jamarchMinister with Responsibility for the Public Service and Information, Senator Arthur Williams, will head a delegation to Singapore from November 28 -December 1, for a one week study tour of Singapore’s Public Sector.
Minister Williams will be accompanied by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Public Sector Transformation Unit (PSTU), Mrs. Patricia Sinclair McCalla, and the Project Management Specialist in the PSTU, Mrs. Charmaine Edmondson-Nelson. The delegation will leave the island on Friday, November 25.
The study tour was recommended by the former United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative to Jamaica, Mr. Minh Pham, who felt that Jamaica’s Public Sector transformation process could benefit from this experience. Singapore is known internationally for best practices within the Public Sector and its antecedents are similar to those of Jamaica’s, through its historical link with Britain.
While in Singapore the delegation will visit similar Government entities to observe their respective governance modalities, systems and structures which can be adopted and adapted to the Jamaican context.
According to Minister Williams, it is intended that a level of knowledge transfer will occur in the specific areas of interest that will enhance the Public Sector transformation process currently underway in Jamaica.
These include areas that are in line with some of the major initiatives elaborated in Jamaica’s Public Sector Master Rationalisation Plan (MRP) such as:
- The establishment of a Strategic Human Resource Management Unit within the Cabinet Office;
- The implementation of Shared Corporate Services;
- The consolidation of ICT functions across Government;
- The consolidation of Research and Development functions across Government;
- The introduction of Devolution and De-concentration of Authority as a governance modality; and
- The focus on productivity improvements across the sector and the sector wide role which will be played by the Jamaica Productivity Centre
Media Writer
