The International Civil Service Effectiveness (InCiSE) project was first established in 2016 and produced two editions of the InCiSE Index in 2017 and 2019 (read more). The Covid-19 pandemic presented challenges to civil services around the world that had not been faced in decades. Emerging from the pandemic, civil services are grapling with a range of complex issues, including climate change and the rise of artificial intelligence, and in many countries governments are reviewing their approach to running and reforming their civil service.
To help senior officials, those leading reform efforts and those who hold civil service leaders to account, the Blavatnik School of Government is re-establishing the InCiSE project to support efforts to benchmark the effectiveness of civil services and enable a data-driven approach to peer learning.
Alongside a new edition of the InCiSE Index, through 2024 we will be consulting stakeholders to review the InCiSE framework and develop a longer-term vision for the future of the project.
A new edition of the InCiSE Index
Building on the approach of the 2019 edition of the InCiSE Index we are aiming to publish a new edition of the Index in 2024 with interactive data visualisation tools so users can explore in-depth the data about the civil service in their country and peers.
The 2019 edition of InCiSE covered 38 countries in the OECD and EU, as part of our efforts to develop a new edition of the Index we are actively considering how we can expand the coverage and benchmarking to a wider range of countries.
Reviewing the InCiSE framework
The theoretical framework behind the InCiSE framework was originally developed in 2016 following a literature review and in consultation with many experts, including academics from schools of government, think-tanks that monitor government effectiveness, international organisations, senior civil servants (past and present) and subject matter experts.
The purpose of the framework is to define a common approach for assessing the effectiveness of civil services (particularly at the national/federal level). The world is a markedly different place in the eight years since the framework was first developed including, but not limited to, the Covid-19 pandemic, the rise of the Net Zero agenda, and increasing public awareness of the artificial intelligence revolution.
Throughout 2024 we will be consulting stakeholders to review and refresh the conceptual framework to ensure it remains fit for purpose as a tool for comparative analysis of civil service effectiveness.
Our longer-term vision
Our ambition is to develop InCiSE into a project that is more than just a periodic index, and that it becomes a crucial tool for stakeholders to better understand how civil services around the world compare to each other. Through this ambition, we hope that those involved in civil service reform efforts can adopt a more data-driven approach to peer learning.
History
From 2016 to 2019, the International Civil Service Effectiveness (InCiSE) project was a collaboration between the Blavatnik School of Government and the Institute for Government. It was supported by the UK Civil Service (through technical assistance from the Cabinet Office) and funded by the Open Society Foundations.
The collaboration published a pilot edition of the Index in 2017, in 2019 an updated edition was published that refined the methodology, increased the number of metrics and the range of data sources used.
Alongside the 2019 edition of the Index, two technical papers were published to assess the potential for the InCiSE Index to be used in contexts where data availability was more challenging. One paper looked at applicability in Brazil and the other in Nigeria.