Regions and Countries

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p. 5 of 20 BACK | NEXT I. Country Performance Assessment A. Economic Performance Assessment B. Poverty Assessment C. Assessment of Socio-Environmental Performance D. Governance: Sound Development Management E. Implementation Assessment II. Country Operational Strategy III. Sector Strategies IV. Regional Cooperation V. Donor Activities and Aid Coordination VI. Cofinancing and Catalyzing External Resources VII. ADB’s Operational Program VIII. Economic and Sector Work Program IX. Local Cost Financing

Country Assistance Plans - Vanuatu : I. Country Performance Assessment

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D. Governance: Sound Development Management

16. The attainment of improved living standards through sustainable economic growth has been seriously constrained in Vanuatu by structural, institutional, and policy weaknesses. The Ombudsman has released a series of reports in recent years exposing ill-informed and ill-advised practices by various political leaders. In addition, the progressive politicization of the public service, combined with serious skills and capacity constraints, has severely limited the overall management and performance effectiveness of the executive arms of Government for a number of years.

17. The most pressing development needs in Vanuatu continue to be improving the governance environment while maintaining macroeconomic stability, and restoring investor confidence. There has already been a range of achievements under the CRP over the past two years, including:

• strong public participation in the reform process and a convergence of local ownership around the key theme of improved governance;
• reduction in the number of ministries from 13 to 9⁵;
• 10 percent downsizing of the public service;
• improvements in public servants' autonomy and efficiency;
• establishment of the core legislative framework for improved governance; and the beginning of the process of preparing a public investment program that includes aid-financed projects.

18. Continued efforts to raise public awareness and involve local communities and non-government organizations in on-going dialogue and decision-making will remain important for longer-term success of the reform process. At the same time, efforts should be made to tackle the serious skills and capacity constraints remaining within the public service. Reforms undertaken during 1998, including passage of the Leadership Act, reorganization of the Government into a more compact number of ministries, downsizing of the public service and initiation of performance-based personnel management have assisted significantly to improve the transparency, accountability and operations of Government, but this will take time. In the interim, the Government's heavy reliance on external advisers is likely to continue. Likewise, and contrary to public expectations, the early stages of reform implementation are seeing stagnation, or even decline, in the quality of public service delivery in basic sectors. This is not entirely surprising, given that institutional adjustments taken time and many senior staff under the restructuring are new and relatively inexperienced. Nevertheless, a strong commitment by Government to local capacity building throughout the reform process must remain of high priority. Even temporary deterioration in the quality of basic services can undermine the credibility of the CRP and the support it has consistently received from the public. Continuing Government effort to involve the community in dialogue and decision-making will also help to create a service orientation within public service departments and thereby assist to improve the quality of the services available, particularly in education and health.

5. Recently, however, the responsibilities of some ministries are being split up, resulting in a total of 13 ministries again from 2001.

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