CROSS-CUTTING PAPER FOR DISCUSSION AT MDBS
ANNUAL REVIEW
PUBLIC SECTOR MANAGEMENT CAPACITY: ISSUES,
CHALLENGES, AND THE POSSIBLE WAY FORWARD
MAY 17, 2011
PRESENTED BY
THE PUBLIC SECTOR REFORM (PSR) SECTOR GROUP
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PURPOSE
• Stimulate discussion
• Build shared understanding of issues
• Point to practical steps
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OUTLINE OF PRESENTATION
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Theorists and practitioners
Challenges in Ghana: capacity implications
Responding to the challenges: promising initiatives
Key issue: need for strategic coordination
Strategic human resources management
Suggested actions
Strategic coordination as key element of PSR
Bigger questions
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FRAMEWORK: BROAD CHALLENGES OF PUBLIC
SECTOR MANAGEMENT CAPACITY
• Institutional capacity
• Organizational capacity
• Anticipative capacity
• Adaptive and innovative capacity
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PRACTITIONERS’ PERSPECTIVE
• Organizational change
• Roles, responsibilities, relationships, accountabilities
• Diagnosed and driven from within the organization
itself
• Leaders, champions, people carrying out the work
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CHALLENGES IN GHANA: A FEW EXAMPLES
• Middle income status
• Producer of oil and gas
• Decentralized governance
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WHAT THE CHALLENGES MEAN
• Institutional capacities: policies
• Organizational capacities: service delivery,
accountabilities
• Anticipative, adaptive, innovative:
 global trade and finance
 management of resources
 social policies
 public-private partnerships
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RESPONDING TO THE CHALLENGES AT THE
CONCRETE LEVEL: PROMISING INITIATIVES
• Sector Strategic Development Plan, Water and
Sanitation
• Decentralization, decoupling “roadmap”
• Central management agencies rethinking roles,
relationships
• New Approach to PSR
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KEY ISSUE: NEED FOR STRATEGIC
COORDINATION AND COLLABORATION
• Linkage decentralization-PSR: inter-Ministerial
coordination from Ministers’ level to public service
managers’ level
• New Approach: political accountability: translated
into roles, relationships, accountabilities at public
service managers’ level
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STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCES
MANAGEMENT
• Where and how capacity actually “happens”
• Key area for strategic action and coordination
• Broad policy questions: size and profile of public
service
• Skill needs of 21st century: “knowledge workers”,
policy, planning, M&E
• Re-thinking classification system?
• PFM reforms, HR specialization
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SUGGESTED ACTION: TOOLS TO SUPPORT COORDINATED,
STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT
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COMPREHENSIVE HUMAN RESOURCES DATABASE
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essential for HR policy, planning, deployment, recruitment, development,
career progression, succession planning
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while each central management agency and Ministry has its own needs, one
comprehensive interlinked needed for overall effective strategic coordination
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Public Services Commission has initiated work with Kofi Annan Centre,
NITA; to be further developed in collaboration with other central
management agencies
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PSR Sector Group has proposed as target for new PAF; good consensus by
Government/DPs that this is constructive step forward.
WHAT’S NEEDED: clear central commitment from Government to support
development of this essential tool for strategic HR management as a step in
PSR, to catalyse continued collaboration of agencies and DPs towards a
concrete result.
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SUGGESTED ACTION: TOOLS TO SUPPORT COORDINATED,
STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT
2.
CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT MECHANISM
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potential new Government of Ghana mechanism to help set strategic
priorities and coordinate capacity development across public sector
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would be undertaken as a pilot – “learn by doing” in managing initial
modest seed fund
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design phase: governance structure, priority-setting process, criteria
for proposals, decisiopn-making, monitoring, reporting on results
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could eventually attract funds from both central budget and DP
sources, for harmonized, strategically managed cross-government
capacity development;
WHAT’S NEEDED: active participation by key stakeholders in Design
Steering Committee; clear commitment and ownership by Government as
a cross-agency, cross-sector priority setting and strategic coordination
mechanism
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SUGGESTED ACTION: TOOLS TO SUPPORT COORDINATED,
STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT
3. PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
 cornerstone to public sector accountability for results
 key to institutional, organizational, adaptive, innovative capacity
 highlighted as issue in New Approach, Ghana Shared Growth
and Development Agenda, implementation of pay policy,
decentralization
 Public Services Commission engaging other agencies in its work
on performance management, but no clear central policy
decision for comprehensive performance management system as
part of coordinated approach to PSR
WHAT IS NEEDED: clear central policy decision, tasking lead
agency and key actors to come together, move process forward
in collaborative coordinated way as a key element in PSR.
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STRATEGIC COORDINATION OF PUBLIC SECTOR
MANAGEMENT CAPACITY AS KEY ELEMENT OF
PUBLIC SECTOR REFORM
• Main recommendation of PSR Sector Group
• Adopt as policy key concrete actions: mobilize actors, leads,
goals, timelines to results for each of the suggested actions
above
• Consider where, who, and how, especially to bring together
central management agencies: e.g. Chief Executives Forum,
Chief Directors Forum, Ad-Hoc Meetings on Strategic Issues
• Role of PSR Secretariat in coordinating decisions and action
plans for reforms overall?
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BIGGER QUESTION: RETHINKING, REVIEWING
STRUCTURES, MANDATES, ROLES, RELATIONSHIPS
• While shorter term actions proposed to move forward in context
of existing institutions, bigger questions for longer term.
• Re-thinking, reviewing existing structures which have been in
place for many years; are these what are needed as Ghana moves
through transition and into middle income status?
• Mandates, roles, relationships of central management agencies,
MDAs, local government structures in strategic policy
coordination and service delivery: are these effective in
institutional, organizational, and especially adaptive and
innovative capacity?
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