CIFAL Newcastle - Strengthening Public Service Performance
The Kenya Public Service Commission has identified priority needs in the areas of values and ethics, public service productivity and developing capacity for policy analysis and formulation.
The aim of the 2013 Public Service Commission (PSC) internal restructure is to align with the 2010 constitutional mandate that PSC transform its capacity. One of the most pressing problems that they are currently experiencing is tackling the challenges associated with devolving public services from the Federal to the Local level. The sheer size of PSC brings significant challenges affecting organized behaviour and systemic congruence across government levels (from central to 47 counties). If not addressed in the near future, the lack of capacity and capability in these three areas will become a serious threat to the success of devolution in Kenya with long-term ramifications for the country’s social and political stability.
Four areas of improvement have been identified by the PSC; these platforms are the knowledge domains embedded in the program:
Performance Management: To develop effective means and measures of service delivery
Public Service Productivity: To build competency in managing change through a values driven public service
Public Service Ethics and Values: To build ethical competence of public servants as a managerial competency that is values driven
Public Policy Formulation and Implementation: To develop skills relating to the policy process: assessing, interpreting, developing and implementing policy.
The aims of the Program are as follows:
To support the PSC to build capacity and capability necessary to discharge its mandate efficiently and effectively. Each cohort will gain knowledge and skills necessary to build a culture of innovation, change and continuous improvement
To address PSC identified needs in: Performance Management, Public Service Productivity, Public Service Ethics and Values, Public Policy Formulation and Implementation.
To provide a context for applied research collaboration initiatives in governance, public service performance and public policy.
To support the PSC in assessing performance towards Sustainable Development Goals:
SDG 10: Reduce inequality within and among countries
SDG 16: Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
Subsequent cohorts will be selected on merit and will be drawn from senior managerial roles in the PSC: Policy Makers (Commissioners), Senior Managers (Directors), Middle-Level Managers (Deputy and Assistant Directors). In all years 50% of the cohort will be women and involvement in the program will strongly contribute to their professional development. Year one cohort includes 8 men and 7 women. Subsequent years will include fellows with disabilities.
This whole of government approach for effective governance will be flexibly delivered through seminars and formal lectures supported by site visits to key federal, state and local public service entities involving experiential learning and roundtable talks with experts and counterparts in public service roles and mentorship.
Strong focus will be placed on:
A) Values and Ethics: A values driven public service can be a self-sustaining one capable of ridding itself of behavioural resistance to change and barriers to the reform for efficiency and productivity;
B) Public Service Productivity: There is a need for greater efficiency in the public sector at a time of spending reductions and increased pressure on services. The importance of efficiency goes beyond saving money as Government (public sector) output constitutes a significant percent of the GDP and efforts to boost economy-wide productivity must include the public sector and public services.
C) Developing Capacity for Policy Analysis and Formulation: Little attention has been given to professional development in the PSC of the policy process and how it affects the ability of policy makers to meet the needs of citizens in an increasingly complex, uncertain and unpredictable system of government.
Debriefing sessions after each site visit will take place where fellows identify key features that stood out, compare these to the Kenyan process, and reflect on application. After the Australian content is delivered Fellows are to submit a reflection document post-departure to provide feedback on learning, sum up the reflections made, and identify how they have incorporated knowledge gained through the program and applied it to their roles. A post-departure briefing by the program coordinators will be held in Nairobi approximately 8 weeks after their return.
Public Sector bureaucrats.