The Pacific Island Centre for Public Administration based at The University of the South Pacific has identified Leadership Development an area of priority as part of work activities to be pursued to improve public service delivery in the Pacific Islands.
PICPA has accordingly been providing higher-level strategic advice and training in the area of Leadership Development.
One such activity was a two-day Leadership Development Seminar for senior Government officials in Kiribati, from 8-9 March 2016 at the PSO boardroom in Bairiki, Tarawa.
The workshop convened by Professor Franco Gandolfi, the Dean of Faculty of Business and Economics (FBE).
Professor Gandolfi on the conclusion of the workshop, said the excellent turnout and intense participation of the officials clearly demonstrated that Leadership Development is an important area of capacity building.
He said that those who participated in the two-day programme were largely in senior level positions in the public service and as such, they needed to be exposed to principles of effective leadership like setting and defining mission and vision statements, strategic thinking, team building, succession planning, managerial accountability, good governance, and public relations.
The seminar was sponsored by PICPA, which is a Centre within USP funded by the Government of Australia.
PICPA responds to Pacific Island Countries identified needs and plans for strengthened public administration, to enable improved service delivery to their people, and to foster economic growth.
The Centre is led by Mr Parmesh Chand, as Director, who was formerly the Permanent Secretary in the Fijian Civil Service.