By Mike Puia
THE Pacific Community (SPC) is currently running a leadership course for six local female mid-level public servants.
Four of them come from the Ministry of Development Planning and Aid Coordination (MDPAC), Ministry of Lands, Housing and Survey (MLHS), Ministry of Foreign Affairs and External Trade (MFAET), Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources (MFMR) and two come from Youth@Work and SeifPles.
This is the fifth group to undertake this course. The course is based on the Singapore Cooperation Programme (SCP) course given to SPC by the Singapore Civil Service College (SCSC).
SPC’s Regional Director, Mia Rimon, has set the course in the context of Melanesia.
Rimon said the course is designed for managers and leaders.
She said it equips participants to be able to develop their own work ethics and integrity to a higher level, while learning to be leaders.
Rimon said at the heart of public service excellence are leaders who drive the purpose and mission of their organisations and their success in achieving the development outcomes for Melanesia.
“The ability to develop and lead high achieving teams that produce exceptional results is an increasingly important skill for staff in leadership positions,” Rimon said.
She said even without being in a position of authority, learning how to be the most productive and effective staff for their organisations is essential to their collaborative success.
The participating public servants will spare 12 hours of staff time over several months to cover topics in the course.
Topics covered in the course includes; managing projects, communications, leadership, vision and motivating teams, managing conflict and so forth.
Rimon said through this course it has the potential to help locals change this country and increase its civil society for better.
She has already run this course with staff of the SPC country office in Honiara, staff of SPC regional office, leaders of the Youth@Work programme and staff of the Melanesia Spearhead Group.
