What makes frontline duty bearers act with integrity?

This research summary provides 10 key takeaways from Integrity Action’s research into the conditions and approaches that influence teachers and health workers to deliver services with integrity.1 Please refer to the full report for additional details.

Frontline duty-bearers, such as teachers and healthcare workers, provide essential services to citizens. But in too many places, those services fall below the standard to which citizens are entitled. Given the critical role played by these duty-bearers, Integrity Action commissioned this research to explore what enables and inspires them to act with integrity in their work.

How was it done? The research targeted teachers and healthcare workers, as well as their direct managers. It also received inputs from CSO staff that work closely with them, representatives of governmental institutions, and sectoral experts. It combined a literature review with surveys, interviews, and focus-country work in Kenya and Nepal.

The research asked two questions: 1. What conditions are most important for enabling or inspiring duty-bearers to act with integrity? 2. What approaches have the most potential to create or strengthen these conditions? What do we mean by integrity? The research defined integrity in line with Integrity Action’s theory of change, by breaking it down into three key pillars: responsiveness to citizens, equity in service delivery, and  transparency about plans and performance.

Participation is another key pillar of integrity but is rather a mechanism to enact and strengthen the other three pillars.