The context of this note is the concernin both Uganda and Tanzania that the distribution of publicservants in both countries has been uneven, leading toinequity in the delivery of public services, with lowerquality services linked to persistent poverty in certainunderserved or hard-to-reach and stay (HTRS) areas. The notelooks in detail at the nature of the problem as it affectseducation and health services, assesses measures already inplace to tackle inequity, and makes recommendations toaddress the problem in the immediate as well as thelong-term. In focus in this note are those areas that sufferfrom having far below average numbers of public servants,and consequently far below average public services. InTanzania such areas are more commonly referred to asunder-served and again additional resources have beenallocated to them. Governments have so far responded withrelatively conventional measures, such as financialincentives for staff and improved living conditions. Whileboth of these are important, the scope and depth of theissue requires a more radical approach. A range of ideas isoffered for each country, and these are then presented in amatrix. Three priorities needs emerge for both countries: 1)to consider demand as well as supply-side measures, inparticular to strengthen Government accountability; 2) toaddress fiscal constraints by changing policies onallowances which currently favor those at the centre ofgovernment, and by giving HTRS areas greater financialmanagement flexibility; and 3) to put a time limit on theassessment of measures to fix the state, leaving open thepossibility that market mechanisms might eventually presentthe best option in dealing with inequity in public services.
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