Indirect policy instruments and implementation success: the Case of the Food Subsidy Programme in Mozambique

Abstract

Governments all over the world face the dilemma of limited resources and increasingly tighter fiscal targets on one hand, and, on the other hand, growing pressure to deliver quality public services. The situation is particularly problematic in developing countries where the gap between resources available and demand for basic public services is much wider. Government policies, plans, targets, such as the Millennium Development Goals and the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers, often remain on paper or are partially and poorly implemented for lack of resources and institutional frameworks that are weak and outmoded. In this context, governments have been searching for alternatives and experimenting with new approaches to bridge this gap and put their policies into effect. Many of the new approaches and tools being used by governments share a significant common feature: they are highly indirect, that is, they rely on third parties to deliver publicly services and pursue publicly authorized purposes - these include contracting, grants, vouchers, loan guarantees among many others. As a result, third parties are now intimately involved in the implementation, and often the management, of the public´s business and a major share of the discretion over the operations of public programmes now routinely rests outside the responsible government agency (Salamon 2002).