The challenge of civil service reform in MENA | 1st February
Issues of civil service and administrative reform have been pursued by a large number of MENA countries for decades. As noted in the introduction, the field is a large one that covers how government is structured and organized; the size and composition of its staff and the wage bill; issues of human resource management and capacity; and a variety of additional “sub-topics” within these broader themes.
This note is intended to briefly summarize some “lessons” that can be drawn from MENA’s experience with public sector reform to date. It draws upon the Bank’s experience in working with client governments on these issues in a variety of countries stretching from Morocco to Yemen. It is admittedly more illustrative than comprehensive, and it is intended to spark a broader debate among knowledgeable observers both within and outside of MENA governments regarding what is working, what isn’t, and why. In the interests of being provocative, it is laid out not by topic and sub-theme, but by what type of reforms have tended to work across MENA countries; what type have tended to be context specific and may or may not work in various settings; and what types have typically struggled and would be difficult to implement in most countries throughout the region...
http://www.english.globalarabnetwork.com/201001304593/Economics/the-challenge-of-civil-service-reform-in-mena.html