The landscape of public sector capacity and capability frameworks, toolkits and indexes

Authored by Ruth Puttick

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UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, policy report no. 2024/02

 

The landscape of public sector capacity and capability frameworks, toolkits and indexes: What they do and  what we can learn

Authors:

• Ruth Puttick | Senior Research Fellow, UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP)

Reference:

Puttick, R. (2024). The landscape of public sector capacity and capability frameworks, toolkits and indexes: What they do and what we can learn. UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, Policy Report 2024/02. Available at: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/public-purpose/publications/2024/mar/public-sector-capacity-and-capability-frameworks-toolkits-indexes

About this report

The Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP) is working with Bloomberg Philanthropies to develop a new Public Sector Capabilities Index. This new index will be a global measure of where city government capabilities are strong and where critical skills must be built up. To develop our thinking and learn from existing practice, we have explored the landscape of existing capacity and capability frameworks, toolkits and indexes.

Over the past decade, there has been a rapid growth in these types of schemes that seek to measure and foster government performance. Despite their increasing ubiquity and their aspirations to help improve governments, there has been relatively little exploration and comparison of these schemes, to understand their ways of working and gauge their usefulness to governments around the world.

This paper explores 54 frameworks, toolkits and indexes to understand their geographic spread; who is funding their development; the national, regional and city-level focus; the approaches to measurement; and evidence of influence and impact on their target audiences. It draws upon these insights to identify what the forthcoming Public Sector Capabilities Index can learn to ensure it adds value to city governments and to identify where further research is needed.