12th Pan-African Ministerial Forum on the Modernization of Public Administration and State Institutions

Transcription

1 Kingdom of Morocco African Training and Research Centre in Administration for Development Ministry of Public Service and Modernization of the Administration Original: French 12th Pan-African Ministerial Forum on the Modernization of Public Administration and State Institutions Theme: The Cultural Dimension of Responsible Public Governance in the Pursuit of the Sustainable Development Goals. organized in alongside the 54th Annual Meeting of CAFRAD s Governing Board PRELIMINARY REPORT African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) 31th May -1st June 2016 Tangier (Kingdom of Morocco)

2 PRELIMINARY REPORT 12th Pan-African Ministerial Forum on the Modernization of Public Administration and State Institutions on: The Cultural Dimension of Responsible Public Governance in the Pursuit of the Sustainable Development Goals. The proceedings of the 12th Ministerial Forum of the Modernization of Public Administration on The Cultural Dimension of Responsible Public Governance in the Pursuit of the Sustainable Development Goals, took place in the banquet hall of the Mövenpick Hotel in Tangier, The Kingdom of Morocco from 31 st May to 1 st June The objectives of this meeting were to: 1. Share the experiences of African countries in the field of responsible public governance and the decisiveness that culture can play in the re-appropriation by the African countries of their governance strategy; 2. Reaffirm CAFARD s African and Pan African dimension in building global governance mechanisms; 3. Enable Member States of CAFRAD to support all strategies aimed at developing a more integrated governance and based on values and principles both endogenous and compatible with the values recognized internationally; 4. Support national strategies aimed at strengthening the dynamics of ameliorative transformations of public administrations and to strengthen their legitimacy; and 5. Stimulate, through the establishment of the first Pan-African Public Service Award, all initiatives aimed at enhancing the positive changes taking place in the public administrations of African countries. The Forum brought together participants from the following member countries: Algeria, Benin, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Côte d'ivoire, DR Congo, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, Togo, Tunisia, Zimbabwe and non-member countries including Lesotho and the Sultanate of Oman as well as the following institutions: AATPO, AOAPC (Morocco), the Guinean 2

3 Association of Political Science, BJ Consulting International (Rabat), HEC-Paris, ENSA (Rabat), ISESCO (Rabat), OECD (Paris), OFPA (Cotonou), UNESCO (Rabat), UMA (Rabat) and the University of Applied Sciences (Kehl - Germany). I. Opening ceremony It was jointly chaired by Mr Mohamed Moubdi, Minister Delegate to the Head of Government, in charge of Public Service and Modernization of the Administration in the Kingdom of Morocco, in his capacity as Chairman of CAFRAD s Governing Board and the Director-General (D-G) of CAFRAD, Dr. Stéphane Monney Mouandjo, ably assisted by Mrs. Samia Fakhri, vice-president of the region of Tangier-Tétouan- Al Hoceima and Mr. Abdekhalek El Marzouki, Governor of the province of Fahs- Anjra. In his welcome address, the Hon. Minister, Mr. Mohamed Moubdi, placed special emphasis on the importance of the theme chosen, which he said, lies at the heart of the useful and positive changes currently underway throughout the continent and particularly within the member countries of CAFRAD. He took the opportunity to encourage the contribution of each country to the rise of CAFRAD as a privileged platform and pan-african player, able to support the building of institutional capacity of African countries and to modernize their public services. He also noted that Morocco is aware of its roots and its African belonging, and that it falls within this perspective of modernization by continuing its commitment on the path of strengthening its historical and cultural relations as well as South-South cooperation. He then recalled the creation of a Pan-African Public Service Award decided in the previous Governing Board on October 14, 2015 in Marrakech. To support this, he emphasized the symbolic value of the establishment of the first Pan-African Public Service Award for African countries. He concluded by wishing all participants a happy stay in Morocco and a fruitful meeting. 3

4 The second speaker of the ceremony was Dr. Stéphane Monney Mouandjo, Director-General of CAFRAD. He, in turn, also welcomed all the delegates coming from diverse backgrounds to take part in the Ministerial Forum on Modernization of Public Administration and Governance, in the beautiful city at the crossroads of the world and headquarters of CAFRAD. Referring to the theme of the Forum this year, he justified the choice of the theme "The cultural dimension of responsible public governance in the pursuit of the Sustainable Development Goals". Thus, according to the D-G of CAFRAD, the current meeting is the expression of the progress of our continent towards its reconstruction and its opening to new aspects and innovative perspectives of the contribution to the construction of an overall governance, from the consideration of the local factor. By this choice, he said, CAFRAD wanted to deepen an on-going thinking about public governance issues, from an aspect considered to be particularly structuring and crucial for truly transformative and ameliorative reforms. In other words, the cultural dimension of responsible public governance would constitute the necessary and essential link to effective public governance. The D-G thus stressed the importance of culture in the implementation of the transformations of governance. He particularly highlighted the substantial nature of culture in the dynamics of responsible public governance as a marker of identity, and especially as a registration instrument in the universality. Dr. Mouandjo, for this purpose, gave the assurance that CAFRAD is available to support States in the implementation of reforms necessary for their administrations, particularly through a responsible public governance. He then encouraged the audience to participate in building a more integrated model of public governance, closer to the agents and to their current real concerns but also to those of future generations. He thus hoped that the proceedings of the meeting would allow a better appropriation by African countries of their governance strategies that actually move towards the most effective satisfaction of the needs of the citizenry. 4

5 Then followed the conferment of the various Pan-African Public Service Awards to the winners. The following countries received awards: Cameroon, Côte d Ivoire, Niger, Nigeria and Morocco (who got two awards). After the signature of a cooperation agreement between CAFRAD and the Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales of Paris (HEC-Paris). The ceremonies paved the way for the actual proceedings of the Forum which commenced immediately after a coffee break. II. Actual proceedings The proceedings were divided into three sessions which witnessed the presentation of four (4) papers and subsequent discussions, which gave rise to conclusions and recommendations. The first session, chaired by H.E. Dr. Elsadig Elhadi Abderahmane Almahdi, the Hon. Minister of Development of Human Resources of Sudan, witnessed the first two presentations namely: 1. The space-time dimension of the construction of responsible public governance in the light of the SDGs, presented by (Prof. Wullson Mvomo Ela of Cameroon) and 2. Relevant actors and tools of building a culture of responsible public governance, essential in the pursuit of the SDGs, presented by (Dr. Najat Zarrouk of Morocco) The second session was chaired by H.E. Mr. Michel Ange Angouing, the Hon. Minister of Public Service and Administrative Reform of Cameroon during which the following presentations were made: 1. The structural, institutional and symbolic limitations of a culture of responsible public governance in the pursuit of the SDGs by (Dr. Njunga Michael Mulikita of Zambia) and 5

6 2. The contemporary issues of crystallization around the cultural dimension of responsible public governance, towards the attainment of the SDGs by (Ms. Rowena G. Bethel of Bahamas) The third session was on the second day of the forum. It was devoted to the sharing of the practical experiences of the participants. The affairs of session presided over by H.E. Mrs. Raky Diarra Talla, the Hon. Minister of Labour and Public Service of Mali. This session witnessed the presentations the practical experiences of South Africa, Gabon, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan. The following partner institutions also shared their practical experiences in the area of responsible public governance: University of Applied Sciences Kehl, Germany: The cultural dimension of local government training. (Mr. Clemens Schweizer) HEC-Paris, France A developmentalist State, Promoter State, Developmental State (Mr. Jean Luc Ricci) Strengthening the managerial capabilities of managers, executives and administrative officials (Mr. Dominique Foually) Krypto-Mania: Improving the index of development and modernization through ICTs: E-Administration practical solutions. (Mr. Kossi Tsogbe) Following all the above presentations the Forum was able to draw some conclusions and made recommendations. III. Conclusions 1. The cultural dimension of responsible public governance (RPG) is a major component of the process of re-appropriation by African states of their governance strategies; 6

7 2. RPG should enable African countries to move from presumptive States to committed States; 3. RPG has to allow the emergence of strategists States instead of rentier States; 4. The cultural dimension of RPG should reinforce the legitimacy of States and public institutions and strengthen the presence of the State wherever people need it; 5. Far from favouring the minimal State, the cultural dimension of RPG must simply strengthen the presence of the State that sometimes seems to be attenuated in other considerations not essential to the emergence of effective States; 6. The cultural dimension of RPG is one of the privileged means for the African states to assume their identity and also their substantial universality; 7. The cultural dimension of RPG is the most effective way to ensure both the legitimacy of institutions, the sustainability of reforms and the intergenerational transmission of experiences and know-how acquired over time. From these conclusions emerged the following recommendations: IV. Recommendations 1. The re-appropriation of cultural identity in the formulation of policies; 2. The drafting of a glossary for the explanation of the concepts RPG; 3. The formulation of development models based on our African values; 4. The development of a joint Roadmap to reduce the common problems of the majority of African countries; 5. Strengthening public policy evaluation systems focusing on user satisfaction; 7

8 6. The organization or the establishment of a comprehensive system of assessment of the performance of RPG from a standard defined by the African States themselves and compatible with the obtainable international standards; 7. The reaffirmation of CAFARD s leadership in supporting South-South cooperation dynamics in terms of RPG under its various forms; 8. The strengthening of South-South cooperation through the exchange of expertise and experiences among member countries of CAFRAD. Appreciations At the end of the proceedings, all participants paid a glowing tribute to the people of Kingdom of Morocco in general and state authorities in particular with special reference to His Royal Majesty, King Mohamed VI (May God assist Him) for the warm welcome and the guidance they received during their stay, as well as for the administrative facilities granted to this effect. Participants also expressed their gratitude to the organizers of this forum namely: CAFRAD, the Ministry in charge of the Modernization of the Administration of Morocco, the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF), the press, the translation service and all the supporting staff for their professionalism and their availability as well as for the efforts they deployed in ensuring the success of the Forum. Made in Tangier, this 1 st day of June