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Workshop Report on Strengthening Networking amongst Public Administration / Development Management Institutes
6 December 2002
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Organised by DPMF and held at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA)
 
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Opening Address
By Dr Haile-Michael Aberra, President, Ethiopian Civil Service College

Prof. Abdalla Bujra
Distinguished Scholars

It gives me great pleasure to welcome you all to this workshop on Strengthening Networking among Public Administration/Development Management Institutes (DMIs). Judging by the presence of eminent scholars in this hall, there is no doubt that the organizers of the workshop have chosen a burning issue in an increasingly borderless world. I seize this opportunity to thank the Development Policy Management Forum (DPMF), for approving the workshop topic and for organizing it at Addis Ababa.

Public Administration and Development Management Institutes (DMIs), were established in most African countries soon after their independence. Their role was to provide training, consultancy and research services to governments, with some having the mandate to extend their services to the private sector. The main target group and recipient of their services were top-level, senior and middle managers within the bureaucracy. The high profile of the participants offers opportunities for the institutes to inject new techniques and methods into public sector management. These techniques/methods, when applied on the job, could lead to more efficient and effective public services.

In addition to training, the DMIs were originally expected to serve as think tanks through research into public policy formulation and policy reforms. In recent years, this think-tank role has been relegated to the background. This is partly due to the lack of visibility of the DMIs in the policy-making arena. Almost two decades ago, DMIs were assessed as exhibiting conflict between western theory and African reality. Others believe that DMIs need to be reformed to meet the critical shortages of skills to make a significant contribution to development management in Africa. Arising from these notions, African governments preferred to look mainly to European/American consultants in the formulation of national policies. This trend was only minimized by the United Nations policy of National Execution (NEX).

This workshop is therefore a step in the right direction. Collaboration among DMIs to share experience and learn from each others substantive good practices are a first step in sustaining their relevance and ensuring the bridge between theory and practice. Tremendous strides have been made in the development of training programmes for improved public sector management. Such training programmes, which have been developed, need to be shared with other institutes so that best practices can be emulated. From my experience and research findings, many DMIs seem to concentrate on the training function to the detriment of research and consultancy. Many African DMIs are less effective in research and consulting. This is an identified area of need for possible collaboration and networking.

Institutions with known capability in these two areas should be willing to share their experience through staff exchange schemes and collaboration in conducting research. Accordingly, efforts should be initiated to carry out research in areas relevant to the public service in addition to purely theoretical research.


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