Explaining Levels of Local Government Involvement in Service Delivery: The Dynamics of Cross-Sector Partnerships in Malawi

Abstract

This study explores how local governments and their development partners-that is, donors, non-governmental organisations and private companies-structure their partnerships as they work together to provide services to communities. Cases of collaboration between four organisations working in the rural water supply sector and six local governments in Malawi are studied. Using a cross-case qualitative methodology, we illustrate how power and control translate into practices, leading to different levels of local government involvement in service delivery. This study contributes to the literature on cross-sector partnerships in particular by developing empirically-based propositions that help explain the dynamic trajectories that partnerships between local governments and their development partners can take.

Is Community Management an Efficient and Effective Model of Public Service Delivery? Lessons from the Rural Water Supply Sector in Malawi

“…Malawi is an ideal location in which to research the community management model, for several reasons. Community management has been the dominant framework for rural water supply in Malawi for the past two decades (GOM, ), and the assumption that it will lead to sustainability is deeply ingrained in the minds of government actors and development partners alike (Soublière and Cloutier, ).…”

Re‐examining the link between collaborative interorganisational relationships and synergistic outcomes in public–private partnerships: Insights from the Punjab Education Foundation's school partnerships

“…This is why partner organisations are willing to adapt and accept asymmetrical power relations. However, despite the overall willingness to adapt, partners always have what Soublière and Cloutier (2015, p. 203) call ‘room to manoeuvre' as they make strategic decisions regarding how to manage and respond to power imbalances.…”

Building horizontal coordination in Sri Lanka

“…Ensor (: 16) in his seminal work “The Functional Silo Syndrome” states that in siloed organisations “the overall organization mentality is one of imposing control on people rather than eliciting commitment from them.” In siloed organisations, senior officials primarily focus on enhancing individual agency performance, rather than the performance of cross‐cutting programmes (Bouckaert et al, ; Ensor, ). Effective delivery of public services, however, often warrants significant contributions from multiple actors: service providers, end‐users, local and central government authorities (administrative and political), and non‐state actors (civil society and NGOs; Soubliere & Cloutier, ; Wild, Chambers, King, & Harris, ). The main challenge for governments then is to foster constructive cooperation among these actors while creating and maintaining well‐coordinated front‐line services with “one‐stop‐shop” delivery points (Halligan et al, ; Kavanagh & Richards, ; Ling, ).…”

“…Arguably, poor horizontal coordination in developing countries derives partly from dominant vertical relationships in public administration and weak political will for innovative reform (Wijeweera, 1989), and partly from specific governance practices (Edwards, Yilmaz, & Boex, 2015), and contradictory effects (Faguet, 2014;Samaratunge et al, 2012). Weak horizontal coordination is further exacerbated by severe limitations in (a) knowledge transfer (Wiig, 2002), (b) political commitment to administrative reform (Laegreid et al, 2015), (c) capacity to manage upwards (Moore, 1995), and (d) willingness to embrace and implement change in delivery and policy (Soubliere & Cloutier, 2015). Developing countries also often lack the strong political leadership necessary to bring about effective coordination between horizontal agencies, whereas the agents themselves lack the skills and knowledge in building strong and effective relationships with their horizontal counterparts (Samaratunge et al, 2012), which are essential for effective horizontal coordination.…”

“…The search for the "holy grail" (Chisholm, 1989) of effective coordination is not an original activity in public management: Governments have long struggled with the challenges of ensuring coordination in service delivery in disaster management (Nolte, Martin, & Boenigk, 2012;Rhodes, 2013), in developing fragile states (Olsen, 2013;Soubliere & Cloutier, 2015), and in addressing consequences of public sector reform (Halligan, Buick, & O'Flynn, 2012). International agencies have strongly emphasised the need for effective governance through vertical and horizontal coordination across institutions to promote good governance (Christopoulos, Horvath, & Kull, 2012).…”