Reforming the Public Sector through Enhanced Citizen and Stake Holder Participation: The Opportunities and Challenges for the Public Administrator
Since the 1980s, globalization and its effects on development in Kenya have had mixed returns; key among them was an accelerated momentum to recognize citizen contribution to planning for their development and also citizen involvement in resource mobilization for development. In this regard, the country adopted policies which included decentralized development through the District Focus for Rural Development, introduction of cost-sharing in the Education and Health sector, among other initiatives. In the 1990s, the Kenya government implemented another wave of reform driven by global realities of concern for increased development funding matched with decreasing wage bill. Actions towards reducing the wage bill included public service staff reductions and payroll cleansing especially in local authorities. One of the key lessons from these reform approaches was that, without elaborate stakeholder involvement and ownership of the development agenda, the reform initiatives were achieving negligible returns to development. Consequently, the next phase of reforms started in 2003 focused primarily on citizen engagement, public private sector partnerships and civil society active participation in reforms targeting the key pillars of public administration in Kenya, namely: (1) Institutional strengthening across the public sector (2) Governance , law and Order (3) Information management (4) Public Service accountability to citizens (5) Strengthening Public Sector Integrity (6) Political restructuring through new constitutional dispensation (7) Public Private sector congruence for development The experiences, successes and challenges realized in these new reform initiatives shall be the focus of my paper. In particular, I shall provide personal insights based on my experience as a public administrator, public officer, researcher, trainer and consultant in public administration, management and leadership. For over 20 years, I have lived the reform waves in Kenya and can witness how increased citizen participation in the governance of states must be the norm if countries are to develop faster and relevantly. The paper shall discuss different methods of citizen and stakeholder engagement that works and the challenges inherent; in addition the paper shall review Kenyan experience in involving private sector players to strengthen public service administration and management especially in the last decade.
Increased citizen engagement Integrated public service reform program Results for kenyans Public private partnership Rapid results initiative
MUNYALI Alfonso K
Government Training Institute-Mombasa, Republic of Kenya (East African Community)
国际会议
2010 International Conference on Public Administration(6th)(2010 第六届公共管理国际会议)
澳大利亚堪培拉
英文
653-663
2010-10-22（万方平台首次上网日期，不代表论文的发表时间）