Can the Public Sector Deliver?

At a time when the public sector is much maligned and castigate for being corrupt, inefficient and a drain on public resources, perhaps more so in Pakistan than elsewhere, a critical evaluation of public sector institutions acquires great relevance. Moreover, a dramatic rise of NGOs, promoted by international donors as a possible alternative to the public sector, gives this task, in an increasingly hostile environment, further urgency.
This book evaluates the objectives, mandate, style and achievements of one such organisation in Pakistan. The purpose is to understand the Sindh Katchi Abadi Authority (SKAA) a Government of Sindh department, functions in fulfilling its mandate. The most important purpose of this book is to examine how a government department can, despite all governmental rules and regulations, function in an innovative and flexible manner, taking initiatives as and when required. An attempt is made in this book to identify SKAA's key features which can be used to derive some general principles on which one can see the features of a 'model' for other government departments which may be replicated to some extent.
S Akbar Zaidi is a Karachi-based social scientist who does research on social, economic and development issues and has several books to his credit.

ISBN 969-8380-43-4