The development management task and reform of `public' social services

With its emphasis on target-setting and performance measures, the New Public Management appears to offer a coherent and `no-nonsense' approach to public sector reform and the public management task. This article suggests that three questions require further thought: `Management of what?', `Management by whom?', and `How to manage?' It considers these questions using the case of Community Based Health Care and its promotion by NGOs in Tanzania. The article argues that the task of public management is one of managing an arena of public action which includes (and excludes) a range of actors and agendas. Once this is taken into account, it becomes clear that the challenge to all development managers is how to manage more effective interdependence.