This brief lays out a case for better diagnostics capable of identifying specific governance constraints to service delivery in a way that can inform policy and programming decisions aimed at improving sector outcomes.

In all countries, the wider governance environment influences the delivery of basic services. This fact helps to explain why, despite increases in resources and improvements to formal systems, service delivery outcomes may still not improve. It also suggests that, through processes of political change and transformation, improvements in service delivery outcomes may be possible.

Yet, despite a significant and growing body of work on the politics of service delivery, we have not yet developed a sufficient understanding of the relationships between various features of the governance and political context and the delivery of services, and their implications for policy and practice.