Civil Service Induction Training Commences

Nairobi (28 February 2006) – The formation of a Somalia Civil Service is closer to fruition as the Civil Service Taskforce begins training at the Kenya Institute of Administration today. The Taskforce is expected to produce a strategic workplan that will be ratified at the Extraordinary Session of the Somali Transitional Federal Parliament in Baidoa, paving the way for the creation of a Civil Service Commission.

“This is a critical milestone in our quest to rebuild our country,” Minister for Labour and Human Resource Development Mr Salah Ali Farah said. “We have a government and parliament and now we need to build the supporting structures and institutions that will serve the Somali people as they rightly deserve.”

The five-member taskforce (that includes one female) will participate in the 20-day training that will cover all aspects of the structure and role of a civil service such as management principles, public policy formulation, recruitment and selection, industrial relations and labour laws, performance appraisal, public finance management, and so forth. Following the training the taskforce will also perform the initial tasks of a Civil Service pending the creation of the Commission.

“We cannot over-emphasise the need for a functioning civil service,” UNDP Country Director Mr El-Balla Hagona noted. “The transitional federal institutions have many priorities at the moment such as reconciliation and strengthening the institutions they have already created. The formation of a functional civil service will be an additional step towards consolidating those institutions allowing for better delivery of services and more effective partnerships between development actors and different sectors of government.”

This training is supported by the Norwegian Government through the New Beginnings Project that supports the establishment of a functioning civil service for Somalia.