Pockets of Effectiveness (POEs) in Africa

The role of Pockets of Efectiveness (POEs) in promoting development is generating renewed interest in the literature in development studies (Hickey 2019; Leonard 2008; Roll 2014). POEs refer to government agencies that work reasonably efectively and are dedicated to an aspect of the collective good (Leonard 2008). POEs can, in many ways, be said to ofer a solution to what Hyden (2006, p. 117) has labelled the ‘Policy Paradox’ in African public policy. The paradox consists of observing that the policy process from agenda-setting to decision-making and eventually to policy implementation is characterised by political logics of clientelism and Big Man rule (Hyden 2006). However, policy advice is often based not on political logics but on economic and technical grounds. Technical reasoning assumes that implementation is a matter of resources and technology and that the implementation process is not afected by political logics. For this reason, a policy gap often exists, in which development plans and policies look perfect on paper, but the policy papers end up becoming ‘rather menus than meals’ because few of them are implemented (Hyden 2006; Kjær and Muhumuza 2009; van de Walle 2001).

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Published in: Routledge Handbook of Public Policy in Africa
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
See chapter on publisher's website: https://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781003143840-8