Programme to Nurture Graduates for Placement in Civil Service Launched

By Claude Nyarko Adams

A programme aimed at recruiting and developing talented young and brilliant final year students from Ghanaian universities to be coached and nurtured for placement in the Civil Service has been launched in Accra.

It is being organised by the Office of the Head of Civil Service (OHCS) in collaboration with Emerging Public Leaders Ghana (EPL), an organisation that provides training and mentorship to recruits.

The programme encompasses six-key components, including meritocratic recruitments, continuous responsive training, mentorship, immersions excursions, performance management as well as alumni engagement and career support.

The inaugural class of EPL Ghana, numbering 20, commenced their training in June 2018 and were in September of that same year posted to work across nine ministries.

Signing a Memorandum of Understanding yesterday to formalise the collaboration, Head of Civil Service, Nana Kwasi Agyekum Dwamena, said the programme was in line with the OHCS' vision of empowering the next generation of Civil Service professionals capable of achieving extraordinary social impact to drive Ghana's development.

Already, the first 20 fellows, he said, per reports have been outstanding with positive commendations from their supervisors with the ministries expressing interest in retaining the fellows, if they were recruited into the Civil Service.

He said the successes and efficiencies of the EPL fellowship would be adopted and standardised across the Service to set new benchmarks required to elevate the Service to higher heights.

To deepen performance management system across the Service, Mr Dwamena indicated that, it was focused on introducing an online appraisal system for the assessment of staff to further delink the staff performance management system from the current promotion-driven perspective.

An impact assessment of the programme would be conducted next year to confirm the improvement in management practice in the Civil Service, he added.

Senior Minister, Yaw Osafo-Maafo, said the public sector was critical for facilitating the national development agenda by assisting in the formulation and implementation of policies and deliver needed service to citizens and boost the competitiveness of the private sector for jobs and wealth creation.

Without the innovation of young people in the public sector, he explained that, the expected efficiency and effectiveness to support national development plans and agenda would be difficult to realise.

As a key country in the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCTA), the Senior Minister said, it was imperative to build the competitiveness of local industries to take advantage of the agreement to create strong economic growth.

Founder of EPL, Betsy Williams, said the programme was to build capacities, improve efficiencies and make young people a part of the governance structure to improve productivity and innovation to drive the continent's economic growth, noting that inclusive democracy was necessary to spur growth, accountability and excellence in the development agenda of African countries.

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