AMDIN and the CAPAM PSTI network

Prof Sheikh A. AbdullahChairperson: AMDIN

Who and what is AMDIN?

What is AMDIN?

• A network of African Management Development Institutes (MDIs) as well as Schools and Institutes of Public Administration and Management (SIAs) and research institutes in the area of public administration/ public management/ public governance and related areas

• Pan African network covering all five regions of Africa, straddling Anglophone, Francophone, Lusophone and Arabic speaking Africa

• Organically linked to the AGPAP, the African Governance and Public Administration Programme, the initiative of the All Africa Conference of Ministers for Public/Civil Service, the African Union and NEPAD

• Founded in 2005 and legally registered as a Non-Profit Organisation with its Secretariat based in South Africa since 2007

• Membership exclusively institutional – no individuals or governments

AMDIN’s expanding footprint

AfricaAfrica

20092005

AMDIN Points of Departure

• African ownership• Recognition and utilisation of strengths

and expertise in African MDIs• Sharing knowledge and resources within

the network to strengthen and empower all of the African MDIs

• Collaboration and cooperation: within the network and across other networks and organisations

For MDIs to be centers of excellence capable of responding to African

development challenges and global engagements

AMDIN Vision

AMDIN Mission To create for African MDIs a platform

that articulates their collective voice and that promotes mutual partnership and collaboration with a view to developing leadership and management capacity in

response to the needs of the African people and their governments

AMDIN’s role

• AMDIN is positioned as Capacity Builder of those charged with Capacity Development of African public sector organisations and their employees

• AMDIN is dedicated to improving the environment in which African MDIs function as well as strengthening capacity of member institutions – be that organisationally or individually

Mandate: 1st AMDIN Biennial Conference August, 2007

AMDIN has a critical role to play in addressing the deficiencies that exists in the African MDIs – on institutional, organisational and individual levels. With the assistance of AMDIN and within a networked and constructive collective spirit, African MDIs will set out to achieve a multifaceted and durable agenda to raise their own standards and set continent-wide benchmarks to guide a process of continuous improvement.

Strategic & Operational Plan 2009 - 20116 Focal Areas:

1. Strengthened organisational and human resource capacity for MDIs

2. Shared African curricula and standards frameworks for continual performance improvement

3. Knowledge relevant to the development of African public sector capacity more readily available

4. Opportunities for networking, knowledge exchange and resource sharing increased

5. Contribution of MDIs to African Public Sector Capacity Development extended beyond training to include other HRD approaches, research, consultancy and policy advice

6. Enabling AMDIN Institutional Capacity

Purpose

Empowered African MDIs effectively fulfill their

developmental roles and mandate through knowledge

exchange and networking

Developmental Goal

Contribute to the development of Africa by strengthening democracy,

good governance and public administration

Activities in 2009-2011 Plan• Formulated in response to extensive consultation &

needs identification process in 2008• Aimed at 6 different target groups: Heads of

Institutions; Institutional Management; Training Administrators; Training and Curriculum Design Experts; Consultants; Researchers

• Content wise focuses on 11 curriculum areas identified by NEPAD in the AGPAP (as adjusted over time)

• Standard raising and quality improvement• African context & implications for what MDI are doing &

how they are doing it

Intersection: Target Groups and ActivitiesIntersection: Target Groups and Activities

Trainers & Design experts

Training Managers & Administrators

Heads of Institution

Institutional Managers

Consultants & Advisors

Researchers

Target groups Individual Capacity Development/ Training

Knowledge management; Collaboration & Peer learning

Annual Heads of Institutions Forum

Problem solving “fish bowls” and “showcasing” innovative solutions

Placement & exchange

Exposure visits/ study trips

Standards of Excellence for self & peer evaluation

Training of Trainers – generic & subject specialisation, e.g. e-government

Training Curriculum Design & Materials Development Experts (Incl. Wiki-educators)

•Change management exposure visits

•Support programme for new Heads of Institutions

•Customised training course re managing e/ on-line training PLUS managing logistics for residential courses

Training CFOs/ Financial directors for resource mobilisationBuild M&E capacity, with specific emphasis on RIO and Impact Assessment methodologies

Peer to peer learning

Placement & exchange

Communities of Practice in curriculum areas Peer to peer learning for professional groupingsCollaborative curriculum developmentAwards programmes

Peer to peer learningFacilitate consortium formation & collaborative biddingOn-line toolbox and example practices

Consultancy competency development through short courses & reflective practice

Placements in consulting firms

Collaborative research groupsMake accessible on-line resource centres and info rich DbasesJoint, comparative research programmes

Research methods & skills

Introduction to technological support & software for researchers

Communities of Practice: Curriculum Communities of Practice: Curriculum DevelopmentDevelopment Representati

ves from user/ client communities

Public Sector Restructuring and HRM

Leadership and Human Resource Development

Strategic Planning and Budgeting

Inter and Intra-Governmental

Relations

Public Policy Development and Management

Curriculum areas

Researchers and subject experts

Curriculum Designers & Materials Developers

Trainers

Further curriculum areas:•Public Finance, Budgeting and Financial Management•Ethics and Anti-Corruption•Public Participation and Service Delivery•Globalisation and Regional Integration

E-Government and Knowledge Management

What is AMDIN’s historical connection with the CAPAM PSTI?

Ghana conference• Was extensively consulted re programme, participants

& AMDIN participated in programme, but AMDIN not recognised as formal partner of the event notwithstanding discussions re this

• AMDIN cautioned around the special situation re existing networks, specifically Africa and extremely dense organisational fabric re public administration & MDIs, specifically in Africa, but also internationally

• Voice of MDIs from other regions who do not have their own pre-existing networks outside of CAPAM won the day to proceed with a CAPAM PSTI initiative

Barbados & since• No official AMDIN representation• Overlapping members, so some African

participation• Meeting between CEOs in Arusha in March

to establish foundation for collaboration• CIDA proposal for limited number of joint

activities in a selection of African countries, where existing overlap with AMDIN and Commonwealth, and geographical concentration for cost containment purposes

What are the drivers and challenges for future collaboration between AMDIN in the CAPAM PSTI initiative?

Fluidity of the network structure: In reality, many intersecting sub-networks on different dimensions and

layered: professional; disciplines; geographical; etc

Level 1: AMDIN one network within other global ones, e.g. UNPAN & IASIA

Level 2: AMDIN intersecting and cooperating with other regional/ language based/ colonial history networks, e.g. CAPAM PSTI initiative, CLAD, etc

Level 3: Intersecting and cooperating with other African initiatives, e.g. AAPAM; CAFRAD; African Human Resource Management Network

Level 4: Sub-networks within AMDIN – CoPs; Peer to Peer learning groups; interactive, action learning research groups

Elements of successful networks• Agreement and understanding by all re the network

structure in use• Commitment to a common purpose• Trust among participants• Governance issues clarified: e.g. Boundaries and

exclusivity; Rules; Self-determination; network management

• Access to authority (e.g. definitive standard-setting procedures)

• Leadership and willing champions• Distributive accountability/ responsibility• Information sharing• Access to resources

Challenges• The majority of commonwealth states are African – therefore

significant overlap. Anglophone African MDIs currently the most active/ demanding AMDIN members – double dipping on their side or the “cash-cows” for both initiatives?

• Oversupply, duplication and redundancy: African MDIs have limited resources: leadership and staff time, money to attend events, resources to pay affiliation fees, etc. -- within Anglophone Africa “competing” for the same resource base to make our individual networks sustainable. Large overlap in terms of donor partners

• Is the CAPAM PSTI a network of networks, or a network of MDIs??

– AMDIN currently the only existing network, with its own membership (including and beyond commonwealth) in the CAPAM PSTI effort – other interested parties are individual MDIs in Commonwealth countries

– If a network of networks, then where is CLAD, IASIA, UNPAN, the Asian networks, etc? (This will require different governance arrangements than what is on the table and CAPAM PSTI network will be one of many equal networks – existing and that may be formed in future)

– If a network of commonwealth MDIs, how does AMDIN as a network then fit into the CAPAM PSTI network picture, other than ad hoc collaboration/ attendance and individual MDIs that may have overlapping membership?

Drivers

• Existing relationship between leadership on both ends

• Shared commitment to improving situation of MDIs – making them more effective

• Similar types of initiatives and interventions foreseen

• Professional respect & competence• Limited resources encouraging more efficient

ways of working – collaborating & dovetailing efforts

The way forward

• From AMDIN side still very unclear regarding many of the “success” factors

• However, decided to start collaborating on a limited scale and hopefully gain clarity/ finding answers/ building rules while undertaking shared activities

• As an organisation will have to monitor the impact of such collaboration on an ongoing basis