• Commonwealth:
• Enhancing leadership competencies in public management

Enhancing leadership competencies in public management

20 June 2008

CFTC seminar benefits Commonwealth senior public executives

Twenty-two senior managers from across the Commonwealth picked up useful knowledge and practices about implementing public sector reform and improving service delivery at a seminar in Canada supported by the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Co-operation.

The Commonwealth Executive Programme in Public Management, which was held in Toronto from 2 to 13 June 2008, offered a platform for participants to examine leading practices in the design, development and delivery of government programmes and policies. The seminar, which was co-organised with York University’s Schulich Executive Education Centre, Canada, looked at leadership, teamwork, policy development, project management, risk management and negotiation skills, among other topics.

The participants, who were mainly permanent secretaries, came from The Bahamas, Belize, Jamaica, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Sri Lanka, Swaziland, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zambia, Anguilla, British Virgin Islands, Montserrat, and Turks and Caicos Islands.

John Wilkins, the Commonwealth Secretariat’s Adviser on Public Sector Management, said that these senior officials learned and examined how governments are changing the ways in which they operate.

“Participants explored the relationship between the political and bureaucratic sides of government. They discussed ways to manage and finance large projects and manage risks in decision-making. They also honed their negotiating skills and developed a deeper understanding about leadership. They were able to share experiences, issues and ideas with their counterparts from all over the Commonwealth,” reported Mr Wilkins.

To enable the participants to turn their training into action, they were encouraged to draw up action plans for implementation in their respective public sector organisations covering a range of issues such as change management, public sector reform, human resource planning and project management.

This successful pan-Commonwealth programme is in its ninth year.