Blurring boundaries: government and non-state service providers

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Blurring boundaries government and non-state
service providers

• Richard Batley, International Development
  Department, School of Government and Society,
  January 2009

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Field of study

• Governments relations with non state providers
  of services
• NSPs NGOs, VOs, CBOs, FBOs, and for-profit
  organizations
• Primary education/health, basic sanitation
• Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Nigeria, Malawi,
  South Africa
• http//www.idd.bham.ac.uk/research/Service_Provide
  rs.shtml

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Scale of provision

• Lack of systematic data NGOs a small part of
  total except in Bdesh
• Except in RSA, NSPs are important.
• Africa
• Mission hospitals and schools
• Nigeria 60 use private and traditional health
  care
• Unregistered schools 40 of children in Lagos
• South Asia
• Predominance of private medical practice
• Registered and unregistered schools
• Majority depend on private water and sanitation
• Health and education NSP often the preferred
  provider

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1. The DFID NSP study

• Can governments work constructively with NSPs,
  and what role may donors have in supporting this?
• Policy dialogue, regulation, facilitation,
  contracting.
• India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, South Africa,
  Malawi, Nigeria.

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Policy environment Is there a compact?

• Formal espousal of partnership
• History of policy instability and mistrust
• Takeover, suppression, state failure,
  re-emergence, partnership
• Constant shift in rules of the game
• Education state asserts dominance
• Health no serous claim to universality
• WS public formal, private informal

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Partnership a new archetype?

• Wide acceptance in principle
• Donors the common factor
• Country dynamics
• Rivalry and mistrust Government loss of control?
  NSP loss of independence?
• NGOs advocate or deliver services - with or
  without government?

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Policy dialogue

• Formal dialogue to promote partnership
• On policy design, not implementation
• Dominated by large NGOs and advocacy groups
• Little participation of small and for-profit NSPs
• Informal dialogue in implementation
• Building trust and doing deals
• Positive and negative cases

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2. The NGPA project managing the relationship

• How do partnerships operate?
• Focus on relationship of NGOs with government
• Different means and ends of public action
• NGOs that directly support government services
• Is collaboration possible without loss of NGPA?
• Question assumptions partnership or subordination

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Stages of research

• India, Pakistan and Bangladesh
• History of govt/NGO relations,
• Study of 3 sector programme areas
• In-depth case studies
• Return to levels 1 and 2 test broader relevance
  of case findings

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Programme areas

• Education Improvement of government primary
  schools by NGOs, and NGO provision for hard to
  reach children
• Health Management of government basic health
  units by NGOs
• Sanitation Collaboration of NGOs with government
  in community sanitation programmes

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Findings Subordination of NGOs?

• Increased formalization of agreements
• Most agreements are formally vertical
• Do these lead to subordination of NGOs?
• Yes, under some circumstances UPHCP Bangladesh
• Historically independent sectors now being pushed
  into partnership
• Directive policy to contract out PHC, funded
  by donors through government
• Classical, formal contracts and competitive
  tendering rigid application
• NGOs options Adapt or not engage

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Findings NGOs do influence policy and practice

• Orangi Pilot Project resists ADB investment and
  promotes component sharing
• Karuna Trust makes policy for contracting out
  PHC, at state and national level
• FIVDB Part of national campaign for policy on
  CLTS
• Door Step School influences practice for hard to
  reach children
• Shelter Associates increases responsiveness of
  local government to slum communities

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Explanation 1Structural conditions

• Country and policy contexts differ levels of
  centralism, donor influence, govt support for
  NGOs, elite networks.
• More influence where
• Policy is less directed by donors and more
  malleable, and relationships more locally
  negotiated
• Agreements are mutual with NGO independently
  funded
• Agreements have a strong relational element
• Agreements evolve from informal contacts not from
  competitive tendering

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Explanation 2 NGO strategies to manage resource
dependence

• Dependence Policy authority and financial
  control
• Adapt as a defensive strategy or by choice
• Shape the relationship, using role as knowledge
  brokers, selling new approaches to collaboration
• Avoid dependence by reliance on own resources or
  on multiple funders, and asserting own terms

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Explanation 3 Cultivating insider influence

• Base influence on technical skills, proximity to
  community and funders, awareness of international
  discourse
• Avoid open confrontation, cultivate relations,
  give credit following the normal channels and
  avoiding offence
• Use insider understanding of rules and
  constraints to explain and influence change,
  without forcing open concession
• Employ soft lobbying versus hard advocacy voice
  with loyalty.