Civil service recruitment

A Force for Change: Nuevo León Bolsters Police Capacity in Tough Times, 2011-2015

Author
Patrick Signoret
Country of Reform
Abstract

In 2010, the government, private businesses, and local universities in the northern Mexico state of Nuevo León forged an unusual alliance to design and implement sweeping law-enforcement reforms in a challenging context. At the time, powerful drug cartels were fighting increasingly bitter and bloody wars to control their turf—which intimidated an existing police service already hampered by low pay, weak morale, corruption, and disorganization. Public confidence in the state’s ability to maintain order had evaporated. During the next five years, the public–private partnership oversaw the creation of an entirely new police service that, in tandem with other reforms, significantly strengthened the state’s capacity to ensure public safety and helped rebuild public confidence.

Patrick Signoret drafted this case study based on interviews conducted in March and April 2018 and on earlier research carried out by Ariana Markowitz and Alejandra Rangel Smith in October 2014. New York University’s Marron Institute helped support Alejandra Rangel Smith’s participation. Case published July 2018.

 

C. William Allen

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B
Focus Area(s)
Ref Batch Number
7
Country of Reform
Interviewers
Blair Cameron
Name
C. William Allen
Interviewee's Position
Former Director of Civil Service Agency
Language
English
Town/City
Paris
Country
Date of Interview
Reform Profile
No
Abstract

In this interview, C. William Allen reflects on how the President’s Young Professionals Program boosted the quality of the civil service in Liberia. For background, he describes the strategy and programs that improved the civil service in the aftermath of the Second Liberian Civil War. He highlights the PYPP’s uniqueness in identifying young talent, heavily recruiting women, and offering placements in rural areas. He analyzes the pay scale’s role in strengthening the program. He compares the PYPP with alternative paths to working for the government, as well as the Young Professionals with other civil servants.  He champions the PYPP’s transparent and meritocratic recruitment process as a model for the rest of the civil service while presenting the steps necessary to sustain the program.

Case: Graduates to Government: The Presidents Young Professionals Program in Liberia, 2009-2016

Profile

At the time of this interview, C. William Allen represented Liberia as the ambassador to France and permanent delegate to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). From 2006 to 2013, he served as director-general of the Liberian Civil Service Agency, where he chaired the steering committee of the President’s Young Professionals Program. In his prior post as minister of information, culture and tourism, he was the chief spokesman for the National Transitional Government of Liberia. He also worked as a journalist and taught journalism and mass communications at several universities. Allen earned a bachelor’s in journalism from Franklin College, a master of public administration from California State University at Sacramento, and a PhD in mass communication from Syracuse University.

Full Audio File Size
61 MB
Full Audio Title
C. William Allen Interview

Graduates to Government: The President's Young Professionals Program in Liberia, 2009–2016

Author
Blair Cameron
Focus Area(s)
Country of Reform
Abstract

In 2005, when Ellen Johnson Sirleaf became Liberia’s first democratically elected post-conflict president, she found her country’s government in shambles. Years of cronyism under military rule and a 14-year civil war had left behind a bloated civil service corps riddled with unqualified employees, most of whom did not have a university education and some of whom could not read or write. The president needed more-capable employees at every level of government. Externally supported capacity-building programs helped fill top and middle management roles with Liberians who had fled abroad during the war, but Sirleaf also wanted to attract the most-talented and most-ambitious young graduates from Liberian universities to work in the public service. With assistance from international donors, Saah N’Tow, a Liberian working at an international consulting firm, set up a fair and transparent recruitment process and coupled it with strong training and mentorship to create the President’s Young Professionals Program. Beginning in 2009 and annually thereafter, the program placed 10 to 20 Liberian youth into government ministries for two-year fellowships. By 2016, 72 young professionals had completed their fellowships and about 75% were still working for the government. Many stood out as some of the top performers in the civil service and several had been promoted to positions as divisional directors and assistant ministers.

Blair Cameron drafted this case study based on interviews he and Pallavi Nuka conducted in Monrovia, Liberia and Paris, France, in March and April 2016. This case study was funded by the Open Society Foundations, which in 2015 donated $250,000 to the program profiled. This case draws from a variety of sources including an independent evaluation ISS conducted in 2016. Case published July 2016.

Changing a Civil Service Culture: Reforming Indonesia's Ministry of Finance, 2006-2010

Author
Gordon LaForge
Country of Reform
Abstract

By the mid-2000s, Indonesia had recovered from a devastating economic crisis and made significant progress in transitioning from a dictatorship to a democracy. However, the country's vast state bureaucracy continued to resist pressure to improve operations. In 2006, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono tapped economist Sri Mulyani Indrawati to transform Indonesia's massive Ministry of Finance, which was responsible not only for economic policy making but also for taxes and customs. During four years as minister, Mulyani introduced new standard operating procedures, raised civil servant salaries, created a new performance management system, and cracked down on malfeasance. Her reforms turned what had once been a dysfunctional institution into a high performer. But ongoing resistance illustrated the difficulties and perils of ambitious bureaucratic reform in Indonesia.

This case study was drafted by Gordon LaForge based on research by Rachel Jackson, Drew McDonald, Matt Devlin, and Andrew Schalkwyk and on interviews conducted by ISS staff members from 2009 to 2015. Case published May 2016. Other ISS case studies provide additional detail about certain aspects of the reforms discussed in this case or about related initiatives. For example, see Instilling Order and Accountability: Standard Operating Procedures at Indonesia's Ministry of Finance, 2006-2007.

A Tense Handover: The 2010 Presidential Transition in the Philippines

Author
Robert Joyce
Focus Area(s)
Country of Reform
Abstract

In 2010, political tensions in the Philippines threatened a stable transfer of presidential power. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was at the end of her tenure when Benigno Aquino III, son of two national heroes, won election in May. During the campaign, Aquino had accused Arroyo of corruption and mismanagement. Animosity, lack of planning by the outgoing administration, poor government transparency, and a weak political party system created obstacles to an effective handover in a country with a recent history of instability. However, a dedicated corps of career civil servants, a small but significant degree of cooperation between the incoming and outgoing administrations, and thin but effective planning by the Aquino side allowed for a stable though bumpy transition. The handover highlighted the importance of institutionalizing the transition process to avoid conflict and facilitate uninterrupted governance.

 

Robert Joyce drafted this case study on the basis of interviews conducted in Manila during November 2014. Case published April 2015. 

Denis Biseko

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E
Focus Area(s)
Ref Batch Number
2
Country of Reform
Interviewers
Andrew Schalkwyk
Name
Denis Biseko
Interviewee's Position
Senior Public Sector Specialist
Interviewee's Organization
World Bank
Language
English
Town/City
Dar es Salaam
Date of Interview
Reform Profile
No
Abstract
Denis Biseko of the World Bank traces the history of civil service reform in Tanzania back to the mid-1990s, focusing on two phases of the Public Service Reform Program. He outlines some of the institutional underpinnings of reform, such as open performance appraisals for public servants, merit-based recruitment, and capacity building. He also describes various challenges involved in reform, including retaining qualified staff, a lack of political will, and announcing new policies without taking into account the plans that had already been set out. Biseko argues that the government should have started small rather than push for a comprehensive approach of pursuing reforms simultaneously. He discusses pay policy reform in detail as well the evolution of donor relations. Donors have played an instrumental role in civil service reforms in Tanzania, but the government has by and large been in the lead in terms of their design. Biseko explains how reform was affected by the decentralization process. He relates the process for determining allowances and setting targets for advanced salary enhancements and describes various methods for determining the success of reform policies. He maintains that the government was not able to maintain the size of its workforce because of the growth in the demand for social services, especially education and health. He highlights the importance of being able to ensure that successes are demonstrable on a smaller level before moving to a larger scale.
Profile

At the time of this interview, Denis Biseko was the senior public sector specialist for the World Bank in Tanzania, where he managed a World Bank project involving public financial management reform and legal and judicial reform. Before joining the World Bank, he was a consultant with PricewaterhouseCoopers, where he worked primarily on public sector reform and organization and capacity building.

Full Audio File Size
75 MB
Full Audio Title
Denis Biseko - Full Interview

David Kialain

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B
Focus Area(s)
Ref Batch Number
9
Country of Reform
Interviewers
Summer Lopez
Name
David Kialain
Interviewee's Position
Senior Manager
Interviewee's Organization
Public Sector Reform Program, Liberia
Language
English
Nationality of Interviewee
Liberian
Town/City
Monrovia
Country
Date of Interview
Reform Profile
No
Abstract

David Kialain details his involvement in public sector reform in Liberia, elaborating on the role of the Governance Commission in initiating change within Liberia. Dr. Kialain identifies problems and suggests possible solutions to governmental reform, touching upon the lack of harmonization across governmental agencies, the inadequate human resource capacity, the difficulties in collaborating with numerous stakeholders to bring about reform, and the steps needed to ensure a positive response to reform initiatives. He outlines the work the Governance Commission has undertaken, including the development of civil service rules and procedures, a code of conduct for public servants, and an anti-corruption law. He further talks of the importance of attracting and retaining professionals to work within governance, discussing methods to reduce political and social influences in employee recruitment and promotion. Conscious of the heavy reliance on external assistance in Liberia, Kialain stresses the need for tailoring reform to Liberia such that Liberian leadership spearheads the country towards a better future, one where the right people have the right jobs.     

Profile

At the time of this interview, David Kialain was the senior manager of the public sector reform program in Liberia's Governance Commission.  He had previously served as the executive director of the Governance Commission and as a policy economist for the Ministry of Planning and Economic Affairs. Dr. Kialain also worked as an international consultant funded by the British government under the Department for International Development (DFID). His non-governmental experience includes international missionary work for the United Methodist Church in Nigeria, the United States and Sierra Leone. He obtained masters degrees in human resource development from Georgia State University in the U.S. and in economics from the University of Windsor, Canada and earned his Ph.D. in Public Administration from Georgia State University.

Full Audio File Size
47 MB
Full Audio Title
David Kialain - Full Interview

A Change Agent in the Tax Office: Nigeria's Federal Inland Revenue Service, 2004-2009

Author
Richard Bennet
Focus Area(s)
Country of Reform
Abstract

In 2004 Ifueko Omoigui Okauru, a management consultant with no previous government experience, took on the challenge of fixing Nigeria’s corrupt and dysfunctional tax system. As executive chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, she was responsible for reforming a weak and ineffective organization to meet the needs of a changing country. To reduce its heavy dependence on oil, Nigeria needed to diversify its revenue streams beyond the petroleum sector. Improved tax administration offered an avenue toward achieving that goal. In overhauling the tax system, Omoigui Okauru had to overcome entrenched opposition from private consultants who earned high pay under the existing system, defeat the institutional inertia that characterized the revenue service, and curb the corruption that fueled citizens’ distrust and hampered tax collection. To advance her vision for modernized tax administration, she recruited talented professionals and instituted specialized career tracks for employees, alongside additional training modules for existing staff and a reorganization of departments and functions. This case study chronicles the first five years of Omoigui Okauru’s efforts to improve tax collection in Nigeria and offers an example of how an outside leader working with a team of experienced professionals can build the coalitions necessary for legislative, policy and administrative reforms.

Richard Bennet drafted this case study based on interviews conducted in Abuja, Nigeria in September 2011, and interviews conducted and text prepared by Itumeleng Makgetla in September 2009. Case published January 2012.

E.M. Debrah

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C
Focus Area(s)
Ref Batch Number
1
Country of Reform
Interviewers
Ashley McCants
Name
E.M. Debrah
Interviewee's Position
Chairman
Interviewee's Organization
Governing Council, Ghana
Language
English
Nationality of Interviewee
Ghanaian
Town/City
Accra
Country
Date of Interview
Reform Profile
No
Abstract

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.
 

Profile

At the time of this interview, E.M. Debrah was serving as chairman of the Governing Council in Ghana. He joined the Ghana Foreign Service in 1955 and served in missions around the world, including the United States, Liberia, Ethiopia and Australia. He previously served as secretary to the Cabinet and head of the Ghana Civil Service. He earned degrees from the University of Ghana and the London School of Economics, and received honorary doctorates of law from various universities. In 2006 he was awarded the National Award of the Star of Ghana award for his service to Ghana and other Commonwealth and African countries.

Full Audio File Size
87 MB
Full Audio Title
Amb. Debrah - Full Interview

Ellam Tangirongo

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N
Focus Area(s)
Ref Batch Number
15
Country of Reform
Interviewers
David Hausman
Name
Ellam Tangirongo
Interviewee's Position
Chairman
Interviewee's Organization
Civil Service Commission of the Solomon Islands
Nationality of Interviewee
Solomon Islands
Country
Date of Interview
Reform Profile
No
Abstract

Ellam Tangirongo talks about the period of civil unrest from 1999 to 2000, when the collapse of the economy in the Solomon Islands affected the ability of the civil service to function.  The Regional Assistance Mission for the Solomon Islands (RAMSI), made up of Australia, New Zealand and some of the South Pacific Islands, helped restore order and reestablished the public service.  Tangirongo describes how, as part of RAMSI, the Public Service Improvement Program (PSIP), with the help of consultants and advisers, developed a vision and mission statement for a new public service free of corruption.  Tangirongo talks about methods the PSIP used to establish a human resource program to improve practices involving recruitment, training, equipment and promotions at the national and provincial level.  He discusses the problems that result when ministers try to influence the choice of members on the Civil Service Commission and the important task of the commission in serving as a coordinating organ to involve the ministries and senior officers.

Profile

At the time of this interview, Ellam Tangirongo was chairman of the Public Service Commission of the Solomon Islands, a position he had held since 2008.  A public-service career of more than 30 years began in the provinces of the Solomons.  Later, he became deputy secretary of foreign affairs and served in the Ministry of Lands, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Women.  For eight years he served in in the Public Service Department of the prime minister’s office, including the last four years as permanent secretary.

Full Audio File Size
59MB
Full Audio Title
Ellam Tangiorngo Interview