Our policies and procedures

PICPA adopts a targeted approach to engaging with the public services of the Pacific Island Countries (PIC). PICPA aims to raise the levels of competencies of senior public servants responsible for public policy analysis, design and implementation. These are the cadre who are most likely to provide the next group of senior executive service appointments to lead the public services. They are targeted to provide the leadership skills needed to address the challenges of poor public policy design and poor public sector service delivery.

PICPA works closely with each PIC to identify priorities for immediate support to improve the quality, and relevance of nationally delivered training. Wherever possible PICPA assists PIC to establish and deliver their own courses and works together with the PIC to build an articulated system of training, rather than simply importing courses and trainers. At the same time, PICPA delivers training via a regional approach where this approach is more cost-effective.

PICPA training aligns with matching the needs of PIC. The needs are generally defined in the national development plans (high level), sector plans and annual corporate plans of ministries, departments and agencies. PICPA training aims at sustainability and relevance. It is designed to avoid the pitfalls of (a) training for its own sake (b) lack of sustainability such as “one-off” training where the impact dissipates over time due to lack of follow-up and absence of assessments (c) in-takes of participants whose duties and job descriptions are not aligned with the course objectives.

PICPA training follows the general guideline of providing training which enhances the competencies of civil servants in line with achievement of the goals outlined in the corporate plans.

1. Training courses are discussed with the PICPA national focal points (Public Service Commissions) to ensure alignment with corporate plans of the sectoral agencies.
2. Training courses are designed, in consultation with the PSC and sectoral agencies, to ensure alignment with the activities of participants.
3. Proposed participants are pre-selected based on job descriptions and experience.

PICPA works closely with the training institutions of each PIC to align its proposed training support at senior, middle and junior levels in line with their training priorities. There are four recognized PSC training institutes, namely:

• Papua New Guinea – PNG Institute of Public Administration;
• Fiji – PSC Centre for Training and Development;
• Solomon Islands – Institute for Public Administration and Management; and
• Vanuatu – Vanuatu Institute for Public Administration and Management.