Presentation by Karen Hill, Head of SIGMA, at the regional conference on Public Administration Reform Challenges in Western Balkan Countries held at the OECD in Paris, 4 December 2015

1. © OECD
AjointinitiativeoftheOECDandtheEuropeanUnion,
principallyfinancedbytheEU
SIGMA
Country Monitoring of
Public Administration Performance:
Outcomes and Lessons Learnt
Karen Hill
Head of SIGMA
4 December 2015, Paris

2. © OECD
AjointinitiativeoftheOECDandtheEuropeanUnion,
principallyfinancedbytheEU
Principles of Public Administration
• The Principles were launched in November 2014 to
define what good public administration looks like in
practice and outline the main requirements as a guide
for countries in their reform processes
• Include only key requirements for good governance -
final aim is good public administration that achieves the
Government’s objectives and delivers for citizens and
businesses
• Derived from EU and OECD requirements, international
standards and good practices in EU/OECD countries
• Include an analytical framework for monitoring changes
over time
• Priorities for each country vary over time, depending on
previous reforms and specific challenges

3. © OECD
AjointinitiativeoftheOECDandtheEuropeanUnion,
principallyfinancedbytheEU
Country reviews – setting the baseline
• The Principles include a monitoring framework to
enable evidence-based analysis of where a country is
and key challenges
• SIGMA conducted country monitoring in all of the EU
Enlargement countries this year, with the same
methodology to achieve:
• Thorough analysis
• Identification of strengths and main shortcomings
• Recommendations on the main reform steps needed,
sequenced and prioritised
• Each review was conducted in close co-operation with
the administration and with strong commitment from
all key institutions

4. © OECD
AjointinitiativeoftheOECDandtheEuropeanUnion,
principallyfinancedbytheEU
Baseline Measurement (BM) Reports
The structure of each Report and issues included are
identical:
• State of play and main developments
• Analysis against the Principles
• Baseline values for more than 150 indicators,
benchmarked against the regional spread
• Short and medium-term reform recommendations
to improve performance under each key
requirement

5. © OECD
AjointinitiativeoftheOECDandtheEuropeanUnion,
principallyfinancedbytheEU
Lessons learnt - 1
• Strong commitment was provided by each
country - this was the main key to success
• Data availability is still a challenge, although
the amount collected was significant
• Using the Principles to inform a discussion
about what is meant by Public Administration
Reform (PAR) and its scope was valuable in
itself

6. © OECD
AjointinitiativeoftheOECDandtheEuropeanUnion,
principallyfinancedbytheEU
Lessons learnt - 2
• The framework of the Principles worked well and
made good public administration more
comprehensible and tangible
• Using a monitoring framework based on indicators
triggered top-level attention on the draft reports
and increased commitment to providing data
• Indicator values and justifications were discussed
thoroughly with the countries; this was crucial to
getting it right
• In order to treat countries equally, a strict
horizontal methodology was applied and the same
type of solid evidence was collected in each

7. © OECD
AjointinitiativeoftheOECDandtheEuropeanUnion,
principallyfinancedbytheEU
Lessons learnt - 3
• The entire exercise was very demanding,
both for the countries and SIGMA; this is
one reason why it will not be repeated on
an annual basis
• We also recognise that a year is not very
long for implementation of reforms to
create change and have an impact

8. © OECD
AjointinitiativeoftheOECDandtheEuropeanUnion,
principallyfinancedbytheEU
Use of Baseline Measurement Reports - 1
BM Reports were shared with key interlocutors in
administrations in June to enable use of analysis and
recommendations in national strategic framework
development and for policy dialogue:
• the Reports have supported development of reform
plans in Serbia, Albania, Kosovo*
• the Report is also useful in Montenegro, where there is
ongoing strategy development
• the Reports will be used in Bosnia & Herzegovina and
the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, where
development of reform plans is starting
* This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244/99 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo
declaration of independence

9. © OECD
AjointinitiativeoftheOECDandtheEuropeanUnion,
principallyfinancedbytheEU
Use of Baseline Measurement Reports - 2
• Many countries opted to use several
indicators from the Principles’ monitoring
framework to measure their own reform
progress
• BM Reports have been useful in focusing and
prioritising PAR sector budget support
documents and setting necessary reform
targets and conditionalities
• The Reports have been a useful information
source for PAR Special Groups

10. © OECD
AjointinitiativeoftheOECDandtheEuropeanUnion,
principallyfinancedbytheEU
Use of Baseline Measurement Reports - 3
• Most importantly, we really hope that the
BM Reports:
- help you to focus, prioritise and sequence
your national reform efforts
- provide the basis of active regional
discussion of main PAR challenges and act as
a platform for learning from each other’s
successes, but also problems

11. © OECD
AjointinitiativeoftheOECDandtheEuropeanUnion,
principallyfinancedbytheEU
Next steps:
increasing awareness in countries
• The Principles are now quite well known and
accepted
• However, further awareness raising is
necessary, in particular among key decision
makers and civil society
• Following publication of the Baseline
Measurement Reports, SIGMA is organising
different types of country events to introduce
the Principles and the BM report, and discuss
specific challenges for PAR in the country

12. © OECD
AjointinitiativeoftheOECDandtheEuropeanUnion,
principallyfinancedbytheEU
We have really enjoyed working with you on
this initiative.
Thank you!