CAPAM—A new professional association
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/pad.4230150209 |
| Author | Art Stevenson |
| Published date | 01 November 2006 |
| Date | 01 November 2006 |
PUBLIC
ADMINISTRATION
AND
DEVELOPMENT, VOL.
15,
181Li83
(1995)
Professional Developments
CAPAM-A
new professional association
ART STEVENSON
Executive Director, Commonwealth Association
of
Public
Administration and Management
Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, was the birthplace at the end of August
1994
of
a new association of professional administrators. The new Association is directed
toward Commonwealth public servants, elected or appointed, and it was the result of
two years’ preparation by a Steering Committee of fourteen senior officials, chaired by
Sir Kenneth Stowe.
The new association, called the Commonwealth Association for Public Adminis-
tration and Management, was jointly sponsored by the Commonwealth Secretariat in
London and the Canadian Institute of Public Administration in Canada (IPAC).
Funding for the inaugural conference and start-up in
1994
was provided by the
Australian International Development Assistance Bureau, Canadian International
Development Agency, the Commonwealth Foundation, the Commonwealth Sec-
retariat and the Overseas Development Administration
of
the
U.K.
CAPAM has its world headquarters in Toronto adjacent to the IPAC national
offices. Mr Art Stevenson, formerly the Executive Director of Management Services
for the City of Toronto, has been appointed as CAPAM’s first Executive Director.
The rationale for creating the new association was that the forces of globalisation are
affecting governments everywhere, and administrators can benefit from increased
contacts with their counterparts in other countries. There are already strong networks
among academics, but public administration practitioners need to have better con-
tacts. Since the Commonwealth countries have similar government structures and
institutions based on the Westminster model, it will be particularly useful for them to
have information about innovations-successful or otherwise, in other Common-
wealth countries.
The Inaugural Conference in Charlottetown was planned around the theme Govern-
ment in Transition. Papers were presented by representatives of
22
of
the Common-
wealth’s’
51
member nations. There was a surprising degree
of
agreement about the
issues facing governments today.
Professor Sandford Borins attended and wrote a summary report on the Conference
entitled ‘Government in Transition: A new paradigm in public administration’.
He
concluded that:
Despite the diversity of the Commonwealth Countries, there was a
common pattern in their responses.
So
strong is this common pattern that it
could be labelled a new paradigm in public administration. The new
paradigm which has emerged in little more than a decade emphasises the
role of public managers in five components:
CCC
0271-2071/95/02018-03
0
1995
by
John
Wiley
&
Sons,
Ltd.
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