Who guarantees, who pays and who delivers?

Four functions, four questions

1. 01

   Guarantee

   QuestionWhat right or standard of access will be assured?

   Why it mattersDefines responsibility towards the person.

2. 02

   Fund

   QuestionWho pays, how much and under what rule?

   Why it mattersDefines the distribution of costs and continuity.

3. 03

   Provide

   QuestionWho provides the service or delivers the output?

   Why it mattersAllows comparison of capacity, quality and cost.

4. 04

   Regulate and evaluate

   QuestionWho sets requirements, verifies and corrects?

   Why it mattersPrevents the provider from being the sole judge of its own performance.

Public funding can coexist with provision by different types of organisation where the legal framework and service design permit. This does not automatically resolve quality: contracts, oversight capacity, access and the treatment of complex cases remain decisive.

Good public provision is also possible. The criterion should be verifiable outcomes within established rights and available resources.

What needs to work together

Foundational capabilities

Basic education, health, safety, sanitation, mobility and information improve the conditions for choice.

Protection against risks

Illness, loss of income, disability, ageing and care needs require mechanisms with explicit coverage and funding.

An environment for initiative

Understandable rules, competition, infrastructure, training, responsible credit and legal certainty make it easier to work and start businesses.

Accountable power

Justified decisions, a visible budget, monitored implementation, independent evaluation and a real opportunity to challenge decisions.

These components reinforce one another but use administrative capacity and resources. Implementing all of them simultaneously may jeopardise them all.

The complete journey matters

Imagine someone who cares for a relative, partly depends on an income transfer and intends to start a small business.

They need to understand what changes in their benefit, access care compatible with their working hours, know the business's obligations, resolve problems without visiting several agencies and have some protection if the attempt fails.

Quick business registration helps. Its usefulness will be limited if the rest of the journey remains unworkable.

This story is illustrative, not a statistically representative family. It shows why policies should be examined together, without attributing to a single instrument an outcome produced by several.

A framework for examination, not a ready-made solution

OpenGov3 investigates a combination of reliable essential services, protection against major risks and freedom to work, start a business and choose. This is an institutional design hypothesis consistent with its values, not a proven ideal model.

Coverage, capacity, transition costs and the distribution of responsibilities still need to be defined in each application. Separating functions helps us ask better questions; it does not replace evaluation and funding.