A wide-ranging, forward-looking training calendar is drawn up every year to ensure civil servants are skilled to keep up with the Public Service's change agenda. JOANNA RIPARD meets Joanna Genovese (right), director of the government's Staff Development organisation
Staff development and training is vital to any organisation facing such huge changes in its most immediate future as the Public Service, especially in view of Malta's potential membership of the European Union just 14 months from now.
EU membership aside, the Public Service has had to keep up with the times and face inevitable change head on. The Staff Development Organisation (SDO), part of the Management Personnel Office directly answerable to the head of the civil service, has had its own important part to play in the transition.
Set up in 1990 not only to provide training but also to institutionalise staff development within the Public Service, the SDO can probably afford to pat itself on the back for its remarkable achievements - 4,530 people underwent some form of training in 20,570 training days last year alone - but certainly not to sit on its laurels.
Now under the headship of Joanna Genovese who follows in the paths laid down by her predecessors Anthony Mifsud and Philip von Brockdorff, the SDO continues to work on improving the range and quality of its courses to offer members of the Public Service opportunities to develop their skills, obtain qualifications and work their way up the ranks.
A career civil servant herself, Ms Genovese, 36, joined the Public Service 13 years ago. By January 2000 she made it to Assistant Director before landing the three-year post at SDO in May last year. A business management graduate and a mother of two young children, Ms Genovese could very well personify the changed image of a Public Service that has gone from a promotion system based on seniority to a meritocracy which allows the right people to compete for posts they have worked hard at qualifying for.
In its higher ranks, the Public Service can ill afford to give people jobs for life. But performance-based contracts coupled with promotions on merit mean that career prospects in the Public Service have never looked brighter for competent and forward-looking people.
Back in its early days, the SDO was entrusted with addressing the basic needs of the Public Service at the time. Armed with these skills, it was possible throughout the Nineties to gear departments to meet the challenges of Public Service change initiatives such as the Quality Service Charter - the Public Service's good customer care guarantee.
Another of the major challenges faced by SDO has been to foster computer literacy in all ranks - over 20,000 civil servants have undergone IT training in ten years. Now that the drive to get government services online is well under way, IT will probably continue to take up the bulk of the SDO's training calendar.
The recent launch of servizz.gov involves an enhanced customer service system with a central clearing house. That requires training of customer care co-ordinators within each office of review in every ministry. These co-ordinators will be trained in groups to handle complaints quickly and efficiently over the Internet.
Another intensive training programme is the Information Manage-ment Workshop, which is aimed at senior and middle management and is intended to support measures aimed at exploiting information systems for the better management of ministries and departments.
The SDO's range of activities goes far beyond IT training however. A look at the 2002-2003 prospectus reveals a wide range of opportunities in EU and language training, continuous development, management development, and departmental training and finance. Each of these units are headed by an area co-ordinator reporting to Ms Genovese: a simple structure that allows flexibility so the SDO is able to respond to changing needs quickly and relatively hassle-free.
Participants can apply for some programmes through their heads of department or be nominated by them. Other courses can be attended at the SDO's invitation. The prospectus is widely distributed throughout the Public Service and applications can even be made online at www.sdo.gov.mt.
Ms Genovese, who heads a staff complement of 20 at the Castille Place offices in Valletta, says the training vote is divided equally between the SDO's wide range of activities, but some are obviously more expensive to run.
The SDO is careful to maintain high standards and training that is contracted out through applications for tenders has to meet specific criteria that are continuously being upgraded. Participants are also encouraged to take part in a programme evaluation: after all, it is they who stand to lose if the course contents and delivery are not up to scratch.
Sound co-operation relationships have been fostered with organisations like the University of Malta, the Foundation for Human Re-sources Development (FHRD), the European Institute of Public Administration (EIPA) in Maastricht and the Centre for European Studies in Strasbourg to enable the SDO to organise key programmes.
For instance, the SDO's Senior Management Development programme was designed in collaboration with the University's Institute of Public Administration and Mana-gement, itself set up with the support of the Public Service. The programme, which boasts an innovative curriculum, has been so successful that the Institute has been appointed to a Commonwealth technical committee to design similar programmes.
As far as EU-related training is concerned, the SDO has been working hard to ensure that the Public Service is offered the best relevant training by helping ministries draw up development policies. It is careful to avoid duplication and handles requests and organisation of training itself.
The EU Training Unit is especially proud of a co-operation agreement signed with the EIPA in October 2000 which allows senior civil servants to attend seminars in Maastricht. An SDO representative within EIPA is currently involved in several projects including environmental and enlargement research.
A host of external training programmes are organised for public officers, including placements with the Brussels-based institutions of the European Commission. Scholarships in Ireland and Singapore are also offered.
There is an encouraging interest in foreign language training which is offered after office hours. Last year, just under 150 civil servants participated in French and German programmes; this year, a new Spanish for Beginners programme is being offered in collaboration with the Maltese-Spanish Cultural Circle.
In the sphere of continuous training, five public officers a year are sponsored to read MBAs or related programmes at Master's level. The Institute of Public Administration and Management also runs a diploma programme in public administration with sessions held at convenient times to be attended by public officers. This is a valuable programme for mid-career officers who find it helps to lead them to higher education.
The SDO hopes that eventually all public officers will receive some form of training every year. Ms Genovese says any selection process for candidates for training is guaranteed to be transparent and unbiased, so people have confidence in the system.
She explains that the SDO re-mains a manager of change. However, its role is shifting as the Public Service changes. Over recent years the SDO has aimed at decentralising training by training trainers in various ministries.
A Manual on Staff Development in the Public Service was published by the SDO in 1999. The guidelines paved the way for the delegation of operational and technical training in ministries and departments, who are now expected to organise this sort of training themselves.
There is another side to the coin however: how does the Public Service go about keeping its best people, especially highly trained personnel?
Recognition is a major factor in retention, says Ms Genovese. It's about giving people a sense of pride and belonging, and the Public Service showing that it cares for its employees. That's why, Ms Genovese says, the SDO is devising programmes like a course for women returnees in collaboration with the Department for Women in Society, and a pre-retirement programme.
Training is key tool to overcoming a collective mindset, fear of change, and to encouraging career progression, she says.