The National Academy for Public Administration and the Council of Europe reflecet on professional development of public servantes in the time of pandemic
The transition of professional development into online format shows the digital transformation of the public administration, whilst the results achieved by the National Academy during last year show that the Academy is ready for type of endeavours. This was one of the message of the conference on “Professional development of public servants in time of pandemic – challenges and lessons learned” organised by the National Academy with the support of the Council of Europe Programme “Human Resources Management in Local Self-Governments – phase 2”, whose goal is to improve the work of employees in local self-governments, as well as their continuous professional development.
The pandemic did not stop the process of professional development of public servants because the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA), as the central institution for professional development of public servants, has successfully adapted to enable online trainings. Despite the pandemic and changed working conditions, more than 12,500 employees underwent various types of trainings in 2020, being almost twice as many as in 2019, when trainings were held exclusively in the classic format.
In his opening address, the acting Director of the National Academy, Mr Dejan Miletić, pointed out that the Academy promptly reorganised its work and ensured the successfully transition of professional development into online format during the pandemic.
"In order to successfully continue reforming the public administration, and permanently change the behaviour of employees, we need to motivate employees to develop professionally and provide them with training programs that will be available through one click on a computer or on mobile phone applications", said Mr Miletić, announcing that the next step for the Academy is to develop mobile phone applications for training, together with other digital tools.
Since 2016, the Council of Europe is devoted to the process of modernisation and professionalisation of the public administration in Serbia, through its partnership with the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government and the Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities. The Director General of Democracy, Ms Snežana Samardžić Marković, spoke about the role of the Council of Europe in this process, and addressed the participants with a video message.
"The crisis caused by the pandemic, as it turned out, was the catalyst for modernisation of public administration. It has raised expectations amongst citizens that measures and working methods which increase responsiveness and accessibility will be maintained, even once the emergency is over" said Ms Samardžić Marković, reminding that the Centre of Expertise for Good Governance of the Council of Europe is at the service of the public sector in Serbia, by offering professional trainings for public servants, as well as exchange of experiences with public sectors of other member states of the Council of Europe.
The representative of the Delegation of the European Union to Serbia, Mr Martin Klaucke, pointed out that the professional development is a very important part of Serbia's EU accession process because its membership presumes a professional and competent public administration able to provide adequate services to citizens. "Until now, institutions in Serbia have adapted quite well to the new circumstances. Numerous online trainings conducted by the National Academy support what has been said" emphasized Mr Klaucke and added that the EU considers public administration reforms to be fundamental and that the EU invested so far more than 270 million Euros in this process in Serbia.
Mr Tobias Flessenkemper, Head of the Council of Europe Office in Belgrade, referred to three important elements of public administration reforms. In his opinion, the professionalisation of the public sector is crucial for the development of public administration in Serbia, and it is important that all citizens of Serbia are entitled to basic human rights and freedoms. "Secondly, the Council of Europe and the European Union are working in partnership, together with Serbia, to establish a merit-based civil service system, both at central and local levels. Thirdly, the National Academy for Public Administration and the accreditation process continue to provide the necessary support to strengthen the efficiency of the civil service, by focusing on skills and competencies of public servants, and thus preparing them for challenges throughout their professional careers - like challenges seen in the past months of the pandemic" said Mr Flessenkemper.
Mr Čedomir Rakić, State Secretary of Public Administration and Local Self-Government, said being proud of his colleagues both in state bodies and local self-government units, for having accepted the new reality, and not giving up the opportunity to continue improving their professional knowledge and thus helping themselves and their colleagues to better overcome the problems they faced in this challenging times. "And that shows that Serbia is the leader in the region when it comes to e-government," stressed the State Secretary Rakić.
Speaking about the challenges faced by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development during the current pandemic, the State Secretary Mr Ivica Radović, pointed out that, thanks to the interest taken by key actors and policy makers in the area of education, a good opportunity was created in the country to permanently move digital education from the margins to the mainstream, thus becoming an equal constituent of the process of teaching, learning and evaluation in the 21st century.
After the opening, two panels were held during which concrete results of the digital transformation of professional trainings were discussed, and experiences of trainees from public administration were shared.
As pointed out during the conference, the most significant achievements of the Program "Human Resources Management in Local Self-Governments - Phase 2" are: the one-year support provided to 50 municipalities and cities for introducing human resources management functions (so-called "Municipal Support Packages"), the adoption of the Declaration on the Role and Function of Human Resources Management by 46 local self-governments, as being the first local act built on the Council of Europe’s Strategy for Innovation and Good Governance at Local Level, as well as the development and adoption of special training programmes by 90 Serbian local self-government units.
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Quelle/Source: Council of Europe, 28.04.2021
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