New Public Management in the Philippines
NPM in the Philippines: A Query on How to Apply NPM Principles to Reform Initiatives
(April 23- May 1, 2006)
By George Carmona
George CarmonaI. Introduction
When the week long seminar on new public management (NPM) sponsored by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation International Academy for Leadership (IAF) ended last April 30, 2006, the 25 participants from 13 developing countries were pretty much convinced that NPM is probably what their respective governments need. Having exhaustively discussed and analyzed NPM principles during the seminar, and after listening to local government officials in Germany who extolled the merits of NPM and the short-comings of traditional public administration, there was a consensus that NPM, if properly implemented, can be an effective approach to reform the public sector, generally seen by the people as inefficient, ineffective, corrupt and wasteful.
Nevertheless, it was a guarded optimism on the part of the participants. The success stories presented during the seminar were from developed countries, which experimented with NPM 20 years ago. In their own countries, failed NPM projects seem to outnumber successful ones. Hence, in their minds, the foremost concern is the readiness and/or ability of their respective countries to embrace NPM principles. How did the NPM fare in developed countries? Can the success of NPM in many developed countries be replicated in developing countries?
This short essay will answer this question using the Philippines’ experience. It will present successful NPM inspired projects in the country. In the discussion of these projects, key lessons will be highlighted to hopefully facilitate deeper analysis and study of why and how they fail or succeed.
II. Problems Confronting the Philippine Public Administration
The Philippine public administration is confronted with various problems. For one, it has a bloated bureaucracy. As of 1999, a total of 1.445 million personnel were employed in
(April 23- May 1, 2006)
By George Carmona
George CarmonaI. Introduction
When the week long seminar on new public management (NPM) sponsored by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation International Academy for Leadership (IAF) ended last April 30, 2006, the 25 participants from 13 developing countries were pretty much convinced that NPM is probably what their respective governments need. Having exhaustively discussed and analyzed NPM principles during the seminar, and after listening to local government officials in Germany who extolled the merits of NPM and the short-comings of traditional public administration, there was a consensus that NPM, if properly implemented, can be an effective approach to reform the public sector, generally seen by the people as inefficient, ineffective, corrupt and wasteful.
Nevertheless, it was a guarded optimism on the part of the participants. The success stories presented during the seminar were from developed countries, which experimented with NPM 20 years ago. In their own countries, failed NPM projects seem to outnumber successful ones. Hence, in their minds, the foremost concern is the readiness and/or ability of their respective countries to embrace NPM principles. How did the NPM fare in developed countries? Can the success of NPM in many developed countries be replicated in developing countries?
This short essay will answer this question using the Philippines’ experience. It will present successful NPM inspired projects in the country. In the discussion of these projects, key lessons will be highlighted to hopefully facilitate deeper analysis and study of why and how they fail or succeed.
II. Problems Confronting the Philippine Public Administration
The Philippine public administration is confronted with various problems. For one, it has a bloated bureaucracy. As of 1999, a total of 1.445 million personnel were employed in