The Citizens Democracy Watch Seychelles is co-hosting a series of sectorial training sessions focusing on ethics and transparency with the US embassy as part of the latter’s Speaker programme.
The training being organised for different groups namely NGOs, ministries, public service, parastatal entities, Constitutional, Judiciary, National Assembly, law enforcement bodies, educational institutions among others kicked off on Thursday morning with sessions for civil society organisations.
Led by Dr Susan Opp, a professor of political science at Colorado State University, currently doing research at the University of Mauritius under the Fulbright US Scholar programme, the first training sessions are taking place at the ICCS while there are others which will be held at the UniSey at Anse Royal and TGMI at Ma Joie.
The aim of the trainings is to boost participants’ knowledge of ethics and transparency and inspire them to uphold the principles of good governance, effectiveness and efficiency of public policies.
Among NGO representatives who took part in the first training sessions were the HIV/Aids Support Organisation (Haso), Alliance of Solidarity for the Family (ASFF), Survival Arc Foundation (SAF), Care and Caritas.
The topics covered were the role of public administration in modern democracy and public sector ethics.
“We should care about our public service and public administrators just as much as we care about our elected officials when it comes to integrity, ethics and good governance,” Dr Opp explained through the message she wanted to convey to the participants. She also focused on why we should care about how public interest is defined and what it really is among other related issues.
Dr Opp emphasised on the importance of paying attention to our public sector and its actual administrators, beyond just the faces. “We all interact with public servants. How they make decisions and how they uphold the public service ethics and values impact on us whether we want it to or not.”
She said public servants make decisions that influence how efficiently the government is working, hence why anyone who cares about their quality of life should care about what the government is doing.
Gerard Lim Sam, the chairperson of the Citizens Democracy Watch Seychelles (CDWS) stated that following the training participants are expected to be better equipped with tools they can use to be able to work more efficiently.
“Dr Opp has come at an important time where Seychelles is talking about efficiency in workplaces,” Mr Lim Sam said.
More training sessions were held on Friday and will continue this week focusing on topics like administrative responsibility and public service ethics, leadership and ethics, whistle blowing, bureaucratic discretion, political control, the role of public administration, administrative evil and leadership ethics.
Source: Seychelles Nation
