Public sector reform - Main menu

Since liberalization of the economy began in the early 1990s, ever-increasing demands have been placed on the public sector to provide more efficient services in response to the rapidly changing economic environment. It has become abundantly clear that these demands are not easy to meet, given the serious constraints facing public sector institutions at central, provincial and district levels.  These constraints include:  

• ill-defined functions and organizational structures;
• poorly articulated and hierarchical lines of command;
• poorly qualified and educated staff;
• lack of service-oriented attitude and mentality;
• overlapping functions among institutions and among the staff within institutions;
• absence of transparency and accountability for work planning and budget utilization;
• lack of objective measurement of performance indicators;
• extremely bureaucratic and cumbersome legal and administrative procedures;
• "rent-seeking" and corrupt behavior of many civil servants;
• poor internal capacity to reflect on functional, organizational and staff changes;
• strong resistance to change.

It is widely recognized that considerable support is therefore required for strengthening and streamlining public service delivery at all levels. In-depth structural and organizational reforms are urgently needed, along with investments in human resources to guarantee a minimum acceptable level of essential public services, and to create the necessary conditions for good local governance, characterized by transparency and accountability.

Current support interventions

• Strengthening the Institutional Capacity of MINAG

Potential support interventions

Potential areas that may be considered for future assistance to facilitate public sector reform include the following:

• Assisting major ministries and institutions (MICOA, MPF, MIC, etc.) in areas related to the FAO mandate to undertake an objective and impartial functional and organizational analysis at central, provincial and district levels;

• Supporting the implementation of reforms in these ministries and institutions;

• Supporting the development, implementation and institutional support of new areas/ revised functions identified in these ministries and institutions.

Click here to go to FAO Field Programme Management Information System (FPMIS) Projects lists for Mozambique