MDAs attend seminar to help improve public service delivery in Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone Telegraph: 9 July 2020:

Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Planning and Economic Development, yesterday engaged with key officers of ten government departments, agencies parastatals, commissions and state-owned enterprises, in a one-day seminar aimed at helping MDAs  accelerate effective service delivery in 2020 and beyond.

The seminar, among other things, focused on performance management process; result-based performance outcomes and indicators, including the verification and streamlining of deliverables for government departments, agencies, commissions and state-owned enterprises as presented in the government’s 2020 budget and Medium-Term National Development Plan (2019-2023).

The seminar was also geared towards agreeing quarterly targets, and next steps to accelerate service delivery.

The service delivery performance seminar which will target all MDAs is being delivered in small groups and staggered across several in keeping with the COVID-19 social distancing measures.

Welcoming the participants, the Development Secretary – Peter Sam-Kpakra said the seminar is a follow-up on the first presidential seminar, which the Office of the Chief Minister organized for heads of institutions at the Bintumani Conference Centre on the 25th February 2020, where the President – Julius Maada Bio spoke about the important role and contribution of commissions, parastatals, agencies and state-owned enterprises to the achievement of his New Direction Agenda, and declared 2020 as the year of Accelerated Service Delivery.

The Minister of Planning – Dr. Francis Kai-Kai, told the delegates that the aim is to ensure that they were clear on their deliverables and targets for this year of delivery and beyond. He said the work of the government institutions is critical to each of the eight clusters of the Medium-Term National Development Plan (2019-2023), which encapsulates the aspirations of Sierra Leoneans and also brought together President Bio’s manifesto commitment in changing and transforming the lives of ordinary Sierra Leoneans.

Dr. Kai-Kai said that, notwithstanding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country, the President is determined for things to happen quickly, and ensure that some amount of progress was achieved in 2020 and beyond. He re-echoed President Bio’s appeal to the participants to focus on delivery in 2020.

“We want to see what you are supposed to deliver on and see whether you’ve delivered. The deliverables should be your focus especially for 2020; and this should be consistent with the Medium-Term National Development Plan (2019-2023). The session will be practical and tell you how to arrive at those deliverables for your respective institutions,” said Minister Kai-Kai.

Dr. Kai-Kai emphasized the need for government parastatals, commissions and state-owned enterprises to provide effective service delivery to the public.

Dr. Robert Moikowa, the Director of Service Delivery and Performance Management, spoke about  performance management process, target-setting: verification and streamlining of deliverables; monitoring performance outcomes and the tools of the performance tracking tables, among others.

He emphasized that the outputs of Government Departments and Agencies efficiently contribute to the implementation of government policy objectives; supporting lives and livelihoods, and the effective implementation of the National Development Plan.

The Senior Director – Program Development and Quality Assurance from NaCSA, Dr. Susan Roberts, whilst thanking the Ministry for organising the engagement seminar, noted that the process would bring useful change to service delivery processes in their various sectors. She said the endeavour is very significant for their institutions, and they are looking forward to achieving their targets in 2020 and beyond.

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*


This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.