Different pathways of social protection reforms: An analysis of long-term institutional change in Kenya

Bender, Katja; Rohregger, Barbara; Kinuthia, Bethuel Kinyanjui; Ikua, Grace; Schüring, Esther; Adamba, Clement; Alatinga, Kennedy A.; Pouw, Nicky

doi:10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.105210

Cited by 4 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…These variables have been identified in extant literature premised on merit system; optimisation; professionalism…as way of reforms. They have also noted that in most developing countries challenges of weak institutions within the political system have made reforms process a herculean task which respondents noted in the course of the field work (Filardo, 2020;Bender et al 2020).…”

Section: Discussion Of Findingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of the General Goals of Civil Service Reforms in the Gambia and Its Implementations

2021

PPAR

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This study examined the strategic goals of civil service reforms in The Gambia and its implementation in the Gambian civil service. This was aimed to identify challenges facing the implementations and policy options towards assisting the process. This study adopted primary data collection through the administration of questionnaires and interview guide. The population of the study comprises the senior and middle level staff of Public Service Commission (PSC), Personnel Management Office (PMO), Ministry of Health (MoH) and Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education (MoBSE) which were purposively selected. In all, there are 189 senior and middle management staff in the four Ministries/Departments/ Agencies (MDAs) which breakdown goes thus: PMO (37), PSC (6), MoBSE (87) and MoH (59). Questionnaire was administered on the staff of the four MDAs while interview was conducted with the Permanent Secretaries, Deputy Permanent Secretaries and a former Secretary General and Head of Civil Service. Out of the 189 copies of questionnaire administered, 140 were retrieved. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistical methods such as frequency distribution and percentages.The results of the study revealed that majority of the respondents identified reinforcement of meritocracy, due process and professionalism, enhancement of administrative culture, improvement of efficiency and quality service delivery, institutionalization of a system that engenders separation between politics and administration as goals and objectives of civil service reforms in The Gambia. The research has also shown that the Civil service sometimes adhere to meritocratic principles, gives attention to diversity in terms of ethnic groups, , provide detailed policies and standard procedures, conduct induction programmes,, made available the General Orders and code of ethics to employees, conducts performance assessment, recruitment and selection are encouraging, recruitment and promotion processes are reviewed at regular intervals and training programmes are based on outcome of need assessment. Despite its performance, the four MDAs also continues to face challenges in terms of human and material resources as alluded to by the responses of numerous respondents during the study. The performance of the institution was said to have been hindered by low commitment from government, lack of capacity at PMO, proliferation of public institutions, poor ethics management, lack of clarity of institutional roles, lack of appraisal system, unclear policies, lack of job fit and organization fit, among others.The main thesis of this study is that reforms of The Gambia civil service did enhance personnel administration systems and practices of the civil service institutions of The Gambia but only to a large extent.

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Section: Discussion Of Findingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of the General Goals of Civil Service Reforms in the Gambia and Its Implementations

2021

PPAR

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“…This kind of research casts doubt on stimulation of the socio-economic development of poor countries and regions in favor of investment in the economy of rich countries. For example, the study of socio-economic reforms in Kenya focuses on institutional conflicts that impede or hinder the stimulating activities of the authorities [7], which can be considered as indirect confirmation of the relative unattractiveness of developing territories for investment purposes.…”

Section: Investment Potential Factors: Methodology Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Socio-cultural and institutional factors of the investment potential of the regions of the Russian Federation

2021

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The article discusses the problem of sustainable development of the regional economy considering the consequences of the 2020 pandemic. The authors make an assumption about the stabilizing effect of the previously accumulated investment potential at the regional level. Regions with high investment potential have a high degree of the regional economy resilience. The object of the study was the dynamics of socio-economic indicators of investment potential in 85 constituent entities of the Russian Federation for the period from 2009 to 2018. To consider the long-term development trend of the region, institutional and sociocultural variables were added to the system of indicators of the regression model. The results of the regression analysis indicate the importance of only one of the tested institutional and social factors – the volume of issued housing mortgage loans. The affordability of housing for the region population can be an important factor in the sustainability of the regional economy and be considered as a key benchmark of the regional investment strategy.

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“…The PEA was aimed at unravelling different pathways of social protection reforms, looking at institutional change between 2001 and the pre-election period in July 2017, through process tracing, which involves detailed historical analysis. As described more extensively in Bender et al (2021) process tracing aims to explain decisionmaking outcomes by identifying and exploring the mechanisms that generate them. It involves the interpretation of (mainly) qualitative primary and secondary data.…”

Section: Kenya: Research Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Only very few studies offer a comparative approach across different pillars of social protection (Bender and Rompel 2010;Bekenya and Hickey 2019;Ulriksen and Plagerson 2017;Wanyama and McCord 2017). Moreover, as explained in Bender et al (2021), most of these studies adopt an applied econometric approach but without linkages to political economic theoretical reasoning. Exceptions include, for example, Hickey (2008); Lavers and Hickey (2016), or Leisering (2019).…”

Section: Political-economy Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Multidisciplinary research on the impact of social protection programmes and instruments on poverty in developing countries is gradually growing (Vanclay and Estevez 2011;Devereux et al 2013;Devereux and McGregor 2014;Pouw et al 2020;Bender et al 2021). Although multidisciplinary research on social protection has been around much longer, during the past 15-20 years, quantitative RCT-type impact assessments have become very popular (Davis et al 2012;Handa et al 2010Handa et al , 2013Hidrobo et al 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Poverty Reduction Effect of Social Protection: The Pros and Cons of a Multidisciplinary Approach

Pouw

Bender

2022

Eur J Dev Res

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There is a growing body of knowledge on the complex effects of social protection on poverty in Africa. This article explores the pros and cons of a multidisciplinary approach to studying social protection policies. Our research aimed at studying the interaction between cash transfers and social health protection policies in terms of their impact on inclusive growth in Ghana and Kenya. Also, it explored the policy reform context over time to unravel programme dynamics and outcomes. The analysis combined econometric and qualitative impact assessments with national- and local-level political economic analyses. In particular, dynamic effects and improved understanding of processes are well captured by this approach, thus, pushing the understanding of implementation challenges over and beyond a ‘technological fix,’ as has been argued before by Niño-Zarazúa et al. (World Dev 40:163–176, 2012), However, multidisciplinary research puts considerable demands on data and data handling. Finally, some poverty reduction effects play out over a longer time, requiring longitudinal consistent data that is still scarce.

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Different pathways of social protection reforms: An analysis of long-term institutional change in Kenya

Cited by 4 publications

References 27 publications

Assessment of the General Goals of Civil Service Reforms in the Gambia and Its Implementations

Assessment of the General Goals of Civil Service Reforms in the Gambia and Its Implementations

Socio-cultural and institutional factors of the investment potential of the regions of the Russian Federation

The Poverty Reduction Effect of Social Protection: The Pros and Cons of a Multidisciplinary Approach

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