Supporting Capacity Development Through Functional and Performance Accountability
Abt’s policy work is broad: we work at national and sub-national level; we work on a range of economic, social and service delivery issues as well as working to strengthen overall state capability, authority and legitimacy.
Our work on governance programs in Timor, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia underlines the critical difference between policy and implementation; we have found in many instances that what are considered to be weaknesses in ‘implementation capacity’ more often represent weakness in accountability systems – the absence of effective performance incentives or a performance culture. Ensuring ‘capacity development’ initiatives are supported by initiatives to introduce or strengthen accountabilities for improved functionality and performance is central to our approach.
