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The Partnership to Engage, Reform and Learn (PERL) is a flagship five-‐year Public Sector Accountability and Governance programme, funded by the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). The focus of PERL is to reform how governments organise their core business of making, implementing, tracking and accounting for policies, plans and budgets used in delivering public goods (economic stability and an enabling environment for private enterprise so as to promote growth and reduce poverty) and services to the citizenry, and how citizens themselves engage with these processes.
PERL takes an integrated approach to supporting all aspects of governance reform related to service delivery, backed by a strong evidence base and drawn from practical experience. It combines support for centre of government reforms (i.e. more inclusive, responsive and evidenced policy, planning and budget development and implementation) with sectoral governance reforms, which enables the programme’s partners inside and outside government to jointly focus on specific service delivery problems that reflect local priorities, and demonstrate the link between improved central governance processes and improved frontline delivery. Key to overcoming blockages in priority areas of service delivery is constructive engagement of citizens in planning, implementing and tracking delivery and feeding back into key government decision-‐making processes. ‘Learning by doing’ through support to reform-‐minded local actors is critical to PERL’s success, ensuring reform processes are realistic, relevant, self-‐ generated, locally-‐driven and self-‐sustaining.
PERL is being delivered through three ‘pillars’ which will plan and act together to support sustainable service delivery reforms: Pillar 1. Accountable, Responsive & Capable Government (ARC); Pillar 2. Engaged Citizens; and Pillar 3. Learning, Evidencing and Advocacy Partnership (LEAP). The programme will work at the Federal level, in the focal states of Kano, Kaduna and Jigawa, and through regional learning and reform hubs in the South West, South East and North East areas of Nigeria.
Accountable, Responsive & Capable Government (ARC) - The Accountable, Responsive & Capable Government (ARC) pillar supports government stakeholders at various levels to become more effective at managing resources to address key service delivery and policy issues. ARC contributes to Nigerian-‐led processes, progressively improving the core capability of government partners to effectively manage their resources, to provide more responsive and accountable services to Nigerian citizens. ARC support is delivered flexibly, involving local stakeholders in identifying and solving specific reform and service delivery problems, leading to transformational changes in focal states and regions, by broadening reforms out of islands of success, deepening reforms to connect with service delivery issues, and further embedding reforms to ensure long-‐term sustainability.
Engaged Citizens - The Engaged Citizens pillar effectively engages citizens to bring about improvements in service delivery and poverty outcomes by working to ensure that constituencies become increasingly effective at influencing governments on selected service delivery and policy issues for the benefit of a greater number of Nigerians. Engaged Citizens supports partners to engage constructively with government, focusing on issues, processes and systems that are on the government’s reform agenda, as well as a public priority for citizens. The core approach used by Engaged Citizens involves supporting locally-‐led processes of change, enhancing the role of local actors, brokering constructive multi-‐ stakeholder partnerships, strengthening institutions for collective action, promoting attention to the mitigation of conflict, and facilitating gender and social inclusion.
Learning, Evidencing and Advocacy Partnership (LEAP) - The Learning, Evidencing and Advocacy Partnership (LEAP) pillar complements pillars 1 and 2 of PERL by strengthening the evidence base on governance reform. It will do this by working with stakeholders to encourage the generation, demand for and use of evidence relevant to a wide range of public sector reform questions. The three outputs of LEAP will (1) generate evidence on how PERL is contributing to governance reform and the improved delivery of public goods and services required for poverty reduction and growth, (2) strengthen the evidence base on how Nigeria can bring about governance reform, and (3) inform broader public debates, policymakers and policy communities concerned with public sector reform.
PERL takes an integrated approach to supporting all aspects of governance reform related to service delivery, backed by a strong evidence base and drawn from practical experience. It combines support for centre of government reforms (i.e. more inclusive, responsive and evidenced policy, planning and budget development and implementation) with sectoral governance reforms, which enables the programme’s partners inside and outside government to jointly focus on specific service delivery problems that reflect local priorities, and demonstrate the link between improved central governance processes and improved frontline delivery. Key to overcoming blockages in priority areas of service delivery is constructive engagement of citizens in planning, implementing and tracking delivery and feeding back into key government decision-‐making processes. ‘Learning by doing’ through support to reform-‐minded local actors is critical to PERL’s success, ensuring reform processes are realistic, relevant, self-‐ generated, locally-‐driven and self-‐sustaining.
PERL is being delivered through three ‘pillars’ which will plan and act together to support sustainable service delivery reforms: Pillar 1. Accountable, Responsive & Capable Government (ARC); Pillar 2. Engaged Citizens; and Pillar 3. Learning, Evidencing and Advocacy Partnership (LEAP). The programme will work at the Federal level, in the focal states of Kano, Kaduna and Jigawa, and through regional learning and reform hubs in the South West, South East and North East areas of Nigeria.
Accountable, Responsive & Capable Government (ARC) - The Accountable, Responsive & Capable Government (ARC) pillar supports government stakeholders at various levels to become more effective at managing resources to address key service delivery and policy issues. ARC contributes to Nigerian-‐led processes, progressively improving the core capability of government partners to effectively manage their resources, to provide more responsive and accountable services to Nigerian citizens. ARC support is delivered flexibly, involving local stakeholders in identifying and solving specific reform and service delivery problems, leading to transformational changes in focal states and regions, by broadening reforms out of islands of success, deepening reforms to connect with service delivery issues, and further embedding reforms to ensure long-‐term sustainability.
Engaged Citizens - The Engaged Citizens pillar effectively engages citizens to bring about improvements in service delivery and poverty outcomes by working to ensure that constituencies become increasingly effective at influencing governments on selected service delivery and policy issues for the benefit of a greater number of Nigerians. Engaged Citizens supports partners to engage constructively with government, focusing on issues, processes and systems that are on the government’s reform agenda, as well as a public priority for citizens. The core approach used by Engaged Citizens involves supporting locally-‐led processes of change, enhancing the role of local actors, brokering constructive multi-‐ stakeholder partnerships, strengthening institutions for collective action, promoting attention to the mitigation of conflict, and facilitating gender and social inclusion.
Learning, Evidencing and Advocacy Partnership (LEAP) - The Learning, Evidencing and Advocacy Partnership (LEAP) pillar complements pillars 1 and 2 of PERL by strengthening the evidence base on governance reform. It will do this by working with stakeholders to encourage the generation, demand for and use of evidence relevant to a wide range of public sector reform questions. The three outputs of LEAP will (1) generate evidence on how PERL is contributing to governance reform and the improved delivery of public goods and services required for poverty reduction and growth, (2) strengthen the evidence base on how Nigeria can bring about governance reform, and (3) inform broader public debates, policymakers and policy communities concerned with public sector reform.