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, based on his experiences at the Liberia Institute of Public Administration (LIPA), Harold Jonathan Monger explains the challenges involved in institutionalizing capacity building. LIPA is an internal consulting and civil service trainer entity. Monger discusses the budgeting problems in equipping the institute to be able to provide better training and to improve the marketing of its services to government agencies. He also details LIPA’s changing relationships with other internal and external capacity-building consultants such as the Governance and Economic Management Assistance Program and IBI International, both of which have also played significant roles in the designs of certification trainings and civil service workshops. Finally, Monger draws from his extensive experience to comment on what he says are the main obstacles to improving governance in Liberia. He recommends establishing formal, uniform systems and procedures and improving communication and collaboration between agencies to avoid duplication.

E.M. Debrah recounts his experiences in public sector reform in Ghana. He goes into detail about the culture of the civil service in Ghana as well as how one normally enters into the civil service, such as through the specially formed training institute, the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration. He also explains the recruitment strategy needed to increase capacity within the civil service and the training programs and internal review sessions that were conducted. He explains the need to increase remuneration packages and the creation of pension plans to lure more talent into the civil service, as well as detailing the retrenchment program Ghana introduced. Debrah also talks about the dynamic between host countries and donors and how to strike the right balance within this relationship to be able to work effectively. Finally, he makes the point that in order for reform to be successful, it must be realistic as well. One must be able to see one’s own limitations and plan accordingly.
 

Lisa Cleary talks about the role of the Public Service Improvement Program and her role as human resource adviser to develop a human resource strategy for the Solomon Islands.  First, she conducted a human resource survey across every ministry in order to develop a baseline for future work the PSIP would do to put a new payroll system in place.  Then she mapped workforce budgeting to prepare a strategic plan to change the way people are recruited and hired in the workforce and to develop a collective bargaining agreement.  She talks about problems such as patronage appointments, the length of time between recruitment and processing an appointment, the inequities in salary structure, the problems in service delivery and the problem of accelerated promotions.  She also talks about devising an administrative procedure toolkit for civil service positions as a way to achieve change in the processes to make them transparent and fair.

Case Study:  Starting from Scratch in Recruitment and Training: Solomon Islands, 2004-2009

In this interview, Vincent Crabbe discusses his experience confronting the many challenges of ensuring transparency in the conduct of elections. One of the chief obstacles to transparent elections is the compilation of a reliable voter registry. For instance, in the absence of birth certificates and other forms of identification, he notes the difficulty of ascertaining whether a voter is of legal voting age. Other obstacles to compiling the lists include the fact that multiple individuals have the same name. Crabbe explains key reforms to Ghana’s elections process that he believes are transferrable to other countries, including see-through ballot boxes and counting ballots at polling stations to reduce the likelihood of tampering with while en route to counting centers. Finally, Crabbe sheds light on what he believes are the key attributes required for an electoral commissioner.   

Case Study:  Keeping the Peace in a Tense Election: Ghana, 2008

Idrissa Kamara, a district electoral officer in Sierra Leone, begins by identifying his responsibilities at the National Electoral Commission.  He explains that the biggest challenges of the 2007 presidential election were to earn public acceptance of the electoral process and its results.  He stresses the importance of having an independent electoral commission that is not indebted to the government, and he identifies the complications that ensue when funding comes from the government and the international community.  Kamara promotes development of human capacity of administrators and the public, which he notes is cheaper than importing international advisers.  He also supports the inclusion of stakeholders so Sierra Leonean people can take ownership of their elections.  Kamara details important parts of the process of holding Sierra Leonean elections, including delimiting constituencies and allocating seats, hiring and training electoral staff, avoiding violence and voter fraud, registering voters, and processing complaints.  He then ventures into the topic of family voting, laments that people vote for candidates from their home region who speak the same language as they do, and discusses how to sensitize voters and shift the focus towards issues.

Sarah Adebisi Sosan discusses the governance plan implemented by Gov. Babatunde Raji Fashola in Lagos State, with special emphasis on the education initiatives in which she was personally involved since the beginning.  In the context of the Nigerian policy of universal education and the challenges raised by service provision in a large metropolitan area, most measures focused on enhancing the inclusiveness of the school system within urban areas and the extension of educational infrastructure into rural areas.  In particular, to address the financial burden faced by parents, the state provided free textbooks, covered fees for national terminal examinations and made transportation and meal arrangements for children with special needs both within the regular school system and at specialized institutions.  A second focus was on infrastructure and equipment, especially concerning laboratories.  A third focus was on capacity building through the school system in a variety of ways: by improving technical and vocational schools, by promoting sporting and science competitions, and by requiring membership in a state-sponsored scout organization aimed at building leadership skills and providing children with teamwork experience.  This approach complemented emphasis on teacher training and awards to incentivize good teaching.  Sosan singles out funding as the main challenge faced by the governance program and in particular by its educational component.  While most of these reforms were facilitated by a significant initial budgetary increase, Lagos state fostered involvement of private actors through programs such as "Adopt a School."  Public support and trust were secured through both follow-up on electoral promises and as a result of increased transparency and access to top officials.  Other areas such as health care and transportation were at the center of similar progress, with Lagos state focusing on visible issues that could enhance public confidence in the government.

Abubakarr Koroma explains the role of the National Electoral Commission (NEC) in 2008 local government elections in Sierra Leone.  Koroma offers insight into the process of recruiting staff members to fill NEC officer posts, detailing the measures taken toward attaining nonpartisan recruitment. He explains how United Nations officers worked alongside local officers to ensure that all aspects of the election were adequately staffed, from the early stages of registration through polling day. He discusses the commission’s collaboration with civil society organizations in monitoring trained staff members, as well as the role of the police in protecting workers’ safety during campaigning and at the polls.  He details the widespread use of radio and cellphones by both the NEC and the political parties during the campaign period in voter education.  He also explains how third-party mediation and public condemnation of deviant behavior effectively dealt with election disputes.  Finally, he addresses the steps taken by the NEC and other organizations to reach out to marginalized voters such as women and rural residents, and sheds light on what the elections may mean for the development of democracy in Sierra Leone.