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Contributions from
the Column
InWEnt News
Putting urbanisation on the agenda
Education programme fosters
public administration employees
Parliamentarians want to be involved
12/2004 |
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[ Namibia ]
Education programme fosters
public administration employees
Efficiency is part of a public administration geared towards good governance. Many African countries are hoping for international exchange by implementing their own programmes. On behalf of the German government, Capacity Building International (InWEnt) is supporting Namibia’s efforts to set up a public administration which is running efficiently and focusing on customer service.
[ By Paul Schlüter ]
A representative survey by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) of the political elite in ten African countries concludes that in most states, there is consensus on the necessity for an efficient public administration based on ethical standards. Such values are laid down in the Charter for the Public Service in Africa, for example. This was passed by 38 states of the continent during the third Pan-African Conference (PAC) in 2001. Conversely, there is no corresponding plan for training in any of the countries. Implementation strategies are in short supply. The affected persons are mostly left to their own devices.
Training and further education
Important foundations for good governance are effective public institutions, transparent public accounting and measures to combat corruption. Based on the experiences of InWEnt in establishing a Namibian association of local government bodies, the country’s commitment to the 3rd PAC and the good relations to UNDESA, InWEnt developed a further education programme for the public administration of Namibia. This was done in cooperation with the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM). The objective was to implement the principles published in the Charter for the public sector (neutrality, equal and free access to state services, transparency and so on).
The cooperation was initiated at the end of 2002. The “Ethical norms and standards in public administration” project supports the efforts of the Namibian government to establish a customer service-orientated and efficient public administration. It was initially scheduled for four years (2002 to 2005) and was funded by the German Development Ministry (BMZ).
Thus in 2002/2003, with the support of InWEnt, the handbook “Being a Public Servant in Namibia” was written. Compiled by the Efficiency and Charter-Unit of the OPM, the first print run appeared at the beginning of 2004 with 70,000 copies. On 160 richly illustrated pages in postcard format, this pocket guide gives employees in public administration helpful basic information for all work situations.
Eight chapters are dealing with issues ranging from the political structure to reform attempts in the public service, customer service focus, the basics of labour law etc. Meanwhile, the ministries in Windhoek are making an electronic version of the book available for the Intranet. That means it can be updated at any time.
At the same time, InWEnt and OPM developed teaching materials on some of the topics in the handbook. It should benefit the training and further education of case managers, middle management and - in the medium term – management in the ministries.
Customer service
A training course was put together for new employees: they are systematically introduced to their scope of duties in 16 training modules. There are units on the image of public service, complaints about the conduct of a public servant and gender equality etc.
A further training course on customer service is currently being put together. It contains a video which illustrates the different conduct of civil servants towards citizens. For example, it shows the difficulties a family has to struggle with when applying for social services and how an administration geared towards customer satisfaction does look like.
Furthermore, OPM and InWEnt carry out training courses to ensure the topics dealt with in the handbook and the teaching materials that go with it are in fact introduced and implemented. They target the disseminators from the ministries and other public administration institutions. In the coming years, the trainers should be employed in their ministries as disseminators of both courses.
Whether and to what extent other countries in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) can also benefit from Namibia's experiences will be a subject of next year's evaluation of the project.
Paul Schlüter
works in the AdministrativePolicy / Security Policy
division of InWEnt.
paul.schlueter@inwent.org
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