Correlaton between civil service problems in Africa recruitment and training - assessment of needs

UNITED NATIONS ECONOMIC AND

SOCIAL COUNCIL

Distr.

LIMI1rED

1 April 1964

ENGLISH

Originals FRENCH

ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR AFRICA Conference of Directors of Central

Personnel Agencies (or Civil Service Commissions) and Directors of Public

Administration Institutes in Africa Addis Ababa, 18-29 May I964

CORRELATION BETWEEN CIVIL SERVICE PROBLEMS BI AFRICA RECRUITMENT AND TRAINING - ASSESSMENT OF NEEDS

The International Institute for Administrative Sciences, Brussels

64-1381

E/C3J.14/UIP/2O

CORRELATION BETWEEN CIVIL SERVICE PROBLEMS IN AFRICA: RECRUITMENT" AITB

TRAINING ASSESSMENT OF

Modern administration must be conceived as a sum of processes and skills which must.enable.a.State not only- to manage itselfs to govern itself, but also to develop itself "by trying to improve' : ; the lot. of each of its citizens..•

The " "Ilff::.^v.i'J:7 of preparing men for

such complicated tasks is. therefore .,-■

great.

. Henri Bourdeau de .Pontenay,; . ,-_

Vienna 1962 - International Congress of Administration ! Science? ■ .-■;,.;■

Foreword , , , . .

My intention in this, document is to he brief and yet mention)a .

large number of points which may he developed by the other rapporteurs and which it would be advisaole to examine in greater detail during

the group discussions, to follow * .

By in this way providing the participants in this conference-,-

with subjects for reflection I think I shall have "ber1- discharged- the.

mission entrusted to me. >' ■■■ - ■'' ■

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Introduction

Every State's ideal is that its talents should flourish and that

its specific potentialities in the political, economic and social spheres,..

should be realized,

How, without questioning the importance of other requirements, it

has been established that a good public administration is one of the

primary, conditions for such success at a time when the State itself is called upon to carry out increasingly diverse and complicated tasks.

It is equally certain that this public administration will be good

or less good depending on the abilities of the staff. The African

countries have had, and will still have, to cope with public administration problems peculiar to their development conditions. Although they have already solved them more or less successfully, further questions in this field will certainly arise and on the answers given to them will depend, to a large extent, the future and the economic and social development of the African countries.

It is not possible to examine here political questions or questions

of structure or those relating to liaisons or other administrative

techniques.

Similarly, despite the great importance of local problems, we !. ■:.'.'."*

shall limit ourselves to examining problems of public administration

in the central administration. . ■ .

Finally, although I am quite convinced of the absolute necessity of resorting for some time to cometo the collaboration of foreigners,

I do not intend to discuss this subject in this document, which ^will, therefore, be strictly limited to an examination of certain problems

posed by the recruitment and training of nationals intended to fill ■ . ■ . posts in the central administration of the State.

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Recruitment

While in most States elementary education has been fairly well developed, the same is unfortunately not true of the training :of those liable to be called upon to form the cadres. There are those, indeed, who may be reproached for having tried not to give a real education but

to familiarize those concerned only with the essential rudiments they..,

needed to -become executives, and for having failed, to impart., the

knowledge essential- to ithe exercise of any responsibility.

Too often, when intermediate or higher educational establishments were instituted they were copies of establishments existing in the more advanced countries and there was generally no attempt to adapt the teach ing to the -real and urgent needs of the country or to develop in the pupils the sense of national spirit so common in persons of the more developed countries.

Most countries find themselves constrained to set up a national . administration, to fight, in order to do this, against an encroaching under—administration and to prepare for the replacement of foreign civil servants who will sooner or later have to leave the country. Even when the latter have remained, or been replaced hy others, relations between the new governments and the latter have been modified and the spirit in which they are"'called upon to collaborate hasr undergone profound changes.

The need to satisfy nationals' requirements as far as possible, to ensure undeniable economic and social progress has made provision of the necessary staff for public administration even more imperative, This task is the more arduous because although in some countries a small number of civil servants had taken part in the making of decisions, for the most parJ !:hoy had beer entrusted only vith executive tasks calling for few special skills.

Most cadres have ^ecn recruited in 'Jiese conditionss trith the follow

ing results'.:

(a) difficulty of adaptation on the part of senior oadresj

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(b) existence of links with the political authorities at the expense.of the administrative hierarchy;

(c) oreation of a void and of a certain nervous irritation among

' the intermediate cadres and the executive and clerical staff.

Recruitment must be from outside the resources built up,by:the former officials and a solution must be found.to the.very complicated . problem of relations to he established between the cadres already in

service and the new utzS2, whose intellectual training is sometimes

definitely superior to that of the former even though they may be lacking in experience and thorough kinbwledge -? the environment.

Account must also be taken of the fact that a similar problem will

arise at the beginning of every training and refresher course.. . ., ■ ; ;■;.-,

From the time when certain officials, of more or less the' same age,

re-assume their functions the problems that will subsequently,.be caused by their promotions and even simultaneous departure mus,t De borne in mind.

■ . Apart from educational, and training measures, certain essential points

must be settled*

: (a) Recruitment must be Dasod solely on the merits of the candidates,

on their ability to fill the vacant posts. In this connexion, the following principles should be recalled: considerations

of religion, ::aro or political convictions should not be taken into account. Moreover, if the administration is to be an instrument really at the service of the whole nation, the

various elements composing the latter ntust be found in the former, (b) Several p?:e;".:-\:-.:vr conditions for the adoption of a real civil

service statute must have been fulfilled before there is any

re recruiting.

(c) There should not be legislation prohibiting the entry of

qualified nationals to the administrative services. On the

contrary, it would b& necessary to increase as far as possible

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the number of persons capable of entering the administration

and'to encourage, as much as possible, the integration of .

the national elite and autochthonous civil servants.

(d) Staff,-administration and recruitment should be governed by a central,, independent service, offering all guarantees of

impartiality. To the extent necessary, this service should have regional offices,

A thorough analysis of the real situation of the country may easily

be followed by a relatively accurate assessment of short and longer-term

needs in civil servants. Recruitment planning with respect to both

executive staff and cadres should therefore be Dased on these data.

After having drawn from the resources offered by the country, after

having, if necessary, promoted the staff already in service, the agency

responsible for controlling this human mass is involved in extremely diverse considerations, particularly with respect to the many matters

relating to training.

Training

At the Tenth International Congress of Administrative Sciences,' held at Madrid in 1956, it was recognized that it is becoming increasingly

impossible to administer unless the administrator has an adequate general

culture at the start of. his career, renews his knowledge during the course of his career and revises his skills before the peak of his career.

The methods used vary greatly with these considerations and with time and place. Each case is a problem in.itself and even though some general solutions are applied to this problem, they result only from a conscious compromise with real needs-

The permanence of these needs warrants the establishment, of schools

or institutes to supply them (the needs). The teaching method.and the

material availaole to the teachers have been widely examined at meetings of Directors of Schools and Institutes of Public Administration present

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at the Institute's sessions and are described .in the work "Education

in Public Administration - A-Symposium on the -;Teaching Methods and

Materials" prepared under the direction of Donald C. Stone and published

by the Institute.=/ The next few days will be devoted to an examination

of experiments in former British and French African territories and of

the work of universities.

Training of Serving Staff

Generally the staff in oervice has-been recruited somewhat hurriedly

and in sometimes unfavourable conditions. Despite this, it has very

often.to cope with the particularly delicate problems confronting the administration of a young country, and in many countries it will, for

some years to come, constitute the core of the civil serviod.

All levels of this staff, but.particularly the middle.grade personnel, need in-service training-, ..^-i-eh will be usefully organized on the

initiative of the ministerial departments themselves.

This training must very often cover both so-called general admin istrative training and. specialised subjects. It is generally recognized that it must be given in short courses, since it is difficult for the administration to do without its staff for several weeks at a stretch.

Some courses, particularly those on general training, may be for

officials from several departments out a number of them should, because

of their specialized nature, be for officials of a single ministry.

The purpose of this training must be to develop in serving officials their capabilities as civil servants and to prepare them to work with colleagues vliose training may perhaps be more advanced than theirs.

Training of New Staff

The training of new staff.may be given either before recruitment, immediately after recruitment and assumption of duties, or immediately

after assumption of duties

1/ The French versior. of this work is being prepared at the IIAS.

/20-

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In the case of training before recruitment there are two situations?

firstly, once this training is successfully .completed and a diploma or certificate awarded, the candidate automatically enters the civil service - in this case the training is usually given by a school or institute

recognized by the government? secondly, recruitment is restricted to persons already possessing certain academic or scholastic qualifications - in this case candidates for the civil service may have obtained their qualifications in the institution of their choice. .

Finally, after entry into service - when references will more

usually be to refresher courses - a certain.training repeated at regular

intervals enables civil servants to keep up and broaden their knowledge,,

Following these considerations. I should like to raise certain matters

which merit special attentions ..

(a) All training and refresher courses must help to solve specific

problems . ■"- ■' '■'

(b) Identification of these problems and relevant needs is the responsibility of a specialized .central service =

(c) Training needs in 'African.countries are such that it would be criminal, not to meet them immediately without wasting time

or energy* .!

(d) The method used will vary in each case/ Whether accelerated or not, it must above all aim at meeting real needs.

(e) In view of the conditions peculiar to Africa, training

problems at present cause particular difficulties• Steps should

be taken to normalize the situation in this field*

(f) Despite the privileged position of the administration, which must in most cases be. considered as the country's main employer, it is not all-powerful and owes it to itself to exert its

influence with a view to the preparation of future cadres.

"T

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(g) Possible recourse to additional or advanced training abroad would also merit more detailed examination. Several points might be taken into account in this connexion, including:

1. limitation to senior cadres (administrative and technical)?

2. length of absences -

3. advantages or drawbacks to the' State or to the•individual- . (h) The need to provide different solutions to training problems

depending on urgency (programmes of longer'or. shorter duration).

(i) The possible advantage of bringing politicians and senior civil servants together for short periods to examine jointly the

problems confronting administrations*. :' :

(o) The usefulness of bringing former pupils together one or two years after completion of their training courses to examine changes to be made in the curricula in the light of their

experience. ■■■...

(k) Mistrust of the alas too prevalent idea 'that good administration

calls for nothing more than common sense*

1. The need for competent staff in the" civil earvice is such that it may be wondered whether it is not in.order for the government to require every person who has been granted a government-scholarship for study either^ in the country

or abroad to work for it temporarily.

Conclusions

It eeemed appropriate, at the conclusion of this document, to pose some questions which might be the subject of discussions* _

1. What steps are taken, or could'be taken, to improve the work and civil service spirit of serving civil servants?

2. How can problems resulting from the near-identity of age and

seniority of a large section of the cadres be solved?

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3. What is the most useful time for the training of civil servants?

4« Is there adequate liaison "between the economic and social development plan and the planning of the recruitment and training of civil servants?

5* In this case, what would be the role ofs

(a) A central personnel recruitment and management services

(b) Schools and institutes of public administration.