Kigali 27 February 2017 – The Department of Political Affairs of the African Union Commission (the Secretariat of the AU-STC 8 on Public Service, Local Government, Urban Development and Decentralization), organized a three-days technical planning meeting from 27 February – 01 March 2017 on the 2017 Africa Public Service Day (APSD), scheduled to be held on 23 June 2017 in Kigali, Republic of Rwanda.

The three-days meeting which kicked off on Monday 27 February 2017 at the Hotel Portofino Conference Center in Kigali, Rwanda brought together Service Champions and experts from the Public Service Sectors to plan in advance for the continental celebration of this event.

In his opening remarks, Mr. Mbari Calixte Aristide, representing the Commissioner for Political Affairs and the Director for Political Affairs, expressed his appreciation to the Government of the Republic of Rwanda for the offer to host the 6th African Public Service Day (APSD) celebration in Kigali, Rwanda. He refreshed the memories of all on the African Public Service Day (APSD) as it is a special day for Public/Civil servants and Public Service Organizations which is celebrated yearly across the African continent by African Union Member States and continentally as a biennial event. He then emphasized that these three (3)-days technical meeting is therefore expected to come out with a road map and feasible budget for the organization of the 2017 APSD and to clearly identify the roles of the host country, the African Union and AU Member States. Finally, he encouraged everyone participating in this meeting as technical experts from the AU-STC 8 Sub-Committees on Public Service and Administration (PsA), Decentralization and Local Governance (DLG) and Human Settlement and Urban Development (HUD) to put together the necessary technical know-how in order to ensure that our desired results are obtained at the end of this meeting.

In her welcome remarks, Mrs. Comfort Mbabazi, Director General for Public Service, Management and Development in the Ministry of Public Service and Labor from the Republic of Rwanda wished a warm welcome in Rwanda to all participants and thank each and everyone for their presence in this important meeting that aims in making all necessary plans and arrangements towards a successful Celebration of the 2017 Africa Public Service Day (APSD) schedule in Kigali, Republic of Rwanda. She reiterated that the APSD celebrations generally aims at: Rewarding excellence in the public sector, Motivating public servants to further promote innovation, Enhancing professionalism in the Public Service, Raising the image of public service, Enhancing trust in government, Collect, document  and Share  best practices for possible replication within a country as well as across the African Continent. She also mentioned the objective of this meeting which is to among others to deliberate and agree on the theme and sub-themes of 2017 APSD, to identify the roles, responsibilities and contributions of the AU and the host country in organizing the 2017 APSD commemoration. Finally, she officially opened the meeting and wished everyone fruitful deliberations.

During the meeting, several presentations were delivered on the experience sharing from previous countries who organized the Africa Public Service Day (APSD) celebration, namely: Namibia, Ghana, South Africa, etc… on the proceedings they undertook in their respective countries in order to effectively plan and celebrate this event as well as highlighting the challenges.

Contacts:

Mr. Issaka Garba Abdou, AU-STC 8 Secretariat, E-mail: garbaabdoui@africa-union.org / Mr. Kevino T. Tchatcho, AU-STC 8 Secretariat, E-mail : kevint@africa-union.org / Department of Political Affairs | African Union Commission II Addis Ababa | Ethiopia / Web Site: www.au.int

For further information contact

Directorate of Information and Communication | African Union Commission I E-mail: DIC@africa-union.org I Web Site: www.au.int I Addis Ababa | Ethiopia

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