1. Institutional Reforms and Managing Change
Building an effective public service for wealth creation and generation
Institutional Reforms and Managing Change
By: Allen Kagina (Mrs)
COMMISSIONER GENERAL URA

2. Presentation Outline Introduction Challenges in the civil service
Opportunities within the civil service
Institutional reforms and managing change
Summary
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3. DEVELOPING UGANDA TOGETHER
Introduction
The civil service is the implementing arm of government
The civil service provides an enabling environment for economic growth and development
The institutional memory of any country
The civil service is the pride of any country
The implementation of government policies and strategies is highly dependent on the courage and passion of the civil service. When the capacity of the civil service to discharge its responsibility is low, the implementation of government policies and strategies will fall in a trap (Adebabay, 2011).
While the private sector is the engine of growth, the public sector is the driver
The civil service is the pride of any country
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4. Challenges in the civil service
National capacity building strategy
Tracking employee performance management
Inadequate systems to manage the employee register – eliminate ghost workers
Attracting and retaining talented people
The focus on budget rather than planning
Installing effective national training and development system is a challenge to the civil service (Adebabay, 2011)
How to measure effectiveness of training undertaken
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5. DEVELOPING UGANDA TOGETHER
Challenges…
Developing the right attitude for professionalism and making people transparent and accountable
Developing model leaders and professionals
Building values such as integrity to fight corruption
Bureaucracy in the civil service
The need to win trust in excellent service delivery
Without having model leaders and professionals in required number and quality, the ethos of professionalism can’t be transferred easily from leaders to other civil servants. Lack of model leaders in required number leads to shortage of adequate mentors.
In Civil Service Competence and Integrity the Civil Service must deliver ‘better services either directly to the public or through others in the public,
voluntary and private sectors’. ‘This would require officials to demonstrate skills and expertise that fitted the needs of the job with first ‘leadership’ skill for top managers as being ‘visible leaders who inspire trust’
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6. Opportunities to enhance service delivery
General government support - National Development Plan (NDP) has stretched goals that call for a professional civil service
The NDP theme of “Growth, employment and socio- economic transformation for prosperity” is a driver to build professionalism in the country
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Opportunities…
Investing in technology to support business processes
Globalization which leads to competition and adopting best practices
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8. Reform Strategies & managing change
Develop a vision for the civil service transformation to include:
Image change
Creating a new civil service that is fundamentally different from the old (business oriented)
Developing a road map for institutional transformation
Implementing modern business processes and systems
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Reform strategies…
Modernise the people to enhance their productivity
Building mutually beneficial partnerships with stakeholders
Developing staff competencies to match new requirements
Identifying with the society we operate in and on an integrity footing
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Reform Strategies…
Develop a culture of urgency in service delivery
Reorienting staff to service delivery
Maintain a flat structure to increase efficiency
Business Process Re-engineering (BPR)
Result oriented performance management
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11. Summary-Reform Strategies
Reform is not a one off exercise but an ongoing process
Institutions, procedures, staffing have to be reviewed to check if:
The intended objectives are achieved (effectiveness) and
If this is done in the most efficient way
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12. Summary-changes in work ethics
Changes in the Public Service work ethics from:
rulers to servants
patronage and favours to equity (no discrimination)
anonymity to “name label”- design clear process flows that define accountability (Refunds process)
secrecy to “freedom of information”
from ‘tell nothing unless authorised’ to “tell everything”
deciding at the top to delegation, devolution;
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13. DEVELOPING UGANDA TOGETHER Thank You