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The SAPs were often regarded as imposed by donors; policy-makers often saw them as a cause rather than a solution to financial problems (Woodford 2004). Animal health policy-makers were technically oriented and had limited change management skills. The deregulation and deployment of para-veterinarians induced by the reforms were perceived as a threat by veterinarians. Furthermore, service delivery by less-qualified staff was constrained by unresolved issues such as how to supervise and resupply them and how to maintain effective two-way communication with supervisory veterinarians (Ahuja 2004). Privatization also resulted in a high concentration of private veterinary practices in urban centres, leaving rural areas uncovered (Woodford 2004). Moreover, in many developing countries, in the absence of a formal system, unregulated informal animal health delivery systems have evolved. Thus, in many sub-Saharan countries including Ghana, the SAP-induced reforms have brought about a reduction in quantity and/or quality of veterinary services to poor communities (Turkson and Brownie 1999, Woodford 2004) are informal and formal rules or norms actually used by a set of individuals to organize repetitive activities that produce collective outcomes (Ostrom 1992). Allocative institutions deal with the way scarce resources are distributed and/or exchanged (Weimer 2006) and relate, for example, to payment through market arrangements, but also allocative mechanisms used by the state, e.g. subsidies. Cognitive institutions refer to the common interpretive framework of meaning (Scott 1995). In the context of this study, cognitive institutions relate to the way knowledge and skills or expertise are (re)organized. For example, the transfer of technology model is a cognitive view of research and development that many agricultural scientists have adopted and used to plan and manage the innovation process (Douthwaite et al. 2001). Normative institutions comprise the values, norms, and roles which an actor experiences as social expectations, prescriptions, or moral obligations. These include regulations, enforcement mechanisms, and adherence to standards (Scott 1995). The different institutions are connected to one another in defining practices, standards, and policies (Pacheco et al. 2010). Using the categories of veterinary services outlined , we describe stakeholder responses to the decentralization and privatization dynamics for each category. Then, we examine how the diverse responses are connected to the allocative, cognitive, and normative institutional dimensions.
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