1. Public sector innovation in practice
GovNet meeting, January 2014 (EU-Brussels)
Tommaso Balbo di Vinadio

2. +
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

≠
Intuitive thinking (innovation in the middle)


Analytical thinking
Traditional approach
≠
Experimentation
Flexibility, experimentation, risk-taking and permission to fail
3

4. Innovation process
Inspiration
Ideation
Implementation
 Observe/hear
 Brainstorm
 Experiment
 Tell stories
 Prototype
 In case, adapt
and adjust
rapidly
4

5. + Why 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
5

6. + Innovation is happening in OECD
countries: Service design
6

7. + What 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
7

8. + Examples of innovative practices in
Africa
approach – Change management –
Leadership – Service delivery (Mozambique/Guinea)
 Problem-solving
 Accountability
– Service delivery (Tunisia)
management – Accountability - Use of
technology (Madagascar)
 Knowledge
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9. Little bailiff
assistance
Failure
to
adjudica
te case
on time
Few
judges
Few court
houses
Identify one
problem and
ask why
Service delivery
Ask Why
again
Lack of
strategic
planning
Low yearly
allocation of
financial resources
to hiring new
judges
Lack of
strategic
allocation
Low yearly allocation
of financial resources
to building new
infrastructure
Coaches to
make gov
officials
collaborate
INNOVATION!
Low budget
execution
Weak Public Financial Management
Identifying PFM bottlenecks through problemsolving in the justice sector in Mozambique
Ask Why
again
PFM
9

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)
10

11. Knowledge Management platform in
Madagascar
Government
INNOVATION!
 Use of
Government
reports
technology but
also focus on “human
factor” to understand
how people share
knowledge
Ci zens
feedback
World Bank data
World Bank
Ci zens
11

12. Innovation in practice to overcome public
sector constraints
PROBLEMS

Lack of Inter-ministerial
coordination

INNOVATION!

Hire coaches/facilitators and create space
for dialogue to identify problems and
propose solutions (Mozambique)
Implementation slowness

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

Difficulty to reach consensus

No clear link to service
delivery

No deep understanding of
citizen needs

No enough learning during
implementation
Prototype solutions on service delivery
(Tunisia?)

Develop a KM platform as a learning tool
(Madagascar)
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

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
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