Exploring Administrative Capacity and Local Governance in the Peruvian Waste Sector: Implications for Complex Service Delivery in the Global South

Abstract

Municipalities in the Global South confront significant implementation challenges for the delivery of services, especially as service complexity increases. Waste management, which includes services of different complexity such as simple waste collection and complex waste disposal, is a useful sector to study. This article conducts an exploratory case study in four Peruvian municipalities to learn about the relationship between administrative capacity, political influence, and civil society participation and the performance of two waste services. The findings highlight the need to more closely consider service-specific administrative capacity in future research on performance, particularly when analyzing more complex services. Accounting for service complexity may also be important for practitioners when planning measures to strengthen administrative capacity.