servants through alternative employment—notably in the private sector and state-owned enterprises— in order to judge the relative adequacy of compensation across all grades of the civil service;

- An incentives assessment of individuals choosing civil service employment—with a particular focus on teachers and health workers—to capture non-compensation-related benefits such as daily subsistence allowances from donors and additional income sources made available through their civil service status (e.g., teachers charging for tuition);

- A diagnostic assessment of the civil service human resource management system, using a comprehensive set of qualitative and quantitative indicators that the World Bank had piloted in a number of other countries.<sup>8</sup>

The Armenia and Mongolia analyses both incorporated several of these components as well; as discussed further below.

The core Government of Lao PDR (GOL) counterpart and collaborator on this analytical work was the Public Administration and Civil Service Authority, a ministerial-level agency in the Prime Minister’s Office.<sup>9</sup> Following the ministerial-level Public Administration and Civil Service Authority’s (PACSA’s) agreement on the proposed approach, a World Bank team undertook fieldwork during the first half of 2009. The composition of the team itself is worth remarking upon, because it was essential for the innovative nature and success of the study. The task-team leader was a Poverty Reduction and Economic Management (PREM) public sector specialist who benefitted enormously from sector managers and peer reviewers with extensive civil service analysis experience and worked closely with country management representatives and sectoral colleagues based in the Vientiane office. The key international consultant on the study was an individual who had previously conducted civil service pay and wage bill analysis, and had the benefit of a professional network that could provide advice and guidance as the analytical challenges emerged.

A crucial member of the team was a Lao public sector specialist who provided nuanced country knowledge and guidance, helped in establishing credibility with government counterparts, and contributed essential Lao contacts both in and outside government. Lao interpreters also played an important role, not only by virtue of their linguistic expertise but also by serving as advisors and fixers who helped to identify and approach contacts, and gave feedback on interviews and emerging findings. Consistently relying upon the same professionals was essential, since it allowed them to become familiar with nuanced terminology as well as the subtleties of the line of questioning.

Since health and education sector workers comprise almost two-thirds of the Lao civil service, close collaboration with Bank colleagues in these sectors was essential—for defining the key contours of the analytical puzzle as well as devising methodological approaches. Based on this close collaboration, the team was able to devise dual purpose quantitative and qualitative work, in the form of the statistical worker analysis and focus groups described below, that fed into both Human Development and Poverty Reduction and Economic Management sectoral interests. Based on a successful qualitative study previously undertaken by health sector colleagues in Vientiane, the team chose to carry out the focus 8 The assessment framework was the Human Resource Management Actionable Governance Indicators instrument, developed by Gary Reid and colleagues in the World Bank’s PREM Public Sector Group. This component is outside this paper’s focus on pay reform, but findings are available in the full Lao civil service study.

9 The GOL approached the World Bank to undertake an assessment of civil service compensation, based particularly on its comparative analytical advantage in this area.

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