APSD celebrations kick off in Victoria Falls

THE 9th Continental Africa Public Service Day (APSD) celebrations kick off today in Victoria Falls with participants that include organisations active in the sphere of public administration drawn from across the continent expected to attend.

The others expected to attend the event are universities, the private sector, media and other non-state actors.

The day is a special day for civil servants and public service organisations across Africa.

It is celebrated annually on June 23 to mark and recognise the role of public servants, public sector organisations and their positive contributions to communities.

The APSD serves as a platform for the Public and Civil Service to showcase and reward good initiatives and achievements in the public sector. This platform equally provides an invaluable opportunity for public servants to promote values such as professionalism, accountability, responsiveness, ethics and efficiency in the delivery of services.

The APSD initiative is derived from the collaborative work of the Pan-African ministers’ programme to enhance governance and public administration across the African continent.

This year’s event is running under the theme: “The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) will require a fit for purpose African public administration to succeed”

The first Pan-African Conference of Ministers of Public and Civil Service, which was held in Tangier, Morocco in 1994 agreed that 23 June every year should be set aside and dedicated as Africa Public Service Day to recognise the value and virtue of service to the community.

The ministers’ declaration was reaffirmed by the Stellenbosch Declaration adopted at the fourth Pan-African Ministers’ Conference held in Stellenbosch, South Africa in 2004.

The meeting acknowledged the importance of the APSD initiative as part of the continental strategy to boost public administration programmes, public sector performance and governance.

The United Nations adopted and designated 23 June as Public Service Day and has been celebrating the day since 2002 coinciding with the APSD.

The APSD which is now on both the AU and UN calendars, is celebrated annually at national level and biannually at a continental level.

According to the programme, ministers responsible for labour/public service and administration are expected to attend as heads of national delegations.

Today’s proceedings will start with discussions on the main theme before a session on improved diplomacy, harmonisation of legal systems and regional cooperation to combat cross-border crime to better manage coordination and implementation of AfCFTA mandate.

Tomorrow’s proceedings will open with a session on developmental public administration that creates an enabling environment for investment value-adding industries to maximise the benefit of the AfCFTA framework. The other session will be on developing managerial, technical and entrepreneurial skills to ensure better use of scarce human, financial and physical resources in achieving more efficient cross border trade.

Other high-level speakers are the director-general of the AU Commission Ambassador Fathallah Sijilmassi, chairperson of the Conference of States Parties to the African Charter on Values and Principles of Public Service and Administration, Ms Noxolo Kiviet, who is also South Africa’s Public Service and Administration Minister.

There will also be discussions on building institutional capacity at a national level through the deployment of new technologies to better manage, coordinate and implement AfCFTA obligations and addressing the public administration impediments to cross-border trade facilitation and implementation of regional integration commitments at a national level.