Tommaso Balbo di Vinadio

Public sector innovation in practice

GovNet meeting, January 2014 (EU-Brussels)

2+Take-away messages

1. World is changing rapidly and so are the challenges for public sector

2. Innovation in the public sector is about changing “business as usual”: experimentation, flexibility and risk-taking. This is already happening (service design)

3. Innovation in the public sector implies a renovation in how we do development (i.e. change in IOs procedures)

+ 3

What is innovation?

Changing the way we do business Analytical thinking ≠ Intuitive thinking (innovation in the

middle) Traditional approach ≠ Experimentation

Flexibility, experimentation, risk-taking and permission to fail

4

Innovation process

Inspiration

Observe/hear

Tell stories

Ideation

Brainstorm

Prototype

Implementation

Experiment

In case, adapt and adjust rapidly

+ 5Why innovation in public sector? New and more complex challenges

Old-fashion approaches do not seem to be working

Use of technology

Governments under pressure for budget constraints

New citizenry and higher expectations

6+Innovation is happening in OECD countries: Service design

+ 7What is innovation in the public sector in developing countries? Changing (or refining) approach and use innovative tools

on PFM, decentralization, anti-corruption etc. Placing particular attention on “soft issues”: change

management and problem-solving Highlighting the “human factor”: Human-centered approach

Translating some private sector principles (so as they are used by private companies) to public sector: service design and service delivery

+ 8Examples of innovative practices in Africa

Problem-solving approach – Change management – Leadership – Service delivery (Mozambique/Guinea)

Accountability – Service delivery (Tunisia)

Knowledge management – Accountability - Use of technology (Madagascar)

Other initiatives: Collab at Stanford

9

Few judges

Low yearly allocation of financial resources to hiring new judges

Low yearly allocation of financial resources to building new infrastructure

Identify one problem and

ask why

Few court houses

Lack of strategic planning

Lack of strategic allocation

Low budget execution

Little bailiff assistance

Identifying PFM bottlenecks through problem-solving in the justice sector in Mozambique

Weak P

ub

lic F

inan

cia

l M

an

ag

em

en

t

Failure to adjudicate case on time

Ask Whyagain

Ask Whyagain

PFMService delivery

Coaches to make gov officials collaborate INNOVATION

!

10

Citizen participation and service design in Tunisia

INNOVATION! Using innovative techniques for citizens to participate in the evaluation of government performance and for them to participate in designing new services (through the use of technology)

11

Knowledge Management platform in Madagascar

INNOVATION!

Use of technology but also focus on “human factor” to understand how people share knowledge

12

Innovation in practice to overcome public sector constraints

PROBLEMS

Lack of Inter-ministerial coordination

Implementation slowness

Difficulty to reach consensus

No clear link to service delivery

No deep understanding of citizen needs

No enough learning during implementation

INNOVATION!

Hire coaches/facilitators and create space for dialogue to identify problems and propose solutions (Mozambique)

Apply a new concept of leadership for gov officials to work together (Guinea)

Observe (Madagascar) and use of ethnographic analysis (Tunisia) to better understand customers/citizens

Prototype solutions on service delivery (Tunisia?)

Develop a KM platform as a learning tool (Madagascar)

13+ What next?

Continuing to implement innovative practices and experiment

Cross-cutting issues: leadership, knowledge management (beyond open data) and service delivery (beyond smart cities)

Gathering information on current practices

Adapting or developing new ways of measuring innovative interventions

Renovating current procedures and systems in IOs (many problems while implementing innovation under current procedures)!! Creating environment that allows for innovation (inn labs,

flexibility during implementation, more room for manoeuvre for TTLs to experiment etc.)

Change management