With contributions from leading regional scholars, Public Administration in Africa: Performance and Challenges examines the complexities of the art of governance from the unique African perspective. The editors bring together a cohesive study of the major issues and regions by taking an analytic approach with the strong problem-solution application. Regions addressed range from South Africa, Congo, Uganda, Nigeria, Ghana, Mauritius, and Botswana. Themes include colonialism, reform, poverty, economy, decentralization, financing, media, political structures, and more. Beginning with an analysis of the relationship of policy design and its destination, service delivery, the book discusses the historical development of a state that has gone through upheavals in government and explores a decayed political economy that ultimately results in a need for sweeping measures. The text examines the issues emerging policy-makers in Africa must tackle, namely poverty and the denial or lack of resources to keep a dignified human life. It highlights how the media can be a catalyst for good governance and provides analytical aspects of implementing good governance reforms. The book concludes with an examination of the concepts of decentralization and devolution in measuring service delivery performance and an exploration of Africa’s economic success story. It also details the African Peer Review Mechanisms in selected African countries and provides a holistic analysis of local government functioning in Africa. These features and more make it an interdisciplinary reference for diverse social, economic, political, and administrative issues.

This book analyses and evaluates the accomplishments, challenges, and approaches associated with the New Public Management (NPM) in Africa towards establishing context-specific interventions for public sector institutions' performance. Taking the reader through various business and management approaches, including leadership in the public sector, digitalisation, market orientation and trust building, this book provides an understanding of the key issues facing public sector organisations in Africa and offers novel ways of approaching public management in a changing socio-economic landscape to drive improved performance of public institutions. The book offers students, practitioners and researchers important insights on NPM and public sector institutions in Africa. The recommendations of the book will help government and policymakers implement appropriate public sector management policies for strengthening public sector service delivery in Africa.

There is a growing global interest in Africa and how to improve the quality of life of its people—and for good reason. The world can no longer afford to ignore the democratic changes that have occurred across the continent over the past two decades, changes with tremendous implications for professional education and training for the tasks of nation building. Public Administration Training in Africa: Competencies in Development Management presents research findings related to talent and competency development within the framework of public service institutional capacity building. The book focuses on public administration questions as they relate to training, development, and competency building that will strengthen public managers’ capacity to implement governance policies and work toward improving development management. It draws on unique national experiences to provide research and scholarship that advance the dialogue on training and development relevant to African culture and history while at the same time contributing to enhance the field of practice. In addition to offering detailed descriptions and analyses of unique national experiences, the book also integrates transnational issues of training and development and ties the discussions back to the body of knowledge and scholarship defining the field and discipline of public administration. As scholars and experts in their own right, the authors make a reasoned case for rethinking and re-examining training and development in Africa in light of the emerging governance approach to public administration. The comprehensive empirical descriptions and analyses of education and training contexts and cultures written by some of the best minds in the subfield give you the latest research findings and distill relevant experiential and theoretical knowledge, tools, and skills based on case analyses, including carrying out development activity in different cross-cultural contexts.

"This handbook provides an authoritative and foundational disciplinary overview of African Public Policy and a comprehensive examination of the practicalities of policy analysis, policymaking processes, implementation and administration in Africa today. The book assembles a multidisciplinary team of distinguished and upcoming Africanist scholars, practitioners, researchers and policy experts working inside and outside Africa to analyse the historical and emerging policy issues in 21st-century Africa. While mostly attentive to comparative public policy in Africa, this book attempts to address some of the following pertinent questions: How can public policy be understood and taught in Africa? How does policymaking occur in unstable political contexts, or in states under pressure? Has the democratisation of governing systems improved policy processes in Africa? How have recent transformations, such as technological proliferation in Africa, impacted public policy processes? What are the underlying challenges and potential policy paths for Africa going forward? The contributions examine an interplay of prevailing institutional, political, structural challenges and opportunities for policy effectiveness to discern striking commonalities and trajectories across different African states. This is a valuable resource for practitioners, politicians, researchers, university students, and academics interested in studying and understanding how African countries are governed"--

* The first text that integrates a cultural context into the study of public administration programs * Covers the whole of southern Africa: South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe * Written jointly by an African professor of public administration and an American political scientist Despite extensive theoretical consideration over the past several decades, the discipline of public administration still suffers from an inability to meet on-the-ground administrative challenges in developing countries. In the past, public administrators have relied upon Western organizational models considered rational and efficient. But in neglecting various social and cultural aspects of any non-Western country, development proceeds in fits and starts. Using southern African nations as an example, the authors argue that emerging societies are poor today thanks to the overreliance on non-local models. Practitioners must consider local cultures--languages, symbols, customs, and rituals--in developing effective administrative practices. They must absorb the experiences of people who know first-hand the dynamics and conditions in these countries. Otherwise, neither citizens nor leaders will manage their affairs and development processes effectively. Written particularly for undergraduate and graduate students in public administration, political science, and comparative and development public administration, but also for policymakers, managers, administrators, and individuals who seek to understand the challenges of organizing and managing development, this book helps foster a culturally sensitive understanding of public administration in a global context.

Agenda Setting and Public Policy in Africa examines how decision makers have managed and mismanaged public policy issues in sub-Saharan Africa. It analyses the neglected issue of how ideas about public policy are generated, by whom and for what purpose. Persistent problems such as political instability, environmental pollution, famine, hunger, desertification, rent-seeking and incessant intra-conflicts across the continent are explored in a systematic and structured manner. Each contributor proffers convincing solutions to clearly identified problems. Well-researched and solution orientated, this book will engage scholars and policy makers who are interested in public policy and development issues in Africa.