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Presents, from a systemic perspective, an examination and discussion of performance measurement, performance indicators and associated improvement initiatives, as typically applied in public sector organisations. Such mechanisms are usually implemented as a causal loop which is established between perceived performance and resulting actions, thereby constituting a form of feedback control. Within this context a two‐dimensional matrix model is postulated in which the independent dimensions are the source of control and the nature of the resultant control‐action. The paper examines the implications revealed by this model within the context of performance management and system dynamics. The potential role of influence diagrams and dynamic simulation models is thereby introduced as a potential means of unravelling the complex behaviour which can often arise in the presence of such interactive cause‐effect loops. A number of typical examples, drawn from within the public sector, are invoked to illustrate the discussion.

Since the 1970s,`partnership' has been an aspiration for relationships amongst non-governmental organizations involved in international development (NGDOs). Unfortunately, NGDOs have shown little ability to form equitable relations, or true partnership, amongst themselves. The ®rst part of this article examines why. The new policy agenda for international aid emphasizes contract-based relationships which will make real partnerships even more dicult to achieve. The second part of the analysis argues that trust-based authentic partnerships remain vital for development, and outlines some steps that NGOs might take towards forming them. In the long term, however, NGDOs must radically rethink their roles, which calls for a transformation from intermediaries in a funding chain to facilitators of international co-operation between the diverse groups which comprise civil society. NGDOs unwilling to take this step could be classi®ed as hypocrites if they continue to employ the term`partnership' for what is essentially old wine in re-labelled civic bottles. THE CONTEXTWorld conditions have shifted dramatically for non-governmental organizations involved in international development. Although poverty reduction has always been prominent in the public image of these organizations, during the ®rst three`development decades' foreign aid was just one component in a drive to retain control of geopolitical spheres of in¯uence in the competition between East and West. Dictators and human rights abuses were tolerated, and loyalty was more important than democracy for securing Western aid: support to Mobutu in Zaire and to military regimes throughout Latin America illustrate this reality. However, the collapse of the Soviet Union as a guiding example of communist political ideology and as a socioeconomic system has brought an end to the Cold War. The lack of a global rival has allowed the North to rede®ne goals and policy agendas for development co-operation.

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