The IPANZ dimension

Report on Institute of Public Administration (IPANZ) collaboration with the Commonwealth Association for Public Administration and Management (CAPAM) in India, October 2008 (from the IPANZ Journal 'Public Sector')

IPANZ Board Member Dr Keith Johnson who is the Institute’s International Liaison Officer has been working to develop international linkages. This is consistent with the provisions of the 2007-2010 Statement of Intent which flags the objective of ‘monitoring and cross-referencing international trends’. Recently, his contacts with the Commonwealth Association for Public Administration and Management (CAPAM) resulted in active collaboration in India, as reported below.

In October 2008, Keith was invited to be a guest presenter on Finance and Risk Issues at a CAPAM Programme on Innovations and Good Practices in New Public Management for high level officials from South Asia (with participants from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the Maldives). The course was held at the Bella Vista campus of the Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI) in Hyderabad, in the delightful setting provided by the old palace of the Nizam of Hyderabad.

Keith’s presentation drew heavily on New Zealand’s experience commenting firstly on the breadth and vision of the post-1987 Government Management initiatives, including the introduction of the Performance Reporting Model and the adoption of Managing for Outcomes. The shortfalls that still exist between desirable and achievable levels of accountability and financial efficiency were then explored drawing on the findings of the 2008 Parliamentary Committee on State Owned Enterprises and the recent comments of the Office of the Auditor General on output and outcome reporting.

While the participants were generally appreciative of the evaluative merits of the New Zealand system, they were less than surprised at the problems that have been experienced in actualizing evaluation and feedback. There was widespread agreement that performance in the public sector was often a slippery beast that defies easy capture.

The other presenters included: Mr David Hawkes (former Public Service Commissioner for the Northern Territory of Australia) who spoke on Australian and international initiatives to improve the scope, targeting and quality of service delivery; Mr Jasimuddin (Adviser, Asia Region, Commonwealth Secretariat) who spoke on the basic tenets of New Public Manaagement, Mr Mohammed Tap Salleh Datuk, Malaysian Institute of Integrity; the Hon Milinda Moragoda, Minister of Tourism, Sri Lanka, who gave a keynote address on the emergence of challenges to the traditional relationship between politicians and the public sector; and presentations by a number of practitioners from the Indian Civil Service on topics such as governance, vigilance (i.e. anti-corruption), grass-roots service delivery, the role of public-private sector partnerships and institutional reform.

There was also appreciation by the participants and presenters of the quality of the sessions and the debates that they engendered. As for the IPANZ-CAPAM relationship, this has been much strengthened – so much so that Keith will be providing extensive inputs to the CAPAM programme for African public servants on ‘Leadership in Financial Administration and Management’ that will be held in Gabarone, Botswana in April 2009.