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• Participants commend Commonwealth workshop on public sector reform

Participants commend Commonwealth workshop on public sector reform

27 March 2007

The CFTC seminar explored priority needs, case studies and best practices on the theme of 'leadership and change in the public sector'

Senior government officials who attended a recent public sector reform workshop in Wellington, New Zealand, have said they learned a lot of good skills that will be helpful in their day to day work.

About forty participants attended the 12th annual Commonwealth Advanced Seminar earlier this month to learn about leadership roles and share experiences in public sector reform.

“Extensive inputs from participants have broadened my knowledge on what is happening in Commonwealth countries. I was impressed by what I saw at two New Zealand public sector sites we visited, and learned how they raise revenue and interact with the community,” said Jennifer Musonda, Permanent Secretary of Copper Province in northern Zambia.

“These were good lessons to compare with and we are already planning to implement some in my country, like having a unit to monitor the public sector reform programmes.”

Vijay Lutchemee Ramsamy, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Labour and Industrial Relations in Mauritius, stated: “The seminar was informative, and the different experiences and learning what’s happening in other countries were an eye opener. New Zealand was an interesting example to draw upon.”

Nigeria’s Deputy Director for Bureau of Public Service Reforms, Anthonia Ekpa, commented: “Now I know the benefits of carrying out a stakeholder analysis before policies are implemented.”

Participants valued the opportunity to learn about challenges in other developing countries, visit public sector organisations in New Zealand that demonstrate service delivery in action, and to take part in a workshop on e-governance.

“The objective was to enable participants to understand the process of organisational change, learn from the unique New Zealand reform experience and develop action plans for their government or organisation,” said John Wilkins, Public Sector Management Adviser and Head of the Special Programme Section in the Commonwealth Secretariat’s Governance and Institutional Development Division, which organised the seminar.

The event also featured a two-day symposium on good governance -- covering the basic institutions of accountability such as parliament, the budget process, the civil service and public participation.

The seminar was supported by the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Co-operation in collaboration with the Victoria University of Wellington and the New Zealand Agency for International Development.