Service Delivery Take-off?
By Ken Ohashi
World Bank’s Country Director for Ethiopia and Sudan.
Recently I had an opportunity to visit Jimma and two near-by woredas in western Oromiya Region. I met a wide range of groups to hear their views on the development issues of Ethiopia. What economic and social changes had they seen in the last several years? What did they think the main development challenges were for their areas? And, could they be solved?
They said general income levels had increased significantly, though youth unemployment remained a serious concern. Infrastructure had improved. Access to basic education, health care, water supply, and agriculture extension services had expanded hugely. But, they were concerned with the quality of such services. The status of women had changed, and local governments had become much more responsive to the people. Of course much remained to be done; more of everything seemed to be needed. These observations are consistent with what was found in similar consultations conducted by my World Bank colleagues in other Regions last month.
It was obvious that Ethiopia’s efforts to improve basic services (especially education, health care, agriculture services, and safe water) in the last several years are paying off. More than that, I was struck by a palpable sense that the quality of services is poised to take off. The system to assure most people’s access to rudimentary services is already in place. The front-line service providers, though with only basic training in many cases, are deployed and motivated. They know the local problems and possible local solutions. What they lack is the additional resources to implement their ideas.
In one woreda, I visited a primary school (grades 1 to 8) with 3,500 students. The facilities were modest at best, and the students had to come in two shifts. Still, the children in a grade one classroom I peeked in all had bright eyes filled with curiosity and eagerness to learn, and ready and radiant smiles. The principal was particularly concerned with one thing. He pointed to a small outhouse at the far end of the large school ground with just a handful of latrines. He clearly knew from experience, if not from many expert studies, that lack of proper latrines is a major cause of high drop-out rates for girl students. A little extra money could solve this problem.
At one farmer training center, two young Development Agents were eager to help the farmers in their kebele. They had the requisite knowledge to introduce new crops and better farming methods. But, neither they nor the farmers had the little extra inputs to make that happen, things like improved seeds, fertilizers, and some tools to apply science to agriculture. On a slightly larger scale, they needed money to bring more water to the farms—possibly a well, or a pump to raise water from the rivers that run through the kebele.
Two health extension workers I met, along with many women, had been very active in helping women with not just health problems but with gender issues. But, they were also keenly aware of the limitations they faced, because refrigeration facilities were not available to store certain vaccines and the scarcity of transport did not allow them to visit remoter areas often.
At Jimma University, enrollment of women had increased sharply, but many drop out. There were two main reasons. First, many girls come with relatively weak academic preparation. Second, girls from poorer families, because they cannot afford certain amenities, are mistreated by many richer students. Disheartened, they drop out. The University provides tutorial support to female students, but the budget is not enough. The head of the women’s affairs office knew small additional stipends could help poor female students overcome the social barriers, but her budget was too meager. She so much wanted these girls to complete the university degree. That would give them such independence, economically and socially.
In each case, the front-line service providers knew the problem and the solution. What they needed was some additional resources and the space to implement local ideas. The latter is critical, for Ethiopia is now largely past the first steps of providing minimum services during which a uniform approach was adequate. Improving access and quality further will require more localized approaches. I believe that the time has come for Ethiopia to give far greater autonomy for decision making and even more resources to the local levels. This may go somewhat against the orderly approach followed by Government in achieving the impressive results. Unless that critical switch is made, however, additional resources will yield only low returns. I came away from Jimma convinced that with those two things – more resources and more space for local initiatives – Ethiopia will see a ‘service delivery take-off,’ i.e., a rapid and sustained rise in the quality of basic services.
Government has sharply increased the budgetary allocations for service delivery at the Regional and woreda levels recently, from ETB 5.5 billion 3 years ago to ETB 13.6 billion this fiscal year. Donor partners have given strong support to this increase, mostly through the so-called Protection of Basic Services Program, with their contribution rising from ETB 1.1 billion to ETB 3.8 billion. Simultaneously, Government has invested heavily in capacity building at the local levels. It is also making an effort to put more information on its budgets and services in the public domain, so that citizens can hold public officials more accountable. So far, however, the budget at the woreda level has been only enough for wages for the most part; little is left for ‘local solutions’ to improve the quality of services. Clearly more resources are necessary, if Ethiopia is to sustain the take-off process. I believe donor partners will be forthcoming with additional resources. But, I also think donors will agree that ensuring the space for local innovations and decisions is a prerequisite for making the additional money become part of the solution.
Remembering the happy giggles of the first-grade girls, I cannot help but feel that at the very least we all owe them decent latrines. With local communities’ eagerness to implement their own ideas for improved services, if Government is committed to increasing resource allocation and creating more decision space at the woreda and even school level and if donors are willing to raise financial support, then I believe the service delivery take-off can become a reality. And, that will give those bright-eyed girls a chance to grow up healthy and educated, and perhaps go on to the university where they will blossom into professionals who will shape the future of Ethiopia.