Malawi to host African Cabinet Secretaries Round Table Workshop

President Arthur Peter Mutharika will next Monday, April 18, open the Third Africa Cabinet Secretaries Roundtable Workshop at Kamuzu Palace in Lilongwe before the workshop proceeds at the Bingu International Convention Centre (BICC) for three days.

The workshop is an initiative of the Africa Cabinet Government Network (ACGN) which was established in 2014 as a voluntary organization for Cabinet Secretaries. The ACGN, whose headquarters is in Freetown, Sierra Leone, serves as a platform for cross-country collaboration on evidence-based decision making and Cabinet procedures.

A statement from Office of President and Cabinet (OPC) says delegates to the workshop will include Cabinet Secretaries or their representatives and other senior officials from Cabinet Offices of Botswana, Ghana, Lesotho, Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Somaliland, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zanzibar and Malawi.

“Cabinet Secretaries have used these annual workshops to share and exchange practical experiences and ideas to enhance Cabinet processes in Africa. The ACGN therefore provides formal and informal opportunities for collaboration, mutual support and sharing of practical experiences as well as providing technical assistance to Cabinet Secretaries and others involved in managing Cabinet processes in Africa in order to facilitate evidence informed decision making by Governments,” the statement is quoted as saying.

The theme for this year’s Workshop is “Enhancing Governments’ effectiveness through Evidence informed Policy-making”.

The statement further says the workshop comes at an opportune time when Malawi is in the process of realigning her policy formulation and implementation in the public sector under the Public Service Reforms.

“The hosting of this workshop by Malawi comes at a time opportune time when government is implementing public service reform including reforms in the management of cabinet business. It is, therefore, expected that delegates’ discussions and resolutions during the workshop will complement the efforts that are already underway in reforming the Malawi Public Service,” read the statement which has been signed by Chief Secretary to Government, George Mkondiwa.

It adds that recently President Mutharika approved a guide to executive decision making which outlines the processes that need to be followed in policy formulation and approval. The guide will be launched at a later date.

The workshop will among things discuss various topics including: Evidence-Informed Policy Making, Change management strategies, Strategies to improve quality of Cabinet proposals, Measuring results, Building policy capacity in Government Ministries, Role of Cabinets in implementing Sustainable Development Goals and E-Cabinet.

The workshops are held on an annual basis. The first two similar workshops were hosted by Ethiopia and Ghana in February, 2014 and April, 2015, respectively.

This year’s workshop will be funded by the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DfID) through Adam Smith International.