Working Towards Meeting the Challenges of PRBM

• Posted by Modou S. Joof on March 21, 2010 at 6:02pm
• View Modou S. Joof's blog

Banjul, The Gambia (TNBES) The concept paper asks, "How can government institutions and state agencies in Africa meet the challenges of Performance and Result-Based Management (PRBM)?" or what should be done to make government institutions, public institutions, public enterprises and all other state entities perform highly and effectively to fulfill their assigned missions?

However, a three-day training for Civil Servants on National Focal Point on Performance of Resource Based Management in the African Public Sector Institutions and State Agencies held in Banjul from 15^th to 17^th March 2010, seeks to address the challenges the PRBM and enhance high and effective performance of public institutions and enterprise in Africa.

The training which is organised by the African Training and Research Centre in Administration for Development (CAFRAD), the Islamic Research and Training Institute (IRTI), the Personnel Management Office (PMO)
and the Management Development Institute (MDI) also seeks to look at the
Implementation strategies, challenges and practical solutions.

The Secretary General and Head of the Civil Service, Dr. Njogu Bah in his address said two policy options remain open to African countries, like their South-East Asian counterparts who faced similar challenges
in the past; to either modernize their management and governance strategies or
keep the status quo.

“African countries should summon the needed determination and political will and opt for the rapid modernization and reform of their development strategies and embrace new techniques for the management of their
public institutions and state agencies,” Dr. Bah suggests.

He said the vision of the civil service is to be "a professional and dynamic, efficient and effective, proactive and productive. A civil service that is flexible and adaptive to change and innovation, capable
not only of formulating sound policies but also of translating these policies
into tangible results,” he stated.

that the training coincides with the execution of Gambia’s Civil Service Reform Programme, as a framework to assist the nation in its efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and Vision 2020.

“The Gambia civil service must undergo reforms that will transform it into an organization to enable the government to deliver. A public service culture in modern times requires values of fair play, efficiency and
accountability,” he said.

However, he argued that without this mindset and without a commitment to professional standards, resource management, resource mobilization and social interventions, reforms and development cannot be
effectively executed for efficient service delivery.

According to him, his own commitment to the theme of the workshop is immeasurable given the critical task of ensuring that the public servants are effective and are accountable in the executive of their duties.

According to him, by 2020, the civil services aims to be lean, composed of the right staff, appropriately deployed; well paid and motivated to perform; capable of carrying out the task assigned; accountable to
government and ordinary citizens; and adequately funded to achieve departmental
objectives.

“The importance of performance and Results-Based Management within the context of policy failures and crises of public administration in Africa cannot be overemphasized. Public services and institutions at all levels
of governance, from local to global, are set up to fulfill certain missions and
achieve certain results that correspond to the needs of the population, in relation
to their development agendas,” he said.

In this vein, he noted that the management of public institutions must focus on the need to meet targeted results. Our development partners have recognized the importance of PRBM and other measurement tools to
ensure accountability, efficiency and effectiveness and the African civil
service needs to do the same. Vol:2 Issn:132