The Institute of Public Administration (BIPA) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) have finished a workshop yesterday held at the Institute for two days, entitled “Developing strategies for governance, research and partnerships for Middle East and North Africa Public Administration Research Network (MINAPAR)”, where a group of international experts from the UNDP, the National School of Administration in France, the African Administration Research Center, and BIPA's directors have all participated in the workshop.
BIPA's Senior Advisor Dr. Sufyan Al-Sahrawi opened the workshop, pointing to the depth of relations between the Institute and the UNDP, noting that this workshop is not the first project associated with these two institutions, explaining that the institute is considering the UNDP as a key partner in setting out developmental ideas and a formula to be activated in public administration.
In regard to MENAPAR project, Dr. Al-Sahrawi said: “This project will create a network that specializes in public administration knowledge and practices in the Middle East and North Africa under the name of Middle East and North Africa Public Administration Research (MINAPAR), furthermore BIPA will launch this project until it is created independently, where it will be opened to the participation of institutions, researchers and civil service departments in the public sector in the region”.
Dr. Al-Sahrawi added that the establishment of the MINAPAR network project which comes in partnership with the UNDP and the International Institute for Administration, will work on the deployment of qualitative research on a large scale and build research capacities in the field of public administration in the region.
On the other hand, the Resident Representative of the UNDP Peter Grumman said that the partnership with BIPA is beneficiary for both sides, which calls to strengthen this relation and link it with further projects, adding that the projects which were carried out by the two institutions yielded a positive impact and achieved their objectives. Mr. Grumman also indicated that the recent conference which was organized by BIPA last June, brought much profits and contributed to the formation of a fundamental basis for the field of administrative relations from which to proceed with the formation of the rest of the system.
The participants in the workshop discussed the main themes which are represented in the atmosphere and the current situation of public administration in the region in the transition period, as well as the optimal governance for MINAPAR network, in addition to the research plans available to MINAPAR, and finally, the possible partnerships.
This workshop came with real results, and the most important of which is developing a strategic plan for the research network (MINAPAR) that includes all structural aspects and financial plan and feasibility research, noting that all participants in the workshop will be communicated with until the completion of the final drafting of the plan, and stating that this plan will be presented in detail in the founding conference of the research network (MINAPAR) in March next year.