Public Sector Reform and Capacity Building in Small Island Developing States

Abstract

This rapid literature review summarises the evidence on public sector reform and capacity building initiatives in SIDS. Overall, the evidence indicates that the success of public sector reforms and capacity building programmes in SIDS is modest. However, some useful lessons emerge from the implementation of E-government in the Seychelles, pooled service delivery in the Pacific and regional collaboration in the Caribbean and Pacific. Furthermore, the review finds that there is limited evidence on the effectiveness of public sector reforms or capacity building initiatives undertaken in SIDS. The available evidence focuses on Pacific island states and there is very little literature on public sector reform or capacity building on SIDS in other regions. Most of the evidence was obtained from case study analysis of public sector reform and capacity building in the academic literature. The Commonwealth Secretariat produced case studies on Samoa and Seychelles. The policy literature was reviewed, but tended to focus on articulating the capacity constraints faced by SIDS, rather than evaluating initiatives that address these constraints or recommending strategies to enhance the capacity of SIDS.