Regional Development in the World and the Public Servant Profession
Today, our group met with the staff of the Hokkaido Regional Development Bureau, which is the local branch office of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. After listening to each participant make a presentation on regional development structures and processes in their countries (Indonesia, Phillipines, Myanmar, Sri Lanca, Tanzania and Macedonia), I made the following conclusions:
- Each of these countries has some type of regional development policy with a corresponding legal and instititutional framework.
- Regional development is a central government initiative & responsibility, and requires significant efforts and resources. Donors trust and prefer this approach.
- Ensuring local participation is a challenge everywhere, even in Japan.
Comments:
Don't worry, there's a lot of unqualified people in the US government too.
Lucia i just wont to show you our way of recruiting civil servantsin Macedonia , it is not perfect one but you shold try..."The Law on Civil Servants (Art. 11) calls for public announcement and open competition for all civil service positions, except those of secretary-generals and state secretaries. The latter may be directly appointed but shall be selected from the managerial civil servants.
State bodies wishing to recruit must submit their requests to the Civil Servants’ Agency, which then publishes the vacancy announcements in at least two daily newspapers. Candidates who fulfil the basic requirements have to take a professional examination in the Agency. The Agency then draws up a shortlist of at least five candidates. In the event that fewer than five persons pass the professional examination successfully, a new vacancy announcement has to be issued. The recruiting administrative body has to set up a recruitment commission, whose members are defined by law. This commission then selects the nominee. A slightly different procedure is foreseen for junior associates and junior officers; these candidates first serve a trainee period and then pass the examination at the end of this period. The recruitment procedure, although quite transparent, is very costly and time-consuming, as it has to be undertaken for every single appointment. The Agency is therefore considering streamlining the procedure by either proposing bulk recruitment or developing a career path. Bulk recruitment would force all administrative bodies to develop their capacities to forecast personnel needs. Developing a career path would put more value on the existing annual performance appraisal and reduce the workload associated with preparing and carrying out examinations.
The exception to open competition made for secretary-generals and state secretaries is in line with practice in EU Member States, as it is linked to the requirement that these positions have to be filled from within the civil service (Art. 10 Law on Civil Servants). The law states further that the term of states secretaries and secretary generals are limited to the term of office of the government. When their term of office expires, state secretaries and secretary-generals shall be assigned to a position corresponding to the position they held before their appointment as a secretary general (Art. 32)
The system is adequate despite the fact that it cannot fully prevent politically based appointments.
Career development is not regulated in the law, as it is based on the position system. However, performance will influence the envisaged "career development steps" once the salary system is implemented. Access to a higher grade was, up to now, based on full open competition. The review of the law, currently undertaken by the Agency, may lead to a more career-oriented system and may strengthen the preference for internal competition."