Implementation of the Service Level Benchmarking in Urban Local Authorities: The Case of the City of Harare, Zimbabwe

Abstract

Service Level Benchmarking has received much attention in local governance. However, since benchmarking within a networking environment is quite a recent phenomenon, there is a need for better understanding of the impact of these networks on fairly large municipality such as the City of Harare. This research described municipal service level benchmarking and analyzed variations in performance within the municipality over a five-year period. Data was drawn from the national Service Level Benchmarking (SLB) programme of 2013 to 2017. While the programme produced annual reports covering all the 32 urban local authorities, the funders of this national programme did not commission a programme evaluation to establish the effectiveness of SLB as a management tool in municipal service delivery. The research was carried out with a view to fill this gap and to inform the City of Harare on the effectiveness of the SLB as a management tool in urban local governance. Therefore, the objective of the study was to assess the effectiveness of the Service Level Benchmarking as a performance management tool in the City of Harare while examining the attendant challenges experienced in the implementation. The study also sought to contribute to the development of a more effective method for improving performance management in the City of Harare. The study used purposiving sampling technique comprising thirty- seven participants drawn from the Harare City Council key departments, civil society and the youths. Using a mixed methods research design, qualitative data was collected using semi-strauctured interview guide, focus group discussions (FDGs) and participant observation, while quantitative data was collected using an online survey questionnaire. The study results showed that the capacity for action-oriented use of benchmarking in the City of Harare is weak. The SLB was found to be very strong in data gathering and identifying gaps. Poor performance in service delivery was found to be caused by implementation challenges while good performances in some areas of service delivery led to reduced performance as City staffers tended to relax. Thus, the SLB actually triggered a behavior that led to average performance rather than achieving the best practice being promoted by SLB as the norm in service delivery.