A case study for the project ‘Capacity, Change and Performance’,
V. Hauck, A. Mandie Filer and J. Bolger, ECDPM Discussion Paper 57F, 2005. This case study looks at the recent reforms in Papua New Guinea’s health sector from a capacity development perspective. It addresses a number of factors influencing capacity development, change and performance including issues internal to the National Department of Health, capacity issues at sub-national levels, the institutional ‘rules of the game’ that guide attitudes, behaviour and relationships in the PNG context and in the emerging health sector SWAP, and broader contextual factors. The case illustrates the value of using a systems perspective to help understand complex capacity issues. The system in PNG is a complex of competing and occasionally complementary policy objectives, institutional arrangements, relationships, incentive systems, and political interests, some of which support efforts to strengthen capacity and improve performance, and others which have the potential to undermine it. The case helps to reveal how the ability of organisations to develop their own capacity is determined in part by their roles and relationships within complex networks and systems.