Our Work

Our work covers a wide spectrum, ranging from building capacity following specific requests from member countries, to Commonwealth-wide programmes in response to mandates from Heads of Government in areas such as: information and communication technologies for development, corporate governance, stronger local government and effective public financial management.

This includes:

• Building technical and managerial ability of individuals, systems and processes in public institutions to help them continuously improve their performance.
• Strengthening public service training institutes to close gaps in the skills of people working in public services.
• Developing the effective use of information and communication technology strategies in the public sector.

We provide assistance on developing institutions; training public sector workers and building the capacity of organisations. We also place experts to work in government departments with local counterparts, provide advice, diagnose problems and develop plans of action.

• On a Commonwealth-wide level, we work on broad areas of policy within public sectors. For example, diagnosing financial management of governments.
  
• On a regional level, our work focuses on performance management programmes which are relevant to a number of Commonwealth countries.
  
• On a national level, our in-country work looks at issues facing individual institutions or a single government.

Working with others:

The Secretariat works with civil society organisations and other Commonwealth organisations and associations, and builds partnerships to support the needs of governments and provide essential assistance.

For example, we work with the UK’s Department for International Development to place high court judges and prosecutors in The Gambia, Malta and Sierra Leone to strengthen their judiciaries and promote the rule of law.

Another example is our collaboration with the Government of Singapore which involves conducting training programmes for member countries in a range of areas that promote good governance, public sector reform and administration.

Our challenges:

Many Commonwealth countries face challenges from:

• Limited resources and finance to provide effective public services.
• Lack of trained officials in key areas.
• Lack of knowledge and technology to enhance their ability to deliver public services.
  
• Lack of coherent policies between various government ministries and institutions.
• Retention of public servants and manpower.
• Planning and impact of HIV/AIDs on work force.

We meet these challenges by:

• establishing coherent frameworks tailored to a country’s circumstances that contribute to accountable, transparent and gender sensitive public institutions and governing bodies.
• helping countries ensure that public services are delivered through collaborations with public, private and civil society organisations according to international standards.
• developing national e-governance strategies and policy frameworks implemented in support of a country’s priorities.
• assisting public service leaders and enhance professional public services by boosting human resource skills.
• strategic human resources management and planning.