Working in decentralised service systems: challenges and choices for the Australian aid program

The report examined Australia’s support for service systems in decentralised contexts - the evaluation focussed on the health, education and infrastructure (water, sanitation and roads) sectors. Foreword Public services have been decentralised in most countries where Australia provides aid. This means Australia, like other donors, must be willing and able to engage effectively with developing country governments at all levels to improve service delivery. To ensure sustainable improvements, this engagement should carefully coordinate support for governance reforms with assistance to strengthen or expand service delivery systems. As the World Bank has observed, done well, decentralisation can result in more efficient and effective services for communities. However, done poorly, or where the context is inappropriate, decentralisation may have negative effects. This evaluation builds on the Office of Development Effectiveness’s 2009 evaluation of Australian aid for service delivery. It answers important questions about whether Australian aid has appropriately considered the role of subnational authorities, including specific issues identified in 2009. It assesses how well Australian aid has addressed the challenges of decentralisation, with a focus on the major sectors of education, health and infrastructure. This evaluation utilised a clear methodology, applied it consistently, and draws together a range of evidence to provide a balanced account of Australian aid performance. It concludes that Australian aid is beginning to respond to the challenges of supporting service delivery in decentralised contexts, but notes that results are mixed and there is room for further improvement. The evaluation suggests Australia needs to improve its country-level analysis, program planning and design to better address decentralisation. In particular, there is a need to carefully assess short-term service delivery needs against long-term structures and incentives for governments to achieve sustainable service delivery and meet sovereign responsibilities. Australia needs to get the right balance of engagement with different levels of government, and appropriately address both supply and demand aspects of service delivery, especially to improve equity.   &nbsp

Reforming institutions for service delivery : a framework for development assistance with an application to the health, nutrition, and population portfolio

World Development Report 1997: The State in a Changing World (report no. 17300) argued that institutions-the rules of the game that govern production and exchange-shape a country's prospects for sustained market-led growth. The author provides an institutional framework for service delivery, an essential component of state capability. He applies this framework to an evaluation of Bank support for service delivery in the health, nutrition, and population sector. He argues for greater institutional pluralism in the ways the World Bank does business in infrastructure, rural, and social sectors, but cautions against making efficient service delivery an issue of"state versus market."The Bank and its clients face the challenge of fitting menus of"better practice"delivery options to maps of institutional reality. In the health, nutrition, and population sector, the Bank should (1) unbundle and categorize essential health and clinical services according to goods characteristics and (2) integrate country knowledge into operations through upstream assessments of state, political, and social institutions. Overall, the Bank has made progress toward a"goods characteristics"approach, particularly in infrastructure and some rural services-but it has lagged in the social sectors, where support remains largely technocratic. Cross-sector comparisons reveal four generations of support for service delivery. First-generation support focused mainly on physical implementation of projects. Second-generation interventions, which characterized most social service interventions, focused on improving the financial and organizational viability of implementing agencies through technical assistance. Third-generation support was marked by significant unbundling of service delivery activities and clearer links to goods characteristics. In irrigation (1982-94), telecommunications (1980s-present), and transport (1990s), the one-size-fits-all monopoly model gave way to a range of options based on greater private sector and citizen participation in delivery. These included leases, concessions, outsourcing, and contracting as well as building, operating, transfer, and turnover schemes. Fourth-generation interventions are works-in-progress and represent efforts to develop new governance arrangements that systematically combine competition, voice, and hierarchy in the design, delivery, and monitoring of Bank projects. The Bank has a poor track record building country knowledge of institutional endowments that affect service delivery. The author identifies concepts and tools valuable for sector specialists'operations.Enterprise Development&Reform,Public Health Promotion,Health Economics&Finance,Decentralization,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Governance Indicators,Poverty Assessment,Environmental Economics&Policies,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Health Economics&Finance

Requirements and Tools for Variability Management

Explicit and software-supported Business Process Management has become the core infrastructure of any medium and large organization that has a need to be efficient and effective. The number of processes of a single organization can be very high, furthermore, they might be very similar, be in need of momentary change, or evolve frequently. If the ad-hoc adaptation and customization of processes is currently the dominant way, it clearly is not the best. In fact, providing tools for supporting the explicit management of variation in processes (due to customization or evolution needs) has a profound impact on the overall life-cycle of processes in organizations. Additionally, with the increasing adoption of Service-Oriented Architectures, the infrastructure to support automatic reconfiguration and adaptation of business process is solid. In this paper, after defining variability in business process management, we consider the requirements for explicit variation handling for (service based) business process systems. eGovernment serves as an illustrative example of reuse. In this case study, all local municipalities need to implement the same general legal process while adapting it to the local business practices and IT infrastructure needs. Finally, an evaluation of existing tools for explicit variability management is provided with respect to the requirements identified.

Survivability modeling for cyber-physical systems subject to data corruption

Cyber-physical critical infrastructures are created when traditional physical infrastructure is supplemented with advanced monitoring, control, computing, and communication capability. More intelligent decision support and improved efficacy, dependability, and security are expected. Quantitative models and evaluation methods are required for determining the extent to which a cyber-physical infrastructure improves on its physical predecessors. It is essential that these models reflect both cyber and physical aspects of operation and failure. In this dissertation, we propose quantitative models for dependability attributes, in particular, survivability, of cyber-physical systems. Any malfunction or security breach, whether cyber or physical, that causes the system operation to depart from specifications will affect these dependability attributes. Our focus is on data corruption, which compromises decision support -- the fundamental role played by cyber infrastructure. The first research contribution of this work is a Petri net model for information exchange in cyber-physical systems, which facilitates i) evaluation of the extent of data corruption at a given time, and ii) illuminates the service degradation caused by propagation of corrupt data through the cyber infrastructure. In the second research contribution, we propose metrics and an evaluation method for survivability, which captures the extent of functionality retained by a system after a disruptive event. We illustrate the application of our methods through case studies on smart grids, intelligent water distribution networks, and intelligent transportation systems. Data, cyber infrastructure, and intelligent control are part and parcel of nearly every critical infrastructure that underpins daily life in developed countries. Our work provides means for quantifying and predicting the service degradation caused when cyber infrastructure fails to serve its intended purpose. It can also serve as the foundation for efforts to fortify critical systems and mitigate inevitable failures --Abstract, page iii

A Cross-layer Monitoring Solution based on Quality Models

In order to implement cross-organizational workflows and to realize collaborations between small and medium enterprises (SMEs), the use ofWeb service technology, Service-Oriented Architecture and Infrastructure-as-a- Service (IaaS) has become a necessity. Based on these technologies, the need for monitoring the quality of (a) the acquired resources, (b) the services offered to the final users and (c) the workflow-based procedures used by SMEs in order to use services, has come to the fore. To tackle this need, we propose four metric Quality Models that cover quality terms for the Workflow, Service and Infrastructure layers and an additional one for expressing the equality and inter-dependency relations between the previous ones. To support these models we have implemented a cross-layer monitoring system, whose main advantages are the layer-specific metric aggregators and an event pattern discoverer for processing the monitoring log. Our evaluation is based on the performance and accuracy aspects of the proposed cross-layer monitoring system

A qualitative formative evaluation of a patient-centred patient safety intervention delivered in collaboration with hospital volunteers

Background: Evidence suggests that patients can meaningfully feed back to healthcare providers about the safety of their care. The PRASE (Patient Reporting and Action for a Safe Environment) intervention provides a way to systematically collect feedback from patients to support service improvement. The intervention is being implemented in acute care settings with patient feedback collected by hospital volunteers for the first time. Objective: To undertake a formative evaluation which explores the feasibility and acceptability of the PRASE intervention delivered in collaboration with hospital volunteers from the perspectives of key stakeholders. Design: A qualitative evaluation design was adopted across two acute NHS trusts in the UK between July 2014 and November 2015. We conducted five focus groups with hospital volunteers (n=15), voluntary services and patient experience staff (n=3) and semi‐structured interviews with ward staff (n=5). Data were interpreted using framework analysis. Results: All stakeholders were positive about the PRASE intervention as a way to support service improvement, and the benefits of involving volunteers. Volunteers felt adequate training and support would be essential for retention. Staff concentrated on the infrastructure needed for implementation and raised concerns around sustainability. Findings were fed back to the implementation team to support revisions to the intervention moving into the subsequent summative evaluation phase. Conclusion: Although there are concerns regarding sustainability in practice, the PRASE intervention delivered in collaboration with hospital volunteers is a promising approach to collect patient feedback for service improvement

Evaluasi Kebijakan Pelayanan Peminjaman Sarana dan Prasarana di LPMP Kalimantan Tengah

The Central Kalimantan LPMP has goals and objectives that are broadly stated in its vision and mission statement. The vision is the realization of people and ecosystems in primary and secondary education units that are characterized by national standards and have a global perspective through an education quality assurance system based on mutual cooperation. While its mission: 1) Realizing primary and secondary education units with national standards, global outlook, 2) Improving educational standards in primary and secondary education units, 3) Improving education quality assurance services at the provincial level, 4) Realizing quality human beings and having the character of elementary and secondary education units, 5) Improve governance and effectiveness of institutional bureaucracy. The success of LPMP Central Kalimantan in efforts to build good governance can be seen from how well public service policies can satisfy the community. For this reason, an evaluation of public service policies in borrowing infrastructure and infrastructure is needed at the LPMP Kalimantan Tengah. The approach used in this study is the Countenance Evaluation Model / Stake evaluation model. This model was developed by Stake. The Stake Model emphasizes the implementation of two main points, namely (1) description (description) and (2) judgment (judgment), as well as empowering three stages in program evaluation, namely (1) antecedents (context), (2) transactions (transaction/process), and (3) output (output-outcomes). The policy of lending facilities and infrastructure services in Central Kalimantan LPMP can be stated from the beginning (accidents/context) making the objectives and the basis of the policy can already be stated to have reached public service standards, Sarpras and lending schedules are also almost fully meet public service standards. In the part of the transaction where the service process and support/cooperation in the service has also fully met with public service standards. Whereas in the outcomes section where the service results felt by surprise loans have met the target and can be stated to have met public service standards

Tantangan Kebutuhan Tenaga Kerja Industri Jasa Konstruksi Provinsi Kalimantan Selatan

The provision of construction experts in South Kalimantan can not be separated from the activity of the construction service community, whether from the Owner, the Construction Agents, the Service/skill Supplier, and the Regulator as well as Construction Service User Community. Therefore the improvement for both quantity and quality are not only the responsibility of the Institutions of Skill Service Provider. On the contrary, the supervision of Construction Service Experts implementation in the field must receive appreciation and commitment from the Local Construction Agents, with support of good plans from the the Regulator. Challenges of the fulfillment of worker demands of construction service industry must be viewed from the context of regulation, through the aspects of law, policy, infrastructure, as well as the Construction Management itself. Thus a holistic evaluation study toward the projection of the number of workers and the existence quality in construction service industry in South Kalimantan is obtained