UN injects US$2 million towards African governance

The Steering Committee of the 5th Pan African Conference of Ministers on Public/Civil Service on Friday approved the consolidated Work Plans and Implementation Strategy for the Preparatory Assistance Programme.

The Steering Committee intends to advance the objectives of capacity building and the transformation of the African public service.

“This money will be used to fund prioritised high impact activities within the African Governance and Public Administration Programme,” said South African Minister of Public Service and Administration Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi on Friday.

Transforming African public service

The minister – in her capacity as Chairperson of the conference, chaired the Steering Committee Meeting on the Preparatory Assistance programme for the African Governance and Public Administration Programme (AGPAP).

The AGPAP is driven by African Ministers of Public/Civil Service which operates within the overall structure of the African Union (AU).

In her address, Fraser-Moleketi said: “This continental Governance and Public Administration programme is about transforming the African public service through a collective effort to support capacity building initiatives around the continent.

“These Ministerial gatherings present us with an important platform to pull our resources and collectively resolve to confront the many challenges we face on the continent.”

She added that the Ministerial Bureau plays an important role in providing continued leadership to the continental programme and said the committee would make use of the opportunity given to it to share and exchange information.

Developing AMDIN

“These include developing coordination mechanisms between continental, sub-regional and national programmes for public service transformation and building the African Management Development Institute's Network (AMDIN) as a vehicle for capacity development, developing long term African governance and public service transformation as well as building coordinated and integrated capacity development strategies,” she said.

Supporting the African Governance and Administration Programme of the All Africa Conference of Ministers for Public/Civil Service is in alignment with the UNDP Capacity Development Strategy for Africa.

The Preparatory Assistance Grant by the UNDP includes the development of long term support to the AGPAP for the period 2008-2011 and to provide effective support to the implementation of urgent activities under the AGPAP.

According to the Ministry for Public Service and Administration, the meeting allocated over US$700,000 for the work of AMDIN, which is regarded as a major player in the development of public administration capacity across the African continent.

Award innovation

In addition, money has been set aside to enhance public sector innovation across the continent through an Awards Programme as well as to facilitate a process that will see the current African Public Service Charter ratified as an official AU document that will commit all member states to adherence of its clauses.

The work of the Ministers' Conference under the AGPAP comprises eight thematic areas.

To ensure ownership and buy-in by member states, several African countries have been tasked to champion different thematic areas of the programme.

The Steering Committee meeting comprises the AU Commission, South Africa which chairs the Africa Governance and Public Administration Programme, Mauritius as the Champion for All-Africa Public Service Innovation Awards, Algeria as Champion for Africa Public Service Charter, Namibia as the Champion for Africa Public Service Day and Nigeria as Champion for Anti-Corruption, AMDIN and NEPAD.

Article published courtesy of BuaNews