The African Union Country Representative, Mr. Issaka Garba Abodou says the objectives set for the Capacity Building Seminar have been achieved through the diligence and commitment of participants.
He said this when officially closing the Southern Africa Capacity Building Seminar on The Utilization of the SPAT for Reporting on the Implementation of the African Charter on the Values and Principles of Public Service and Administration held in Maseru.
He expressed gratitude that they came up with important recommendations that are relevant, realistic and achievable.
He noted that the key resolutions highlighted which include; the recognition of the centrality of values and morality, an understanding of why the African Union decade of values is the basis for the African Charter enhanced and the technicalities of deploying the SPAT for reporting on the Charter implementation are well understood, saying these are key for the success of public administration interventions.
He, therefore, expressed gratitude to the government and people of the Kingdom of Lesotho, staff of the Ministry of Public Service and the facilitators for agreeing to host this Seminar, as well as for all the support and attention that made the Maseru Seminar a success.
The Vice-President of Administration Southern Africa, Ms. Maria Nangolo said the African Union (AU) Member States share a common vision for African prosperity advocated in the AU agenda 2063 and the charter.
She thanked all the stakeholders for the fruitful deliberations and the opportunity for continuous learning for all participants and equally so, for all public servants who will benefit from this milestone.
She stressed that they are now tasked with ensuring execution guided by Agenda 2063, which is to promote and drive good governance on the continent through the transformation of Africa’s public administrations, for improved performance and service delivery.
Ms. Nangolo mentioned that the seminar highlighted the shared values in the context of Administrative Reforms in Africa, African Charter Implementation Disciplines, Introduction to the State Party Assessment Tool (SPAT), piloting and capacity building for ACVPPSA implementation reporting, the role of Public Administration training institutions.
The main objective of the capacity-building program was to provide participants from State parties with an in-depth appreciation and understanding of the Charter, the reporting guidelines for the Charter and the SPAT as a mechanism for effective reporting on the implementation of the Charter. In addition, the seminar was envisioned to improve the participants ‘report writing skills through the provision of tips and hints on producing meaningful, good quality, concise and coherent reports.
The African Union member state present at the seminar included Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zambia.
By staff Reporter: ‘Maphoka Likotsi