Director
Latvia School of Public Administration
Focus Area(s):
Civil Service
Critical Tasks:
Downsizing
Salary structure reform
Interviewers:
Jonathan Friedman
Country of Reform:
Latvia
Town/City:
Riga
Country:
Latvia
Date of Interview:
Monday, February 13, 2012
Abstract
In this interview, Baiba Petersone describes various tasks ministries assigned the Policy Coordination Department, particularly the civil service reforms she led. In her first few years in the new department, the main task was to survey Latvia’s policy-making system. From this survey, Petersone explains the department knew its first task was to create a policy system. They developed a process based on several types of documents, each with a different purpose. The department also created an annotation system to include information such as the costs of a proposal. The next step was to implement an inter-ministerial consultation system. Petersone discusses how the department chose its priorities and the sequence of its reforms. Finally, she details the civil service reforms undertaken, which she was in charge of. Her working group proposed abolishing the contract system and reforming how the government sets civil servant salaries. She describes the options considered and how the economic crisis of 2008 affected their ability to implement their changes.
Full Transcript
Full Interview:
70 MB
Baiba Petersone - Full Interview
Profile:
Baiba Petersone was the director of Latvia’s School of Public Administration. She began her career as a researcher in the Academy of Sciences. After entering politics during Latvia’s independence, she spent seven years as an active politician. In 1996 she entered the civil service as Director of the Department of Education Strategy in the Ministry of Education. From there she joined the State Chancellery as a member of the Policy Coordination Department. She received her Bachelor’s Degree in philosophy, though at the time the field really consisted of social science.
Language:
English
Nationality of Interviewee:
Latvian
No
Baiba Petersone
E
6
Keywords
civil service reform
functional reviews
2008 economic crisis
downsizing
merit pay
pay reform