A KEY CHALLENGE FOR GOVERNMENTS AT ALL LEVELS

Service delivery in rural areas is more costly than in urban areas - a key challenge for governments at all levels. Rural policy needs to act as a platform coordinating national and sub-national resources to guarantee access to services and to identify public goods that are conducive to economic development.

However, the higher costs must be weighed against the benefits to a small share of the total population along with the overall benefits to society. 

THE MAIN CHALLENGES: 

• Lower density populations,
  
  
• Larger distances that have to be travelled by service users and service providers,
  
  
• Small numbers of people in any location that preclude economies of scale.

STRATEGIES TO IMPROVE RURAL SERVICE DELIVERY 

• Placing end users at the community level are an integral part of the process; They are far better odds of providing services that are useful in the community and of providing them in a cost-effective way.
  
  
• Consolidation of services - concentrating customers on a smaller number of service locations.
  
  
• Co-location of services - basic overhead costs such as energy, security and administrative expenses, can be pooled, generating economies of scale.
  
  
• Merging similar services - merge similar or substitute services and combines them into a single entity. 
  
  
• Alternative delivery options - where the demand for services is widely dispersed, it may be more efficient to bring the service to the user. e.g. mobile library services,  dental clinics, and doctors.
  
  
• Community-based solutions for different types of providers - volunteer fire departments, community owned shops.
  
  
• Geolocation facilitates matching between the supply of and demand for services.

THE FACTORS IMPACTING THE COST OF RURAL SERVICE DELIVERY 

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STRATEGIES TO IMPROVE RURAL SERVICE DELIVERY