Senator the Honourable Allyson West, Minister of Public Administration, spoke on 'The Role of Government In A Small Island Developing State in Building Globally Competitive Business' at an international conference hosted by The Caribbean Industrial Research Institute (CARIRI) and the World Association of Industrial and Technological Research Organization (WAITRO) on Friday 17th March, 2023, at the Hilton Trinidad & Conference Centre. 

 

At the 'Building Globally Competitive Businesses- an International Conference' there were several presentations and discussions from speakers in the public and private sector as well as academia. The conference was well-attended and saw participants from various sectors across the country networking with speakers from Turkey, Denmark, Spain, China, Jordan, Indonesia, Ghana, Germany and Trinidad and Tobago.

 

The Minister congratulated the hosts and spoke on the timeliness of the conference and the need for Trinidad and Tobago to continue to foster technological innovation in the public and private sector. She went on to share the various key citizen-focused initiatives at The Ministry of Public Administration.

“At the Ministry of Public Administration, we are tackling some key initiatives to create a more efficient citizen-centric public service.  Some of them are: Leadership development and enhancement– We have recognised that the leadership competencies required for the public service in the context of globalisation are markedly different to those that are usually demonstrated now. In January last year, in collaboration with the IDB we held a workshop of permanent secretaries to frame the leadership profile that we believe is more aligned to where we should be.

• Workforce and Succession planning – Workforce planning has never really been practiced in the Public Service. We will therefore be conducting continuous future skills needs assessment to anticipate and position the future work force with the right skills required for an effective and citizen centric public service.

• Performance management – An effective performance management system in the Service is virtually non-existent. We are working diligently on introducing such a system, starting with the senior management which we believe will have a trickle-down effect on performance.

•   Accountability and consequence management – I am convinced that there are public officers throughout the Public Service who are skilled and competent, self-directed and dedicated workers. However, the system as a whole is not conducive to a culture of accountability and this holds for all levels. We are intent on increasing accountability through an effective framework and we are working to implement a process of consequence management, where persons who do not perform will be held accountable in accordance with the principles and practices of good industrial relations and human resource management.

• Training and development – Last year we conducted a comprehensive training needs assessment of the Public Service. Which is now informing the design of a strategy and structure for competency development in the Public Service.

These are just a few of the initiatives on which we are embarked with the aim of creating positive and noticeable improvements in the quality of service provided to the citizenry and others. And we are working with the Ministry of Digital Transformation and others to promote the seamless delivery of services across Ministries on a platform of electronic identification and interoperability.”

 

Read the full speech below:

 

 

 

The MPA is committed to driving public service excellence.