Over a 2-day period, the Kingdom of Bahrain will host tomorrow, Wednesday, 23rd April 2014, organized by the Institute of Public Administration “BIPA” and in cooperation with the United Nations Development Program “UNDP”, and for the first time in the Middle East and North Africa, the largest conference of its kind on Public Administration Research, its future, and the challenges, with the participation of more than 250 specialists and elite group of speakers and experts in public administration in the region.
The Director General of BIPA Dr. Raed Mohammed bin Shams stated that the idea of (MENAPAR) firstly initiated from BIPA’s awareness of the Middle East and North Africa region’s need for specialized research in the field of public administration, stemming from its practitioners in particular, the (MENAPAR) Initiative is all about institutes and establishments of public administration coming together under one umbrella; through which they exchange ideas and best practices, and the preparation of researches to deal with changes, furthermore; the group is targeting, within other targets, dealing skillfully with the challenges facing the public administration and the need to begin developing appropriate solutions to contribute in obtaining a distinguished model for public administration for the Middle East and North Africa regions.
Dr. Raed Bin Shams stressed that the Middle East and North Africa Group for Research on Public Administration (MENAPAR) is the fruitful result of the 29th International Congress on Public Administration – which was held by the Institute last year with the participation of 500 specialists in public administration sciences from more than 60 countries – pointing out to the importance of having this group for the future of public administration in the Arab world, due to what the region is passing through of accelerating changes that call for exchanging experiences and expertise to contribute to the process of making public policy and appropriate government decision-making, which is reflected positively on the human development plans in the region.
The Chairman of the Scientific Committee of the conference Dr. Sufyan Sahrawi revealed that BIPA is seeking; through this conference and the adoption of (MENAPAR) Initiative, to expand the network of administrative exchange with similar institutes, establishments and organizations and open the way to actually capitalize on the local experiences, which led Bahrain to occupy a distinguished position on the international public administration map, thanks to such regional partnerships and conferences, seminars and international relations which were held with various authorities specializing in the field of public administration.
In regard to the conference first day program, Dr. Sahrawi mentioned that there will be a plenary session after the opening ceremony concerning building research agenda for the Middle East and North Africa regions, and then six parallel sessions will be followed on the themes: policy-making, leadership, quality management in the public sector, ethics and corruption, creativity in the public sector, and capacity building.
It is worth mentioning that on the sidelines of the conference; an organizational meeting will be held to officially announce the launching of the Middle East and North Africa Group for Public Administration (MENAGPA), and representatives from BIPA, UNDP, the International Institute of Administrative Sciences (IIAS) and the International Association of Schools and Institutes of Public Administration (IASIA) are taking part in the meeting, in addition to a number of institutes of public administration and training establishments and centers specializing in this field in the region.