The Bank conducted the second technical consultation meeting on the Public Service Delivery Index (PSDI) focusing on the East African region in Nairobi, Kenya, on 2 November 2023. The participants provided critical feedback and comments on the PSDI methodology, structure of index and nature of the indicators.
The meeting brought together representatives from governments, research institutes and think tanks, as well as partners from Eastern African Regional countries that included Burundi, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. The participants ranged from research fellows from economic policy research centers, social researchers, auditors general, public health specialists, members of ombudsman offices, legal and public procurement specialists, social protection programme specialists, climate change and urban development specialists, economists, and statisticians.
In his opening remarks, the Chief Economist and Vice President, Economic Governance and Knowledge Management Complex of the African Development Bank, Prof. Kevin Urama welcomed the participants, outlining the value propositions of the PSDI to governments, development partners and citizens. He called attention to the need for the Index and highlighted the processes that has been followed in the development of the Index as well as the objectives of the consultation meeting.
The Director of the Performance and Service Delivery Transformation Office of the Government of Kenya, Dr Sylvester Obong’o expressed his excitement to have a measurement that looks at the challenges related to public services delivery. He emphasized that the Index will be responsive to both the needs of citizens, the orientations of project implementers and governments and praised the Bank for its proactive role in coming up with the initiative.
The representative of the Ford Foundation, a seed funder of the PSDI project, who attended the meeting expressed eagerness to see the forthcoming PSDI report and extent to which the Index will incentivize African governments to strive to do better in the delivery of public services.
Overall, the participants appreciated the initiative and expressed their willingness to support and work with the African Development Bank in moving the project to the finish line.
In wrapping up the event, the African Development Bank Group East Africa Lead economists, reiterated that the PSDI is a living index and is at the center of optimising efficiency and effectiveness in government delivery, and will continue to evolve as data becomes available.