March 2003 Consultative Workshop on Public Service Reform in Africa

PAN AFRICAN CONFERENCE OF MINISTERS AND ADMINISTRATIVE HEADS OF PUBLIC SERVICE MINISTRIES AND DEPARTMENTS.

Public Sector Institutional Capability for African Renewal
BACKGROUND

Most African countries continue to face major challenges in reforming their institutions to increase their effectiveness and efficacy in delivering public services. This is despite the fact that the past decade has seen huge resources allocated and spent on public service reform interventions. On the dawn of the 21^st century, where the majority of African citizens continue to face harsh socio-economic conditions, it has become even more imperative for African leadership to increase and reaffirm their commitment to achieving sustainable development, eradicating poverty and ultimately, attain African prosperity. While achieving such a vision requires the participation of multiple stakeholders such as civil society, the private sector and national constituencies, the role of state institutions cannot be underscored in shaping the framework and driving interventions that enable Africans to address their socio-economic challenges. Unfortunately states institutions have in most instances, been ineffective in delivering on their responsibilities, mainly because of weak administration systems, minimal institutional capacities and ineffective reform processes. There has also been very little formal knowledge and sharing of reform experiences between African decision-makers, despite the fact that most states face similar challenges.

In recent years however, African leaders have increased the momentum to revitalize the discourse on the institutional reform and begin to more vigorously shape and drive Africa’s capacity development and reform agenda. This has been reflected in various programmes and fora, including the Pan African ministers meeting in February 2001, held in Windhoek, Namibia and the March 2001 Heads of Public Service consultative forum held in Arusha, Tanzania. African leaders and others in the continent involved in public institution reform activities are now, more than ever, becoming explicit about the need to being more proactive in driving reform processes within the continent on the basis of an African derived vision and African states’ institutional needs. They are leading processes to identify Africa’s institutional strengths, challenges and increasing efforts to integrate, collaborate in resource mobilization and take joint responsibility for Africa’s institutional development. It is in this spirit, of continuing the engagement for increasing institutional capabilities for Africa’s renewal and development, that this consultative conference is being organized.

OBJECTIVES AND PURPOSE

As a follow up to, amongst others, the Pan Africa Ministers meeting held in Namibia in 2001 and the Administrative Heads meeting held in Tanzania, the primary aim of the conference is to clearly define the priorities and plans for Africa’s long-term agenda for public institutional reform. The conference seeks to achieve the following objectives:

To develop a common understanding of public sector reform efforts and challenges confronted across the continent.

To defining the long-term agenda for public sector institutional reform in Africa and develop an African reform agenda and perspective

To share lessons learned from specific experiences and identify centres of excellence in particular areas so as to enhance information and knowledge exchange.

To identify short-term interventions for capacity development that can be instituted across the continent in support of the overall renewal effort.

To identify long-term priority areas for further research, knowledge and innovation to feed into capacity development interventions.

It is envisaged that through the discourse and decisions taken regarding these broad areas, clear plans that strengthen and converge with current public service reform processes will emerge and serve as a baseline for further dialogue and assessment of African institutional development.

CONFERENCE CONTENT AND SUB-THEMES

The overall thematic content of the workshop will focus on Institutional Capability for African Renewal. Such a focus is in line with a renewed focus on building the capability of state institutions that emerges within the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD). In line with the conference theme, its is expected that expert input solicited and the resultant dialogue will be shaped by the following specific conference sub-themes:

THE STATUS OF AFRICAN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION INSTITUTIONS.

Strategies cannot be developed for strengthening reform efforts without baseline comparative data on the current status of institutions. How do African states’ institutional capacities compare to one another – i.e. in terms of the number of civil servants in place, levels of governance, types of and functions of regulatory institutions in place? What trends and gaps can be identified in terms of available data on African state institutions and their reform processes?

THE STATUS OF REFORM IN AFRICAN STATE INSTITUTIONS

Capacity development priorities cannot be identified and current challenges will not be met unless there is a common understanding of the present location and phase/s of reform of African State institutions. While there is a broad and general understanding amongst African leaders, concrete data on the quality of reforms must inform long and short - term reform priorities. What trends can be identified to properly locate the current status of African institutional reform? What are the specific challenges countries are facing and how are they addressing them? What strategies and tools have proven to be effective and which ones have not? How can African countries collaborate and/ or replicate similar tools and processes?

KNOWLEDGE SHARING AND REGIONAL COLLABORATIONS AND DIALOGUE ON INSTITUTIONAL REFORM

It has been noted in previous Pan African meetings, that public service officials encounter similar challenges in their reform processes, but opportunities to share experiences and learn from other states’ experiences has been limited. Without increased dialogue in this respect, the extent to which the present common vision for and commitment to Africa’s prosperity can be realized through effective implementation by state institutions will be skewed and limited. In this respect, it is critical to understand, for instance, what innovations are currently underway and should be strengthened for increased knowledge and information exchanges between public service officials. What knowledge and experience should be shared between officials and what are the most optimum mechanisms for this to take place?

PRIORITIES FOR INSTITUTIONAL AND HUMAN CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT IN THE PUBLIC SERVICE

Although there is broad commitment to the spirit and principles reflected in the African Charter on Public Service and Administration, specific implementation activities to realize the aspirations of the Charter have not been developed. Initiatives such as regional workshop on Building E-Governance Capacity in African countries and other programmes focused on state institutional capacity development have been initiated. The sustainability of efforts to strengthen the capacity of state institution hinges on ensuring that, as much as possible, they are integrated and duplication is avoided. As such, it is critical to identify areas of convergences between initiatives and develop Africa wide priorities for institutional and human resource capacity development.

DEVELOPING SUSTAINABLE RESOURCE MOBILIZATION STRATEGIES

As part of the preparations for the workshop, data reflecting current donor resourcing of public service reform processes is current being collected and analysed. On the basis of this information and projected future [donor] priorities decision makers will be better positioned to assess the viability of resourcing planned programmes and also be well placed to develop strategies for further optimizing resource utilizatioion

CONFERENCE METHODOLOGY

The conference will be organised over three (3) days.

In the first one and half days, presentations will be sought from public sector reform experts from across the continent and from participating Ministers and Administrative Heads. This will be the open session of the conference and invitation will be issued too experts and regional/global organisations involved in public sector reform. In addition, its expected that presentation(s) will be made on a selection of case studies on public sector reform from across the continent.

During the second half of day two, the Administrative Heads will deliberate on short and long-term strategies for public sector reform across the continent. In preparation for this, the organising team will develop the relevant documents for prior distribution and consultation. The outcomes of the deliberations and the finalized documents are directed at informing continental, regional and national public sector reform initiatives. In addition, it is expected that the Administrative Heads will finalise the declaration of the conference.

During the last day of the conference, the focus would be on finalising priority short and long-term continental programme to support reform efforts across the continent. The short and long-term priorities will be presented by a representative(s) nominated by the participating Administrative Heads. It is expected that deliberations on the priority plan and the conference declaration will be completed by lunch of the third day.

Briefing Sessions or Exhibitions/ Showcases will be used to enable critical stakeholders engaged in public administration and management capacity building, policy analysis, research and institution building to showcase their work and experience. The emphasis will be on sharing innovations and current thinking on thematic workshop areas that may not be formally addressed during the plenary sessions of the workshop, but which may be of interest to participants.

CONFERENCE OUTPUT

At the end of the workshop, participants will have agreed on the key priority areas and strategies for implementing activities for African public service reform, both in the long and short term. In addition, participants will have a more informed and research based understanding of their respective country’s comparative status in institutional reform as well as where resources have been and are expected to be channelled for future reform interventions. Hence, they will be more equip to develop strategies for further regional and institutional collaborations to strengthen knowledge sharing and increase opportunities for more effective resource mobilisation for their reform processes.

CONFERENCE PARTICIPANTS

The workshop will be attended by senior state decision-makers and policy makers (Ministers and Administrative Heads of Public Service/ Public Sector Reform or equivalent Ministers and Administrative Heads) engaged in informing and driving the implementation of public service reform. Invitations for the open part of the conference and for relevant conference engagements will be issued to experts and relevant regional and continental organisations. Major international donors and representatives from relevant multilateral organisations will also be present to further enrich the dialogue and understanding between African leaders’ priorities and strategies for driving Africa’s institutional reform processes.

LANGUAGE

All workshop documentation will be available in English, French and Arabic. The workshop will be facilitated in both English and French, with simultaneous translation.

VENUE AND DATE

The conference is planned for the 24^th to the 26^th March 2002 in Cape Town, South Africa. Details pertaining to the conference logistics, accommodation and logistics will be forwarded separately. Costs for accommodation and travel to Cape Town will be born by participants.