Bin Shams: MENAPAR draws the map of public administration in the Middle East and North Africa

Dr. Raed Mohammed Bin Shams, Director-General of the Bahrain Institute of Public Administration (BIPA), and Chairman of the Middle East & North Africa Public Administration Research (MENAPAR), has stated that the MENAPAR conference 2017 will reshape the map of regional public administration in the Middle East and North Africa by facing the challenges the region is currently undergoing through exploring the best modes and approaches of public administration that embody resilient, responsive, transformative, collaborative, and innovative elements. The theme of the conference this year will be “Public Administration under Pressure: Towards a Resilient, Responsive, Collaborative, and Transformative Public Administration”.  The conference will be hosted and organized by the General Personnel Council of Palestine (GPC), in collaboration with MENAPAR, the International Association of Schools and Institutes of Administration (IASIA), and the Institute of Public Administration of Bahrain (BIPA) from 3 to 7 July 2017.
Bin Shams explained that holding the fourth MENAPAR – IASIA Conference in Ramallah, Palestine comes as part of the care and support extended by the wise leadership of the Kingdom of Bahrain to the Palestinian people. He also hailed the strong brotherly relationships between Bahrain and Palestine at both the leadership and people’s levels. He added that the partnership with IASIA will give the event an important international perspective, and provide a platform for establishing networks of professionals, researchers and other stakeholders in the Arab and European regions, including the government, private sector, Civil Society Organizations (CSO), international and regional donors and aid agencies.
Bin Shams further stressed the need of the Arab world today for exchanging expertise and best administrative practices as part of the administrative development process, taking into consideration the common factors among all of us. He also highlighted the importance of strengthening various international partnerships to obtain the essence of expertise and experiences and effectively employ it for the development of public administration.
Dr. Sofiane Sahraoui, BIPA Education and Development Senior Advisor and MENAPAR Research Director, announced that BIPA started to receive research papers for participation in the MENAPAR – IASIA Conference, which will focus on the growing challenges that the regional public administration is facing in an environment characterized by social turmoil and continuous economic pressures. He also said that the conference would address various sub-themes in four parallel tracks. Plenaries, policy panels, and paper presentations will be programmed within each track over the 2 days. The sub-themes will include the following: Delivering Public Administration beyond Physical and Structural Barriers; Public Management Reform Under Austerity Measures; State-building Approaches and the Role of International Organizations and Donors in Shaping Local Public Administration Structures in Conflict Ridden Countries; and Civil Society Organizations and Governments in Public Services Delivery.
All those wishing to participate with research papers in the event are cordially invited to submit their contributions via the conference website www.bipa.gov.bh/menapar by 15^th February 2017.  The submitted abstract should be of no more than 400 words, accepted abstracts will be announced as of 3^rd March 2017, and the final versions of the papers should be submitted by 15^th May 2017.  Papers may be submitted in Arabic in addition to English and French.