All Africa Public Sector Innovation Awards open

The African Union and the 6th Pan African Conference of Ministers for Public Service, the organisers of the awards, yesterday urged government sectors to participate in the 2010 awards.

Promoting best practice

The awards aims to promote best practices in public sector innovation and service delivery by rewarding the achievements of public servants and their partners, the AU said in a statement issued in Kampala on Wednesday. "AAPSIA recorgnises successful, innovative and effective service delivery project initiatives achieved through the African continent," the AU said.

Categories for the awards comprise; Innovative Service Delivery Improvements, Innovative Partnership between Government, Private Sector and Civil Society Organisation, Innovations in the Systems and Processes of Governance.

Training worth R20,000

Last year South Africa's CIDA City Campus, a tertiary education institution, took the Public Sector Innovator of the Year and Innovative Service Delivery Institutions. The Electronic Contracts Register, Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, in Gauteng, won the Innovative enhancements on Internal Systems within Government while the Education Management Information System Online, the Free State Department of Education, scooped the Innovative use of Information Technology for Effective Service Delivery.

The finalists received certificates and training worth R20,000. The category winners received a trophy while the innovator of the year received R40,000 for a study trip, in South Africa or abroad. Application for the 2010 awards will close on 31 July.