Survey tools for assessing performance in service delivery

This chapter explains how micro surveys can be used to measure performance in service delivery. It introduces two new survey tools - the public expenditure tracking survey and the quantitative service delivery survey-and summarizes why, where, and how they have been applied to-date. In countries with weak accountability systems, budget allocations tend to be a poor proxy for services actually reaching intended beneficiaries. These survey techniques - beyond measuring leakage of funds - allow us to study the mechanisms responsible for leakage. The data from these surveys can also be used to analyze incentives for and the performance of frontline providers in government and the private sector.