we always take into account the:

• Constitutional and legislative arrangements,
• Sector context,
• Dependency on the sector in which the organisation operates, and
• Country context.