Achieving better outcomes for public services

NRU
July 30, 2014

A new report from the Mowat Centre recommends outcomes-based funding to improve the social impact of government-funded programs. Prepared by Jennifer Gold and Matthew Mendelsohn through the centre’s Shifting Gears research partnership with KPMG, the report considers the global trend toward outcomes-based program funding at a time of rising expectations for effectiveness and accountability in an environment of fiscal restraint.

A full copy of the report, Better Outcomes for Public Services: Achieving Social Impact Through
Outcomes-Based Funding can be downloaded here.

Arguing that outcomes-based funding has tremendous potential to improve frontline services, the authors note that significant capacity-building must be undertaken by government to realize its potential. The report identifies three key obstacles government may face in its efforts to improve service delivery: measuring program effectiveness, identifying effective program improvements at the outset of funding and ensuring the alignment of program goals for multiple stakeholders.

The report also makes recommendations on how government can make organizational changes to facilitate the success of an outcomes-based funding model in spite of its challenges.