Public Sector Reform in Central Asia and the Caucasus

Abstract

Many developing countries are constantly seeking to reform their public services as part of a wider agenda which supports moves to a market economy and better governance arrangements. Some have embraced public management reforms as the template for their activities with limited success. This paper considers existing research on the impact of public sector reform in developing countries and offers an alternative approach, through case studies of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Kazakhstan, based on two keys elements: an agenda which attempts to shift developing countries to an outcomes-based approach operationalized through a “quality of life” framework; and, peer-to-peer learning which acknowledges one of the key variables that influences the success of embedding public sector reform – context.