Improving the organization and management of civil service training in Zambia
| Author | C. L. Carmichael |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/pad.4230060207 |
| Date | 01 April 1986 |
| Published date | 01 April 1986 |
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND DEVELOPMENT, Vol.
6,
187-201 (1986)
Improving the organization and management
of
civil
service training in Zambia
C.
L.
CARMICHAEL
Peal,
Marwick,
Mi(cheN&
Co.
SUMMARY
This paper describes the first phase (1981-1984) of a programme being carried out by the
Government of Zambia to improve the organization and management of in-service training
for
civil servants. General guidelines for an effective training function are outlined. These are
compared to the problems of civil service training in Zambia in
1981,
where responsibility was
fragmented, co-ordination was poor, work concentrated
on
routine administration, and the
background of training staff was often inappropriate.
A
set of recommendations was agreed
for
resolving these problems, including the creation
of
a
central training directorate and a
cadre
of
full-time training staff. The package of proposals was designed to increase
accountability, improve co-ordination, improve the quality of training staff, and introduce
systematic training procedures. The progress with implementing these changes is evaluated;
the greatest progress was in setting up the cadre of training staff, although significant
progress was also made in other areas. The paper concludes that the conditions for an
effective training function have been created and that a longer-term programme to develop
the new training cadre is now required. The Zambian example provides
a
possible model
for
any country thinking
of
introducing similar changes.
INTRODUCTION
It is widely recognized that an efficient and effective public sector is crucial to
national development efforts, because
of
the central role
of
the civil service in
formulating and implementing policies. This point has been recently stressed by the
World Bank, which has recommended that any growth strategy for Sub-Saharan
Africa should have as one
of
its main themes the increased efficiency of resource use
in the public sector (IBRD, 1981). Because the public sector is
so
labour-intensive
any attempt
at
improving
resource
use
should
look
at the effectiveness of
human
resource programmes.
This paper discusses work carried out by the Government
of
Zambia, with the
help of the Overseas Development Administration (ODA), to improve the
organization and management
of
in-service training for civil servants. The next
section outlines the background to the exercise. This is followed by a set
of
general
Dr Carmichael is a Consultant with Peat, Marwick, Mitchell
&
Co.,
London,
UK.
He formerly worked
for
the Overseas Development Administration as Manpower Adviser
to
Cabinet Ofice, Zambia (1981-
1984). The views expressed in this paper are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those
of
the Overseas Development Administration, the Government
of
the Republic
of
Zambia or Peat,
Marwick, Mitchell.
0271 -2075/86/020187- 15$07.50
01986 by John Wiley
&
Sons, Ltd.
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