# **4. CONCLUSION**

Despite the impact of the crisis, LiTS2 data indicate that satisfaction with public service delivery has risen over time in most countries in the region. Prevalence of unofficial payments is quite low: when respondents were asked how often it is necessary for people to make unofficial payments/gifts when using public services, a large majority reported that such payments are never needed. Nevertheless, the data show that the level of satisfaction with public service delivery in most transition countries tends to be lower than prevailing levels in western European comparator countries. Conversely, the perceived frequency of unofficial payments is higher than in comparator countries.

We find that satisfaction data on peoples‘ experiences and perceptions of service delivery quality can usefully complement more objective measures of service delivery (e.g. from facilities surveys) to help policy makers and development practitioners track progress of country programs and strategies. The data provide insights on the linkages between utilization, satisfaction and the prevalence of unofficial services, as well as the availability of grievance redress mechanisms. An important limitation is, however, that comparisons across countries or individuals must be interpreted with caution, as people may not share the same basis for comparison or have information about the level of quality and service they should be expecting. Still, perceptions data can serve as a ―call to action‖ for governments if the data reveal outcomes that fall short of expectations (or conversely indicate low expectations). It can also serve a diagnostic function: while there is increased recognition that the quality of governance and service delivery affects service delivery outcomes, the empirical evidence on those links remains limited.

How can governments in transition countries further increase citizens‘ satisfaction with service delivery? The insights gained from the LiTS2 provide clues as to how this might be achieved. First, LiTS2 data show utilization of public facilities in transition countries to be generally higher than in the western comparators; this suggests that further analysis may shed more light on the potential for efficiency and quality improvements, and the extent to which better demand management practices could free up public resources to improve quality of services. Second, the prevalence of unofficial payments in transition countries is higher than in western Europe, and is an important factor in explaining dissatisfaction with public service delivery.<sup>8</sup> Lastly, the data show that mechanisms for grievance redress in the transition regions are still relatively underdeveloped in comparison to those in the comparator countries, and should be strengthened to help provide citizen feedback to policymakers on the main problems faced when interacting with public service providers.

> 8 The inverse correlation between satisfaction on the one hand and usage rates and perceived prevalence of unofficial payments is confirmed by an Ordinary Least Squares ( _OLS)_ regression of country-level average satisfaction rates for each of the eight public services covered in the LiTS2 questionnaire. This uses as explanatory variables (i) average usage rates (that is, the percentage of respondents in the country that use that particular public service) and (ii) unofficial payments prevalence rates (the percentage who say that unofficial payments are usually or always needed for that particular service). The derived coefficients for the two explanatory variables in the regression are statistically significant at the 1 percent level.

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