Reviewing Decades of Civil Service Reforms in Sub-Saharan Africa- Drawing Lessons for Eritrea

Abstract

This study reviews decades of civil service reforms in Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries in general and in Eritrea in particular. It analyses success and failure stories of Civil Service Reforms (CSR) in SSA countries. The study used both primary and secondary data sources. Primary data was collected through interview and observation. Secondary data was collected from various sources such as human resource policies, proclamations, and government and UN publications and reports inter alias with relevant books and journals, international and national reports, published and unpublished documents. The study seeks also to answer the following two research questions: Why civil service reforms in most SSA countries were not successful? What are the main factors that affect civil service reforms in SSA countries? To answer these questions, a deductive approach was adopted in the study methodology. Success and failure stories of civil service reforms in SSA countries were explored in general, and lessons were drawn for Eritrea, in particular, based on the analysis of the reform experience of SSA countries. The study found that successful CSR requires sustained political will as much as technical capacity. The experience in many SSA countries shows that CSRs cannot be succeeded unless the reform efforts are contextualized within a country’s specific conditions such as its culture, politics, sociology, history, economy, ideology and values. CSR in developing countries requires well established political system; a stable, workable constitutional system; a viable economic system; and unified elite capable of guiding orderly change. CSR should also be pragmatic and incremental, undertaking its transformation in tandem with social, economic and political changes.