MPA MINISTER URGES NEW CARIBBEAN LEADERSHIP MODEL FOR THE PUBLIC SERVICE Leadership Excellence needed to transform Public Service

MEDIA RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

9 December, 2014

 

MPA MINISTER URGES NEW CARIBBEAN LEADERSHIP MODEL FOR THE PUBLIC SERVICE Leadership Excellence needed to transform Public Service

 

"The Caribbean Leadership Project is taking a major step towards transforming public service entities across the region, by creating a new paradigm of leadership and a new brand of leader to helm the public service of the 21st century”. The observation was made by Minister of Public Administration, the Honourable Carolyn-Seepersad Bachan as she addressed administrators and leaders of local and regional training and learning institutions at a forum held at the Hyatt Regency on December 5, 2014. The forum was organized by the Caribbean Leadership Project to generate ideas and commitment to contributing to the development of a Caribbean Centre for Leadership Excellence (CCLE)

Speaking on the topic Caribbean Leadership: The Way Forward for the Public Service, Minister SeepersadBachan said: “We have entered a new era of Caribbean Leadership, a time when the focus no longer is on the leader’s charismatic personality. The leader of today is a Facilitator: someone who creates an enabling environment for the knowledgeable, experienced and talented people – even geniuses – in his team, allowing them to innovate in ways that redound to the benefit of an entire organization, or even an entire country"

Minister Seepersad-Bachan stressed the need to “create and develop a new Caribbean Leadership Paradigm and Model noting that it was important to “move away from the old practice of centralization and stultification; away from insularity and exclusivity, and the old boys’ network towards more inclusive and open; transparent and participatory leadership. She noted that "any positive change in the way you public service leaders and senior administrators conduct yourselves and dispense your professional services, can have more than a ripple effect across your organizations, and indeed, the whole society”.

Citing ICT as a way to defy geographical, historical and traditional barriers to progress, the Minister praised the CLP for actively taking advantage of ICTs as both a learning and collaborative tool. She made a special plea to participants to ensure that the Centre for Caribbean Leadership Excellence is not viewed as another talk-shop initiative and instead as a region we work better and fully exploit all synergies among our countries.

Minister Seepersad-Bachan threw out to the audience four challenges which she indicated were important considerations for the success and sustainability of the CCLE – engaging and partnering with the private sector for public sector transformation, using technological tools to engender greater transparency and create effective twoway dialogue with stakeholders and citizens, leading by example and ensuring principle-centered leadership.

Some of the topics discussed by participants during the Forum were the Unmet Need to be Met by the CCLE and Identification of Other Organisation with a Similar Mandate; Public Sector/Private Sector Collaboration; Succession Planning for Senior Public Sector Leaders; Leadership Development and Selection at the National Level and, how to increase interest and funding for Leadership Development (and professional development in general).

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About the CLP:

The Caribbean Leadership Project is a seven-year, $20 million (CAD) Project, funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development, Canada (DFATD) (formerly known as CIDA) to support the leadership and economic development training needs of regional and national public sectors in twelve (12) CARICOM countries. The countries participating in the project are Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Lucia, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad & Tobago. The Project also targets key regional institutions which play a pivotal role in advancing regional integration and economic development.

The Canada School of Public Service (CSPS) is the executing agency for the Project, while the Regional Project Office (RPO) is hosted by the Cave Hill School of Business / University of the West Indies (CHSB/UWI) in Barbados. The CLP will be collaborating with a number of regional learning institutions to deliver the Project.

For further information, please contact Rae Ann Harper-Walters

Head, Corporate Communications

623-4724 ext 2076, 688-2068 or email: harper-waltersr@mpa.gov.tt