Civil servants to get more training on e-Government 
By Malai Hassan Othman

Bandar Seri Begawan - The effort to ensure that civil servants are ready and have the know-how to operate in the new e-Government format is now being stepped up through the Civil Service Institute or IPA.

Also in place and continuously refined and upgraded is the move to increase efficiency, productivity and quality of service in the present government machinery through training and retraining programs.

"During the past 12 months of last year only some 51 courses and training programmes on human resource development, IT, quality and productivity were conducted for 4,818 participants that comprise civil servants from various government agencies".

"This year the number of programmes and courses provided is increasing. From January to April this year some 42 programmes and courses have already been conducted", said the Director of IPA, Dr. Awang Azahairaini bin Haji Mohd Jamil.

He said about half of these programmes and courses were designed to provide the participants with new knowledge and know-how on ICT.

"The aim is not only to help participants to increase their computer literacy but also on how to make IT a culture in the government community," said the Director of IPA.

"This is in line with the government's effort to gear up the civil servants towards the eventual formation of the e-Government machinery," he added in an interview with the Bulletin yesterday.

He said that running parallel to this effort is also the ongoing programme to increase the productivity, efficiency and quality of service of the civil service.

However, Dr Azahairaini conceded that the big challenge for IPA is not just in providing the human resource development programmes and training courses to participants.

"Our concerned in IPA has been always the effectiveness of our programmes and training courses in meeting the need of the public sector to have efficient, effective, customer-oriented and dynamic civil service. On the other hand we are also dealing with the bigger issue of changing mindset".

In this context, IPA is apparently setting the pace to do its housekeeping first and change the mindset of its own community.

According to Dr. Azahairaini, a new organisational structure has already been put in place in IPA. Now five sections, namely, the Training and Development, the Support Services Section, the Administration and Management Section, Research and Development and the MIS and ICT Section, support IPA.

IPA has also drawn up a five-year strategic plan to become one of the best institutes among partners in Human Resource Development in the ASEAN region," explained the Director.

"Our strategies are to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the administrative and management systems of IPA, to develop staff expertise in specific management, administration and ICT disciplines and to improve the quality of HRD in accordance with the needs of customers".

"We would also strive to promote the IPA's services and programmes to Civil Service and where appropriate, other agencies involved in national development. Also on the agenda is to improve the capacity of IPA as a resource centre in the areas of management, public administration and ICT", said the Director. (Courtesy Of Borneo Bulletin)

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