The Head of the Scientific Committee and Education and Training Advisor at the Institute of Public Administration (BIPA) Dr. Sufyan Sahrawi revealed about the receiving of all working papers, by the Institute, participating in the Middle East and North Africa Public Administration Research (MENAPAR) conference, which will be hosted by the Kingdom of Bahrain on 23rd of the current month of April, where a group of prominent specialists in public administration sector from inside and outside of the Kingdom are taking part in its sessions, as the Scientific Committee of the institute approved 64 scientific papers out of 69 previously submitted papers, while the Kingdom of Bahrain possessed 24 papers alone, 40 papers from outside of the Kingdom were accepted.
Dr. Sahrawi noted that MENAPAR conference aims, among other targets, to be a forum for academic research and exchange and professional practice concerning important topics in public administration and public policies and good governance in the Arab region, as well as harnessing collective intellectual efforts for institutions in the region to strengthen public administration; that is based on evidence and policy-making, and promoting a culture of research and research capacities in the public sectors, and developing management research by addressing the problems posed by practitioners of public administration in the region, and provide a resource base of research for all practitioners of public administration in the Arab arena for adoption in policy-making and decision-taking, not to mention the quest to establish a scientific research agenda for public administration; where its outputs serve the public sector and characterized by the diversity of its practitioners from the Arab countries, which will enrich the exchange of experiences and knowledge in the fields of public administration sciences, based on the analysis and study of many of the current issues.
In regard to the themes of the conference, Dr. Sahrawi added that they include: public administration research, innovation in the public sector, e-government, quality management in public administration, policy-making, public wealth, public governance, capacity building, leadership and human resource development, performance management, ethics and corruption, quality management, in addition to other themes in the issues of public administration.
It is worth mentioning that “MENAPAR” group initiative is the fruitful outcome of the 29th International Congress on Public Administration held by the Institute in June of last year, also the initiative emerged from the partnership between BIPA and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), as the initiative idea was launched from the Institute's realization of the need for specialized research for Middle East and North Africa regions, stemming from practitioners in the field of public administration, also the conference came with the support of the two largest organizations specialized in the affairs of administrative sciences at the international level, namely, the International Institute of Administrative Sciences (IIAS) and the International Association of Schools and Institutes of Public Administration (IASIA).