In this interview, Saah Charles N’Tow describes his roles as program director for the President’s Young Professional Program (PYPP) and John Snow Inc.’s (JSI) Scott Family Liberia Fellows Program. He talks about the process of designing a two-year fellowship program to bring young Liberians into key government ministries and agencies. He explains the creation of a selection criteria for fellows and the procedures that ensured the applicant-screening process remained transparent and fair. He discusses how the program held support sessions for applicants focused on resume writing and interview preparation. He addresses the program’s coordination practices with donors on budget support. He notes instances of resistance against the program from ministries and agencies and describes how the program responded to problems arising from the placement of fellows. He highlights the program’s administrative components that included mentoring, training, performance management, and program immersion. Finally, he describes the importance of sustainable funding procedures and talks about the likelihood of continued support for the program through future administrations

In this interview, Sigitas Šiupšinskas discusses his work in public administration, regional policy and public service with the Lithuanian government. He discusses the VORT (Improvement of Performance-Based Management – from the Lithuanian Valdymo, orientuoto j rezultatus, tobulinimas) project and the Sunset Commission (The Commission for the Improvement of State Administration). He details the methods of the reforms, the gains achieved and the challenges faced. He talks about the effects the cultural environment of the Lithuanian government had on these reforms. He also talks about the successful efficiency gains in public administration and civil service reforms, and the implementations that led to those. Šiupšinskas discusses evaluative measures, methods of prioritization, and functional reviews.

George Yambesi draws upon his experience in the President’s Office for Public Service Management to trace the history of civil service reform in Tanzania.  He describes some of the challenges and goals involved in implementing reforms. The major theme of these reforms has been improving performance results and accountability.  Within this, there has been a focus on policy development, systems for appraising performance, improving human resource management, and leadership development.  Yambesi notes that one of the main motivations for reform was a public outcry for better services.  He goes into great detail about retrenchment and staff size, delineating specific goals set and the methods used in achieving those goals.  He also describes changes to pay policies, performance management systems, and in the promotion and recruitment systems at some length.  He speaks about the effect of the shift from secretive to open performance evaluations and stresses the importance of strategic thinking as the basis for annual plans and budgets.  He also discusses training programs and capacity building.  Finally, while he acknowledges the role played by international donors in establishing the reform agenda, he maintains that the reform agenda was driven largely by Tanzania itself.

Case Study:  Creating an Affordable Public Service: Tanzania, 1995-1998

Nasouh Marzouqa discusses major reforms in Jordan’s Civil Status and Passports Department during his time as its director.  He describes how he improved the physical infrastructure of the department and streamlined the process for issuing passports.  Marzouqa also worked to institute a system of national identification numbers and began the process of computerizing the department.  He also discusses his efforts to motivate employees.    

Case Study:  Creating a 'Citizen Friendly' Department: Speeding Document Production in Jordan, 1991-1996

Abdul Muyeed Chowdhury details his involvement with the Bangladeshi civil service, providing insight on civil service reform within the country. In particular, he describes his role in government attempts to restructure administrative agencies through the creation of review committees. Chowdhury talks about how he became chairman of one such committee, called the Muyeed Committee, which sought to assess departments within the government and produce recommendations for reform. He also elaborates upon his roles in the 1993 Nurunnabi Committee and the 2007 Regulatory Reform Commission. Outlining the importance of land in Bangladesh, Chowdhury talks of the problems created in the country by an archaic land management system and describes his frequent attempts to institute modernization in land administration. He is quick to note, moreover, that regardless of how eager governments may be to set up review commissions at the start of their tenure, they often fail to implement reform recommendations. Indeed, electoral politics and party rivalries often prevent committee reports from being fully carried out. Chowdhury further describes the way civil servants are impacted by the tussles between rival parties as different government administrations succeed each other. This leads to a broader discussion of the major challenges facing the civil service and the need for effective reform. Chowdhury concludes with anecdotes from his time as a Fulbright scholar in America, sharing stories from his life that, in his opinion, serve to exemplify the changes needed in the civil service of Bangladesh.    

Case Study:  Energizing the Civil Service: Managing at the Top 2, Bangladesh, 2006-2011

Richard Panton describes the role he played in public sector reform in Liberia. Before the civil war, he explains, civil servants were adequate and well trained. But they began to take jobs in the private sector, non-governmental organizations and the United Nations after the war, leading to a decline in the public sector’s capacity. Also, due to transitional arrangements, recruiters did not consider education and professionalism when selecting public workers. Reform was necessary to resolve capacity issues. The Civil Service Agency was in charge of selection and recruitment, payroll and age structure, and promotion systems. The Liberia Institute of Public Administration designed a curriculum for training existing public workers. Panton was involved in designing and facilitating training programs in records management, project planning and management, human resource management, strategic management, and financial management. According to him, some of the challenges included a shortage of training equipment, budget delays and inadequate specialists in human resource management.