AFRICAN UNION

THE 6TH CONFERENCE OF AFRICAN MINISTERS FOR PUBLIC/CIVIL SERVICE

5TH SERVICE CHAMPIONS REPORT

MAPUTO, MOZAMBIQUE

7th SEPT, 2010

ABBREVIATIONS AND SYNONYMS

AAPSIA ACDF APSD AU AUC CAFRAD

All African Public Service Innovations Awards African Community Development Foundation African Public Service Day African Union African Union Commission Centre for African Research in Administration for Development

CAMPS CESPAM

Conference of African Ministers of Public/Civil Service Centre of Specialization in Public Administration and Management

EAAACA

East African Association of Anti-Corruption Authorities

ECOWAS ESAMI HOS ICT MDI RSA UN UNDP

Economic Commission of West African States Eastern and Southern Africa Management Institute Head of Secretariat Information Communication and Technology Management Development Institute Republic of South Africa United Nations United Nations Development Programme

1.0 INTRODUCTION The meeting was called to order by the chairperson, Mr. Richard E Ndubai, Permanent Secretary, Public Sector Reform and Performance ContractingKenya. The chairperson thanked the participants for finding time to attend the meeting. Introductions were then made. The list of participants is here to annexed. AGENDA OF THE MEETING The chairperson presented the agenda of the meeting and it was adopted unanimously as follows; 1. Opening Remarks by the Chairperson 2. Status Report by CAMPS 3. Progress reports by the Service Champions 4. Way Forward 5. A.O.B 2.0 STATUS REPORT ON CAMPS The Head of the Secretariat presented the status report on implementation of CAMPS activities which covered the following; Developments since last meeting in April, 2010

Progress in thematic areas CAMPS Succession Preparations for the 7th Conference It has become a tradition for service champions at technical level to meet ahead of the Bureau meeting so as to discuss and agree on issues before the Bureau Meeting. The proposed issues in the agenda of the Bureau meeting were; 1. Progress in implementing meeting in Namibia
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resolutions made in the last Bureau

2. Progress made Towards Implementation of Thematic Areas 3. Plans for Finalization of the Long-Term Strategy 4. Preparations for the 7th Conference 5. CAMPS Succession On implementation of resolutions made in the last Bureau meeting, held in Namibia the Head of the Secretariat reported the following; That there is still no representation on the Bureau for central Africa. Though the list of champions increased to 15, several champions were yet to take up their roles. These include Liberia, Benin, Senegal, Burkina Faso and Liberia all from West Africa. In regard to this she reported that the Chairs office is exploring possibilities of having a meeting with West Africa service champions in Ghana. In regard to poor participation of member states in the ministers programme, she reported that Nigeria had taken up the challenge of addressing the issue with the Chairman of AUC at the highest level. Regarding strengthening capacity at AUC by seconding officers, she reported that South Africa had seconded an officer to AUC.

The Head of the Secretariat gave an overview on performance by various thematic areas and informed the meeting that the Service champions would submit their respective progress reports to the meeting. Finalization of the Long-Term Strategy On finalization of the Long-Term Strategy, the HOS reminded the meeting that the 5th CAMPS took note of the LTS as the basis of the future work of the Ministers. The Strategy paper recommended that further work be undertaken in terms of: Defining implementation strategies and work plans for each of the six pillars proposed in the strategy, namely: Service delivery and development; Human resources; ICTs and the public service; Organization and Institutional development of CAMPS; Budget ,Finance and Resources Mobilization; as well as Monitoring and Evaluating.

 Institutional framework required for implementation of the Strategy taking into account its relationship, links, synergies and value-additional to the broader AU system, related existing as well as ongoing processes; and Implementation framework for the consolidated strategy including identifying indicators and timelines In regard to the above she reported that the procurement process for the consultant(s) had already began with support from UNDP. The completed LTS will provide a framework for implementation of activities including resources mobilization efforts as well as recommend institutional framework required to achieve its implementation. In addition the Strategy will clearly provide indicators, targets and timelines for implementation The 7TH CAMPS The Head of Secretariat reminded the meeting that the last Bureau in Namibia had adopted the date for the 7th Conference as 25th November 2010. While Kenya is ready to host the Conference as agreed it appears that the Management guides and LTS will not have been finalized and validated by the time of the Conference. She therefore invited the champions to discuss whether: the Conference should be held as scheduled and just report work in progress ; or the Conference should be postponed by a few months to enable champions to report substantive progress to the Conference

As she concluded her report she invited the meeting to discuss CAMPS succession which is currently handled in an ad hoc manner where an entirely new Bureau is elected without defined tenure of office. This state of affairs erodes institutional memory, loses momentum gained in implementation of program activities and threatens gains made and sustainability of the program. 3.0 PROGRESS REPORT ON THEMATIC AREAS All African Public Sector Innovations Awards (AAPSIA) The lead champion of AAPSIA reminded that the main objective in this thematic area is to exchange knowledge. He reported that two steering committee meetings have been held in Egypt and Nairobi respectively.
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So far 130 entries of innovative solutions have been received. Preparations for adjudication are underway and service champions and CAMPS Secretariat are in the process of nominating adjudicators from each region. Ghana the co-champion has committed to pay the stipend for the adjudicators during the adjudication process and during the awards ceremony in March. Ghana has also offered to pay for trophies and certificates for the finalists. The lead champion appreciated the contribution of Egypt in marketing programme in the Nothern region and translating documents to Arabic. Egypt also reviewed the scoring sheets. The meeting noted the progress made by the Champion (South Africa) and CoChampions (Ghana and Egypt) in implementing this thematic area.

APSD THEMATIC AREA The lead service champion presented the manual for APSD and requested the Secretariat to circulate to members for input. The meeting agreed that the manual will be circulated to all and then the champion will factor the inputs and prepare the final draft for presentation to the next Bureau meeting. On the hosting of APSD in June next year, Ghana and Egypt are consulting to decide on who between them will take up the task. The champion reported that Mozambique celebrated APSD on 23rd June 2010 and extended the celebrations for one week. Kenya changed the date of celebrating APSD this year to October as the original date was coinciding with the with the UN day. It is important to note that the ministers of public service are expected to attend both celebrations and so Kenya postponed to allow the minister to attend both celebrations. Nigeria celebrated on 23rd October, 2010. The champion observed that other countries have not submitted their report on celebration of APSD and should do so for records purpose.

AFRICAN PUBLIC SERVICE CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT In the consultative meeting that took place in December, 2009, a draft strategy to implement the continental capacity development programme was developed and mechanisms to implement the programme were identified as well as the stakeholders for a continental steering committee. The champion has since constituted a continental steering committee comprising of regional institutions, development partners as ex officio, service champions and cochampions. The proposed members are; Champion (RSA) Co-Champions (Togo, Liberia and Nigeria) Regional Bodies (CESPAM, CAFRAD, ESAMI, ACDF) Office of CAMPS Chairperson AU Commission Donors (as ex-officio members)

Nominations have been received from CESPAM, Liberia, CAMPS & CAFRAD. To nominate officials to the committee, the champions advised that they should be at the level of a director although this is not cast on stone. The committee can also co-opt members. The champion plans to discuss with stakeholders who have not managed to appoint representatives to the committee to do it soonest possible. The champion reported that they will be consulting with the co-champions to agree on the date and venue for a steering committee meeting in November 2010 The purpose of the proposed steering committee meeting is; Inaugurate the Steering Committee Finalize the draft strategy and the programme proposal Develop a detailed activity plan with short, medium and long term objectives.
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PUBLIC SECTOR ANTI-CORRUPTION THEMATIC AREA At the Service Champions meeting held in Nairobi, Kenya on 29th 30th April, 2010, the champions revised the action plan which was discussed and endorsed, with the following as the main activities: i. Development of a comprehensive baseline report on the current status of implementation of the African Union (AU) Convention on Preventing and Combating of Corruption based on a baseline assessment; Setting up of an Inter-agency Task Force to with membership drawn from the existing regional bodies for African-wide coverage; Convening of three regional workshops to share best practices on Public Sector Anti-Corruption within the respective regions; and the Convening of a continent-wide workshop to share lessons learned and to document required continent-wide improvement based on the findings of the baseline assessment.

ii. iii. iv.

The lead champion has since developed a draft terms of reference for consultancy to undertake a baseline assessment on the current status of implementing African Union convention on preventing and combating corruption. The TORs have been circulated among the co-champions who have endorsed them. Based on the endorsement, the stage is now set to commence the process of procuring a consultant to undertake the baseline assessment. While the scope of the assessment envisaged is to cover the ECOWAS region, Nigeria has started engaging the co-champions to address the issue of how funds will be mobilized to undertake the assessment without delay. The champion said that they will plan with the Secretariat on how the survey will be carried for the rest of the regions. The co-champion, Kenya reported that ECCA meeting will take place later in the year and that they will invite the secretariat and service champions in all thematic areas.

THEMATIC AREAS DEVELOPING MANAGEMENT GUIDES (HRPPA, PMM including M&E and L&MD) The service champions in the three thematic areas have made very steady progress. Since the last meeting these champions have held a regional workshop towards development of guides in Abuja. Three consultants have been recruited by UNDP to help in the development of management guides in the three thematic areas. The recruited consultants are; 1. Prof. Gelase Mutahaba - Performance Management including Monitoring and Evaluation thematic area; 2. Prof. M. Jide Balogun - Leadership and Management Development thematic area; and 3. Dr. Harold Kuchande Human Resource Planning and Policy Architecture thematic area.

The meeting discussed and agreed on key deliverables and timelines as follows; No ITEM 1 The Inception Report 2 Review of the inception report by service champions 3 Zero drafts 4 Validation meeting of the Zero drafts TIME FRAME 15th Sept, 2010 18th Sept, 2010 ACTORS Consultants Service champions, Secretariat and UNDP CAMPS

17th Oct, 2010 24th Oct, 2010

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1st Drafts 31st Oct, 2010 Validation meeting 14th Nov, 2010 of the final Drafts

Consultants Reference group - experts/peers; Service Champions, experts, Management Development Institutes (MDIs), UNDP, leading experts Consultants An all inclusive meeting involving the reference group, all service champions and other member States

Final Reports

17th Nov, 2010

Consultants

The reference group for validation will comprise of experts/peers, service champions of the three thematic areas, 4 experts from all regions drawn from across the continent (Anglophone, Francophone, Arabphone and Lucophone), the management development institutes (MDIs), UNDP, leading experts in the areas of study for each thematic area and CAMPS Secretariat. The function of the reference group is; To serve as the sounding board to review the zero draft of the consultants reports; Make recommendations in terms of; Geographical/regional representation, tradition and integrity of the data; Extent of appropriateness/applicability/relevance of the guides to the thematic area Information/data to be validated with member States before publication as much as possible AFRICAN CHARTER ON VALUES AND PRINCIPLES OF PUBLIC SERVICE The long awaited legal experts meeting on the review of draft Charter on Values and Principles of Administration of Public Service was taking place back to back with the service champions meeting. The legal experts meeting schedule was from 6th 8th September, 2010. The meeting was attended by legal experts and representatives from AU member States. The outcome of the review meeting would be ready for presentation to the 5th Bureau meeting after which the Charter should be presented to AU Assembly for adoption through the Executive Council
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POST CONFLICT RECONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT The champion reported that activities in this area had stalled as AUC had written to them asking that they dont proceed with implementation of activities until approval is given from the AUCs post conflict reconstruction department. It was agreed that a way forward on this thematic area would be sought from the Bureau ICT as enabler for service delivery The service champion in this area reported that the capacity building workshops will be held in December 2010. The champion informed the meeting that Egypt is also hosting a conference titled, from E-Government Africa to Information Africa in December 2010. CAMPS SUCCESSION The meeting discussed and decided that there is need to put in place a clear system of succession management since the practice which seems to have been established for CAMPS is a situation where entirely new members of the Bureau are elected to replace the incumbent members which has the attendant risk of losing the entire institutional memory and losing the momentum gained in implementation of programmed activities. In order to avoid this scenario and ensure continuity in implementation of activities as well as retain institutional memory, the service champions agreed as follows; Composition of the Bureau On the composition of the Bureau the following was agreed on; i. ii. The Bureau be expanded to include the outgoing Chair as a member of the Bureau The Chair of CAMPS shall rotate to all regions of the continent. Provided that within each Region the members shall designate their representation. The Chairpersonship of CAMPS may be retained in the same region for the duration of the two terms

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iii.

iv.

Members of the Bureau shall be eligible for election for two terms of two years each. Bureau membership shall reflect regional representation; and Members of the Bureau to retire sequentially. At least three members of the Bureau to be eligible for election at any given time

Tenure of office of the Chair i. ii. Each Chair shall hold office for a period of two years, provided that the Bureau may elect a Chair for a further 2 years non-renewable The Chairpersonship of CAMPS is a regional entitlement. Each Region entitled to the Chairpersonship shall transparently determine its nominee for Chair. Nothing contained in these rules should be read to imply that a sitting chair is entitled to two mandatory terms or that a sitting Chair should not be eligible for re-election for a second nonrenewable term. At the expiration of two years the sitting Chair shall vacate the Chair and the Region should elect a new Chair or re-elect the sitting Chair

iii.

Principle of rotation of chairpersonship i. ii. Each region and as many countries should have the opportunity by application of rules of equity-to lead CAMPS The next region eligible for the Chairpersonship shall be determined by the Bureau taking into cognizance the focus of CAMPS for the strategic period and other considerations. Provided that regions may indicate an interest to Chair at least year preceding the elective Bureau. This is without prejudice to the current situation. When for any reason whatsoever-a region fails to agree on its representative or to nominate one, the Bureau shall exercise its appointive power as per these rules The Out-going Chairperson shall be an ex-officio member of the incoming bureau for one term. The In-coming Chair should preferably have been a member of the Bureau or a service champion for at least one term. Provided that a member that meets the other criteria for Chairpersonship may be electable as Chair, the foregoing notwithstanding
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iii.

iv. v.

Eligibility i. ii. Commitment to CAMPS Agenda, strategy, programs and ideals of good governance Demonstrate commitment and readiness to mobilize, national, regional, continental and international support for CAMPS including resource mobilization Demonstrate capacity to support CAMPS with technical expertise. Preparedness to champion/co-champion some of the CAMPS program Demonstrate commitment to the AU integration agenda

iii. iv. v.

7TH CONFERENCE In regard to the 7th Conference, the champions appreciated the fact that the fourth Bureau meeting adopted the date for the Conference as 25th November, 2010. They however observed that if the conference is held on the said date, critical deliverables will not have been finalized among them the management guides and the Long-Term Strategy. In view of the foregoing, the champions agreed to propose to the Bureau to postpone the Conference to the end of 1st quarter 2011. Conclusion The meeting observed that service champions presented their reports in different formats. It was agreed that the champions prepare briefs for their ministers in a uniform format. The format agreed upon was the one used Tanzania in presenting the progress report on APSD.

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