veterinary assistants, lack of staff was the most frequently cited constraint. Among junior engineers and food inspectors, political interference was reported most frequently. Neither the work environment nor complex administrative procedures were perceived as major constraints in any of the five departments. Most agricultural extension workers and veterinary assistants ranked the human resource constraint to be strong. The political interference constraint was ranked strong by about half of the junior engineers and food inspectors and by about one-third of agricultural extension workers and the veterinary assistants (see annex table 5.A.4). Perceptions of Work Environment The work environment is important because it can create incentives for frontline staff to deliver quality services. One aspect of the work environment is satisfaction with the training opportunities that front-line professionals receive. The percentage of respondents who agree with the proposition that they have received adequate training to meet their current duties and responsibilities ranges from 56 percent among junior engineers to 90 percent among agricultural extension workers (table 5.9). For female staff, attention to gender-specific needs is an important aspect of the work environment. Most anganwadi workers believe that their department pays special attention to the needs of female staff. In contrast, only 15 percent of veterinary assistants and 20 percent of agricultural extension workers believe this is the case in their department. Merit-based recruitment and promotion are particularly important mechanisms for creating accountability within service organizations. Staff in all departments observe that hiring but not promotion is done largely on the basis of merit. In line with the general pattern, most agricultural extension workers felt that hiring in the Department of Agriculture was done fairly, with only 9 percent believing that staff were not hired purely on the basis of merit. However, only 28 percent of workers felt that promotions were granted on the basis of merit. This indicates that one of the most important mechanisms that public sector organizations can use to create accountability is not working. Sixty-four percent of anganwadi workers believe that promotion in their department is done purely on the basis of merit. All categories of workers overwhelmingly indicated that men and women had equal opportunities of promotion within the department. Given that four out of five departments had staff almost exclusively of one gender, gender differences in promotional opportunities were difficult to observe. However, all four female veterinary assistants and the lone female junior engineer in the sample agreed with the statement that promotional opportunities are equal. Payment plays an important role as a motivating factor. Only 31 percent of all workers felt that salaries in their department were commensurate with
THE SHORT ROUTE OF ACCOUNTABILITY
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