Investigating 'pockets of effectiveness' in developing countries: a new route to building state capacity for development

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A major challenge for achieving poverty reduction is that the capacity of states to deliver development is in short supply, particularly in Africa. However, 'pockets of effectiveness' (PoEs) offer important clues concerning how developmental forms of state capacity might emerge and be sustained in difficult contexts. PoEs are public organisations that function effectively where this is not the norm, with history suggesting that they have proved critical to developmental state success in the global south. Examples include national banks that can maintain macroeconomic stability and establish the conditions for pro-poor growth; regulatory agencies that can effectively govern key development resources; and policy delivery units capable of providing basic social services, all of which are central to improving the lives of poor people in Africa.Recent research on PoEs has suggested that both external (e.g. political context) and internal factors (e.g. organisational leadership) shape their performance. However, this emerging subfield of governance research lacks a comparative study which systematically identifies how PoEs emerge and are sustained in different contexts and sectors, and the role that domestic and international actors can play in this. This absence has ruled out developing a theory of change concerning how PoEs emerge and are sustained and the generation of policy recommendations beyond specific cases. The key objectives are therefore to: (a) Undertake a comparative analysis of the institutional and political conditions through which PoEs emerge and are sustained in different contexts and within different sectors(b) Identify the role that domestic and international actors play in developing and sustaining PoEs (c) Directly inform and improve efforts by governments and development agencies to support PoEs in Africa, and developmental governance more broadly (d) Strengthen the capacity of early-career African researchers to undertake governance research and policy engagement.The project will employ a 'political settlements' approach to understanding the political and institutional conditions associated with poverty reduction, and directly explore what domestic and international actors can do to promote these conditions. Political settlements analysis focuses on how formal and informal forms of politics and power relations shape the performance of public organisations. Different kinds of political settlement offer different kinds of incentives and opportunities for elite actors to invest in building effective developmental institutions. We will undertake comparative qualitative investigations into PoEs within two 'competitive clientelistic' types (Ghana, Zambia) and two 'dominant' types (Rwanda and Uganda). A PoE involved in each of economic development, regulation and social provisioning will be investigated in each context. This design will significantly enhance our generation of policy relevant findings and also theory-development.The PI and Co-I have extensive experience of directing and undertaking comparative research in Africa, and will actively strengthen the capacity of the early-career African researchers involved here. The PI has a very productive track record of working with this particular team. Our innovative programme of policy engagement and uptake work will be further supported by a high-capacity team at Manchester and the use of networks established through the PI's leading role in international research centres since 2005. The research team already has good relationships with leading officials within some of the PoEs involved and with governance advisors within international development agencies. This provides a strong basis for ensuring that key stakeholders are enrolled into and inform the project from the outset, and that the findings will be channelled directly to the key actors involved in promoting poverty-reducing forms of state capacity in Africa.