Developing Transformational Leadership Capacity in Africa s Public-Sector Institutions to Implement the 2030 Agenda and Achieve the SDGs: A MUST

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1 Developing Transformational Leadership Capacity in Africa s Public-Sector Institutions to Implement the 2030 Agenda and Achieve the SDGs: A MUST Dr. John-Mary Kauzya Chief of Public Service Innovation Branch (PSIB) Division for Public Institutions and Digital Government (DPIDG) Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) United Nations Headquarters New York Kauzya@un.org

2 Africa s Sustainable Development Challenge Transformational leadership for a country s SD not to be taken to refer only to public sector or even only political leadership at central government level. We don t believe that government leadership develops a country. The people develop the country. Leadership assures a conducive environment, organizes, coordinates the making of development policies and strategies, mobilizes and facilitates the energies, resources and commitment of the people to develop the country.

3 1: The challenge of Leading in a World of Increasing Inter-dependency in the Context of Globalization 2: The challenge of Creating and sustaining Legitimacy of State institutions: transformational leadership in Terms of Ethics, Integrity, Professionalism, Transparency and Accountability 3: The Challenge of Leading Large-scale Transformations for inclusive growth and sustainable development 4:The Challenge of Leading with contradictions and paradox 5: The challenge of Developing current and future transformational leadership for Africa s Development 3

4 Transformation expressed in Global, Regional And National Development strategies A supremely ambitious and transformational vision A strategic framework for the socio-economic transformation of the continent EAC transformed into an upper middle income region within a secure and politically united East Africa based on the principles of inclusiveness and accountability A Transformed Ugandan Society from a Peasant to a Modern and Prosperous Country within 30 years

5 Imperatives for transformation embedded in the 2030 Agenda The notion of transformation The Ps of the 2030 Agenda Integration Leaving no one behind Partnerships Resilience Inclusive & accountable institutions

6 The Ps of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Planet Partnership People Prosperity Peace in freedom Poverty eradication

7 Model of Transformational Leadership in the context of 2030 Agenda and the SDGs Leverage Community potential for transformation and sustained development Engage all actors and secure their support, commitment, energies, resources & action Align development plans with national, regional, and global development goals Develop competences at community, political, managerial, administrative and technical Ensure mobilisation and frugal utilisation of both internal and external resources Rely on local capabilities to ensure creativity, innovation and resilience State achievements and shortfalls using the two to improve and sustain performance Harness an ideology and mindset that put people at the centre of all policies, plans and actions Instil values of professionalism, equity, accountability, integration, resilience, and inclusion Pursue a vision for the future generations built on the achievements of today.

8 A simple model for verifying transformational leadership effectiveness (SSAA) Strategy Achievements Transformational leadership verifiers Speech Action

9 Vision-driven results based transformational leadership Mission driven strategic leadership Integrated leadership system Transformational Leadership Anticipatory planning (scientific prophecy) Results based accountability

10 What do transformational leaders transform? FOCUS! Transforming society Transforming individuals Focus Transforming institutions Transforming organizations

11 Transforming institutions Strong institutions in Public, private, & civil society sectors A Double Strength B Public sector strong Strong Public sector institutions but weak private and civil society sector institutions Strong institutions in private and civil society sectors but weak public sector C Civil society strong D double weakness Weak Public sector institutions and weak private sector & civil society institutions

12 Leaving no one behind: what does it mean? What to do? make the vulnerable & poorest share in action, outcomes and progress Engage all, the poor, the vulnerable in searching for solutions to challenges Identify & target the vulnerable Make policies, legal frameworks, strategies & programs targeting poorest and vulnerable populations Avoid averages that mask the poorest behind Have data to reveal the poorest, most vulnerable, their needs & where they live Give voice to the vulnerable to express needs Lift the furthest behind first identify the furthest behind

13 Integration Integrating 2030 Agenda regional national & local Agenda Sectoral integration vertical integration policy coordination Comprehensive integration Integration of modern and traditional Inter generation integration Integrating public private & civil society Integrating the 3 pillars of SD

14 Effectiveness, efficiency, economy and social equity in the delivery of public Service: The Four Es. Effectiveness Efficiency Economy Social Equity

15 Moving from Autocratic to transformational leadership: A delicate combination Rule based Hierarchical in nature and practice From Inflexible traditional public administration bureaucracies (needing autocratic leadership) Through Public Management Internal reforms (Needing Transactional Leadership Efficiency Effectiven ess Economy Integration, collaboration, partnerships Citizen centred and public value focused Openness & transparency Creativity & innovation ICT, based Empowering & Learning Embracing diversity base on values (social equity, inclusion, accountability etc) To Bureaucracies based on outcomes and values (needs transformational leadership)

16 Effectiveness, efficiency, economy and social equity in the delivery of public Service: Continued Public Service Performance Measurement, Monitoring and Evaluation: Need for Standards and Indicators Engaging citizens\service users in setting performance standards, and indicators Prioritizing the Management of Human Resources in the Public Service Developing the capacity of capacity builders in the public service Basic strategic roles of human resource managers in the public service in the context of transformation

17 Paradigm of practices in a resilient Society Adaptation Anticipation Absorption Communication Coordination Collaboration Engagement Partnerships Inclusion

18 What does transformational leadership transform? Looking at the values and principles (inclusion, equity, collaboration, focus on people, resilience, leaving no one behind, etc) enshrined in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the SDGs it is clear that the 2030 Agenda is about creating a good society. Consequently transformational leadership in implementing the Agenda is about creating a good society. In this sense transformational leadership is about Transforming Individuals (transforming mindsets and competences) Transforming organizations Transforming Institutions Transforming Society

19 Transforming Individuals competences To sustain the momentum for transformation, the leadership at community, local, national, regional and international levels must itself be transformed to privilege ten critical strategic action areas that constitute a practical model of transformational public leadership competences. (see slide # 4 above). This means that transformational leadership needs to focus on developing capacities and competences of themselves and those of individuals and groups in the public service to align them with the competences required to implement the 2030 Agenda. The competences required are outlined in the next section. (Click on each box with accetrix to read more details).

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21 Texts to put against each box Public service leaders must have entrepreneurial, administrative, integrative, and operational skills. Public service Administrative leadership and public servants are needed not only for orderly change but also to establish and sustain compliance with the requirements of the rule of law, professionalism and ethics in the Public Service. Integrative leadership is required to maintain resilience especially in situations where many countries are in difficult poverty situations. It is needed to make and implement public policies that will ensure not only integrated development in the countries but also equity, equality inclusion and even development so as to leave no one behind and to minimize causes for disgruntled citizens to cause conflict. Entrepreneurial leadership is needed to engineer creativity, innovation, change and transformation in the Public Service. And finally, operational public service is required to ensure effective delivery of public services including education and health. ***Administrative competences: When the administrative competence is well applied the public servants will be compliant with laws, rules, regulations, processes, and procedures and professionalism, ethics and integrity which are a requirement for a well performing public service will be assured. It is generally recognized now that in the Public Service of many countries the problem of compliance, professionalism, ethics and integrity is acute giving way to rampant corruption. This calls for a public service leadership that cherishes and promotes law and order and believes in the values and virtues of controlled power and authority as well as serving the public as the ethos of the Public Service. The rule of law, transparency and accountability depend not only on political will and leadership but administrative competence of the Public Service as well. ***Integrative Competence: When the integrative competence is well applied, the public servants will be resilient to hardships, work together for the common good, serve all citizens with no discrimination, something that will promote citizens to trust government and get engaged in development. Collaborative leadership and governance as well as supportive networking will be promoted leading to integrated development processes. This will promote peace and equity as well. Policies will be made, implemented, monitored and evaluated in an integrated way and government and governance will be practices in a harmonious way. **** Entrepreneurial competence: When the entrepreneurial competence is appropriately applied the public service will be future oriented, have focused strategy and be creative and innovative to deliver a better future with the citizens. Entrepreneurial leadership will make the public service fore see the needs, problems and challenges of the future today and devise the means of addressing them before they develop into acute disruptive problems. **** Operational Competence: when the operational competence is engaged well, performances in the public service will improve and the delivery of public services (education, health, water, infrastructure, justice, information, etc will be assured; assuming all things remaining equal. It should be noted that innovation, change and transformation to take place in the public service all the above competences must be available in good measure and appropriately applied. When any of the competences is missing the public service will be underperforming. For examples, public servants who have entrepreneurial competences will be frustrated if the administrative competence to provide for orderly change is missing. Likewise all other competences get null or negative results if the operational competence to deliver services is missing. Given the importance of developing these competences, premium attention should be given to developing the capacities of capacity developers including Human Resource Managers in government and public sector institutions, Management Development Institutes, National and local consultants as individuals and firms to spearhead capacity development in public sector

22 Transforming organisations In the context of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, transformation in many organizations in all sectors: Public, Private, and Civil society ought to adopt organization structures, systems, and processes that embrace and priorities the values enshrined in the 2030 Agenda notably, inclusion, integration, participation, collaboration, openness and involvement. Transformational leadership is also about transforming organizations. Therefore, the imperatives of the 2030 Agenda will require that leaders and Public Servants consider the kind of organization structures that will facilitate the implementation of the agenda. The options on what transformational change to undertake will depend on the obtaining organizational conditions in each country. However, in a general way, as the diagram below shows, the following will be on the table for discussion and organizational restructuring: Centralization, decentralization, matrix or a mixture of all these as well as bottom up and top down communication and decision-making processes. 22

23 Transforming organizations Centralization Mixture Decentralization Matrix 23

24 Transforming Institutions Part of SDG 16 is about developing effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels. Transformational leadership is also about transforming institutions. In the context of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and achievement of SDGs, institutional development is a critical undertaking. Literary every SDG needs effective institutions to be successfully achieved. We take institutional development to refer to the establishment/creation or strengthening of an organisation or a network of organisations, laws and rules with the objective of enabling them to effectively support the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and achievement of the SDGs. Institutional development is work that involves organisational design, systems design, policies, laws, rules and regulations, leadership development, human resources development, and the tedious work of changing mind-sets, inculcating norms and values to positively change behaviour and culture not only in the organisation in question but in its society as well. This means that developing actors as well as factors, allocation of resources including human, material and financial resources to achieve the SDGs is all part and parcel of institutional development. The work of developing institutions for effective implementation of the 2030 Agenda needs to be approached with systematic diagnostic analysis of the institutional situation (both formal and informal) in public, private and civil society sectors. Strong institutions are those where laws, rules and regulations are successfully enforced and complied with and which have been tested by not only passage of time but also changing conditions. A combination of being enforced/complied with and stability over time/change in conditions defines the strength of institutions and consequently institutional development challenges. However, the most telling and sustainable indicators in institutional strength lie in the norms and values as well as culture and behaviours that over time become entrenched and enshrined in the institution and society such that the society cherishes and defends the institutions. Transformational leadership must then preoccupy itself with ensuring that institutions are strong and effective in these respects. 24

25 Transforming institutions: Addressing the double Weakness Phenomenon Strong institutions in Public, private, & civil society sectors Strong Public sector institutions but weak private and civil society sector institutions A Double Strength B Public sector strong C D Strong institutions in private and civil society sectors but weak public sector institutions Civil society strong double weakness Weak Public sector institutions and weak private sector & civil society institutions

26 Transforming institutions. Institutional development therefore, is work that involves organisational design, systems design, policy, laws, rules and regulations, leadership development, human resources development, and the tedious work of changing mind-sets, inculcating norms and values to positively change behaviour and culture not only in the organisation in question but in its society as well. This means that developing actors as well as factors, allocation of resources including human, material and financial resources to achieve the SDGs is all part and parcel of institutional development. In most countries in Africa institutions are weak in Public, private and civil society sectors. This double weakness phenomenon makes the work of transforming institutions harder. It must start by acknowledging that it has to be done in all sectors. In some countries (situation A) institutions in the public, private and civil society sectors are strong. In others (situations B and C) institutions may be weak in the public sector and strong in the public sector or vice versa. Yet in others institutional weakness can be spread in all sectors (public, private and civil society). Where the public sector is weak with civil society and private sectors weak as well, this double institutional weakness presents a formidable challenge to institutional transformation and development. While in socio-politico-economic development in any country the process of developing institutions is an on-going one, always dictated by policies as responses to development challenges, the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs brought about some critical underpinnings which have accentuated the need for the development of institutions through creation, readjustment, transforming and equipping/strengthening. These critical underpinnings include: the notion of integration, leaving no one behind, partnerships and effective, inclusive and accountable institutions as well as transformation.

27 Resilience In the traditional sense, resilience is a measure of how well a system an organization or institution, an ecosystem, a city or region, or indeed a whole country recovers from an unexpected shock or disaster. But it also has become invested with a larger and more important meaning of cultivating the assets, culture, and capabilities that render systems less vulnerable to risk, more agile and adaptable, and therefore better prepared for successive waves of change and disruption. It means not only bouncing back, but also bouncing forward. ( Albert Cho Simon Willis e al, August 2011). The term resilience appeared in the document of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in a rather casual way: We are determined to take the bold and transformative steps which are urgently needed to shift the world onto a sustainable and resilient path. However resilience has become a big value and principle in sustainable development. 27/15

28 Test yourself 1: Which of the following is not a good description of a transformational leader (tick the correct answer) (i) Being a role model (ii) Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of followers (iii) Turning followers into leaders (iv) Transforming followers without transforming oneself (correct answer) 2: Which of these two statements would is correct? (i): Administrative competence should not be emphasized because that is bureaucracy which must be avoided. (ii): Administrative competence should be emphasized because it enhances compliance and promotes rule of law. (correct) 3: Which of the following competences is likely to contribute to alert leaders to the problems of the future (i) Administrative competence (ii) Entrepreneurial competence (correct) (iii) Integrative competence