Building Capacity

We assist member countries with their public sector development capacity building needs through specialised advisory and consultancy services. We help national governments to transform their public services into responsive, citizen focused, results oriented, sustained and effective service delivery systems.

For example, we helped to strengthen the political-administrative interface through organising joint workshops between cabinet ministers and permanent secretaries in Belize, Grenada, Mozambique, St Lucia, Swaziland and Lesotho. We also hold annual forums that bring the heads of public services/cabinet ministers together to network, share best practices on public sector issues and promote comparative research.

In Malaysia, the Secretariat is facilitating regional diplomatic training for foreign service officials at the Malaysian Institute of Diplomacy and Foreign Relations in Kuala Lumpur.

In Pakistan, we are funding a meeting of Heads of Staff Colleges of Bangladesh, Brunei, India, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapore and Sri Lanka at the National Management College, Lahore, aimed at strengthening and fostering institutional linkages.

In collaboration with the Government of India, we are supporting a regional programme in Asia focusing on the Right to Information. Since 1997, more than 50 countries have formally adopted freedom of information legislation, including India with its 2005 Right to Information Act. To ensure successful application of the Act, the government organised many seminars, workshops and training programmes. The government has developed a vast resource base which can used to promote freedom of information initiatives in other Commonwealth countries.