Abstract: | Against the background of growing convergence amongst countries with regard to the focus on their public service reforms, the forces driving the same and communalities amongst approaches being adopted, the article assesses the various phases of Tanzania's public service reforms over 20 years. It concludes by posing two questions: first, how are the reforms contributing to improvements in poverty reduction and in service delivery? Second, why should ‘reform’ be treated as a priority in the allocation of budgetary resources by development partners? The answer is that direct links between Public Service Reform Programme (PSRP) interventions and poverty reduction remains elusive, and the challenge is how best to manage that situation. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |