AFRICAN UNION

6TH CONFERENCE OF AFRICAN MINISTERS FOR PUBLIC/CIVIL SERVICE

THIRD SERVICE CHAMPIONS MEETING

9TH MARCH, 2010

SWAKOPMUND, WALVIS BAY, NAMIBIA

FINAL REPORT

PREAMBLE The 6th Conference of African Ministers for Public/Civil Service 3rd Service Champions meeting was held side by side with the South and East African Regional workshop in Swakopmund, Walvis Bay Namibia on 9th March, 2010 at Swakopmund Hotel and

Entertainment Centre.

The meeting was attended by delegates

from member States namely Algeria, Burundi, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Mozambique, and Tanzania. In attendance were Botswana, Zimbabwe and Specialized institution, AAPAM and Regional Economic Communities (RECs), ECOWAS and SADC. The meeting was chaired by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of State for Public Service, on behalf of the Chairperson. He welcomed the AUC, RECs, specialized institutions and Service Champions to the meeting. He also took the opportunity to thank them for their attendance.

ADOPTION OF AGENDA The Chairperson proposed the adoption of the agenda; Namibia moved the adoption and was seconded by Tanzania as follows: a) Welcome Remarks b) Report by the Secretariat c) Status of implementation of thematic areas by Service Champions d) Report to the Bureau e) Way Forward f) A.O.B 1. Report by the Secretariat The Chair of the meeting, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of State for Public Service, Kenya presented a progress report of the Ministers Programme. The scope of the presentation was as follows: a) Broadening participation by member States The meeting was informed that following the suspension of Guinea from the African Union, the West African Region had
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remained unrepresented in the Bureau of 6th CAMPS. This necessitated the Chairperson to seek a forum with the West African member States through the support of ECOWAS. The meeting appreciated that the Republic of Ghana was unanimously selected to replace Guinea in the Bureau. The meeting also noted that the current Bureau is not yet complete for lack of representation for Central African region. The Chairperson promised to continue seeking strategies to bring on board the Central Africa region. The meeting welcomed the move by the new Service Champions who agreed to Champion or Co-Champion the thematic areas following the successful meeting held by ECOWAS for the Public Service Ministers from West African region. The new Service Champions are: A. Benin Co- Champion - Public-sector anti-corruption; and, Post conflict Reconstruction and Development;

B. Burkina Faso Co- Champion - Public-sector anti-corruption; and Information Communication Technology; C. Ghana Co- Champion -Africa Public Service Day; All Public Service Innovation and Awards; and Leadership and Management Development; D. Liberia CoChampion Post conflict Reconstruction and

Development; and Africa Public Service Capacity Development; E. Senegal CoChampion Performance Monitoring Management; and Evaluation and in

Measurement Performance;

including

F. Togo Lead Champion Leadership and Management

Development; and Co- Champion - Africa Public Service Capacity Development. The following two existing Champions accepted to co-champion additional thematic areas as follows: -

G. Nigeria Co-championHuman Resource Planning and Policy

Architecture; and, Africa Public Service Capacity Development; H. United Republic of Tanzania Co-champion Public-Sector Anti-Corruption. b) Coordination of Champions The meeting noted the gradual increase of member States subscribing to the Ministers Program. This calls for a cluster of countries to work together on the same thematic area. For
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ease of coordination and implementation of activities within the Ministers Program, the meeting recommended that; Lead Champions should ensure there is proper coordination of activities for each thematic area; All Champions in respective thematic areas brought on board; and Collective decision-making between Champions regarding thematic area implementation encouraged. c) Development of management guides The meeting noted that the overall aim of the Ministers Program is to support a transformative drive of national public administration in Africa through initiation of reforms, codes and standards. To achieve this, it was agreed that the Service Champions in three thematic areas namely: Performance Management and Measurement including Monitoring and Evaluation; Human Resource Planning and Policy Architecture; and

 Leadership and Management Development, develop management guides. The meeting was informed that the purpose of the management guides is to assist member States benchmark their practices with global best practices in those three thematic areas and that the development of guides commence with regional workshops planned across the continent. The meeting appreciated that the South and East African regional workshop took place as planned. The meeting also noted that the North, Central and West African regional workshops did not take place as earlier planned. The issue of combining the regional workshop planned for Egypt and Nigeria, and venue for the meeting were discussed. It was agreed that the two workshops for the Central, North and West African regions be consolidated. Nigeria agreed to host the regional workshop in Abuja, Nigeria on 13th-15th May, 2010. d) Strengthening Capacity at African Union Commission
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The meeting noted that currently the administration of CAMPS is carried out on ad hoc basis in that each chairperson is required to establish a Secretariat to take over and manage CAMPS Program from the previous Chair. This affects effectiveness of the Ministers Program and hampers progress in implementation of agreed upon activities. The meeting challenged the Champions to make concerted and deliberate efforts to ensure that administration of CAMPS is institutionalized within the AUC structures in order to address these challenges. The meeting was informed that the Bureau in its previous meetings had approved to strengthen capacity at AUC by member States through seconding officers to the AUC at the member States cost. This decision was yet to be implemented. The meeting recommended that a study be commissioned within the next quarter to recommend on the modalities of strengthening capacity at the AUC for purposes of administration of CAMPS including funding requirements and identifying the likely sources of these funds. This Report should be submitted to champions for
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discussion before it can be tabled before the Bureau by end of June 2010. The meeting proposed that AUC/UNDP/Secretariat and ECA to carry out the study. e) Timely progress and periodical Reports The procedure and the format of presentation of various reports by champions to the Bureau and Conference of Ministers meetings was discussed and it was agreed that the service champions will be presenting their reports to the various meetings in line with the reporting format as agreed by champions and adopted by the Bureau. f) Utilization of Resources The meeting was informed that the chairpersons office had secured initial funding from UNDP amounting to USD 1.5 million grant spread over a three year period (2010 2012). These resources are being availed through a framework signed between UNDP and AUC. The meeting also requested the Bureau to consider facilitating the Rapporteur and the chairpersons secretariat to attend various

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meetings. The budget for prioritized areas (revised) was circulated. The champions were called upon to discuss its utilization. It was further agreed that a consultancy be factored in the budget to finalize the long-term strategy. The key activities to be funded include: Finalization of the Long Term Strategy of the Ministers Program; Support to networks; management development institutions and

Strengthening of the secretariat of the Ministers Conference; Supporting the national implementation of the Ministers anticorruption strategy; Supporting the Conference of Ministers; Supporting the implementation of the Africa Public Service Charter; and Support to champions in implementation of thematic areas. 2. Status of implementation Champions of thematic areas by Service

The meeting agreed that the Service Champions present status of implementation of their thematic areas to the Bureau meeting scheduled for Thursday 11th March, 2010. 3. Report to the Bureau
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The Service Champions agreed to use the reporting tool format approved during the 2nd Service Champions meeting held in Nairobi, Kenya from 2nd-3rd November, 2009 to report to the Bureau.

CONCLUSION The Chairperson expressed appreciation to the Service Champions for the good work they are doing in implementing the various thematic areas and the support they are rendering to the Ministers Programme. Dated 9th March, 2010 Swakopmund, Walvis Bay, Namibia.

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