No abstract

Using data from 14 sub-Saharan African countries, this study investigates the relevance of the developmental state doctrine to enhancing access to improved drinking water sources and to reducing urban–rural inequalities in access to improved sources and piped-on premises. Although access to improved water sources and urban–rural inequality seems better in developmental states than in non-developmental states, we have not found sufficient support for the claim that the developmental state approach is the best alternative. The influence of corruption is, unexpectedly, higher in developmental states than in non-developmental states. Moreover, both developmental states and non-developmental states were not significantly investing in access to drinking water supply programs. We find that the total population growth rate is the strongest predictor, rather than regime type. Other factors that explain the variation between all samples of developmental states and non-developmental states are identified and discussed, and implications are outlined. Points for practitioners There is significant variation in access to improved drinking water sources and urban–rural inequalities in access to improved sources and piped-on premises between developmental states and non-developmental states. The relevance of the developmental state doctrine to improving access to drinking water, reducing socio-economic inequalities in access to drinking water, and realizing Sustainable Development Goal targets in sub-Saharan Africa is ambiguous. We advise strengthening a functional Weberian bureaucracy and promoting political decentralization.

Building an effective, inclusive, and accountable public administration has increasingly factored in the agenda of policymakers and other stakeholders, including the academia, in the effort to achieve sustainable development.

This paper aims at identifying strategies to improve the performance of Ethiopian local governments in supplying drinking water. Therefore, a case study of Ambo (Ethiopia) is performed, on basis of document analysis, interview and focus group discussion. This allows operationalizing Pollitt and Bouckaert’s (2011) production process model, by defining input, activity, output and outcome indicators relevant for drinking water supply in the context of developing countries. The indicators and their interrelations subsequently allow coining efficiency-improvement and effectiveness-improvement strategies. The paper finds that most performance improvement strategies do not involve a trade-off between efficiency and effectiveness: investing in the maintenance of the water distribution network, involving the community in the production process, ensuring a minimum quality threshold, improving procurement policies, and relying on ground water contribute to both and deserve being implemented. On other aspects, related to commercial policies and the quality of water, local policymakers need to make a choice between pursing efficiency and effectiveness. The paper contributes to the ongoing discussion on the added-value of governance for the 2030 Agenda, and paves the way for benchmarking Ethiopian local governments, and warrants further research onto the added value of participation for development.