A two-day seminar on the Public Service Reform and Institutional Capacity Development Project, wrapped up on Wednesday, at the Corinthia Atlantic Hotel, Banjul, with the adoption of a revised work plan to set the reform on course.

The seminar was organised by the Personnel Management Office in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The meeting brought together key stakeholders and donors.

Delivering a speech during the opening of the ceremony, Mr Omar G Sallah, the permanent secretary at the Personnel Management Office, who doubles as the project director, underscored the importance of the seminar to the achievement of the goals and objectives of the civil service reform programme.

Mr Sallah informed the participants that the project was conceived a year ago, following the government's formulation of the Public Sector Reform Strategy Paper II and also told them that past administrative reforms were ad-hoc and the small successes achieved short-lived.

"In view of this situation and given the absence of a comprehensive approach to civil service reform, the government willingly undertook, with UNDP support in 1999, to design and implement a reform programme directed at public service management, as part of an overall six component national governance programme," he said, adding that this was followed by the reactivation of the Capacity Building and Economic Management Project (CBEMP) in 2002 and the first Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) 2003 - 2005.

PS Sallah, who is also the chairman of the Management Development Institute's Board of Governors, said country assistance strategy process workshops were held in Banjul and Washington on civil service reform. These, according to Mr Sallah, were complemented by the ADB mission study in the same year, on the government profile, which provided baseline data on governance. The PMO boss noted that the issues highlighted in the data pointed to deficiencies in government capacity and effectiveness, which according to him, confirmed the need for comprehensive reform to enhance efficiency and effective service delivery.

Sallah observed that the essence of the strategy highlights the urgent need for equitable and sustainable policies to provide a cost effective retention strategy, salary and allowance reform, revised pension scheme, robust performance management system, comprehensive training strategy, effective succession planning mechanism, as well as a competent and efficient public service under the coordination and supervision of the PMO and the Public Service Commission (PSC).

As the attainment of the goals of the public sector reform strategy dovetails with the objectives of Vision 2020, the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper II and the Millenium Development Goals, Sallah indicated that the UNDP country office expressed interest to fund part of it.

"On the basis of this expression of interest, the UNDP Regional Bureau decided to initially allocate US$1.45 million to fund the public service reform sector component," he revealed, noting that the government of Spain, through the Democratic Governance Thematic Trust Fund, provided the funds. He stated that with the UNDP's local contribution of US$350,000, the total fund currently available amounts to US$1.8 million for a three-year period - 2007 to 2010.

At the tail of the two-day seminar, PS Sallah commended the participants for their resourcefulness and participation during the course of the seminar and hailed the UNDP for their immense support.

Sallah also acknowledged the immense support received from President Jammeh towards the reform process.