A five-day workshop on reform and modernisation of the Gambia Civil Service is currently underway at the Kairaba Beach Hotel.

The workshop aims to focus on three key areas of the civil service, namely compensation and benefits, institutional capacity factors, governance and management factors.

In his opening address, Mr Ousman Jammeh, secretary general and head of the Civil Service in The Gambia, said the workshop is to examine and analyse issues relating to capacity and constraints, both at the personal and institutional level in the public services. He therfore noted that public servants and public institutions must play pivotal roles in efficent and effective formulation of policies, allocation of resources and delivery of services.

Mr Jammeh pointed out that the above objectives cannot be achieved without reform and modernisation of civil services structures. He then emphasized that The Gambia government is committed to a comprehensive public service reform in line with Poverty Reduction Strategy  (PRS) and the Millennium Development Goals (MDG).

The head of the Civil Service further stated that administrative reform and program for sustained development in the past were the starting points of reform and served as catalyst for a wider scope of reform in the socio-economic domain.

He said government has taken stock of the past reforms and the constraints they had and is now committed to venture into a new phase of civil service reform formulated in a home-grown fashion.

Mr Ousman Jammeh also told participants that President Jammeh's vision to transform the country into a city state should serve as source of motivation to all.

For his part, Mr O G Sallah, permanent  secretary at the Personnel Management Office, said Civil Service Reform and its modernisation will  form the basis for socio-economic development  and will also continue to be given high priority in  development initiatives. He said the workshop provided the right forum for paticipants to revisit and re-align development activities for quality service delivery.

Mr Sallah finally thanked the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Cooperation (CFTC) for the effort and initiative it has taken to sponsor the workshop.