Aid and education
In the public interest: health, education, and water and sanitation for all
Building public services for poverty reduction
Authors:
B. Emmett; D. Green; M Laws
Publisher:
Oxfam, 2006
This report highlights how building strong public services is key to transforming the lives of people living in poverty. The authors show that developing countries will only achieve healthy and educated populations if their governments take responsibility for providing essential services.
The following areas are examined:
- what works? the case for universal public services
- when it goes wrong: poor country government neglect and broken promises
- rich country governments: pushing for private provision and breaking aid promises
- time to deliver: how developing countries and rich country governments can build effective public services
The paper argues that civil society organisations and private companies can make important contributions, but they must be properly regulated and integrated into strong public systems, and not seen as substitutes for them. Only governments can reach the scale necessary to provide universal access to services that are free or heavily subsidised for poor people and geared to the needs of all citizens including women and girls, minorities, and the very poorest. But while some governments have made great strides, too many lack the cash, the capacity, or the commitment to act.
