Draft report of the Second Workshop of African Management Development Institute Network (AMDIN)

 

 

Introduction

 

The Development Policy Management Forum (DPMF) organized the second workshop of African Management Development Institutes on 4th December 2003 in Addis Ababa. The overall objective of the workshop was to review the activities of the Network since December 2002 and decide on the way forward.  The workshop was attended by a total of 19 participants from Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

 

In his opening address, Professor Abdalla Bujra, Executive Director of DPMF, welcomed all the participants to the workshop.  He informed the participants about the outcome of the first meeting of Management Development/ Public Administration Institutes held on 6th - 7th   December 2002 and the progress made to implement the decisions of the workshop.  At that meeting, it was agreed to launch the African Management Development Institutes Network. Prof. Bujra also noted that the Task Force held a meeting on 3rd December 2003 and discussed the progress in the implementation of the first workshop’s agreements. The Task Force meeting also reviewed the agenda items to facilitate a more systematic deliberation at this workshop

 

Following the brief opening statement, Dr. Patrick Yalokwu, representing Dr. Haile Michael Aberra, President of the Ethiopian Civil Service College and chairperson of the Task Force, briefly presented the main points of the Strategic Plan drafted by the Task Force. After him, Dr Solomon spoke on the need for incorporating statements of the Network’s vision and mission while Mr Soobrayan stressed the need to ensure that the Network is outcome-focused and highlighted some other key issues in the draft document, such as core and supportive activities of the Network. Dr Latib made a presentation on the background of the Leadership Capacity Development Programme, the link between the Network and the Windhoek Declaration of the Pan-African Conference of Ministers of Public Service. He indicated the opportunities for working with the Pan-African Ministerial Conference and the possibilities for the Network’s recognition by the Ministerial Committee meeting and the former’s  input at the Kampala workshop on Leadership Development. The participants noted these interventions and then discussed in detail the strategic plan and the way forward.  The following decisions and recommendations encapsulate the outcome of the deliberations by participants of the December 2003 workshop of the Network.

 

1.      Strategic Plan: After extensive discussion on the contents of the Plan, the workshop participants made the following amendments:

a)      The Network should be referred to as African Management Development Institutes Network and identified with the acronym AMDIN.

b)      The Plan document should include the following Vision statement: "For MDIs to be centers of excellence capable of responding to African development challenges and global engagements".

c)      The document should also include the following Mission statement: "To create for African MDIs a platform that articulates their collective voice and that promotes mutual partnership and collaboration with a view to developing leadership and management capacity in response to the needs of the African people and their governments".

d)      The Plan shall not make any discrimination between the traditional government MDIs and the private sector as well as University-based MDIs in its membership drive even at the formative stage.

e)      The budget for the Network should be dropped out of the document.

f)        While the document outlines the challenges faced by MDIs, it does not clearly indicate the opportunities available. This should be clearly stated in the future. The objectives of the Network should also be spelt out separately from the rationale. 

g)      The activities that the Network will engage in should be differentiated and grouped as Core Activities and Supportive Activities. These activities of the Network were identified as follows:

·        Core Activities: These include two sets of activities, namely, (i) Research and Consultancy, (ii) Curriculum and Training. The participants assigned three Network members to develop the Core Activities. These are: the Ethiopian Civil Service College (ECSC), South African Development Management Institute (SMDI), and Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA). The ECSC is to be the lead institution for Curriculum Development while SAMDI is to be the lead institution for developing the Research and Consultancy Activities of the Network. All the three institutions will consult each other and work out the mechanism for sharing specific responsibilities when developing the Core Activities assigned to them and report their findings and recommendations to the General Assembly in December 2004. 

 

The TOR for developing the Core Activities is as follows:

i)        Research and Consultancy: Take samples of MDIs engaged in research and review their current research activity, particularly its type, relevance and utilization by governments; assess individual capacities for research; gaps in research areas, e.g., on curriculum, governance challenges, etc; make proposals on curricular research, on improving collective/regional and individual MDI research capabilities; and prepare report for presentation to General Assembly;

ii)       Curriculum and Training: Review sample cases of MDIs' curricula to determine underlying management philosophy, i.e., whether they focus on the traditional subject of Public Administration, or include the new management system and critical themes such as conflict, negotiation capability, leadership, democratic governance, etc; identify gaps in areas covered, and challenges addressed by curricula; identify pedagogical approach of MDIs, whether crash course, regular programme, etc.; identify curricular weaknesses and strengths; provide recommendations specifying Network's role in rectifying MDIs' weaknesses; prepare report for presentation to General Assembly in December 2004.

 

·        Supportive Activities: These include organizing the annual conference of MDIs, and the Directors' Forum as a side event; preparing a directory of MDIs (for which participants were urged to send all relevant information about their institutes by e-mail and to link their websites with the Network's website); launching and administration of Network's website; facilitating staff exchange and information sharing; facilitating training and research partnerships; assessment and quality support; acting as collective voice and lobbying; producing publications such as newsletter and journal. It was decided that the last two items should be waived at the initial stage. Regarding partnership and collaboration between MDIs, Dr Patrick Yalokwu was assigned to prepare a short proposal of 5-6 pages outlining the areas of cooperation and the modalities for such bilateral engagements within the Network. 

 

It was also emphasized that the Strategic Plan should be considered as a dynamic and living document to be continually enriched with feedback from MDIs before being finally adopted by the General Assembly. Opportunities should be provided to all MDIs to contribute to the enrichment of the Strategic Plan to ensure that it accommodates the interests and inputs of stakeholders. To facilitate this process of enrichment, it was decided that the full document should be posted on the website of AMDIN and also published in the special issue of DPMN Bulletin. 

 

2.      Network’s Website: DPMF was mandated to design and host the website of AMDIN. The design of the website would be standardized with meaningful and better arranged icons, a representative logo of the Network, the use of African colours for the icons, inclusion of additional icons for providing information about the background of AMDIN, links to the website of MDIs, etc. Members were urged to send suggestions for the logo within one month and also to identify the application program (pdf, html, etc.) used for formatting/composing the information they send electronically for posting on the website.

 

3.      Relations with Continental and Regional Initiatives such as the Pan-African Conference of Ministers of Public Service: As reflected in the Windhoek Declaration, the importance of MDIs was already recognized by the African Ministers of Public Service. However, participants felt that it was still necessary for AMDIN to win the full recognition of continental initiatives such as the Pan-African Conference of Ministers of Civil/Public Service. The Program on Public Sector Leadership Development for Good Governance, which is planned to kick-start with the Kampala workshop of 27-30 January 2004, and the meeting of the Committee of Ministers of the Pan-African Conference in Kampala provide a welcome opportunity for linking up. It was agreed that Ethiopia and South Africa should represent the Network at both meetings in Kampala and ensure that AMDIN's perspective is reflected at these fora. To this end, a short paper reflecting the principles and visions of AMDIN should be  prepared and presented by AMDIN's representatives at the Kampala workshop. Dr Salim Latib was requested to approach the chairperson of the Committee of Ministers as well as the organizers of the workshop, i.e., CAFRAD and UNDESA, both to secure an invitation for AMDIN and to facilitate the inclusion of AMDIN's presentation at a strategic point in the agenda.

 

It was noted that the Commonwealth Secretariat was organizing a similar workshop on leadership development and that some of the participant MDIs such as NIPA and TPSC would be attending this workshop. Therefore, the representatives of both MDIs were requested to speak on behalf of AMDIN at the Commonwealth workshop. Mr Answell W. Saka of NIPA promised to say something about the AMDIN workshop in his paper for the Commonwealth workshop and to relay the outcome of the workshop to DPMF soon after so that it would be incorporated in AMDIN's presentation at the Kampala workshop.

 

4.      Governance of the Network: The participants agreed that the highest decision-making body of AMDIN shall be the General Assembly. The first meeting of the Assembly will be held in December 2004. This meeting will include all MDIs that have participated in the previous two workshops as well as those that are interested in joining the Network. The DPMF has been confirmed as the host of the Network and will continue to coordinate the activities of the Network, including raising funds for the Network and popularizing the Network.

 

The participants also decided that AMDIN's activities will be overseen by an Executive Committee which will be elected by the General Assembly next year. Meanwhile, the following MDIs have been elected to serve as members of the Interim Executive Committee whose term shall be for one year: KIA, ZIPAM and ASCON. The Interim Committee will be responsible for drafting the constitution of AMDIN and presenting it for approval by the General Assembly; assisting DPMF in fund-raising and coordination of AMDIN's activities.

 

Regarding membership fees, it was felt that the proposed fee was too much. However, it was decided that the amount of membership fee should be fixed by the General Assembly next year.

 

With this, the day's business was finalized and the workshop came to an end.