The Director-General of the Civil Service Agency, Laurine Wede Johnson has described as a dream come true for young Africans, the launched of the Emerging Public Leaders program in Ghana.
Like the President’s Young Professionals Program (PYPP) of Liberia, the Emerging Public Leaders (EPL) Program of Ghana seeks to accelerate Africa’s economic growth and development gains, by cultivating a new generation of civil service leaders.
The EPL recruits and develops talented young, energetic and brilliant final year students from Ghanaian universities to be trained, coached, mentored and nurtured for placement in the Civil Service of Ghana.
Honorable Johnson says the Emerging Public Leaders Program is built on the idea that investing in young graduates to form and play active roles in Arica’s development matters the most.
“We believe that through nurturing a new generation of public service leaders and working closely with those already in key positions in Government, we can address some of the most difficult challenges facing the continent.
As the Ghanaian government begins to create their own experiences with this model, we urge you to remember the all-important place that the public service holds in society. We are responsible for policy that regulates the economy, supplies critical public goods, and delivers services, building roads and bridges, curing diseases, handling disputes in courts, curbing crime, educating the young people, supporting the old and disadvantaged.
Cleaning the streets, protecting our borders and our environment, keeping the peace with our neighbors and allies, amongst many other duties and responsibilities; without which no government can survive. This is a very important privilege, and the PYPP model offers a most prestigious and meritocratic entry into the service to serve as agents of change, and champions of governments agenda.
The Civil Service Agency Director-General recognized and praised the longstanding friendship and diplomatic ties that exit between the Republic of Liberia and the Republic of Ghana.
“I am excited to be here in Accra. I bring greetings from the civil service and the people of Liberia to our counterparts of the Civil Service of Ghana and the people of Ghana. There is a long standing relationship between the two services that supported the participation of its officers in programs such as the Ethical Leadership for Productivity (ELQPI), Public Service Delivery Improvement (PSDI) amongst others.
These programs helped the Liberian Civil Service by improving the knowledge of key officers of the service on ethical practices in the workplace and to also serve as change agents in their respective places of work and transfer the knowledge they obtained to their colleagues.
Liberia has benefitted and still benefits from training programs that highlight Leadership traits such as integrity, moral rectitude, financial discipline and a good attitude while rendering quality services to the public.
Whilst these programs are sponsored by donors and international development partners, we appreciate our Ghanaian counterparts for initiating and hosting our colleagues during trainings and studies.
Hon. Johnson shared light on the experiences with the President’s Young Professional Program of Liberia that has proved worthwhile to the Country since its inception in 2009.
“As we may all know, Africa has the youngest population in the world. Engaging this youthful demographic is critical, and should be a priority for African governments. We need to equip our youthful populations with the tools and motivation they need to tackle some of the challenges facing their communities.
It is government’s involvement and commitment that induces economic growth, encourages job creation for youths and reduces societal ills. In order to accomplish this, a strong and effective civil service which serves as the nucleus of all government’s interventions, is essential.
The launching ceremonies organized by the Office of the Head of Civil Service (OHCS) of Ghana in collaboration with Emerging Public Leaders Ghana (EPL), brought together several dignitaries of the Ghanaian Government and officials of the Civil Service Agency from Liberia.
Emerging Public Leaders program encompasses six-key components, including meritocratic recruitments, continuous responsive training, mentorship, immersions excursions, performance management as well as alumni engagement and career support.
The inaugural class of EPL Ghana, numbering 20, commenced their training in June 2018 and were in September of that same year posted to work across nine ministries in Ghana.
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